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FtF Project - Conceptual OverviewThis is a shortened version of the Conceptual Overview of the Fanning the Flames project, written by FtF co-ordinator Frank Hytten. The full version is available here.
A different version of historyThe term ‘Reconciliation’ means very different things to different people. To some it is a fashionable necessity to which some lip service must be paid. To others it signifies a fundamental shift in the way we think about ‘Australia’, a nation that in terms of this continent is very, very new indeed.
From the point of view of the current dominant political forces, the reality of ‘Australia’ is embraced unapologetically and ‘history’ is accepted, uncontested and as glorious.
Organisations like ANTaR do not agree with either contention; history must be contested, different perceptions of history must be considered and that there is nothing glorious about history from the point of view of the people who are disadvantaged by it.
Minority experiences must not be ignored, while others are selectively celebrated. The story of the ‘discovery’ and ‘settlement’ of this continent and of the consequences of these events to the Indigenous population cannot simply be excluded from the book because they are inconvenient, an embarrassment to the ‘establishment’ version or because to admit to the different stories may demand action to correct injustices and abuses of the past.
Reconciliation is problematicReconciliation, from ANTaR’s point of view, is a contested construct that requires considerable ‘truth finding’, analysis and energy in offering evidence of the veracity of different stories; engaging ‘ordinary people’ in finding ways by which the injustices of the past can be reconciled to our cultural ambitions and rhetoric of a ‘fair go’, and to take social and political action to ensure that such action happens.
The FtF Project: A commitment to social change
ANTaR’s existence and the Victorian ANTaR project “Fanning the Flames of Reconciliation” (FtF) embodies a commitment to bring about social change.
This involves changes to the knowledge ‘ordinary people’ have in relation to Indigenous people; changes to the priority ‘ordinary people’ give to creating a just society that includes Indigenous people as having particular and respected rights as First Peoples; and changes to the political landscape that currently largely ignores the voice of Indigenous people and therefore, genuine change.
Our experience of working in the context of FtF over the last three years has changed much of our thinking – or at least re-focused it. We have developed new aims for a follow up project and have decided that a different emphasis is needed if our work is to have integrity and engender change towards a genuine ‘Reconciliation’.
Image courtesy of Megan Evans
Of course, all three aims
will to be enacted concurrently, but have and will continue to gain
momentum as our knowledge, relationships and skills develop. They
did over the life of FtF and will again.
AIMS, METHODS AND MEANINGSHow we got from point A (our FtF original project aims) to Point B (aims for ongoing work, deepened understanding)
THE FIRST CHALLENGE: deconstructing “whiteness”To ensure that we were not to make the same mistakes of the past in assuming that ‘we know best’; we needed to find ways to listen to Indigenous voice, not only to listen but to understand what was being said, and accept it as a valid voice, and to demonstrate this acceptance by acting in accordance with Indigenous views.
But this was not itself easy or enough. To begin with, there are of course, many Indigenous voices, so to which are we to listen and what of our limited capacity to respond?
Then of course, Indigenous
people have every reason to distrust ‘whitefellas’.
How can we claim to listen, but then not act in accordance with
their wishes? Our history is full of violence towards Indigenous
people, bad intentions, deliberately taught false history, dishonesty
and yes, lots of good intentions, but always it seems, linked to
an utter incapacity to comprehend the simplest of statements made
from an Indigenous point of view.
Intellectual resources A key resource coming out of FtF work is ‘Thinking for ourselves’ opinion piece by Clare Land and Eve Vincent.
AIM ONE: To build “trustworthy relationships” with Indigenous peopleIn response to the above challenge, FtF’s first aim evolved to became “to build trustworthy relationships” with Indigenous people. To “build” relationships takes time, patience and being prepared to “deliver” something without expecting anything in response.
We would have to make all the effort, to undo our own (whitefella/colonist) mindsets and that of Indigenous people (dispossessed/distrustful) towards non-Indigenous institutions and people and even to the ‘do-gooders’ of organisations like ANTaR Victoria.
This effort would have to be made with a wide range of Indigenous people, as individuals and through community groups and organisations.
For such “relationships” to be trustworthy, we would have to be careful what we offered and to always deliver on what we promised. A starting point was just turning up regularly and being respectful of processes and goals, being prepared to listen – effectively to speak only when spoken to; and then only to offer to do something they wanted assistance in doing.
Photo courtesy of Megan Evans
A “relationship” is a two-way exchange of good will, which eventually leads to trust. Trust can only be developed when both parties are open to discussion and debate, so as to lead to a meeting of minds – or being open to agreeing to disagree.
Given that the mindsets have been created and reinforced over the last two centuries and given that ‘we’ are the perpetrators of dispossession and distrust, we believed that we would have to be the ones to demonstrate good faith and by staying the distance. Change is slow and gradual; we would have to allow time for it to evolve. Indigenous people have been incredibly generous in their reception of us, as we have bumbled along with yet another set of good intentions and hollow sounding promise of effecting change Our aim of “building trustworthy relationships” has had a snowballing effect as individual, and consequently organisational credibility has built, albeit, slowly. Increasingly, we see and hear indications that ANTaR Victoria is considered as an organisation that does understand an Indigenous point of view; that can be trusted to act respectfully; that will contribute to the debates and plans and deliver on what we agree to do; as well as acting when requested and standing alongside Indigenous people in their struggle for justice.
We have learnt too about the richness of Indigenous community, with all its political and cultural diversity and also about the incredible resilience of Indigenous people who have survived and will thrive in spite of the best efforts of the dominant culture to assimilate them.
ANTaR Victoria has always had members that have understood and are respected, but over the life of this very short project, through the selection of staff with considerable prior knowledge, experience of working alongside Indigenous people and contacts through the Indigenous community, as well as staff having the (paid) time to focus on this project, substantial progress has been made towards achieving this first aim – albeit there will always be more to do.
Perhaps more importantly, we believe we have a ‘model’ of how the wider community can proceed if, over the long term, Indigenous people are to feel included as rightful and distinct members of a reshaped, reconciled ‘Australian’ community with legitimacy on Aboriginal continent.
Intellectual resources The development of the Batman Treaty project is an example of how we seek to ‘check’ our proposals with traditional owners.
AIM TWO: To Inform, engage, educate and activate the non-Indigenous community
Our second aim was to “inform, engage, educate and activate the non-Indigenous community” about what we know (from Indigenous people) about pre-invasion Indigenous culture, a more complete meaning of our joint history and of some ways forward, acting as individuals, as communities and as political entities.
FtF intended to approach ‘community education’ in the widest possible way. All opportunities would be embraced and all ideas considered. We aimed to be opportunistic, flexible and responsive as well as pro-active wherever possible. We also tried to educate ourselves as FtF workers and as ANTaR Victoria members by reading, listening and working wherever possible, in partnerships with Indigenous artists, activists and community organisations.
Some of the specific activites and projects we have been involved with include:
We also tried to educate ourselves as FtF workers and as ANTaR Victoria members by reading, listening and working wherever possible, in partnerships with Indigenous artists, activists and community organisations.
Key issues of our learningA key issue of our learning has resulted from us getting a glimpse at just how very damaging the dominant culture has been and continues to be as it continues to run roughshod over the protocols and processes of Indigenous people.
‘Consultation’ is actually telling, timeframes are utterly unrealistic and resources extremely unequal. For example, non-Indigenous institutions and individuals seem to assume that Indigenous people have the same access to education, income and expertise as they do and take for granted that an apparent lack of response from Indigenous people is the consequences of disinterest or incompetence of Indigenous people.
Refusing to understand a different way of working, different priorities and this basic lack of resources constitutes a passive racism in its worst form as it comes from the ‘soft’ place of ‘concerned’ and ‘caring’ people who purport to want to support ‘them’.
Lip service that is not remedied by practical offers of enabling support further internalises negation, blame, a sense of not being competent and shame. As such it is punishing and ingrains disadvantage.
This sounds painfully obvious, but our experience is that most people do not get this fundamental lack of understanding; most people seem to understand the words, but not the meaning, let alone the measures need to rectify this problem. Yet none of this is conscious or active ‘racism’. It is the result of thoughtlessness; a blindness that is deeply imbedded in the ‘white’ (dominant culture) mindset or worldview.
Intellectual resources Visit our webpage on the What Can I Do? Matrix
AIM THREE: To take political actionThe third aim is to take political action, either to support a campaign being run by Indigenous people, or more importantly, to instigate and run a campaign that Indigenous people support, but do not have the time, energy or resources to run themselves.
Photo courtesy of Megan Evans
Of course we need to be mindful that not all Indigenous people speak with one mind and that we must not do something that will damage Indigenous community, through our naivety or being ‘do-gooders’.
Essentially, we have attempted to ensure we are not doing the wrong thing by pursuing the first aim, building trusting relationships with as wide a range of Indigenous people as is possible, as well as being open about what we can and can’t do. This is not easy and no doubt mistakes will be made, but hopefully, when they are, someone will trust us enough to tell us.
Without engaging politically, we might as well be blowing into the wind. All the niceness and good intentions will not heal the wounds. All the concessions, benefits and gifts will not create pride or security. All the avoidance of what has happened will make the sores fester.
Economic and social security is what we have taken and political authority is what we have destroyed. We can find ways to restore these only if we fight the political battles over the intellectual, policy and public opinion terrain that over the last decade has eroded the very tiny steps that were starting to be taken.
Reconciliation is whitefella businessNon-Indigenous people make up 98% of the population and have done 99.9% of the damage to Indigenous culture and traditions. We are responsible for this mess and we have to accept the task of working with Indigenous people in setting it right. A 2% minority cannot shift the thinking of the majority.
Of course we must not do as has been done in the past – made mistakes by not listening, thinking we know best and disrespecting Indigenous rights, wisdom, culture and tradition. We must build partnerships based on their requirements, resource needs, decision-making processes and timeframes.
But we must take responsibility for implementing the ways that already exist for every citizen, community group and institution, government or otherwise, to take. Once we start, the process will snowball, as it has for ANTaR over the duration of the FtF Project. The mechanisms get clearer and easier – but we need to start now to build a future of integrity
Intellectual resources Visit our webpage on reconciliation is whitefella business
Funding Implications
Traditionally, funding comes by specific projects, with all the details tied up into nice neat little bows; specific partners, budgets, timelines, staffing requirements and so on. FtF submission was carefully constructed and took nearly six months to write as endless meetings were needed to negotiate the partnerships and personal relationships.
Nearly all of it collapsed by the time we got the funding 3 to 4 months later and went back to pick up on the agreed projects. What actually evolved through FtF however is far more organic and responsive. We have worked flexibly, responding to changing circumstances, creating opportunities from nothing and inspiring others to join in. I believe this is a more effective, if uncertain way to work.
It produced outcomes that were relevant and appropriate to the time and place. Given the width and breadth of the work we have done, we feel vindicated by our choice of working style. We also believe that the depth of the work has been consequently greater as the work did connect to what was needed.
While the FtF staff team has remained mostly constant throughout the project, the end of the FtF project means that ANTaR suffers from the above factors.
Relationships between staff suffer as ‘teams’ constantly change and there is the vastly increased costs in time, effort and money needed to administer; staff selection per project, accounting and book-keeping, submission writing and reporting to different funding bodies, each to their own requirements and the time and effort it takes to negotiate with each funding body, project by project before the funding is received, if the project changes in mid-stream and when acquitting each project after it is done – often requiring a separate audit of each project.
These constraints offer their own problems that impact the ability of small organizations to function over the long term even though they have proved their worth and value.
Future directionsTherefore, ANTaR Victoria will need to find its own funds to sustain the core work of the organisation, upon which projects can be built. For all the above reasons this is problematic, however it will ease some of the burden on project staff and allow the employment of a small core team, who can become the ‘desk jockeys’ necessary to make it all happen.
This team would need to include a Coordinator (.8), Administrator (.8), Administrative Assistant (.8) and a Web person (.4), assuming the CoM can carry considerable workload in regard to recruiting and maintaining our membership and especially out “Regular Donors”, publishing the Newsletter and continuing with the Merchandise and staffs.
In addition the political and philosophical ‘heart’ of ANTaR Victoria will need to be carried and widely propagated by the CoM’s leadership. I estimate that we would need around $150,000 per year as our core income, assuming that the BSL continues to support us at the current levels. Our current income sits at around $20,000 per year, including membership, merchandise and fund-raising. Obviously there is a shortfall.
ConclusionWe have had many adventures
over the last three years. We have done a great deal and learnt
a lot. We have practiced ‘community development’ in
a number of forms, from the fairly ‘conservative’ to
the ‘activist’ oriented.
But mostly we have been willing to do whatever it takes to build trust, educate non-Indigenous people and support change to the existing values and policies that negatively impact on Aboriginal people in Victoria.
Although it does not sound
like not much, the sum total of our experience over the last three
years can be said to be our very deep realization that “Reconciliation
IS whitefella business”. This will be the title and focus
of whatever project work we do next.
Photo courtesy of Megan Evans
Further resources
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