Preview

Faith hope and reconciliation

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
455 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Faith hope and reconciliation
Faith, Hope and reconciliation, by Faith Bandler, August 1999
What is this speech about/ Purpose: The concept of Reconciliation is central to this speech, Bandler is inclusive in her arguments addressing all Australians: Aboriginal, white, young and old. This speech is about unity of purpose. There is a challenge to reinspire audience so that they will keep going. This speech looks to the future. Bandler points out that reconciliation has slowed since 1967, the tragedy of the “stolen generation” and a new racism has emerged (“excused” as free speech). Her aim is to unite her audience not divide them, to achieve this she uses inclusiveness, and positions her to be a part of the audience.
Context: Delivered in 1999, when Faith Bandler was 79 years old. Her husband- a Jewish holocaust survivor. Comes at the end of 50 years of political activism and 32 years after she battled for Aboriginal people to gain Australian citizenship in the 1967 referendum. In the 1990’s the movement for reconciliation between Aboriginal Australians and white Australians intensified. Followed in 2008 was the apology in Parliament by PM Kevin Rudd to the stolen generation. The speech was delivered 50 years after white Australia gained Australian citizenship. Before that they only had British citizenship. She linked this brief period with the 32 years that Aboriginals have had Australian citizenship. Ironically, both groups have only recently gained their freedom.
Key issues and values:
Reconciliation is a good thing, and has slowed since 1967
Progress has been a struggle for Aboriginal people
White and black people should be able to find their common

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    These two phrases comments on the white men breaking their promises, to the aboriginals. It also refers to the aboriginal rights being reduced, and how their homelands were taken away from them.…

    • 436 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Noel Pearson Summary

    • 376 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In Pearson’s speech, the criticism of John Howard, who was at the time the Prime Minister, throughout the speech shows the idea that the past Australian Governments had made a mistake in treating Aboriginal Australians in the past, and that modern day government is trying to forget that past because of the guilt and shame it had caused the Australian government in the past. Pearson directly quotes comments made by John Howard during a radio interview, but uses these comments to emphasise his own key arguments rather than support those being made by Howard. By using quotes from other sources he broadens the scope of his argument and makes his own argument less of a personal crusade. Pearson also focuses on National Identity and determining “who we are”. Pearson acknowledges the current debate of National Identity by making reference to the “hot button issue” about “the guilt about Australia’s colonial Identity”. The extended metaphor of button pressing and the cliché “You would not need to be a political genius” stresses the “great electoral resonance” of the National Identity debate. Another technique Pearson applies is the use of inclusive language in his speech. This is cleverly woven into the speech by repeated references to “our nation” and the action that “we” have to take to correct the injustices of the past. This facilitates Pearson’s depiction of Aboriginal rights being a social, political, legal and religious concern for the nation as a whole and thus presents Pearson’s view on National Identity and the global perception of “who we are”. The past shows that Australia as a nation…

    • 376 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hope and Salvation

    • 629 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Hope. “There is hope in Christ, believe in Him and He will give you hope in your time of trail, in…

    • 629 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Social Determinants of Health

    • 10946 Words
    • 44 Pages

    recognition, and to shape the present. Indigenous Australia is made up of two cultural groups…

    • 10946 Words
    • 44 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    faith Bandler

    • 686 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Faith Bandler uses a variety of rhetorical techniques in Faith, Hope and Reconciliation to portray her memorable message of equality. Bandler’s speech explores the prejudice that Aborigines had to endure, and encourages the reconciliation process to move faster. She opens her speech with separate acknowledgments to “the Indigenous people of Illawarra” and “Lord Mayor, Evelyn Scott, Linda Burney.” This highlights the division between races and subtly introduces her topic of reconciliation. She uses inclusive language to reveal “not what is in it for me, but what is in it for us”, and this is memorable as she is choosing not to divide, instead indicating the benefits of reconciliation to not just Indigenous Australians, but to all. This is unlike Noel Pearson, whose acerbic attack on John Howard’s politics was most memorable, sarcastically stating that Howard “might care to read Robert Hughes rather than the opinion polls” to “comprehend how we might deal with our history”. Bandler was an unwavering campaigner for equal rights in the 1960s, and was integral in making the 1967 Referendum a memorable success. She reminisces on how she and other activists had “lived, breathed, struggled... climbed”, where the cumulative listing emphasizes the hardships that Aborigines had to endure, as well as…

    • 686 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Noel Pearson

    • 423 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Noel Pearson’s speech, ‘An Australian History for us All,’ explores the divides between our community and the issues that prevent us as a nation from achieving reconciliation. Ultimately, throughout his exordium Pearson is excessively humble, ‘it is my honour to have been invited… Alas, I cannot promise my teacher’s rigour ,’ this diminution of his prominent political position equalises Pearson with his audience. He successfully characterises himself as being selflessly modest, a successful tool in capturing our attention, his choice to do this in the exordium is also an example of kairos, his appealing attitude is naturally attractive, guaranteeing our fixated attention throughout the duration of his speech. Pearson additionally employs a variety of quotes to both enforce his credibility and portray society’s ignorant attitude towards reconciliation. We see this when he quotes Professor Bill Stanner, the ‘Great Australian Silence,’ becomes a metaphor of our refusal to address the Aboriginal struggle on a national level, objectifying the Australian nation as absent minded. Furthermore, Pearson makes noticeable appeals to pathos and logos, encouraging an emotional and logical response identifiable by all of us. Pearson in his battle for reconciliation, provides syllogistic reasoning and structure on solving the inherent ‘guilt’ issue, ‘it is not about guilt. It is about opening our hearts a little bit… and to have an open and generous heart…means that when you acknowledge the wrongs of the past, you might try to do so ungrudgingly… there must be some respect for that.’ Additionally, the inclusive pronouns that Pearson employs in this statement make his proposed solution exclusive, applying to both indigenous and non indigenous peoples as such he unites his audience, generating logos through the universal nature and structural flow of his statement. Additionally, Pearson goes on to compare the reasoning he provides to the internationally notorious issue of Jewish…

    • 423 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Noel Pearson, one of Australia’s most influential Aboriginal leaders, delivered his speech to a highly distinguished academic audience at a time when Australia was struggling with “moral and political turbulence” regarding “guilt about Australia’s colonial history”. Pearson expresses his own thoughts on Aboriginal reconciliation and the necessary steps that need to…

    • 1369 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    While Pearson’s speech was delivered at an academic gathering, Bandler had a more mixed audience including mainly Indigenous peoples and politicians, both supporting and opposing additional rights for aboriginal people. Pearson’s and Bandler’s speeches were both written in the 1990s, a contentious and heated time in relation ind issues. Pearson’s speech, in particular, was a response to the changing attitudes of the newly elected Howard government in 1996, who took the view that present day Australians shouldn’t feel responsible for the past injustices done to the aborigines- a different view from the previous Keating government. Bandler’s speech was a response to the entire Australian population’s inability to accept the guilt of the past, which she felt was hindering the progress of reconciliation between Aborigines and Europeans. Both Pearson, a high profile indigenous activist, and Bandler, a highly respected civil rights activist, gave their speeches in an attempt to take a step forward in the quest to conquer the differences between aborigines and other Australians and explore the ways the country as a whole could move forward from the horrible past.…

    • 1247 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Faith Bandler is a renowned Aboriginal activist who was instrumental in the 1967 referendum. Born in Tumbulgum, she was deeply influenced by her father who had experienced life as a slave plantation worker first hand, who died when Faith when Faith…

    • 1590 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Best Essays

    Australian Indigenous Rights

    • 2801 Words
    • 12 Pages

    Patten, J.T. and Ferguson. W. ‘Aborigines claim citizen rights!’ In J Horner, (1974) Vote Ferguson for Aboriginal Freedom. (pp 192-199) Sydney: Australia and New Zealand Book Company.…

    • 2801 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    Oodgeroo Noonuccal Essay

    • 892 Words
    • 3 Pages

    How the language of ‘We are going and ‘Let us not be bitter’ demonstrates Oodgeroo Noonuccal’s perspective on Aboriginal rights.…

    • 892 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Stolen Generation

    • 728 Words
    • 3 Pages

    What the stolen generation represents is a blind belief in the superiority of one race over another based on cultural differences which non-indigenous Australians found unacceptable. If we are to look at the wider public issues this forced assimilation would have caused, we can see that it has caused division between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians.…

    • 728 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Faith in Humanity

    • 634 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Faith in humanity is when a person has a belief that humans cannot do something so terrible, like burning people in mass ovens, because they are humane. This belief was used against the Jews, as well as the public, in the time of the Holocaust for Hitler’s benefit to pull a blind over their eyes in early stages of the Holocaust. There are many examples of faith in humanity from what was presented during this unit as well as belief of faith in humanity in modern day Thailand.…

    • 634 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hope and faith

    • 625 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In the novel Behind the Beautiful Forevers, author Katherine Boo argues that hope and faith are what brings together a family during hard times. She explains the meaning of “hope and faith” to a family in the slums of Annawadi in section 3, “Sunil” (31-49). “First these children have to learn after bread and rice, when they’re older, they can worry about the other things” The first argument Boo explains the fights and gangs of Maharashtrains and argues that these gangs fight the Bhaiyas in hope of forcing them to leave the city, so they can claim the few available jobs. Abdul a young boy living in the slums has been affected differently by the young gangs. Abdul does his best to avoid the fights, demonstrating how cautious he is. On page 32 of “Sunil” Katherine Boo lets her readers see just how Abdul avoids the fights. She has the character question “Can you please stop talking about the fights! The riots are just a show, a few bastards making noise and intimidating people” (32). Boo then introduces Sunil, a dedicated scavenger just like Abdul. Sunil has a very personal opinion of Abdul “keeps his head down day and night” (32). “Except for those child-eyes, black as key-holes Abdul looked like an old man to him” (33). Sunil is an orphan not really. He has a father who at an early age learned who people really are. Sunil’s mother died from TB but his drunken father still rents a hut in the “stenchiest” of Annawadi. When Boo describes young Sunil and his sister desperately standing outside huts waiting for a plate of food but as he grew older, the citizens didn’t’ feel pity anymore. Boo explains how hard it is for just a young family to survive. As readers we become to understand the struggle of living in a hardship. Boo tells us that Sunil felt very low of himself just like Abdul, “Eventually he’d come to realize the improbability of his hope, and his general indistinction in the mass of need. But by then, the habit of not asking anyone for anything had become…

    • 625 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    First we must examine the context in which the film was released. The film was prompted by the report of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission entitled Bringing Them Home. The report commissioned by the Keating government made a number of various findings. The most controversial of which was the finding that the policies of forcible separation constituted genocide within the terms of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. These findings in turn led to a demand for an apology by the Australian government which the new Prime Minister John Howard refused to give. Consequently the issue of the Stolen Generation is a contentious one within Australian…

    • 1123 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays

Related Topics