The Questioning — Bronwyn Davies Studio

The Questioning

When I was younger we got onto the streets and protested believing that our voice would have an impact and that with this government or that a change would come and things would be better. It doesn’t feel that way any more and it is hard to find any vision worth following. By and large our lives are much better than they have been for centuries and yet we seem to be on a journey without any compass. Religions, governments, science, organisations, celebrities and public heroes of all ilks have been held up for close scrutiny and found wanting.

Since the Covid 19 outbreak and ‘Trumpism’ the truth has been harder to discern, experts are doubted, governments and public figures no longer held to account. We have the cancel culture, and movements that bring what we previously supported into disrepute. The Spin Doctors of marketing seem to be always present to flip the ever evolving 24 hr news cycle into something palatable. So much so that there seems to be a general distrust of authority and a paranoia that we are being fed lies and elaborate plots to control us, take advantage or turn whatever we currently accept as the norm into some dystopian nightmare we dread.

In Australia at this time we are deliberating on the recognition of first Nations Peoples and The Voice to Parliament. Much misinformation abounds. Social media awash with divisive banter. Many believe the Voice does not go far enough and there should be a treaty. Some point to disfunction within the Indigenous community as a reason they should not support this referendum. To that point I would say- take a good look at white culture and tell me we are not guilty of disfunction. At the core of the NO campaign are drivers to keep the status quo and not to listen to or consider First Nations peoples. If we vote YES then it will be harder for the big end of town to do what they like to this country in the name of profits and the economy. They will need to consider an alternative perspective from First Nations people when it comes to matters that impact them. Thats all, they will need to consider and listen to that perspective. So that inconvenience is behind so much spin around the NO campaign. It has tapped into the general zeitgeist of mistrust that has emerged since covid 19, conspiracy theories, racist slurs and derision.

We still have the climate deniers that point to tidbits of found information and then go on disregarding the mounting huge evidence from the scientific community and indeed our own lived experience that we are facing a climate catastrophe. Again, conspiracy theories abound. So I ask myself what is behind all this and who has the most to lose. Mining corporations and those with vested interest to keep sucking at the teat of industry and expansion at all cost seem to have the most to lose…in the short term. In the long term the bill for trying to manage, let alone rectify climate degradation will be massive and it is the public and future generations that will bear the brunt.

So too, regarding the Referendum. The Australia I want to live in is egalitarian, kind, compassionate, enlightened, progressive, multicultural, diverse and visionary.

The visionaries are thin on the ground these days. The Dalai Lama is ageing, and China is already working on a campaign to discredit him and appoint the next Dalai Lama from China, Aung San Suu Kyi has been thrown into prison for a further 27 years, Jacinda Adhern has resigned from a parliament she tried to rule with kindness…its hard to think of anyone on a global stage worth listening to. ( happy to hear of any you might suggest).

Across the world Indigenous cultures held back the Anthropocene but their stewardship of country has been gradually eroded. Now more than ever we need their support, indeed their leadership. Might is right has not worked. Survival of the fittest seems to be an excuse to wipe out your opponents to survive. I believe evolutionary success is due to the most adaptable, the most collaborative, the most cooperative. A more nature and nurture perspective, rather than one or the other.

Just my thoughts on this Spring morning in the tropics! #YES2023