Past Programs
Health - 2006
Women of Independence (transcript available) Read Transcript
02/06/2006
As we all know, the violence in East Timor has been dominating the news this week. And as the fighting spiralled out of control the headlines pushed aside what is now an old story, the revelations of Nanette Rogers, the Crown Prosecutor for Central Australia, who spoke out about the sexual violence in remote Aboriginal communities.
When this happened, The Bookshow was in Darwin at the Wordstorm writers' festival, and it was an issue neither the writers nor the audience could ignore. And given the strong East Timorese presence in Darwin, and particularly at Wordstorm, it was inevitable that the festival become a forum for the two groups' comparing notes. And it's a small portion of this frank exchange that we're going to bring you today.
It's a session called Women of Independence. It was recorded before Australian troops were sent into East Timor last week, but the conversation gives an insight into the current violence by putting it in the context of long-term poverty, unemployment, lack of education and a learned brutality, where the life experience of young people hasn't included any other way to behave. Are these also the ingredients for anarchy in remote Aboriginal communities? That's the question that lurks beneath the surface.
The two speakers on this panel are Kirsty Sword-Gusmao, the First Lady of East Timor, and Sally Goold, executive director of CATSIN (the congress of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nurses) and the first Aboriginal Registered Nurse in New South Wales. As the two listen to each other's stories, they draw the parallels. It's a remarkable encounter. And as the conversation unfolds, these two reveal how the violence plaguing both worlds draws strength from ignorance and frustration. But, conversely, these situations provide the breeding ground for great determination and generosity.
