I have been travelling down the east coast of Australia and have only been here for two weeks but I have made a few observations. A major issue in the paper here (other than the world economic crisis)is the crisis that exists in the indigenous community, the Aboriginals.
I have been reading about what is referred to as the Intervention, or the Federal Intervention in Aboriginal affairs. Aborigines in the Northern Territories have strict control over what they can spend their Money (welfare checks) The government has enforced bans on the purchase of alcohol or pornography (LA would be in deep trouble) This is all being done to curb "violence and improve the lives of women and children". So the state is reaching in to these Aboriginal communities and controlling what they can do in very severe ways.This "Intervention" was begun as a response to a national emergency, the government argues.
My knowledge of the situation is very limited obviously but there is no doubt that there is a crisis within the Aboriginal community, I can catch glimpses of it in a very small way as I travel through different towns and I am no where near the more remote communities. The situation among the Aboriginese is very similar to other indigenous communities I am sure, glue sniffing, alcoholism, and sexual abuse is rampant. This is the legacy of colonialism and the rotteness of capitalism that is hostile to human welfare and the building of human society that can exists in harmony with nature.
Another major story in the press is the refusal of a couple of clinics in remote parts of the country to refuse handing over data about the sexual lives of 8 Aboriginal girls. The state found out these girls had received a contraceptive implant called Implanon and that because they were from the ages of 13-15 this means that underage girls had sex and that this is a crime---even if the sex is consensual, says the state. The government just lost in court as a judge found in favor of the doctors. They say the state wants to "go after the blokes". The state's representatives, "walk around in black suites wearing wrap around glasses." The clinincs are arguing for the right of privacy and do not trust that the state won't harrass the girls and the young Aboriginal men. They have reported sexual abuses when they occur and insist that these girls have not been abused.
Interestingly enough, the law this is based on is one passed in Britain and adopted in Australia that stated, "the parental right to determine whether or not their minor child below the age of sixteen will have medical treatment terminates if and when the child achieves sufficient understanding and intelligence to understand fully what is proposed." The court basically found that the doctors are within their rights to refuse to give data on these girls including who they are "so long as the child understands the procedure.
This seems to me to be a great victory for youth and Aboriginal rights.
The government of Australia so concerned about the rights of 8 young girls has not served the interests of the Aborigines well as anyone who knows of the Stolen Generation and the film Rabbit Proof Fence knows. The typical response of any state to such problems is repression. Aborigines make up about 3.5% of the population in Western Australia yet in that state more than 50% of prison inmates are Aboriginal men. Aborigines of both sexes make up 42% of the total prison population. For young Aboriginal men in the prisons they often end up being refused parole as homelessness is also a major problem. They won't release someone if they don't have a home to go to. One can only imagine the devastation these statistics mean to a family. And the state claims it is trying to get data on these girls for example in order to better understand the problem, help them etc. etc.
I have very superficial knowledge of the issue but my first reaction to the state determining what people can buy is to oppose it. It will get some support I suppose as the ciris is so severe and the violence against women and children so great due to drugs and alcohol, that many will see it positively. It may even slow the violence somewhat I suppose, and state officials claim that purchases of foodstuffs like vegetables in these communities has increased. But I can only imagine the furor that would arise if other Australians were under similar constraint. The state is arguing that becasue it's welfare money it has a right to say how the taxpayer's money is spent.
There is also talk of creating more jobs for Aboriginals, but we all know this is window dressing and the state's way of dealing with this crisis like all social crises that is a result of capitalsim, will be through repression. The US has some 2 million people in its jails, the construction of which is a very lucrative business.
Capitalism cannot remedy this catastrophe and it will only get worse in the present situation. Capitalism savages the weakest among us first, it finds the line of least resistance. And by weakest I do not mean in a cultural or individual way, but those of us less organized, marginalized, or not with our hands on the levers of the machine, the youth, the elderly, the sick and disabled.
Like the economic catastrophe which is also linked of course, social problems, the environmental crisis, etc. can only be resolved through a democratic socialist plan of production and the control of society's needs and wealth creation to be put in to the hands of those that create it. It has to be taken from the grip of that private clique who presently manage, or mismanage society.
These thoughts about this issue are only based on a brief visit and fairly superficial glimpse of the situation as it exists here.
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