Well said Debbie
regards
peter
On 01/12/2010, at 1:44 PM, Debbie Lustig wrote:
I have been reading people's opinions about the money being charged
to see Princess Parrots and can hold off no longer. There is an
underlying racism that lurks, a nasty little secret, beneath the
comments of many. How else to explain well-meaning discussions
along these lines (and I paraphrase):
'If it teaches them - Indigenous people - to run birding tours then
I approve' (for our - whitefellas' - benefit, of course);
'If they share the money among their community then I
approve' (since when were Europeans called upon to share their
profits with their communites?);
'They've been given enough money already so I don't approve' (over-
simplifying an unbelievably complex situation); and
'If they can get that sort of money, let them try (but I don't
approve)'.
These sentiments imply a superiority and moral high ground we
simply don't possess. They are more offensive for being subtle.
People have also objected to the traditional owner's scruples about
(white) birders running around on his land, when we don't have a
clue what it means to be custodians of the land. To protect the
animals, birds and plants; to have a spiritual connection; to be
diminished when the land is trampled on and ignorantly invaded.
Look at how we have managed custody of our own (stolen) lands, here
in our cities and degraded, agricultural areas - we know only how
to exploit.
I am fed up with reading this correspondence, couched in economic
terms but informed by ugly, masked racism. From now on, could it be
limited to the facts?
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