Garfly

Hopefully, Yenn. This was the Norwegian experience regarding the indigenous Sami people: "Norway has been greatly criticized by the international community for the politics of Norwegianization of and discrimination against the aboriginal population of the country. ... The Sami have for centuries been the subject of discrimination and abuse by the dominant cultures claiming possession of their lands, right unto the present day. [However] .... The Sami have been recognized as an indigenous people in Norway (1990 according to ILO convention 169 ...) and hence, according to international law, the Sami people in Norway are entitled special protection and rights. The legal foundation of the Sami policy is: Article 110a of the Norwegian Constitution. The Sami Act (act of 12 June 1987 No. 56 concerning the Sami Parliament (the Sámediggi) and other legal matters pertaining to the Samis). The constitutional amendment states: "It is the responsibility of the authorities of the State to create conditions enabling the Sami people to preserve and develop its language, culture and way of life." " Quoted from: Sami people - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Well, ev, if not 'white Anglo Saxon' then certainly 'white Irish Celt'. From the Wikipedia article on Irish Americans: "There were also Darwinian-inspired excuses for the discrimination of the Irish in America. Many Americans believed that since the Irish were Celts and not Anglo-Saxons, they were racially inferior and deserved second-hand citizenship. The Irish being of inferior intelligence was a belief held by many Americans. This notion was held due to the fact that the Irish topped the charts demographically in terms of arrests and imprisonment. They also had more people confined to insane asylums and poorhouses than any other group. The racial supremacy belief that many Americans had at the time contributed significantly to Irish discrimination." Drunkard Irishman depiction in the 1800s.

Good to hear that story Yenn ... puts me in mind of the recent Australian Story on ABC TV 'One of the Mob': Australian Story :: One Of The Mob It's about the filmmaker David Batty who, with an aboriginal colleague, made the hilarious movie 'Bush Mechanics'. His new mini series is called 'Black As' New series Black As shines light on daily life in remote NT community Sounds like a hoot. Four good mates on a comedy adventure around Arnhem Land. One of them's a white dude who grew up in the community and speaks the local Yolngu language. What a vastly different truth about 'them' that that guy's privy to, compared to the rest of his race.

I don't think it's poverty per se that prevents people stretching their thinking to see the world as others see it. (More useful than hand-outs anyway). As an Asian saying puts it: "You're better off with a poor person as a friend than a rich one." The problem's more to do with poverty of imagination; lacking the wherewithal to think outside the 'common sense' realities supplied by our own sub-cultures (a fault of left-progressive mind-sets as much as right-conservative ones). Bex has commented here before, for example, about our distorted Aussie attitudes to all things Chinese. Perspective is all. To point to high numbers of aboriginals in jail is obviously not to claim the crimes weren't done. It's to bemoan what we've done, or haven't done, to the first Australians, as a group, to bring them to this sorry state. Whether you reckon it's fair to share that worry is entirely up to you ... and/or your culture.

LOL ... Yeah, but better and quicker. ;-) But back on off-topic, to me Nev is on the same track as the Indonesian journalist (#201 above) in her open letter to Pres. Widodo: "But you wanted to appear strong, so you grabbed for a subject that already comes equipped with its own fan base. Eighty-six percent of respondents in a survey conducted by Kompas, Indonesia’s leading daily, agreed to the death penalty for Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, the two Australian nationals who were among the eight men executed last week."

Nev was saying that when democratic politicians wind-up and exploit the crueler, less rational passions of their constituents for electoral benefit more harm is done than good.

Yes, I thought that this comment to a blog ("Death on Nusa Kambangan" see url below) is very much to the point in that regard: "rupert moloch says: 30 April 2015 at 6:16 pm Both Jokowi (progressive populist) and Abbott (reactionary buffoon) are desperate to revive their polling figures. That is the brutal expediency at base of their respective stances." http://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2015/04/29/frederick-wilmot-smith/death-on-nusa-kambangan/?utm_source=LRB+online+email&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20150421+online&utm_content=ukrw_subsact&hq_e=el&hq_m=3741398&hq_l=17&hq_v=e02b8c2a9b

I found this a useful complication of the "Indonesian position": http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/may/05/jokowi-we-voted-for-a-humble-man-now-youve-taught-a-new-generation-about-killing