A chosen people

In 1946, after a Sunday church service, the people of Enewetak Atoll (also known as Bikini Atoll) were told they are a chosen people, like the Israelites, who would deliver humanity from future wars as the US perfected the atomic bomb. Within weeks after the people being relocated, the first tests began. The so-called ‘promised land’ was a destroyed land.

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The Edmund Rice Centre acknowledges and celebrates NAIDOC week - 7 to 14 July 2019. The 2019 theme for NAIDOC is: Voice, Treaty, Truth. These are the key elements in the Uluru Statement from the Heart. The origins of NAIDOC go back to the Day of Mourning protest in Sydney on the 26 January 1938. Prominent Aboriginal activists at the time staged a Day of Mourning conference to coincide with Australia’s 150^th anniversary celebrations of the landing of the First Fleet. The conference was held to arouse the conscience of white Australians by highlighting Aboriginal grievances against the policies of protection. The activists demanded citizenship and land rights. NAIDOC’s history is steeped in the Aboriginal struggle for recognition of rights. To read more click here.

‘Meritocracy’, first coined in 1958, is a social system where advancement in society is based on one’s abilities and merits rather than on the basis of family, wealth or social background. Coupled with capitalism and egalitarian values, it has allowed people from low status groups to dream of improving their social status, economic class, and place in the hierarchy. The impression is that everyone can succeed if they develop the necessary abilities. Meritocracy and equality of opportunity are championed by all kinds of politicians to achieve a fair society. People want to believe they live in a ‘fair’ society where hard work can achieve anything, regardless of their social position at birth. This is simply not true.

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