Australia: Indigenous play h ighlights ‘language genocide'

[Harold Schiffman]

Indigenous play highlights 'language genocide

'Posted in January 14th, 2008 by Daryn in Generalthe following story
has been found on the ABC News website


Posted Fri Jan 11, 2008 4:13pm AEDT

A production kicking off at the Sydney Festival tonight is seeking to
highlight the dire status of Indigenous languages.

Ngapartji Ngapartji, which opens tonight at the Belvoir Street
Threatre in Surry Hills, is based on the forced removal of people from
their traditional land in the Central Desert for British atomic
weapons testing during the Cold War. The work is conducted in English
and Pitjantjatjara and audience members are encouraged to visit a
website and learn some of the language before seeing the show.
Director Scott Rankin says Australia is at risk of losing its
Indigenous languages if the Commonwealth does not instigate a national
policy.

"If I said, 'How do you say 'hello' in the language of Uluru,'
Australians generally don't know that," he said. "That is language
genocide and our generation now is responsible. "Interestingly, Mr
[Kevin] Rudd, fascinated with languages, can speak Mandarin. He would
know how to say hello at the Great Wall of China but would he know how
to say hello at the foot of Uluru?" Mr Rankin says it is a question of
moral will on behalf of the Federal Government to address the issue.

"The Coalition of Australian Governments (COAG) haven't looked at
Indigenous language policy with a national agenda," he said.
"The New South Wales Government is the most advanced in the country
and has the most developed policy. "We're prepared to spend as a
country, I think it's $29 million, making sure Indonesian can be
taught in schools but we're only prepared to spend about $4 million on
all indigenous languages."

http://www.arwarbukarl.net.au/blog/?p=62

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