Greetings Bantu Kelani,

i think it may be possible that you have misunderstood my intent when I asked for the 'assistance' of african people in this little exercise.

I did not mean assistance in any sort of physical sense, what i was interested in knowing is what african people though that white people should do.

As for working in my own backyard.... No problem, that was precisely what I was talking about. I am not an american, the racism that exists where I am is not the slavery variety (thiugh that did happen here to a limited extent) but more the dispossesion sort, much like has happened to native americans. As a consequence it would not be the cause of african-americans that i would hope to progress (though of course i would it that were possible) but the local indigenous population.

As for philanthropy, if you have been following my discussion with isis you would realise that i have as profound a suspicion of the concept as you would seem to. Throwing money at problems is at best a band aid ,and frequently worse. What is required here is a total change of perspective.

Which brings me to what the original point of my post was about. if you have a read you will notice that the key to what I was proposing was that white people get together and sort out things amongst themselves, ie. deal with peoples ignorance within our own community, not embark on some sort of fundraising drive for african causes.

If this does not happen, if white people do not realise that bad things have happened and that they need to redress the balance, not just to black people either, but to lots of other racial, ethnic, and cultural groups, to women, to poor people, the natural environment, etc. then nothing will change. And the people most likely to change the way white people think are other white people.

What is the alternative? That some of wht you say is true and that white people are ALWAYS dishonarable, untrustworthy, greedy, self-interested. Because if that is the case there is precious little chance for any meaningful change to occur, unless you are actively considering some sort of forced change, a prospect which may work in limited circumstances but not overall. babylon, and in particular the US, is simply too well armed to be able to take its gold away.

The revolution must take place within and without.

I do not consider myself an 'african sympathiser', i actually do not know all that many african people, australia is not home to all that many africans (in the stictly defined sense of the expression, most of the indiginous people i know definately do not consider themselves to be 'african'). What i am interested in is justice, freedom, equality, love, peace, and overstanding, so as a matter of course my 'interests' should coincide with yours, though not exclusively so. I am, for example, every bit as concerned about equality between genders as I am equality between racial groups.

I hope this makes things a little more clear. My initial email was aimed at strring things up indeed. I was actually expecting more european folks to respond, and fewer (if any) african people. Life is a constant surprise to me.

But i still believe that there is an important need for white people to at the very least agitate internally for change. If you dont think so that is fine. Plenty of my ancestors quite violently resisted the input of english people into the irish struggle. I suppose i would like to point out that one little guy living tens of thousands of kilometers away from the epicentre of the struggle is pretty obviously not in a good position to take over or hijack anything. I was simply indicating a need that i believe exists for like minded people to try and work in a similar direction where possible. This is just about noticing things are not right, and seeking to make my actions the most effective and efficient ones.

Nothing more, nothing less.

love and life
paul

p.s. the reference to the european miltant wing of ster was, i confess, yet another example of my australian incapacity to be serious about anything for sustained periods. It was a very much tounge in cheek..........