Gisteren, 13 februari, was de verjaardag van de eerste officiële excuses in 2008 van een Australische premier, Kevin Rudd, voor alle ellende die de witte kolonisten hadden veroorzaakt.
Rudd studeerde Chinees, was diplomaat en werd rechtzinnig Labour premier van 2007-10 en in 2013. Dit alles tegen de achtergrond van niet alleen de onteigening en achterstelling, maar vooral de ‘legale’ ontvoering van Aboriginal-kinderen. Het gaat om culturen die vaak meer dan 50.000 jaar oud zijn.
De zg. ‘ontdekker’ van ‘Australië’ was overigens zoals bekend Willem Janszoon in de Duyfken in 1606 en daarna nog een serie Nederlanders van de VOC, onder wie Abel Tasman (‘Tasmanië’). De Nederlanders zagen er niets in maar James Cook wel. Daarmee begon de ellende.
Het mooie van deze excuses is hun duidelijkheid.
Toevallig was gisteravond de onovertroffen Miriam Margolyes op de BBC met haar reportageserie over Aus. Ze trof een Aboriginal gevangene – de grote meerderheid van de gevangenen daar is Abo – die in een progressieve gevangenis zat en daar honden trainde. Wat hem – en de hond – heel veel goed deed. Daarna nog wat gebabbel over nudisten – met lichtbeelden – en de ‘designer vagina’. Ze speelde ook in Harry Potter en Blackadder met Rowan Atkinson. Margolyes woonde lang in Aus en kort in Amsterdam en is Joodse en ‘dyke’. Het kwam mooi uit. Het pijnlijke punt van de ontvoerde generaties kinderen – ‘stolen generations’ was al eerder aangeroerd.
I move:
That today we honour the Indigenous peoples of this land, the oldest continuing cultures in human history.
We reflect on their past mistreatment.
We reflect in particular on the mistreatment of those who were Stolen Generations—this blemished chapter in our nation’s history.
The time has now come for the nation to turn a new page in Australia’s history by righting the wrongs of the past and so moving forward with confidence to the future.
We apologise for the laws and policies of successive Parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians.
We apologise especially for the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families, their communities and their country.
For the pain, suffering, and hurt of these Stolen Generations, their descendants and for their families left behind, we say sorry.
To the mothers and the fathers, the brothers and the sisters, for the breaking up of families and communities, we say sorry.
And for the indignity and degradation thus inflicted on a proud people and a proud culture, we say sorry.
We the Parliament of Australia respectfully request that this apology be received in the spirit in which it is offered as part of the healing of the nation.
For the future we take heart; resolving that this new page in the history of our great continent can now be written.
We today take this first step by acknowledging the past and laying claim to a future that embraces all Australians.
A future where this Parliament resolves that the injustices of the past must never, never happen again.
A future where we harness the determination of all Australians, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, to close the gap that lies between us in life expectancy, educational achievement, and economic opportunity.
A future where we embrace the possibility of new solutions to enduring problems where old approaches have failed.
A future based on mutual respect, mutual resolve and mutual responsibility.A future where all Australians, whatever their origins, are truly equal partners, with equal opportunities and with an equal stake in shaping the next chapter in the history of this great country, Australia.
— Kevin Rudd, Prime Minister of Australia, 13 February 2008, at a sitting of the Parliament of Australia.
– Uitgelichte afbeelding: Door National Archives of Australia. Copied from en.wikipedia; description page is/was here., Publiek domein, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3015593
