Sydney 2000 Games a 'Missed Opportunity' for Natives

Issue 151 - 17 Apr 2008

By Amy McQuire

NATIONAL

Issue 151, April 17, 2008: An Aboriginal activist has called the Sydney Olympics a missed opportunity for Aboriginal protesters, after pro-Tibet demonstrations on the Beijing Olympic torch trail made international headlines this week.

Jenny Munro, who was chair of the Metropolitan Aboriginal Land Council in 2000, said that although Aboriginal people were successful in educating outside visitors about their history during the 2000 Olympics, protests were still not as effective as recent ones concerning Tibet.

Although the International Olympic Committee (IOC) were concerned about Aboriginal protests leading up to the Sydney Olympics, with several activist groups promising to give Aboriginal rights the spotlight, the games passed with barely a hiccup.

Ms Munro agreed it was a missed opportunity for Aboriginal protesters to get their message projected on a world stage.

“We weren’t anywhere near as effective as the protests over human rights in Tibet,” Ms Munro said.

“In Australia, [eight] years after the Olympics they are still committing human rights abuses. Our attempts at demonstrating weren’t half as effective as there are at present with the Olympic Torch relay.

“The relay in Australia was like a feel good exercise.”

Ms Munro said that there were a number of internal divisions within Aboriginal Australia that stopped protests from going ahead during the Sydney Olympics.

“There was a lot of issues in our community that divided it politically, and we are still divided politically,” she said.

But Ms Munro said that in another sense, the Olympics assisted by giving Aboriginal people a forum to educate international visitors.

“I manned the pavilion at Homebush and it was effective in that we were able to show the world some of the history, the political history that has happened here over 200 years,” she said.

“We exposed a lot to the international tourist market and I think we stated very strongly our position on Aboriginal sovereignty and self-determination to many visitors.

“So I think it was successful in the sense of education.

“But of course, in getting the Australian government to listen, it was an abject failure because there are still human rights abuses being committed.”

Ms Munro said she would support a pro-Tibetan protest if the Canberra leg of the Olympic Torch Relay continues on April 24th.

“I’d support any peoples around the world aspiring for recognition for their human rights,” Ms Munro said.

“...There are human rights abuses that continue in this country and there are human rights abuses that continue in China.

“Hopefully they (pro-Tibet protestors) might be able to do something to stop the Chinese government and their appalling treatment of their own citizens.”