Behrendt, Paul --- "Book Review - The Indigenous Voice Visions and Realities, Vols I & II" [1989] AboriginalLawB 51; (1989) 1(40) Aboriginal Law Bulletin 12

• Book Review-The Indigenous Voice Visions And Realities, Vols I &Amp; II

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Book Review -

The Indigenous Voice Visions and Realities, Vols I & II

Roger Moody (Ed)

Zed Books London, 1988,

Vol I 444pp, $65 (h/b) 25$ (s/b)

Vol II 317 pp, $60 (h/b) $19.95 (s/b)

Reviewed by Paul Behrendt

There is not one country in the world that has not been subjected to colonialism and in many if not most cases, the colonial administrators, and the immigrants they encouraged to settle, invariably changed the fabric and structure of the society of those countries to the detriment of the indigenous people.

The Indigenous Voice is a true to title, two-volume anthology that documents the struggles of the original occupants of diverse regions from around the world who continue to be effected by those common legacies of colonialism: injustice and oppression.

Even where independence has been ostensibly granted, the indigenous people have sometimes found that their newly regained self-determination is entirely dependent on the goodwill of powerful patrons (usually their ex-colonisers) upon whom their fragile economies depend. This is nowhere better illustrated than in the interference imposed by the United States of America upon the newly independent Belau when that tiny country's declaration of a nuclear free zone proved to be incompatible with US military strategy within the region.[1]

Apart from a brief introduction to each section, the books consist entirely of the direct statements of indigenous people with material being drawn from a variety of sources including newspaper reports, magazine articles, and transcripts of personal interviews.

The editor readily admits that the volumes are simply a selection of already-published material and as such, they contain nothing new. But this does not detract from their value which lies in the projection of the information to a far greater audience than their limited circulation had previously made possible.

How many people away from the immediate vicinity of the homelands of various indigenous people are aware of their existence, let alone their plight? What of the Arhuaco of Columbia? The Xavante of Brazil? The Mapuche of Chile? The Chipewayan of Canada? The Cocamilla of Peru? The Chakmas of Bangladesh, or indeed the Yedinji community of Australia?

One is then compelled to ask: "Who cares?" and sadly, the answer is: "Very few". Most countries that have the power and influence to do anything about it are restrained in their criticism of others because of their desire to maintain good diplomatic relations with the governments that rule the oppressed people or, more often, because of the indigenous skeletons that hang in their own cupboards.

And while governments may change complexion, their actions often remain the same. A statement by the Kalinga and Bontoc people in 1984 demanding an end to atrocities inflicted upon them by troops of the Marcos Government in the Philippines could well be applied to current military actions being waged by the Aquino regime which, in some areas, is seen as being every bit as repressive as that of the dictator she overthrew.[2]

One of the most poignant facets of the documents is the commonality of experiences that are apparent through the accounts. Massacres, cultural genocide, poverty, political impotence, dispossession of land, illegal sterilisation, the forced removal of entire communities, the repression of government authorities and, probably most distressing, the stealing of children from their families, are features so many societies have suffered in parallel. The fruits of western civilization have invariably proved to be bitter.

Some of the inhumane acts may come as a surprise to many non-indigenous people, but although the cries are raised from widespread areas, the stories are depressingly familiar to native people.

Thus many Australian Aborigines who themselves were part of the "stolen generations" can relate with the anguish of a Yanomami spokesperson in Brazil who recounts the insidious way in which they lost their children:

The missionaries busied themselves clothing the children and adolescents and they were then enticed into boats with sweets and dry cakes sprinkled with Pepsi Cola. They went into neighbouring communities and came back in with batches of naked children. The parents were not warned ... They tied up at the bank and without entering the houses called the youngsters to come to the boats. The children, thrilled at travelling in a motor boat, didn't need to be asked twice. Off they went to an unknown destination without dreaming that they wouldn't return ...[3]

The accounts are replete with testimony of the gross denial of basic human rights, and this factor together with the lack of access to political processes, has ensured that the original inhabitants of many countries remain on the lowest scale of most social indices - particularly in the areas of health, housing, education, and employment.

Iron-fisted control by bureaucrats who refuse to recognise differences in social values and who are insensitive to specific cultural needs of indigenous people results in a pervasive over-representation of native people in the criminal justice system in countries throughout the world.

The following excerpt from a declaration delivered by representatives from several Indian communities in the USA in 1978 could well have been part of a submission to the 1989 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody:

It is impossible to find an Indian family who doesn't have an immediate family member in jail or being processed in the courts, or a young in foster care, some loved one bouncing from the gutter to the treatment centre and around again.

This is the real everyday life environment of our present day young generation - what they are learning from - their example of a way of life. There are still a lot of us not now in prison or totally consumed by these other problems but we are living with and are horrified at these systems of programmed genocide. . . If we cannot come together to decide for ourselves a proper course of action, a proper direction as a race, then this present continuing genocide must eventually lead to total annihilation, we will cease to exist.[4]

Yet, as the sub-title suggests, the books also contain visions for the future and these are expressed in the manifestos and declarations issued by organisations representing native people. The second volume is basically devoted to this end and it addresses these subjects under headings such as: "Recovery of Origins", "Dialectics of Liberation", "In Our Own Ways", "Schooling for Survival", and "New Beginnings".

Though both volumes give a comparatively generous amount of space to the Australian Aborigines, criticism will no doubt be directed at the absence of particular cases that some will see as deserving of inclusion. But to cover in detail the sufferings of every indigenous community throughout the world would require a work of encyclopaedic proportions.

The frustratingly obvious fault lies in the lack of a comprehensive index - something that one takes for granted in work of this type, but which is absolutely vital with a collection of documents of this proportion.

Still, the publications are a bold, innovative idea that contain extensive resource material which will be of particular value to anyone interested in the comparative study of indigenous societies, and it is hoped that they will not stand in isolation but will act as an eventual springboard for further works of this nature. There is so much to be told.

Unfortunately, the price of $125 (h/b) or $45 (p/b) for the two volumes will most certainly place them beyond the reach of the majority of people about whom they are written.

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[1] Vol I pp135-139

[2] Vol I p58

[3] Vol I pp431-432

[4] Vol I p345.