Language and Culture

I was with a group of impressive Warlpiri women this week who have recently been told by Politicians that they are not allowed to teach their own children in their own language. They were angry and frustrated. Their culture and rituals are fundamental to them and their language is the vehicle for that. They said to each other and to the rest of us who were there "We ask the kardiya (non-indigneous people) Where is your culture? You got no culture!" It was hard to argue with them. When the only rituals I feel these days are singing Happy Birthday to someone, or reciting the Lord's Prayer at funerals I attend. I wonder what meaning these really have for me. My culture does feel empty and I once again am forced to cringe at government acting against indigenous people to diminish the things that mean the most to them.

How dare we! This and the intervention is what future generations will be saying SORRY for.

Obama

It's surprising to me how invested I have been in the US election. I found myself anxiously awaiting the results on Wednesday and then feeling increasingly optimistic as the votes gradually came in. Then it became clear that Obama had won and I was overcome with excitement and relief. I think I was buoyed by the fact that for so long the USA had been stuck in lowest common denominator politics - appealing to the worst aspects of human nature - division, fear, hatred, bigotry; but here was Obama - a voice that was saying something different. A voice that appealed to what is best in human nature - hope, community, optimism, cooperation. I read something the other day which talked about the human instinct to help others. I believe this to be true and have, in the past, been made to feel abnormal because of this belief. What a watershed for millions of Americans to finally collectively say that they too believe in the same spirit. What an historical moment to witness, the moment where a majority of people in a powerful western nation say that they are more interested in the collective rather than looking out for their individual needs.
Obama might not be the Messiah that he is being heralded as in some quarters, but he has been a rallying point. A leader who has dared to suggest that we can be more than we have been in the past.
When the election result was announced a friend sent me a text message say "Phew, that feels better". That sums it up for me. The world just feels better, more possible, more whole, more communal with Obama as US President than has ever been the case in my life time. And i for one am glad to have lived in a time when it has happened.