Saturday, May 14, 2011

Long Ago & Far Away

Hard to believe, I know, but there was a story in The Australian on May 12 about a man who took up arms to defend his people and his land from a ruthless invading, occupying, colonising force. He was, incredibly, described as a "warrior hero," and his story as one of "courage, resilience and tragedy."

No, don't be silly, of course he wasn't a Palestinian!

If he were a Palestinian, he'd have been described as a militant or an extremist at best, a death-worshipping, Jew-hating streak of terrorist scum at worst. And those ruthless invaders, occupiers and colonisers would've been transformed into doe-eyed democrats, forever seeking peace, but finding only terror.

No, the subject of the The Australian's story was a long-dead (1897) Aboriginal freedom fighter named Jandamarra, sufficiently distant in time and place, but, more to the point, from Israel, for TV critic Graeme Blundell to throw caution to the winds in his review of ABC1's Jandamarra's War (Heartbreaking tale of courage & tragedy) and indulge in a spot of good old-fashioned plain speaking.

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