Good piece. Almost correct regarding Australia except you left out that the Australian Government's sovereignty covers the whole country right up to the edge of any anti-Israel hate march. At that point, it cedes sovereignty to whatever Islamist or Marxist is running the protest.
It is great to be back in your comments section, Daniel! This is a stupendous article! Sovereignty belongs to whomever has claimed a piece of land, has worked on it and has the military strength to hold it. This is not the same as property. No one can own a country or piece of land just by being there. These two things are not the same and shouldn't be conflated. Property is ownership of a piece of land or an idea. For example, your home, computer, desk, books, bed, groceries, car, carpet, belonging, etc. NOT a whole country! As to Australia, the English settlers put down roots on land that no one had claimed or populated. The Aboriginal people certainly lived in pre-European Australia but their population while significant, was small and didn't cover most of the country which was uninhabited and still is today. The English settlers arrived and built thriving farms on that land, made their homes there and cultivated the land and built towns, cities and thriving communities on it. They and their descendants own it now and forever. By the way, English colonialism in Australia was not entirely bad for the Aboriginal and Torrit Straight Islander peoples.
Now let me be clear, did English settler-colonialism in Australia bring with it paternalistic racism, discrimination, second-class citizenship, atrocities, injustices, exploitation, forced assimilation, cultural suppression, forced dispossession, and the child removal policy? Yes. All of that is true. Its not my intention to whitewash the bad things that were done to Aboriginal and Torrit Straight Islander Australians. But that isn't all there is to the story. The arrival of the English settlers to Australia also brought to the Aboriginal and Torrit Straight Islander peoples liberal democracy, capitalism, pluralism, the rule of law, an impartial judiciary, English Common Law, modern medicine, stability, greater educational and economic opportunity, women's suffrage, the English language, the Christian religion, access to advanced technology, the protection of the Royal Navy, and higher standards of living. Plus, it's not like pre-contact Aboriginal and Torrit Straight Islander society was the Garden of Eden, far from it. These societies practiced patriarchy, spousal abuse, child abuse, infanticide, eldercide, rape, sexual assault, and cannibalism. For example, it is estimated that 30% of newborn Aboriginal children were killed in order to avoid the tribe getting too big and having too many mouths to feed. European observers noted that these killings were carried out without the slightest bit of guilt or sadness.
Rev. Frederick August Hagenauer (1829-1909) a Moravian missionary in Gippsland, stated that Aboriginal tribes would “bury new-born babes alive in the sand”, which was formerly “a common practice”. Another account provided by Scottish-born grazier Peter Beveridge (1829-85) who lived near Swan Hill in 1845 stated “Infanticide was often practiced, and meals were made by mothers of their own offspring. This practice is attributable to laziness principally; for if a mother has two children, one two years old and the other just born, she is sure to destroy the youngest.” Similarly, William Edward Stanbridge (1817-94), a founder of Daylesford and a local council member there, confirms Beveridge's account with his own observations, “New-born babes are killed by their parents, and eaten by them and their children. When such revolting occurrences take place, the previously-born child is unable to walk, and the opinion is that, by eating as much as possible of the roasted infant, it will possess the strength of both.” These are just a few of the many examples from James Dawson's book Australian Aborignes: Their Languages and Customs of Several Tribes of Aborigines in the Western District of Victoria written in 1881 of how violent and barbaric pre-contact Aboriginal society truly was.
Good piece. Almost correct regarding Australia except you left out that the Australian Government's sovereignty covers the whole country right up to the edge of any anti-Israel hate march. At that point, it cedes sovereignty to whatever Islamist or Marxist is running the protest.
Indeed. And to be clear, that isn’t just humour. By conceding control, they conceded sovereignty by definition.
It is great to be back in your comments section, Daniel! This is a stupendous article! Sovereignty belongs to whomever has claimed a piece of land, has worked on it and has the military strength to hold it. This is not the same as property. No one can own a country or piece of land just by being there. These two things are not the same and shouldn't be conflated. Property is ownership of a piece of land or an idea. For example, your home, computer, desk, books, bed, groceries, car, carpet, belonging, etc. NOT a whole country! As to Australia, the English settlers put down roots on land that no one had claimed or populated. The Aboriginal people certainly lived in pre-European Australia but their population while significant, was small and didn't cover most of the country which was uninhabited and still is today. The English settlers arrived and built thriving farms on that land, made their homes there and cultivated the land and built towns, cities and thriving communities on it. They and their descendants own it now and forever. By the way, English colonialism in Australia was not entirely bad for the Aboriginal and Torrit Straight Islander peoples.
Now let me be clear, did English settler-colonialism in Australia bring with it paternalistic racism, discrimination, second-class citizenship, atrocities, injustices, exploitation, forced assimilation, cultural suppression, forced dispossession, and the child removal policy? Yes. All of that is true. Its not my intention to whitewash the bad things that were done to Aboriginal and Torrit Straight Islander Australians. But that isn't all there is to the story. The arrival of the English settlers to Australia also brought to the Aboriginal and Torrit Straight Islander peoples liberal democracy, capitalism, pluralism, the rule of law, an impartial judiciary, English Common Law, modern medicine, stability, greater educational and economic opportunity, women's suffrage, the English language, the Christian religion, access to advanced technology, the protection of the Royal Navy, and higher standards of living. Plus, it's not like pre-contact Aboriginal and Torrit Straight Islander society was the Garden of Eden, far from it. These societies practiced patriarchy, spousal abuse, child abuse, infanticide, eldercide, rape, sexual assault, and cannibalism. For example, it is estimated that 30% of newborn Aboriginal children were killed in order to avoid the tribe getting too big and having too many mouths to feed. European observers noted that these killings were carried out without the slightest bit of guilt or sadness.
Rev. Frederick August Hagenauer (1829-1909) a Moravian missionary in Gippsland, stated that Aboriginal tribes would “bury new-born babes alive in the sand”, which was formerly “a common practice”. Another account provided by Scottish-born grazier Peter Beveridge (1829-85) who lived near Swan Hill in 1845 stated “Infanticide was often practiced, and meals were made by mothers of their own offspring. This practice is attributable to laziness principally; for if a mother has two children, one two years old and the other just born, she is sure to destroy the youngest.” Similarly, William Edward Stanbridge (1817-94), a founder of Daylesford and a local council member there, confirms Beveridge's account with his own observations, “New-born babes are killed by their parents, and eaten by them and their children. When such revolting occurrences take place, the previously-born child is unable to walk, and the opinion is that, by eating as much as possible of the roasted infant, it will possess the strength of both.” These are just a few of the many examples from James Dawson's book Australian Aborignes: Their Languages and Customs of Several Tribes of Aborigines in the Western District of Victoria written in 1881 of how violent and barbaric pre-contact Aboriginal society truly was.
I've missed you Noah! I will need to digest your comment in detail.
Umm. Aborigines eating their babies! Is there incontestable proof of this?