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Eleanor Jackson Bowers, PHC RIS
 The Adelaide Festival of Ideas in July 2007 provided a feast of independent and rigorous thought on many of today’s biggest issues, the climate, the media, immigration and terrorism, public access to information, food politics and science. Podcasts and CDs of presentations are now available through the Radio Adelaide website <www.radio.adelaide.edu.au>.
During one of the most disturbing sessions at the Adelaide Festival of Ideas, Tracey Bunda (Indigenous educator, Director, Yunggorendi First Nations Centre, Flinders University) who was described as a ‘little firebrand’, spoke passionately about the interventions following on from the Little Children are Sacred report, particularly about revoking the permit system on Aboriginal land.
After Tracey’s session it was inspiring to listen to Chief Wilma Mankiller of the Cherokee Nation, speak on what it is to be an Indigenous person in the 21st century. She described how Native American Nations are self determining, having Tribal Governments which work with the US Department of the Interior, and successfully run their own schools, police forces, health care and businesses. She argued that interventions conceptualised by communities themselves are always more successful than imposed programs.
Chief Mankiller spoke about the strong link between public perception and public policy. The most important advice she gave was about the need for an accurate perception of Indigenous people. She described how, in the media, Indigenous people are mostly depicted as troubled and that this framing perception is pervasive. What is needed is for Indigenous people to frame ideas themselves and to tell their own stories. Their knowledge of the land is profound and comes from many generations’ experience of living in one place. It is sorely needed today. The Hopi tribe have a prophecy that the world will end if people forget their obligation to the land. She called on Australian Indigenous people to ‘channel their anger’ but quoted a Mohawk proverb that “it is hard to see the future with tears in your eyes”.
Eleanor Jackson Bowers
Research Associate, PHC RIS
E: eleanor.jackson-bowers@flinders.edu.au
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