Those 2 words never go together do they? Inspiration and Politics.

Most of the words are more like, depressing, boring, bickering, even hate and loathing frequently enter into it. So what would be cause for inspiration?

Well Humility for one thing.

And the character to acknowledge an intergenerational wrong. Most colonial governments (and settlers) have a list of cruelties as long as 10 arms perpetrated on the indigenous people of a land. In our case in Australia, its the Aborigines. A proud, deep people that have until the last 10 years been relegated to the too hard basket.

What was the wrong? Well a lot of them were killed, but more recently (until the early 70s) the government was forcibly removing children from their families in the interests of ’safety’. They are called The Stolen Generation.

Roughly 1 in every 5 children were take from their families and relocated into Christian schools under the pretense of securing their future. Not surprisingly it had the opposite effect of displacing their families and subjecting them to decades of personal distress. A tribal people ripped away from their young ones.

So after nearly 12 years of conservative government under the Liberal Party (The American equivalent of the Republicans -cept Ron Paul) a party of the people as making very human statements to its indigenous custodians. The Aborigines. Sorry.

“It’s about us coming together as a country, acknowledging our past and moving on, accepting each other as brothers and sisters of this nation.”

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.

So for the first time I can remember I am inspired by an Australian Prime Minster and reminded very powerfully of what being Australian means.

A fair go for everyone. 

So here are the 3 YouTube movies that make up the 30 minute speech. This is what it looks like when Politics meets the heart, a mixing all too rare in our world. Also it gives us the chance to reflect on how we might help those that have a hard time and how we can heal old wounds and move on together.

Apology to the Stolen Generations of Australia : Part 1

Apology to the Stolen Generations of Australia : Part 2

Apology to the Stolen Generations of Australia : Part 3

Related posts:

1. Peter Gabriel talks about Witness program and Human Rights Peter Gabriel has been one of my biggest influences, not...
2. Global Warming framed in terms of risk management This is the best explanation I have ever heard for...
3. Naomi Wolf - a powerful talk about fascism and democracy I really follow the news quite closely, although in these...