Elders pan Germaine Greer black rage theory
Rosemary Neill & Padraic Murphy; 15/8/08
Contrarian feminist Germaine Greer argues that Aboriginal men suffer a rage they “can’t get over”, one that is responsible for violence in their communities. She also argues that indigenous women who supported the federal intervention in the Northern Territory Aboriginal communities will be seen as colluding “with the enemy”. But her arguments have angered indigenous leaders, who claim her comments discourage personal accountability and are a step backwards in tackling violence.
See: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24183665-5013404,00.html
Bizarre take on indigenous men
Rosemary Neill; 15/8/08
Germaine Greer’s essay on Aboriginal male rage is bound to enrage many men and women, indigenous and non-indigenous. Greer makes valid points in On Rage about the emasculation of Aboriginal male identity since the onslaught of white settlement. She is right to point out that, over the past 200 years, many Aboriginal men have lost their ancestral lands, their women, children and culture and that this plays a rolein the outrageously high levels of violent and self-destructive behaviour seen in their communities today. But Greer goes way over the top when she suggests Aboriginal women who support government intervention in the Northern Territory are effectively humiliating their men. Greer writes that the intervention got under way last year after former prime minister John Howard had “responded to the call of the (indigenous) women tocome to the aid of them and their children”.
See: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24183666-7583,00.html
Greer expects response to Aboriginal essay
Alex Tibbitts; 15/8/08
Germaine Greer said she was prepared to be challenged by Aboriginal leaders such as Noel Pearson for writing about Aboriginal men’s anger in a bound essay titled On Rage. In the book Greer argues the violence and sexual abuse in Aboriginal communities stems from the men’s rage at having their women stolen by white men. Former NSW premier Bob Carr described the small hardback as “one of the most powerful pamphlets written in Australian and should be read by any Australian who takes their citizenship seriously” when he launched the book - one of the first four essays published by Melbourne University Press as part of its “Little Books on Big Themes” series.
See: http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/greer-expects-response-to-aboriginal-essay/2008/08/14/1218307131618.html
Welcome Germaine
Editorial; 15/8/08
But would you kindly tell us when you’re going home? If Germaine Greer’s extraordinary appearance on the ABC’s Lateline on Wednesday served any purpose, it was to remind us of the romantic, woolly thinking that has heaped misery on indigenous communities for decades. In a new essay, Greer looks at indigenous Australia entirely through the prism of Aboriginal male rage, which she justifies as a response to the “appalling outrages and abuses” of white settlers. “They’ve been jerked about from pillar to post,” Greer told an incredulous Leigh Sales. “They’ve ended up in one concentration camp after another.” By blaming white men for black men’s anger, Greer displayed her sexism, racism and ignorance. It was the kind of verbal molotov cocktail we’ve come to expect from the former anarchist, and proved yet again that if Greer did not exist The Guardian would have had to invent her. It
See: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24182369-16741,00.html
Greer maintains the rage
15/8/08 - On ABC TV’s Lateline, the expatriate of four decades dispenses advice on Aboriginal violence and how to fix it
Hunter-Gatherer violence has a particular shape. It involves self-destruction, high levels of suicide but also high levels of extraordinary violence against the people closest to the perpetrator, the perpetrator’s own children and the womenfolk in his own family. Everything you do will be made part of that self-destructive scenario. So you will abuse alcohol or petrol or your car or anything. I think the intervention will fail unless the problem of rage is addressed. I would say first of all people have to find a way to express it, because it’s never been said that it’s so particularly noxious and poisonous. So what we need is a political structure. What I’ve argued for is a treaty. What is so tough about that idea?
Leigh Sales: You don’t focus on the rights of the children in your essay. Why was that?
See: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24182365-20261,00.html
Tags: Aboriginal, Australia, Editorial, Human Rights