Hi from Australia

[Dreamfish]

Hello, thanks for allowing me to join the forum. I am an Australian-born descendant of Polynesian tribes from my mother's people, and Northern Irish on my father's side of the tracks. I am a film maker/visual artist and writer. I am trying to understand why the collective, white, western identity has lost it's own thread of truth, lost it's sense of relationship with the earth, and why so many are in a frenzy to adopt/steal the identities, cultures and customs of native peoples. I recognise that in part, there is tremendous sense of shame for what has gone before, and so many people are driven to make reconciliation that we are drawn to the Dreaming festivals, to the cultural celebrations, fascinated by the customs of our Indigenous peoples, we are all hungry for hope, for honest connection, for something real to touch us. White western society has cast out it's own elders, severed the links back to it's traditional roots. Mostly we just need to be shown the simplest ways back, to make amends to the planet and all the people.

I too am profoundly disheartened by the greed that infuses the actions and motivations of so many, I want to use my energies to help the empty white mind find it's way back to a state of reverence for nature and all beings. Unless that can happen we are doomed.

Enough ranting, I extend my friendship and heartfelt desire to see integrity reign supreme.

cheers and g'day!

[Moma_porcupine]

Hi Dreamfish / Teone Welcome !

I like the sound of what you are trying to do !

One of the things I notice is that people of the dominent culture seem to have an unconscious underlying world veiw and belief system which everything gets trimmed down to fit within.

What it sounds like you are doing - trying to make people aware of some of the unconscious assumptions underlying their world view and educating people on what can and can't be accomadated within this, could be really helpful. 

Another thing I am really curious about, which i was just thinking of yesterday, is how other indigenous cultures deal with PODIAs ( people of distant ancestry) I have heard that the Maori welcome back anyone who's family tree connects with a Maori family , and there is no concern about how far back this is.

I wonder if this is this true? Does this work ? Is there problems ? If one of these people is disrespectful or exploitive how is that dealt with? I'm not sure if you can offer any information about this and if you can maybe this topic would be better discussed in another thread, but I have felt really curious about this and if there is differences which make this work or not work what those differences are.

There is a thread on PODIAs below ...

http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=1111.0

Though maybe Maori PODIAs would be a different topic   ... ?   

[Dreamfish]

Thank you for the welcome and for the support of what I'm about.

As I said, thank you for the welcome.

[earthw7]

Hi
I greet you with a warm handshake
I like what you are doing.

[Defend the Sacred]

Welcome, Dreamfish! I also appreciate your analysis here.

There are very distinct political and hierarchical elements to our Maori tribal traditions, this is a highly volatile culture based on very fierce and warring tribes and these qualities unfortunately still cause much pain.

Combine that with the Belfast line and I'd say it's probably good the other side of the family is more structured towards getting along with one another over the long haul. (G-Grandparents from County Down, here, and have struggled with these qualities in my communities, as well.)

... I do feel sad and lost about the strongly identifying cultural elements inside me that I cannot claim with any sense of authenticity, for not having lived the hardships of so many who suffer the intense brutality of so much hard-drinking poverty and violence.

This is also an issue with American whites who are removed from their ethnic roots. Even for families like mine, where some of the grandparents considered themselves very traditional Irish, by the time I was born our lives were very different from those of our neighbors who had just immigrated. Here in America the  conflicts over class and religion were nowhere near as volatile as in the North of Ireland, but when I was a teenager they could still get you beaten up in the wrong neighborhood. For the most part it was subtle divisions and prejudices, though, with those whose families had been here longer (and assimilated more) getting better treatment from the mainstream.

For every good quality that comes from preserving ethnic identity, also seems to come pain, especially to the children, for not fitting in when introduced to a more mainstream, homogenized environment. Kids who may feel a strong sense of cultural identity at home, if they have to go to more diverse schools, often wind up as one of the "weird kids." I think that is what starts a lot of the cultural death - the desire to fit in. It's easier on the kids when they're not so alone, when they can live in a community with others of their culture. They'll eventually have to deal with the mainstream to some extent or another, but I think it's easier once they are older.

I can't say that my friends who were more recent immigrants had more of a moral center in their family, though. My grandparents were very moral people, and that integrity has always been prized in our family over possessions. It didn't take with everyone, however. One of the keys for us was stopping the drinking. It's just too dangerous for us. It was the alcoholism and violence that made me embarrassed to be Irish-American when I was a kid, and which I need to keep a distance from now. That's not one of the cultural traits I want to help survive.

[Dreamfish]

Thanks also for the welcome earthw7 and Kathryn.

Kathryn you said

"One of the keys for us was stopping the drinking. It's just too dangerous for us. It was the alcoholism and violence that made me embarrassed to be Irish-American when I was a kid, and which I need to keep a distance from now. That's not one of the cultural traits I want to help survive."

I am with you on that totally... I cannot, under any circumstances handle being around that kind of drinking patterning, the kind that has a time-bomb strapped to it's core, I've worn the horrific aftermath of shame and hurt too many times.

I won't drink!   Alcohol has got to be one of the major causes of suffering in the history of all our tribes.

see you later...

[Superdog]

You might wanna read up on a theory by a woman named Sousan Abadian called "Collective Trauma" and another article by a man named Craig Lambert about her and her theory in Harvard Magazine called "Trails of Tears, and Hope"

The Lambert article is hopefully on their archives...the web address I have for it is

http://harvardmagazine.com/2008/03/p-trails-of-tears-and-hope.html

I believe it came out in the March edition 2008 of Harvard Magazine.  You may find it has a lot of significance to the topic your talking about here.

Superdog

[Dreamfish]

Thank you Superdog for the link, the article is very interesting indeed. I am commissioned by Aboriginal communities & state gov. departments to make films for the promotion of positive community issues here in Australia, where there are varying degrees of recovery going on from the long-term effects of the same types of dreadful impacts that the governments of the day made on our Indigenous people - stolen generations, slavery, abuse, attempted assimilation, enforced destruction of tribal languages and practices, it's a stain that will not wash out. Our new Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd opened his parliament last year by inviting the Indigenous elders to make an official 'welcome-to-country' and then proceeded to apologise to the Aboriginal peoples of Australia on behalf of the system of governments that had perpetuated these dreadful crimes against humanity. It's the first time any appropriate protocols have been so formally implemented in Parliament in the proper acknowledgment of the authority of the Aboriginal people as traditional owners. It's one foot in the right direction.

thanks again, a very good link 

[Ric_Richardson]

Tansi;
Welcome to this forum!  I am a Metis person, living a Sober life, since having learned that alcohol is devastating our communities and people.  Tonight, I will be attending a Wake for a young man who died as a result of alcohol, after he ran from police into the bush at over 20 below zero.  In the north, as in many other places, alcohol and drugs are taking our youth away at alarming rates.  I commend you for your efforts and hope you continue to work toward helping your (and our) peoples!
Ric

[Dreamfish]

Ric,

thank you for your kind words. My sorrows go to the spirits of all our young men and women who fall down on the road and are not able to be picked up and carried along to better days. 

May we learn from the loss, and find another way.

dreamfish

[Ric_Richardson]

Tansi;
Dreamfish, if you are able to reach even one person who chooses to change their life for the better, it is worth whatever effort it takes!

Winter is a brutal time each year, here.  In the past two weeks, we have laid to rest 3 people from my community of 400, in addition to two more who passed away in Canoe Lake, where my wife teaches.  Three of these deaths were the result, directly or indirectly, of alcohol and drug abuse.  In our region, we are close, even though there are 30,000 people, mostly Aboriginal, living in the northern half of the province of Saskatchewan, which is about the same size as all of Germany.

We can only hope and Pray that these losses may be able to help our people to see how drugs and alcohol affect all of us.  Keep up to good work!
Ric

[Dreamfish]

Ric,

My condolences go to you and your community for these terrible losses. Are there any substantial education programs available for your community to self-educate the youth on how to say 'no' and rehabilitate people from their addiction to alcohol? Are there any Community Health workers running any intervention programs, or substance abuse clinics or anything like that for your people?

Thank you for your own powerful commitment to change.

Dreamfish   

[Ric_Richardson]

Tansi;

As my wife, Rose, and I are currently participating in a "Strategic Planning" committee, in our community, we have worked hard to have a plan to implement an alcohol and drug abuse component in the plan.  It was difficult to even get people to admit that these are a problem, since it affects every family here, including our own, and many do not want to cause problems for family members by admitting this.  We do not have a community based addiction worker nor any resources, except outside of our community, at present and we are working toward ensuring that our community can take ownership of our own issues.

I will be contacting you to take advantage of your experience, since you have so generously offered.  Thank you!
Ric

[Dreamfish]

Ric, please call on me any time. I can link you with some Indigenous groups here that specifically work in substance abuse and recovery, and I'll do what I can to help with supporting some creative initiatives. Let me know whenever you're ready, and we can discuss a strategic plan in a private message.

best wishes

Dreamfish