Latest news with #culturalgenocide
BBC News
30-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
Scotland's travellers suffered 'cultural genocide', report says
Social experiments on Scotland's Gypsy travellers - including children being forcibly taken into care - were a form of "cultural genocide", new research schemes operated across Scotland in the last century which aimed to "settle" travellers by forcing them to leave their lives on the road for permanent settlements.A draft report of independent research commissioned by the Scottish government suggests there was also a "forced and systematic initiative" to remove traveller children from their families and Scottish government said it recognised that Gypsy traveller communities had been adversely affected through historical policies and would set out its response to the research soon. Efforts to "assimilate" travellers into Scottish society were first documented in the late 1800s, with the authorities wanting to force Gypsies into "normal" operation, known as the "Tinker Experiment", ran from the 1940s to 1980s and was supported by UK governments and Scottish local authorities at the time. In 2023 the Scottish government asked independent academics to research this experiment in the available archives.A draft of their findings was completed in September last year, and has been seen by BBC said that in addition to the well-documented housing issues, there was a "forced and systematic initiative to remove Gypsy/traveller children from their families and communities".This saw traveller children being placed into care, forced to attend industrial schools or adopted by non-traveller families in Scotland and report, produced by academics working for the Third Generation Project at the University of St Andrews, said churches, charities, local authorities, the police and the UK government's Scottish Office all played a role in academics recommend the Scottish government, as the body now responsible for the issue, issues an apology and consider paying compensation to those affected. 'Truths buried for decades' The draft report says that the apology should be for the polices, such as the Tinker Experiments, which "led to the dehumanisation, control, and assimilation" of travellers - as well as "the lack of action to redress these actions that are best characterised as 'cultural genocide'."Members of Scotland's traveller community have been campaigning for an apology for their treatment for years. The report's findings are explored in a new BBC podcast called 'The Cruelty - Stolen Generations'.Presenter Davie Donaldson, who comes from the traveller community, said: "I have spoken to many Scottish travellers whose families have been shattered and split apart because of the forced removal, generation after generation, of their children."This investigation has unearthed truths buried for decades, but now, with the leaked report, we have irrefutable evidence of what survivors and communities have long known - the state was complicit in the removal and segregation of traveller children."For the first time, it is named for what it was - cultural genocide." 'Trying to kill a culture' Martha, who asked for her surname not to be published, said she was forcibly removed from a Scottish traveller camp when she was just six months parents were out working while her grandparents were looking after her and her five siblings and who is now in her sixties, said all the children present were removed and she was eventually adopted by a non-traveller family."Genocide means killing something and that's what they were attempting to do by looks of things," she says."They were trying to kill a culture by taking the kids away, thinking that they would grow up with settled people and be like settled people."I think they should apologise. Because I stand firm in the fact that if it hadn't been for them, I would've known my parents, I would've known my three sisters and my two brothers that we were never told about."Fellow traveller Elizabeth, who also asked for her surname not to be published, said four of her siblings were forcibly removed when she was a 52-year-old said she and two other siblings were only able to stay with their parents because they all hid away in the Fife countryside, away from their traveller said: "We were happy when we were in the camp. We didn't have much, but we were happy."It's kind of destroyed a lot of people's lives, this separating families and taking bairns away from the folk and it should never have happened."They should be made responsible, including the churches and anybody else that was involved in it, because it's affected every one of us. I hope this government we have actually takes action." Understanding events Gypsy travellers were settled on sites across Scotland, including in Aberdeenshire, Argyll, Highlands, Perthshire, Fife and the said it was hard to pinpoint how many were forced from this life, or how many children were forcibly removed from the Scottish government said it had been working with local authorities' body Cosla on a £3m action plan aimed at supporting improvements to accommodation, education, healthcare and access to benefits for the traveller community.A Scottish Government spokesperson said: "We recognise that Gypsy/traveller communities have been adversely affected through historical policies and actions and we want to understand events as fully as possible."We are committed to ensuring the voices of Gypsy/traveller communities are reflected in key decision-making forums and continue to take forward measures in our joint action plan with Cosla to improve outcomes for Gypsy travellers."The spokesperson said the independent archival research had been undertaken to establish key events, decisions and roles and will be officially published in due course, after which the government will consider its next steps.
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Young Aussie's fears over ancient sites under threat from controversial industry plan
At 26, Mark Clifton's adult life is just beginning. He has hopes of having children soon and passing on his culture to them, continuing traditions spanning thousands of years. But a plan by the Albanese government to approve yet another industrial project near his community's most important sites has him worried. At over 40,000 years old, the Murujuga rock art in Western Australia's Pilbara region is the world's largest and biggest collection of petroglyphs, and scientists say toxic gases are erasing it. 'Some would say it's our Bible. It's our library, it's where all of our knowledge and history is held,' the Mardudhunera man told Yahoo News as he prepared to protest against the plan on Thursday afternoon. 'But I feel strong and empowered, knowing that I'm going to have all my old people with me today, and my ancestors.' He's carrying on the torch passed down by his mother Raelene Cooper to protect more than one million Indigenous petroglyphs engraved in the rock. In 2022, she flew to Geneva to speak before the United Nations, accusing the government of committing "cultural genocide" against her people. The art her people are trying to protect is so ancient, some even show thylacines (Tasmanian tigers) before they became extinct on the mainland. But the etchings are more than just images, they're also key to keeping cultural stories and dances alive for one of the world's oldest continuous cultures. Related: 🌏 Woodside's controversial gas well plan near pristine reef Environment Minister Murray Watt has indicated an intention to conditionally approve energy giant Woodside's proposal to continue to operate its North West Shelf gas project until 2070. By the time it wraps up, the minister will be 96 years old, and well and truly retired. But Clifton will be just 68, and likely an elder in his community, trying to pass on culture to his grandchildren, and hoping remnants of the rock art survive. Federal independent senator David Pocock told Yahoo News the situation facing Clifton is not an acceptable state of affairs in Australia. "This project, when you look at it in terms of First Nations cultural heritage, it's devastating," he said. Pocock is also concerned the "narrative that the politicians are trying to sell" about the rock art differs from a scientific report. The WA and Commonwealth governments say the rock art was considered before they agreed to extend the life of energy giant Woodside's North-West Shelf project until 2070. 'I have ensured that adequate protection for the rock art is central to my proposed decision," Watt said on Wednesday. But an expert in the rock art says the 800-page Murujuga Rock Art Monitoring Report, which was given to the government to inform its decision-making, 'shows unequivocally' that industrial emissions are degrading the petroglyphs. And this conflicts with the presentation of research in the executive summary and media release issued by the WA Government. The University of WA's Professor Benjamin Smith said on Tuesday there are now multiple lines of evidence showing industrial pollution has degraded the rock art. "It will continue to do so unless we lower the industrial pollution levels," he said. There are signs the United Nations also has concerns about the government's conservation of the rock art, with UNESCO deferring its decision on giving the rock art World Heritage protection. The deferral was drafted in July and released this week, urging the government to address the degradation of the site. 'Severe pollution issues from chemical-producing industries outside the nominated property represent a significant adversely-affecting factor, and a major threat against the petroglyphs,' it concluded. It's the second hurdle the project has faced — in 2023, a submission was rejected by UNESCO after then environment minister Tanya Plibersek's team submitted a vague, low-resolution map of the area. The North West Shelf extension is the second major project the Albanese Government has approved for the region, with Plibersek green-lighting a fertiliser plant nearby in 2022. Watt's decision this week was attacked by the Greens and conservationists, who are concerned about its impact on Indigenous culture, and the 1.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions it will release into the atmosphere over its lifetime. Woodside welcomed Watt's decision and said it 'remained committed to protecting the Murujuga Cultural Landscape" and supported its World Heritage nomination. Woodside claims its project will provide energy security to Australia, and the project has already contributed over $40 billion in taxes and royalties, but Pocock does not believe the extension will provide significant advantages to the country. "None of the justifications put forward stack up, I don't see the benefit to Australia. We get nothing from the Petroleum Resource Rent Tax when it comes to offshore LNG [liquid natural gas], and we're connected to the international market, so more supply does not equal lower gas prices," he said. He believes there's a bigger issue than economics when it comes to Woodside's North-West Shelf plan, and that's the impact it will have on generations to come. "One of the things that we have to work on as a country is cultural change around the way that we think and make decisions. We seem to be happy making short-term decisions, rather than asking, 'What's good for us in a generation or two, what's good in 50 years'," he said. He sees little difference between Labor and the Coalition when it comes to gas policy, and believes many young people will be feeling "buyer's remorse" after preferencing Labor last election. "I think it is appalling that we have two major parties in Australia who think they do not have a duty of care for young people and future generations when it comes to climate," he said. "This is the thing we're going to be judged on by future generations. Anyone who comes after us is going to be asking, What on Earth were you thinking? You had all the scientists telling you what needed to be done." Love Australia's weird and wonderful environment? 🐊🦘😳 Get our new newsletter showcasing the week's best stories.
New York Times
20-05-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
What It Looked Like Inside the Thomas Indian School
It's a little-known chapter in New York history: For decades, the state oversaw a boarding school where native children were systematically stripped of their culture and language and subjected to abuse. Originally called the Thomas Asylum for Orphan and Destitute Indian Children and later shortened to the Thomas Indian School, the institution was on the Cattaraugus Territory of the Seneca Nation of Indians, about an hour south of Buffalo. On Tuesday, Gov. Kathy Hochul thrust the school into the spotlight when she issued a formal apology for the atrocities — including forced family separations, physical and sexual abuse and hard labor — that occurred there. Ms. Hochul didn't mince words. She called the school, in operation from 1855 to 1957, a 'place of nightmares' and 'a site of sanctioned ethnic cleansing.' According to the tribe, the event marked the first time a sitting New York governor has made an official visit to the traditional Seneca territories. During her visit Ms. Hochul met with over a dozen Seneca Nation members who attended the school. One of them, Elliott Tallchief, 85, recalled having his mouth washed out with soap for speaking his native language at the school in the 1940s. Some applauded Ms. Hochul for the apology. Dianna Beaver, whose grandmother attended Thomas Indian School, said 'it's about time that someone acknowledged the harm' it caused. But Tim Cooper, 62, a retired carpenter whose father attended the school, said Ms. Hochul's apology means nothing to him and many other tribal members who experienced, either directly or indirectly, the trauma inflicted by New York State. 'The wounds and scars and all the things that go with that are still there,' Mr. Cooper said.
