The blame game has two parts the first arises because the dominant culture recongises that they alone cannot know how to solve the problems experienced by Indigenous peoples. But instead of working along side the people, the dominant culture tends to distance itself by pushing Indigenous individuals or organisation to be the saviours of their own people.  This sets up unreasonable expectations for Indigenous organisations and particular individuals, such as well spoken leaders, liaison officers, health workers or council members.  Although these people are often very intelligent and remarkable individuals, people in such roles tend to have an expectation forced on them by others, that they can and must fix the Indigenous problems.  This becomes internalized and can result in an impression that they must have some special ability to fix things, and a fear of failure.  As the son of the ‘guru’ Richard Trudgen it is possible that I fall into this category myself; I expect myself to do miracles sometimes, and get sensitive when I am challenged. This is the danger, that when things go wrong, or if someone disagrees with these special people, blame is the unconscious reaction.  A sense of self inspection can be lost if one is put under these kind of expectations. This is a danger for all of us, but if is particularly so when a culture is created around an individual or even whole organisations, which  says, “You are the solution, so your position must be respected.”  Consequently, by holding on to the false idea that we are the solution, when something goes wrong or is disagreeable, immediate response is that it must be someone else’s fault.  Any criticism or challenge is taken as an accusation or attack against the special role of appointed saviours.  And in response some other person or organisation becomes the subject of rumour or even public accusation, producing a counter response leading to bickering and bad politics between and within Indigenous organisations.  This part of the blame game encourages defensiveness who have been “puffed up” with unreasonable expectations, and produces a reluctance to criticise for fear of reprisal in others.  This process is damaging to the whole system as fair and positive criticism is needed for accountability.  This defensiveness and blaming fractures trust and limits good dialouge.

The situation is compounded between Indigenous and non-Indigenous groups.  Some Indigenous people are very defensive because they have experienced so much unfair treatment personally and generationally that they are easily offended and become defensive to protect themselves.  On the other hand those in the dominant culture, having become aware of the harm their heritage has caused Indigneous people over the years, seem to carry a sense of guilt.  I’m sure many Balanda (’white fellas’, dominant culture people) have sensed this.  If you have been confronted by an Indigenous person, it is like a sense that, “Oh, I must be careful talking to this person and not say anything that might offend.”  The result is that when we unknowingly enter ‘the game’, Balanda walk around thinking, ‘I must not blame the Indigenous person’, while the Indigenous person walks around feeling, ‘I must not be blamed’.  This creates a rift of dishonesty as Balanda personnel fail to challenge the Indigneous person and the Indigenous person becomes quickly defensive in times of conflict and cannot accept being challenged.  The game becomes most imporant when we realise that this can be come a mechanism of control over ourselves or others.  There are those who work the blame game to their advanatage, in fact we all do this some times.  Indigenous people can control  Balanda, and thus whole organisations at times, to do what ever they want by pulling the right guilt strings.  Balanda can control some Indigenous people, and thus whole organisations at times, by using false praise and rumors.

We need to escape this ‘blame game’.  Organisations should not be so offended when someone or another organisation points out a problem.  We need to work together to identify real problems and help fix them. The first key to escaping this negative cultural dynamic is humility, recognising that you are a unique person, but no one special.  Humility also means assuming the best of every other person, which helps us to recognise when hurt is unintended.  The second key is to realise that we are part of the ‘Blame Game’. We need to recognise our guilt over issues or our fear of being criticised and dela with it.  he best way to do this is to reflect on why you feel that when you encounter situations that bring up this emontions.  Then think about what should be the appropriate response  that you would use next time (eg. how would you treat a person in this situation there where no power or racial issue involved).  If we do not work to release fear and guilt associated with the other cultural group we will be controlled by it in our selves or be controlled by others pulling our strings.

This is a unique project in the context of work done on Indigenous communities in that the approach is very holistic, the method allows for the facilitation of, well, everything – everything the people have a passion to achieve. We recognise the many problems faced by remote Indigenous people in trying to make a place for themselves within the structures of top down development and systemic welfare. We believe a key response is to enable the people to realise their own dreams and to shape their own realities. This is the only way to truly break down the barriers they face in taking control of the direction of their lives.

The fundamental principles behind what we are doing come from a combination of methodologies which focus on respectful cross cultural communication, and finding ways to support the people turning their ideas into a reality.

So how do we plan to do this? By being available to any person, outside of the confines of service provision, Indigenous development policy, and contractual obligations, we can be present to hear and respond to the requests of local individuals. By having clear methods that avoid entering into paternalism or welfare approaches to helping people. We use our support networks to facilitate access to the resources, knowledge, training or personnel that limit the people turning of dream into reality. With the right methodology the people can become and remain the driving force in their own projects. We hope to provide the resources to remove the obstacles to enabling real, effective and people driven change and support the people in developing their own ideas and fulfilling their desires.

We imagine that projects could be anything from helping a person become literate in their own language so that they can write songs, to assisting someone who wants to manage their health, or helping establish a business enterprise. But true empowerment of the people is only found in these thing if they maintain ownership and control of the ideas.

So what we are asking now is for support in this project. You can find more information on our website about how you can help, but also please pass this information onto others who might be interested and feel welcome to contact us if you would like to support us in anyway.

“Why don’t you Balanda explain to us what are your plans for us?  What is the Government’s plan for us or the Shire’s or whoever’s plan for us? What do you have in mind for our future?  Someone come and explain it to me? We don’t know? You don’t talk to us.  You just change things. Where is the consultation, where is the negotiation.  We have our own parliaments; our own system of law.  You should be talking to us first.”

His speech demonstrated that Indigenous people in some remote communities feel like all the decisions about their community are being made for them.  Not only do they want to know what is going on, they feel they have a right to know and a right to be part of the decision making process.  Yolŋu have been demanding this right since the Balanda first imposed on them. The jurisdiction that their own systems of law gives them over the use of land and governance of their own society, means that decisions made by the Balanda systems without consulting the appropriate person in their own system are seen as imposing, controlling or illegitimate.  These are not naive thoughts.  Yolngu struggle to understand how our political system really works,  but they are fully aware that their land owners, leaders and elders have no say in the constant changes that complicate their lives, and determine how their land is used, despite a system that is supposed to support them.  The last year has been particularly difficult with the coercive tactics of the intervention, removing the permit system, imposing police forces and compulsory income management all without preliminary consultation.  On top of this the NT government disbanded the local community councils, forming them into super shires and so severely limiting local control of the townships.  The statement summarised above implies an anger and perhaps a fear of the Government and the ‘Balanda’ system’s plans for them.  This is evidence of the lack of information people have about the mainstream Australian system, leaving a big question mark about how the power that Balanda exerts over them will be used.  Just as this Yolngu man suggests, Indigenous communities are dependent on non-Indigenous personnel to keep them informed of the plans of Government and other organisations.  The lack of real consultation also means that Indigenous people are excluded from the debates.  Take for example the debate about bilingual education.  This year at the word of the Minister Indigenous languages are all but banned from being taught and used for teaching in the class room.  On such issues the media presents us with rarely more than a couple of Indigenous people who may or may not represent informed local opinion.  Meanwhile a whole range of non-Indigenous experts get to comment on the issue.   In addition, those Indigenous people that do get to speak in the media must do so in English, a foreign language to them, as a result they sound simple minded and shallow when their experience and meaning is deep. That Indigenous people are excluded from decisions that effect them is a real experience they face regularly ( hear about this directly from an remote Indigenous voice).   We must create ways to consult throughly using the local and traditional systems that the people are using.  Consultation takes time.  But taking that time to listen and include the peoples system is part of the solution to Indigenous problems because it allows for learning, it encourages, demonstrates respect and empowers Indigenous Australians with the opportunity to speak.   In fact, time for good consultation reduces many future complications; but that is another story…

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