Re: [-empyre-] Do You Still Own Your Reality?

["James Barrett" <jim.barrett@humlab.umu.se>]

just to provoke a bit more the power structure, here are a few words from
a group of very unrepresented people who are custodians of the oldest
living art tradition on the planet:

Death of ATSIC drives indigenous bid for power
Michael McKenna

LIKE all revolutions, even the very quiet ones, the change begins in a
single moment.

For many of the 25 or more indigenous candidates in the Australian federal
election the inspiration to stand came with a single stroke of the pen by
Prime Minister John Howard.
It marked the abolition of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
Commission, earlier this year, and sparked arguably the largest push for
indigenous representation in Federal Parliament since the Commonwealth
Government ensured Aborigines had the right to vote in 1962.
The candidates come from the gamut of backgrounds and political parties.
In Queensland, the Socialist Alliance has made history by standing the
first ever all-Aboriginal Senate ticket with activist/academic Sam Watson
and social worker Nicole Clevens.
For Clevens, who has four young children, the abolition of Aboriginal and
Torres Straight Islander Council (ATSIC) was the final straw.
"Politicians who are making policies concerning our people are not
Aboriginal people, they sit in an office and have never been associated
with our people, never slept in our communities and yet they have so much
influence over us," she said.
"We need our own people representing us, our own Aboriginal minister."
While Clevens and Watson are unlikely to make much of a dent in the
Queensland Senate campaign, the election could still prove interesting in
terms of Aboriginal politics.
The only Aboriginal in parliament, Australian Democrats senator Aden
Ridgeway, is expected to lose his seat in the NSW race, but pundits are
predicting the vacuum will be filled by Family First's indigenous senate
candidate in South Australia, Andrea Mason.
Aborigines are contesting the House of Representatives throughout
Australia, with the Northern Territory Country Liberal Party trying to
harness the Indigenous proportion of the vote, up to 30 per cent in some
areas.


> How can artists "inform" during the political process? What are all of you
> doing as part of your art practice? Just curious to know who all of you
> are on this list.
>
> Jeff
> ..................................................
> Jeff Gates
> Outtacontext.com
>
> Life Outtacontext: Farm Fresh Writing at a Fraction of the Cost!
> http://life.outtacontext.com
>
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