The Paradigm Shift on the Intervention (NTER)
By the paradigmshift on August 8th, 2010
In early July there was a Defending Indigenous Rights Conference in Mparntwe (Alice Springs), Northern Territory, so this week we spoke to two people from Brisbane who participated: Ewan and Tanya of the Aboriginal Rights Coalition.
The Conference was in opposition to the on-going Northern Territory Emergency Response (NTER), more commonly known as the Intervention, which was initiated by the Howard government in 2007.
They spoke to us about the problems of the Intervention, the fraud of it’s pre-text, some of the workshops at the conference, ARC’s plans for the future and the resolutions that came out of the conference.
Listen Now @ The Paradigm Shift
For more information: http://stoptheintervention.org/
The Paradigm Shift on the Intervention (NTER) Part II – Ampilatwatja
Posted by theparadigmshift on August 8th, 2010
The second part of our Intervention show features the “alternative” to the Intervention, the case of the Ampilatwatja walk-off and protest camp.
We spoke to two people who didn’t make it to the Conference but did make it to the protest camp.
The camp was set up by community members in July 2009 after seeing that two years of Intervention Spending hadn’t produced anything positive on the ground.
Aleisha and Bridget told us about the community’s frustration in not being listened to or respected, their claim to the U.N. to be recognised as refugees, and the continuing lack of response from Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin.
On the positive side we learned about their hopes and plans for the future: their self-provision of basic services and infrastructure that we suspect the government never intended to provide in the first place.
Once again we learned that Aboriginal communities do not need paternalism, but may appreciate solidarity.
Listen Now @ The Paradigm Shift