Compensating Aboriginals?

Question

should we compensate the Indigenous ppl for the past injustices??

why /why not

Answer 1

No population of modern humans can be said to have always occupied a particular piece of land.  Aborigines in Australia may have arrived there ~50,000 years ago but I imagine that tribal warfare determined who lives where.  I would want to honor agreements but being punished for the past deeds of our ancestors is a never ending process.  No group of modern humans have histories that don't include their ancestors taking land from the previous owners.  It could end up being a guilt issue where they are paid a never ending subsidy.  That would do nothing but cause open hostility over time.

Answer 2

Compensate them.  How can we compensate for the destruction of the food sources they depended on.  How can we compensate for the deliberate provision of disease infected blankets.  How can we compensate for the deliberate and inhuman destruction of the women, children, including mutilation, and the greedy acquisition of the land they called their nation.  How can we compensate for herding them into geographical locations that was so inhospitable and arid, the only occupants were rattle snakes and prairie dogs.  Arid, almost desert like, and last and most importantly, with our greed and barbarian like behavior, these humans were punished for practicing their ancient religious rituals, and forced to accept Christianity as their beliefs.  The 'WE" are the European immigrants who were the industrial giants of Europe.  They were the explorers from Spain, Portugal, France, England, and the hoards of commoners who followed.  What compensation do you suggest.  The plan to destroy them by genocide was a cooperative effort by these greedy political leaders.  Their natural lifestyle was destroyed, the cultural values were ridiculed, and their identity was destroyed.  Again I ask, what compensation do you suggest.

Answer 3

I say YES compensate them, but ONLY those who were part of the "stolen generation", not the hangers on who claim native title because 200 years ago their Great Great Great Gandfathers caught kangaroos on this same patch of dirt. The stolen generation should be compensated $1,000,000 earch - a drop in the ocean when you realise we give a Billion dollars a year to bloody Indonesia !!!

I still think, however prejudiced the believes of the time that our ancestors actually believed they were offering a better hand and saving the Aboriginal children from poverty, savagery and incestous relations with the elders, much like the intervention programes required today!

Answer 4

Who should pay?

Who should receive?

My grandparents immigrated to America in the 1900s. Should they be considered guilty? What about the "Boat People" that came here after Vietnam? The Iraqis that are now immigrating? Should the African-Americans pay. even if they came here in chains?

One poster mentioned disease. The germ theory of disease was 400 years in the future in 1492. Can one really claim that as an injustice?

Shouldn't we first compensate the Neandertals? How far back should guilt over past injustices go?

Answer 5

i think it is the right thing to do, but dependacy on goverment is bad too

Answer 6

Yes,

It's a big step forward to try to put a bandage on the past. Nothing can undo past mistreatment of indigenous people, but it can be seen as an apology.  

No compensation= we're not sorry, and we don't care at all what happened to who or the sufferings of others. That's a very war like and insolent way to be.

Answer 7

Well the white men inhabited their land and introduced diseases that they weren't immune to like colds and measles and things like that and had guns to use when it suited them and as time wore on many were driven out of their ancestral lands like I think all the indigenous people in Tasmania were killed by white settlers over time and the whites got the best lands for themselves and as time went on racism was obvious and they weren't even counted in the Australian Census until quite recent years (might have been the 80's but don't quote me).  Also the introduction of alcohol didn't help as the natives were just not accustomed to handling it and there still are problems that way.  Bit like the American Indians really being driven off the best hunting grounds etc. and cultures built up over many many moons severely compromised.   It seems world wide that the white man with his better firepower had it all over the natives of many lands and islands and just maybe that was "progress" and bound to happen whichever nation found this country first - like it could have been the French who claimed Australia and would things have been better or worse for the natives?????  There are still many Australians who whinge about all the Government handouts directed to the

Aborigines and some say many don't utilize benefits properly and wreck homes and drink too much and abuse wives and children (but would that be the case if foreigners had never set foot on their land some 200 odd years ago so that's relative recent history).   Anyway I believe Rudd's apology was well timed - maybe overdue - an acknowledgement of what white settlement did to cultures that were among the oldest on this planet and their deep respect for the land in a spiritual context.   Perhaps re compensation the genuine apology was enough as well as said Government handouts.  The "Stolen Generation" issue is a difficult one as in some cases the children were better off but that one is a Pandora's Box and compensation would drain the Treasury pretty dry wouldn't it.  I mean real compensation would involve giving back choice real estate and stuff and I really cannot see that happening.  The Government handed back Uluru didn't it and that was a good thing to do.   It's education and proper Social Service Department help that is needed to be updated I think so we can all go forward.

Answer 8

I think the current trend of placing greater protection on the cultural heritage of aboriginals is a good one. Europeans came into the Americas (if we're talking about Native Americans here) and took away their lifestyles, their population, their prosperity, their cultural heritage, and a variety of other things. We can't turn back the clock, or give them a hundred generations alone to bolster their numbers, or return most of the knowledge that was lost to them. We can, however, return the cultural remains, including human remains, that we do have, and we can make sure that future finds are given proper custody. I would not be against monetary reparations in principle, but I have yet to see a feasible plan for something like that.