Historical injustice…
the challenge of denial
Jefferson, U.S. founding father and slave-owner, penned the words ‘all men are created equal’. Most nations have a story of themselves that is less than the whole story. AIM for political integrity shares Australian historian Inga Clendinnen’s concern that when you “teach grown men and women a nursery version of their history…(you make) babies of them when it comes to grasping the workings of their own society, and of their nation and wider world.”
For Australia’s future to unfold our denial needs to be addressed…
addressing our indigenous history denial…
the path to Australia’s future passes through its past. The only people who could welcome newcomers to this country, were profoundly rejected along with 60,000 years of culture and learning. This denial is foundational to all our Australian denials. AIM for political integrity consciously draws on Aboriginal culture as a source of inspiration for future directions.
addressing our racial denial…
those from colonial times excluded from the great Australian ‘fair go for all’ – a blindness leading to later trauma for each new wave of immigrants.
addressing our class denial…
beginning with the brutal convict class culture, through to ignoring subsequent have/have not divides.
addressing our foreign policy denial…
our poor judgements in WW I, East Timor, Vietnam, Iraq through not reading the true nature of events because of our fears, our demonising those who disagreed or were different.
addressing the roots of terrorism denial…
the legacy of our own very troubled history of Western involvement in the Middle East. We feared communism, and now terrorism, but the ultimate enemy of any civilisation is within.
addressing our denial of the good…
the legacy of all the many of all backgrounds who refused to be silent in the face of injustice, who created community, who sought to improve life for their families, who lived and died with courage, who refused to give up, who were not afraid to move beyond the blindness of their age.
We will seek to know and acknowledge our historical responsibilities, of which the apology to Aboriginal people was but a beginning.
Test four for all legislation: has historical injustice been addressed
Historical injustice…
the crisis of denial
Jefferson, U.S. founding father and slave-owner, penned the words ‘all men are created equal’. Most nations have a story of themselves that is less than the whole story. The AIM shares Australian historian Inga Clendinnen’s concern that when you “teach grown men and women a nursery version of their history…(you make) babies of them when it comes to grasping the workings of their own society, and of their nation and wider world.”
For Australia’s future to unfold our denial needs to be addressed…
addressing our indigenous history denial… the path to Australia’s future passes through its past. The only people who could welcome us to this country, we profoundly rejected along with 60,000 years of culture and learning – through massacres, the stolen generations, shunned war veterans, trying to ‘fix them’ – leading in many communities to despairing self-rejection. This denial is foundational to all our Australian denials. The AIM consciously draws on Aboriginal culture as a source of inspiration for future directions.
addressing our racial denial… those from colonial times excluded from the great Australian ‘fair go for all’ – Chinese, ‘Afghans’, ‘Kanaks’, a blindness leading to later trauma for each new wave of immigrants.
addressing our class denial… failing to own the brutal convict culture as part and parcel of the new Australia, ignoring subsequent have/have not divides.
addressing our foreign policy denial… our poor judgements in WW I, East Timor, Vietnam, Iraq through not reading the true nature of events because of our fears, our demonising those who disagreed or were different.
addressing the roots of terrorism denial… the legacy of our own very troubled history of Western involvement in the Middle East. We feared communism, and now terrorism, but the ultimate enemy of any civilisation is within.
addressing our denial of the good… the legacy of all the many of all backgrounds who refused to be silent in the face of injustice, who created community, who sought to improve life for their families, who lived and died with courage, who refused to give up, who were not afraid to move beyond the blindness of their age.
We will seek to know and acknowledge our historical responsibilities, starting with an apology to Aboriginal people. We believe time and money – and human life – can be saved, and solutions made possible, simply through such acknowledgement, saving us from repeating the tragedies of the past.
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Australian Independents Movement for Political Integrity 