copyright Bruce Reyburn. 1994
The land has spoken its response to the Native Title Act -
explosive bushfire! The voice of 'reason' from a Parliamentary
process dominated by vested European interest has been answered
by a clear message from life itself.
The ancient order of the Rainbow Serpent is on the move, and
faulty European acts will not entice it to resume its resting
position.
In the days in which the Commonwealth Government's Mabo
legislation commenced - legislation which denied the place of
First Peoples in land under Crown freehold and leasehold title -
the Red Demon erupted. While house-dwelling city folk rejoice in
how much property was saved and how little loss of their lives
there was, the full account of the destruction and loss of life
leaves no room for rejoicing. Shame is the order of the day.
The fire storms which have leapt into the sky above the trees -
'Crowning' in the terminology of fire-fighters - have sent a
powerful message of warning to us all. Cosmic imbalance - with
more to come until European's recognise the country's real Crown.
It is up to us - people not governments - to restore life's
balance. We cannot afford to entertain world-wide destructive
pretence.
I have heard several authorities, such as the top CSIRO fire
expert, say that fire is a natural fact of the Australian
environment. I disagree.
Bush fire is not a natural fact of the Australian ecosystem. It
is a cultural fact. Those who assert it is a 'natural fact' are
engaging in the institutionalised racism which permeates Anglo-
Australian society. This racism systematically denies the
importance of pre-European practices in the proper management of
life.
It does so, I believe, as part of the means by which Europeans
can justify their otherwise unjustifiable expropriation of First
People's living countries. By denying a role for the life-
investment of First Peoples in ensuring the orthodox reproduction
of the ecosystem, it is possible for European minds to say that
the land is theirs because they have added their type of energy
investment to it.
And this argument is also selective amongst Europeans themselves
as it only recognises the contribution of certain types of
investment as bestowing rights of ownership. The labour of
working class people does not count, for example. Old workers are
fobbed off when they are no longer required. A lifetime of hard
work does not count for anything amongst the followers of the
cult of private property.
Denying the role of the higher level investment of First People
in keeping the ecosystem finely tuned - in fact, declaring their
investment to be nonexistent - clears the way for the land can be
symbolically won (from a peopleless 'nature') through its
transformation by people with capital, who would have us believe
that what they do is merely to bring the finishing touches to
the 'natural' environment.
The practices of the senior lawmen, which are directed to
ensuring the orthodox reproduction of life, are real - if little
understood by scholar who receive grants from State governments.
Internalising and reproducing the norms of the State is a matter
of prime concern for the 'administration of science'.
By such means the false consciousness of Anglo-Australia is
endlessly reproduced and European dogmatism preached as gospel in
places of learning. Manipulating the public mind through the
construction of false representations - of stereotypes
constructed to suit the purposes of European masters - is a
highly effective means to maintaining privileges for a select
few.
By what means does this false consciousness continue to hold sway
over our minds?
The first step in the process is to convince us that First People
can be separated from the context of their living countries
without undue damage. Construct official representations of them
as wandering nomads, for example, and dissolve their claims to be
the actual projections of the life force of specific parts of the
country itself. Bundle them up and truck them off to
reservations, while expropriating the good bits. Call them back
for some seasonal labour.
Then make a complete mockery out of the relationship between the
serious practices (ceremonies) of senior lawmen by putting down
their work in reporducing cosmic order to 'primitive
superstition' - without any further understanding of the
relationship between the form of those practices and the
environmental forces to which the relate.
A quick sketch of the features of the local arrangements
demonstrates that they often (correctly) embody cyclical and not
linear notions of life; involve a through understanding of life's
actual complexity and acknowledge the fundamental importance of
the relationship between the generative context and the 'text' of
life.
Life is a local arrangement which is drawn into being as a result
of the sum of global factors - life is not spun out from an
imaginary genetic substance at the expense of all other forces.
But it would be inappropriate for us to attempt to intellectually
'understand' the process in fine dentil when what is required is
that we acknowledge the place of those whose Being is already
constituted in keeping with the continuation of these practices.
In other words, First Peoples understanding places them in a
cosmos which is quite different from that fashioned by European
ideological and commercial concerns articulated by socially
acceptable 'scientists'. These spokespeople are part of the
process which, in the name of certainty, makes nonsense out of
life. The cosmos of First Peoples is not one of recent invention
by a particular class in Europe. It is of the enduring eternal.
The newly invented heliocentric cosmology, based on the study of
nonliving things such as the paths of projectiles and falling
'objects' (useful for warfare), is extended to encompass the
whole of life. Universal forces, interpreted in narrow
materialist terms, are part of a set of rules of discourse for
making sense out of experience. Meanwhile, in the greater part of
life excluded from 'serious' attention, other forces play havoc
with life's good order. And just who benefits from this division
of labour?
The other necessary step in fracturing our understanding is to
convince us that there is a 'natural' environment which sort of
runs along independent of human practices. Those
environmentalists who seek to fashion pristine 'wilderness' -
excluding the practices of First Peoples - are also caught up in
this European fantasy. People and country form one unity.
The 'nature' fallacy is a form of mystification works to deny the
essential role for the place of pre-European life's ritual and
mundane practices in the orderly reproduction of the living
cosmos. First Peoples are characterised, by this systematic
distortion, as 'hunter-gatherers' - and their higher level
activities are separated out and placed into meaningless
categories of Western thought.
We would do better to find a less demeaning means of
characterisation and one which acknowledges the totality of
practice - including the shortcomings of European practices.
The invention of 'nature' also works to attempt to cover up, to
disguise, the complete mismatch between European practices and
the Australian ecosystem by pretending that the relationship is
somehow nonexistent. And yet nothing could be more obvious than
the fact that the arrogant assumption of priority assumed by
European practices is vibrating the country apart as surely as a
misbehaving engine on a jumbo jet.
The administrative system of government - Commonwealth, State,
Territory - is a key component in the accelerating destruction
of the Australian ecosystem over the last two centuries. Does any
other country come close to the Australian record for the species
loss which has resulted from the importation of a Westminster
system into the heart of life?
The area known as the Royal National Park south of Sydney, where
I regularly visit, has displayed an official sign saying 'No wood
fires' for several years now. This sign appeared as a result of a
decision of the government administration in charge of the
'Park'. At the moment about 95 percent of the 'Park' has been
completely burnt out - barely a stick of wood remains on the
ground - as a result of the same management regime. An extremely
hot fire has swept through the area, no doubt killing many of the
life forms, as a direct result of the mismanagement practices of
the European style adminstration.
The contrast between desired outcome (No wood fires) and
predictable consequence could not be greater. Early European
accounts record how park-like was the country when they first
arrived. As well-managed living country, it was not the mess it
is now.
These park-like features result from at least two factors.
Firstly, there was a different collection of small life-forms on
the ground who played an important role in keeping the litter
down. Introduced European animals were part of the process which
upset this balance. Secondly, First Peoples regularly burnt off
the country as a result of deliberations based upon numerous
considerations (i.e. not wilful). Introduced European authorities
were part of the process which upset this balance!
The practices of senior lawmen are directly related to both of
these factors. The higher practices of senior men are directed to
ensure the orthodox reproduction of species, such as those
crucial to maintaining the cosmically-ordered (park-like)
arrangement of the forest/wood/bush and heathlands. If their
practices had been allowed to continue (rather than being driven
to the point of extinction) it is my estimate that ecological
balance would have (at least) been found sooner. At present, the
country is a bloody mess.
In saying this I should add that the practices of senior lawmen
are part of a means through which part of the ecosystem
communicates with other parts. Prevent these practices and you
prevent the ecosystem from communicating with itself to ensure
orthodox reproduction. Denied this means of relating, it runs
wild.
And so, we are no closer to finding that point of ecological
balance while we continue to accept as 'normal' areas of land
called 'National Parks' which are administered by bureaucrats who
are strong on rhetoric pleasing to the ears of their bankrupt
political masters and weak on the means for putting even their
misconceived Eurocentric policies of 'land' management into
place.
For them, 'land' management means 'land without people' and yet
they themselves are people involved in the mismanagement of land.
We say "Parks are for people and for First Peoples first.' We
have a long way to go to dislodge the political and cultural
arrogance which dominates the present Anglo-Australian
administration is this regard.
The bald, scorched earth of the living country which is called
the Royal National Park says to Anglo-Australia "See the true
image of yourself and of your system of life management!"
Real reform is long overdue. Unfortunately, the passing of the
Commonwealth's Native Title Act and the self-serving debate after
the bush-fires has demonstrated that Anglo-Australia is not
capable of self-reformation.
When States abuse the their trustee role (in which they act on
behalf of ultimate authority), it is no longer right to accept
State authority without critical questioning.
Do we hear the NSW National Parks and Wildlife spokespeople
calling for a reintroduction of First Peoples and their practices
into the 'Parks'. No way - there is an bureaucratic and
administrative empire to guard. An advance guard for their
masters more likely as the Forest Industry lobbies to be allowed
in to mill the remaining trees (while people are excluded because
of the damage they might cause to sensitive areas!).
Will we have to wait until the surface of the whole planet is
like that of Mars before we adopt a global approach to restoring
balance to life?
No! We must transcend the artificial boundaries of States by
embracing an image of life which has, at its centre, a lived
acknowledgement that the highest authority stems from life, not
from false images constructed by a motivated subset of humanity.
Embracing our Elder Brothers and restoring them to their place -
be it in National Parks or land under pastoral lease or Crown
freehold - is crucial for restoring the process by which life
governs itself. That is the real meaning of self-determination
and self-government.
The image in which we were created is the image of well-being for
all life. In our case, others come before us.
Responsibility for the unnecessary deaths of countless animals in
the fires resulting from Anglo-Australian maladmistration lies at
the feet of all those who accept the legitimacy of that system of
'government'.
What real action will you take to convert shame into grace and
prevent it happening again?
20 January 1994