November 2007 Newsletter from didjshop.com

Editorial

Nearly eight years ago, Didjshop.com started by offering exactly one hundred didjes in our virtual didgeridoo shop. Selling thousands of didjes since then our website and virtual shop has grown and we currently have over 350 didjes available, the largest selection of didjes online.
Regular readers will remember that we sometimes have private specials which are available only to our newsletter readers. For a limited time you can now buy any one of 222 didjes at discounts ranging from 11% right up to 27%! You can take advantage of this very special Christmas offer until 26th December 2007. However you might not want to wait that long to check them out and find the best deals ;-) .
Never before has such a large number and variety of didjes been discounted anywhere! You can be sure to find something to interest you. Please remember that this special is available only to our valued newsletter readers and the discount offer is accessible only from this newsletter. Since there are so many discounted didjes we suggest you use the sort function when you browse through them. It allows you to sort them all either by price, length, musical key or sound quality.
Click here to browse through the discounted didjes.
The special discounts on all canvas art, Shields and Spears are also still available until 12th December

I am writing the last bits of this newsletter as Australians are going to the polls to elect the next federal government. I like to ask all of you to please help send a strong message to the next Australian government by signing a petition that calls on the new parliament to first and foremost say 'Sorry' to Aboriginal people for all the past wrongs that were committed against them.
The aim is to get 25,000 signatures, there are already 21,000. So if every second one of you does this, that target will be exceeded. It will take you just a couple of minutes of your time, but it will mean a lot for Aboriginal people in Australia, so please do add your name and ask your friends to do so as well, thanks.

The initial results from the Australian federal election tonight indicate a landslide victory for the Australian Labor party. This is mostly good news for Australian Aboriginal people since the Labor party promised to reinstate the Community Development Employment Projects and promised to retain the permit system which represented a huge threat to Aboriginal communities. We do hope that the Labor party will continue with those aspects of the federal intervention that really do matter to Aboriginal people, like health and policing. We also hope they will recognise the importance of financing grassroots approaches to indigenous problems like the Chooky dancers (see below).
In a personal blow to Aboriginal affairs minister Mal Brough he will probably loose his seat with a massive ten percent swing against him. The architect of the federal intervention into Aboriginal communities will not even be in parliament any longer. There is even a possibility that prime minister John Howard himself will loose his seat. It is encouraging that the Australian people have sent such a clear message to these two politicians who have governed for big business rather than for the Australian people and Aboriginal people in particular. Let us hope that Australia's next prime minister Kevin Rudd will remember this message.
We are somewhat concerned that Kevin Rudd has not yet bothered to visit an Aboriginal community since he became the opposition leader nearly one year ago and we hope that he will do so very soon.

We all know that the best didgeridoos are created by termites hollowing a range of extremely hard eucalyptus timbers to unintended tonal perfection. Now termites are found to have another unintended boon to humanity; they are being investigated as possible saviours for humanity's climate and energy woes. How can those tiny critters possibly help in such a huge endeavour?

Well termites ferocious appetite for wood and plant fibres is reliant on the help they enlist from bacteria. Termites (like cows) have several stomachs and each one is home to a range of microbes that are highly efficient at breaking down plant and wood fibres, in fact so efficient that a single sheet of A4 paper could theoretically be converted to two litres of hydrogen! If we could do that on an industrial scale, we could all use that junk mail to power our cars :-) .
Falk Warnecke and others at the DOE Joint Genome Institute in Walnut Creek, California have now started to identify some of the bacteria involved and created a gene database of their gut contents. Over 500 genes related to the enzymatic deconstruction of cellulose and hemicellulose have been identified in only one of the termite stomachs. Now that they have identified some of the microbes, the hard bit of work for the DOE will be to make those bacteria work outside of the tiny digestive systems of termites in large digester tanks. We wish them good luck and are looking forward to termite inspired biofuel cars...
Co-author Phil Hugenholtz said: "This project has really given me a new appreciation for the lowly termite, a mobile miniature bioreactor."

Oh, I nearly forgot to tell you about a great piece of contemporary Aboriginal music. The Chooky Dancers from Milingimbi in the Northern Territory rehearsed an Aboriginal interpretation of the classic and famous song 'Zorba the Greek'. Their first performance of the dance was on 30th September at the Ramingining Festival. It was an instant success and the crowd went wild; now 'Zorba the Greek' is sweeping the Northern Territory. Frank Djirrimbilpilwuy is the man who has done a wonderful job working with the young dancers to put this show together.
These sort of programs are incredibly successful at keeping young Aboriginal people of the grog and drugs and they need very little money to support them. Let us hope that Frank and other people like him get more funds to continue their valuable work that is so much more effective than any federal government intervention can possibly be.
The You Tube video clip is so popular that it has already more views than the original Zorba song clip!

Enjoy the video of this deadly dance performance and the rest of this newsletter....

Svargo

Worldwide Didgeridoo Players on the Map

Apologies to those of you who I forgot to mention in last newsletter's list of participants in the September 23 Worldwide Didj Meditation. I had another big batch of emails still sitting in another folder and consequently failed to list all participants. Please find below the amended list of all participants who contacted us with their details.

We have also created a map showing all of those participants in the last Worldwide Didgeridoo Meditation. Every dot represents a location where people participated. Isn't it wonderful to see so many dots all over the world?! The red ones represent regular supporters and the yellow ones show where people participated only for the September 23rd meditation. In fact there is so many dots that we will need to create separate maps for Europe and North America in the near future :-)

We have also created a form where participants can enter their details so they can be added to the map and the list. So if you want to join this growing Worldwide Didj Circle, please do enter your name and location, thanks.

A big THANK YOU to all of you who did participate, it is great to see how many meditators there are in Europe and US and I am pleasantly surprised about the strong participation in South American countries. We'd love to see more participants in Africa, Asia and Australia (and someone in Alaska and Hawaii), so if you live anywhere where there are gaps in below map, please do consider supporting this event so together we can send a stronger and more continuous Didj Wave around the world. If you don't, you are still very much welcome to join the Didj Wave.

As any participant can tell you this meditation is a very pleasant and relaxing experience and to imagine that hundreds of people are participating all around the world makes it an even cooler experience.

Here is the list of the September participants and the map showing their locations:
Nirelle and friends in Mullumbimby, Gerard in Cairns, Svargo in Kuranda, Garth Stone, Lyn Wain, Ray Higgins in Melbourne, Australia; Ravinderjit Singh in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Dhyan Tara & Friends in Singapore, Singapore; Manas Chowdhary in Assam, India; Reza Ghased in Tehran, Iran; Alex Antipin in Moscow, Russia; Anatoliy Savchenko in Kiev, Ukraine; Triinu Guerrin-Karu in Võru, Estonia; Petri Aitta-aho in Hämeenlinna, Robin DeWan in Helsinki, Finland; Andrey Garbuzar in Riga, Latvia; Irene Nikoloski in Struga, Macedonia (FYR); Allex Veldman in Deventer, Netherlands; Damien Fastre in Tongeren, Belgium; Carol Alton, Tripault Fabrice in Paris, Olivir Labrevoir in Pierrerue, France; Horst Pätzinger in Berlin, Daniela, Achim, Christof and friends in Bonn, Jutta Reichert in Offenburg, Oliver Heltewig in Wuppertal, Sven Apenburg in Erlangen/Nuremberg/Fuerth, Germany; Szabolcs Nemeth & friends in Budapest, Hungary; Michele Mancusi in Piombino, Francesco Ceresa in Varese, Paul Meneghini in Vicenza, Paolo Sanna in Sardara [Ca], Italy; Lars Ley in Dudelange, Luxembourg; Bart Vrancken, Clemens van Brunschot in Eindhoven, Ian Hollanders in Maastricht, Netherlands; Jostein Wold in Stavanger, Norway; Arkadiusz Buczek in Krosno, Poland; Ivan Matamoros in Madrid, Juan A. Krespo Diaz in Malaga, Spain; Andreas Goeransson in Stockholm, Sweden; Stephan Horisberger in Bern, Willi Grimm in Berne, Felice Limacher in Zurich, Switzerland; João Saldanha in Sintra, Iuri Lucio in Vialonga, Portugal; Stefano Crocelli & friends in Arua, Uganda; Bill Connon in Aberdeen, Neil Wakeling in Aviemore, James Lewis in Berkshire, Rob Stewart in Bristol, Gary Marsh in Northampton, Tony Morris in Wallingford, Rolf Neugebauer in Bramhope, Kev and Kerryanne Bates in Lincoln, Alan Cocker in South Cadbury, Andy Wood in Haworth, Yorkshire, United Kingdom; Roy Wykoff in Tucson, Arizona, Eric Haney in Sherman Oaks, California, Robert Heller in West Chester, USA; Deva Shandro in Buenos Aires, Argentina; Stuart Kirkpatrick in Hamilton, Bermuda; Thiago Bolivar in Campinas, Brazil; Darline Guerra, Santiago Rojas in Santiago, Chile; Sergio A. Jaimes in Bucaramanga, Colombia; Daniel Alfonzo Rivas in Pampatar, Venezuela; Michael Prayag in Newmarket, Canada; Alberto Manrique Clavijo in Bogotá, Colombia; Max Rivera Pantigozo in Arequipa - Lima, Peru; Caspa Harris in Blue Ridge mountains, Laura Smoot in Hillsborough, Steve & Joan Eliot in Fort Lauderdale, Gilberto Ramirez in Orlando, Fred Ashplant in Stuart, Florida, Jim Smelcer in Ellijay, Dovin Herring in Thomasville, Georgia, Dr. Sam Boys in Plymouth, Indiana, Ralph Ray in Shady Side, Maryland, Steven Williams in Clinton Township, Peter Richards in Kalamazoo, Michigan, Mike Driscoll in Derry, Julia Passamonti-Colamartino in East Wakefield, Joseph Carringer in Ordiorne Point, Rye, New Hampshire, Paul Cyr in High Bank, Suzen Vizzoni in Lavallette, Bill Hahn in Pittstown, New Jersey, Christopher Weber in Owego, New York, Steve O'Neil in Zirconia, North Carolina, Marceau James in Bedford, Geoff Todt in Columbus, Bart Reinier in Lima, Michael Eastlake in Sardinia, Ohio, Linda Butterfly in Collegeville/Evansburg, Ron Greenberg in Morgantown, Pennsylvania, Andrew Laird in North Scituate, Rhode Island, Laura Phillips in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Shoshana and Nicole in White River Junction, USA; Gabriel Solis in Heredia, Costa Rica; Marcela Pazmino in Quito, Ecuador; Chicago Didjeridu Chorus in Chicago, Illinois, Ian Rich in Cedar Falls, Iowa, Peggy Adams in Memphis, Tennessee, Connie Petruskevich & friends in Lytle, Arlie Everett in Point, USA; Ann Vandrick in Vancouver, Canada; Paul Bishop in Rimrock, Allen Smith in Tucson, Arizona, Aaron Jerad in Boulder, Rod Krug in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Zack Lessley in Bozeman, MT, Tomas Bown in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Rolf Hebenstreit in Moab, Utah, Lou Farley in Laramie, USA; Adisa Lafayette in Vancouver, Ric Bivar in Nelson, British Colombia, Canada; Mario Gonzalez in Daly City, Edward Bishop in Hanford, Andjru Werderitsch in Malibu, Jerry Destremps in Pacifica, Alan Tower & friends, Jeff Bottjer in San Francisco, Mike Harges in Santa Monica, California, USA.

Please consider joining this growing worldwide didgeridoo circle and let us know where you will be participating in the next Worldwide Didgeridoo Meditation on 22 December. Please also feel free to help spread the word about it. Thanks

Federal Intervention and the Constitution

In our September newsletter we reported about Northern Territory elder Galarrwuy Yunupingu agreeing to negotiate a 99-year lease giving control over his traditional Gumatj land to the Australian government. We wondered what could have swayed such a vocal opponent of these leases and the federal intervention in Aboriginal communities to change his mind.

We have now heard on the grape vine a possible explanation. Galarrwuy apparently was promised by Mal Brough that the government will commit to push for a change of the Australian constitution to include a "statement of reconciliation". Apparently Galarrwuy always wanted such a recognition of Aboriginal people in the constitution and being faced with loosing his land anyway, he agreed to sign onto the 99-year lease when given a commitment by the government that they would push for such a change of the constitution.
We wonder whether Gallarrwuy is aware or was told how unlikely a change to the constitution would be. Australia has a history to reject many referenda that ask for a change to the constitution.

Let us go back in history to 1901, when the Australian constitution was written. It had only two references to Aboriginal people:
section 51, relating to a power granted to the Commonwealth to enact special laws with regard to racial minorities:
"The Parliament shall subject to this Constitution, have power to make laws for the peace, order, and good government of the Commonwealth with respect to…(xxvi) The people of any race, other than the aboriginal race in any State, for whom it is deemed necessary to make special laws."
and, section 127:
"In reckoning the numbers of people of the Commonwealth, or of a State or other part of the Commonwealth, aboriginal natives shall not be counted."
This meant that Aboriginal people were not counted as (or considered to be) Australian people.

In 1967 a referendum was held that asked:
"Do you approve the proposed law for the alteration of the Constitution entitled – ‘An Act to alter the Constitution so as to omit certain words relating to the People of the Aboriginal Race in any State and so that Aboriginals are to be counted in reckoning the Population’?"
The 90.77 % ‘Yes’ and only 9.23 ‘No’ votes made this the most successful referendum in Australia.
Consequently section 51, article xxvi was changed to: "(xxvi) the people of any race, for whom it is deemed necessary to make special laws;" and section 127 was deleted.
As a result of these changes Aboriginal people are not even mentioned in the Australian constitution any more.

Ironically it is the changed section 51, article xxvi which allowed the federal government to pass the recent legislation authorising the federal intervention into Aboriginal communities (although there is a constitutional challenge to the legislation by Maningrida elder Reggie Wurridjal, see Aboriginal news below).

Now let us go back to Gallarrwuy Yunupingu, who really wants article xxvi removed and who also wants a new clause put in the constitution that acknowledges Aboriginal people and protects their rights.
It seems that Mal Brough in his secret talk with Gallarrwuy just after this year's Garma festival (which Mal failed to attend despite a special invitation) made a promise he knew his government might not be able to keep.
John Howard soon after announced of the promised constitutional change talks about the inclusion of a statement of reconciliation into the constitution. It does not mention the removal of the race clause.
Both Mal Brough or John Howard are cunning politicians who have consistently refused for the last eleven years to make even a symbolic gesture of reconciliation. We would warn Gallarwuy about trusting either of them with what they now promise just before an election...

We believe that the Liberal government has an ulterior motive with removing the permit system and we believe that it has to do with access to potential 99-year leases on Aboriginal land.

How the real estate industry is viewing the potential of the 99-year leases is nicely demonstrated by the fact that our local Aboriginal community of Yarrabah is on the list of 100 top investment areas in Australia. Yarrabah is just off Cairns and has beautiful beaches and idyllic landscapes, which are obviously already eyed by big investors dreaming about resorts.
This is a clear indication that big business is seeing the government's intervention in Aboriginal communities as an opportunity to make lots of money. If the permit system is scrapped and the 99-year leases allowed (the latter is already law), we will see businesses move into Aboriginal communities and take their land all over Australia. Aboriginal people are likely to receive peanuts in return, especially as they have no comprehension of the real value of what they are giving away for the next few generations and most Aboriginal elders are very trusting and not good negotiators.

This is what we have predicted already in July and the hype in the business community seems to be yet another indicator that we were right in our initial assessment of the governments secret agenda behind the intervention and the removal of the permit system and that the "our children are sacred report" was just a really good opportunity to push their hidden agenda through.
It is very clear that removing the permit system is going to make it a lot easier for paedophiles to go into Aboriginal communities so the government is only showing contempt for Aboriginal children in order to please big business.
Let us hope that whatever government will be elected this weekend will not remove the permit system so Aboriginal elders keep the control over who can come onto their land (a basic right every other Australian takes for granted).

LATE NEWS: The permit system should not be removed as Labor won the election, but sadly New Prime minister elect Kevin Rudd stated two weeks ago that a referendum would not happen in his first term if at all. Let us all remind Kevin Rudd that he did promise to say 'Sorry'.

Non-Aboriginal Didgeridoos

In our 2007 questionnaire we ask our visitors what they think and feel about the fact that well over 90% of all didgeridoos sold are not made by Aboriginal people, nor that any money from those sales is returned to Aboriginal people. Here ten sample replies received during the last month:

• Nicolette Ender: "This is one manifestation of the much broader issues of racism and consumer deception prevalent in today's dehumanized and materialistic society. I hope that one day we will move beyond this selfish and arrogant behaviour as a species and learn to value all people and their unique contributions to society. Supporting Aboriginal people and their cultural legacy is one way we can start doing this today."
• Anonymous from USA: "It is a very dishonest thing to do. I have seen a lot of websites that claim authenticity when the pictures show very clearly unauthentic pieces. It's truly bothersome."
• John Smith from United Kingdom: "Most of them are just very poor quality and mainly for decoration. I think to call it a didgeridoo it should be produced only in Australia by Aborigines and protected like champagne etc."
• Deby from Canada: "I feel this is unfair to the Aboriginal people and they should receive royalties and that people should be told if the didgeridoos are authentic or not."
• Jussi from Finland: "It should be noted who has made the didgeridoos. We shouldn't give any false impressions or statements."
• David Carmichael from USA: "It is an unconscionable exploitation of aboriginal culture; a continuation of neo-colonialism which incidentally contributes to consumer ignorance of indigenous cultures. I celebrate the fact that you operate differently honourably."
• Kern from United Kingdom: "It's appalling that people aren't well informed. Country/Culture of origin should be made available for people to make that discriminating choice to support aboriginal culture."
• Martin from Canada: "I think that is fine and anyone should be able to make and sell didgeridoos and the buyer should be the one to decide the quality. My problem is with mass producers who go and cut down whole forest to get a handful of Didjes"
• Anonymous from Australia: "I think that it sucks and it reflects a negative and truly commercial aspect that the world is heading.This also takes away from our native people people who deserve the right and people who are the true artist masters. This also steals from communities that really need this-not only for profit but also for prolonging the beliefs for the younger generations."
• Sarah from Canada: "I feel that people should educate themselves as best as possible before investing in a didj about its maker. As with any artistic or culturally important object context must be taken into consideration and the customer needs to decide whether they are willing to support cultural appropriation for mass marketing purposes. Distributors should completely honest about the making of their product. If it hasn't been made by an Aboriginal person say so! Don't attempt to mislead your customer many of us are smarter than that."

As much as we'd like to comment on some of these replies, we will refrain from giving you our view of this subject until the end of this questionnaire as not to influence future comments. You will just have to wait until next year to hear our views. In the meantime you can read many more interesting replies here.

And here a few of the many comments visitors to our website leave every month:

• Anonymous from Italy: "Probably this site is the best because of the mixing of cultural information lot of good Aboriginal didges good community and forum."
• David Carmichael from USA: "Excellent site. I am particularly impressed by your concern for aboriginal culture and the political battles related to the treatment of aborigines and the land in your country. I use some of the info in my anthropology classes"
• Eric Boucher from Canada: "Your website is still the best I have ever came across and because of your ethics now I only come to your site as The Reference!"
• Kern from United Kingdom: "It puts all the others in the shade. It's both ecologically and environmentally aware and is the only site I've seen that makes a total effort to show it's support for the aboriginal culture that brought us this wonderful instrument rather that "hey aren't our didges just wonderful" as some others do."
• Anonymous from USA: "I was referred here by a friend because I wanted to buy an authentic didj as a present and was very pleasantly surprised. Although the design leaves a bit to be desired the site more than makes up for it with content. I especially enjoyed reading and learning more about the instrument and appreciated being enlightened as to what is going on with respect to aboriginal didj artisans not getting the credit they deserve and consumers being deceived. Also really liked being able to listen to individual instruments and found the search function and Q&A helpful for a novice buyer. Overall very informative website and I feel good knowing that I'm buying from compassionate people with true respect for the merchandise they are selling and where it comes from."
• Scott Kellsey from Canada: "I love this website and i am an active member in the forum (although i was away for quite some time...) all in all an amazing site with a fabulous forum"
• Anonymous from Israel: "Keep doing what you're doing (:"

A big THANK YOU to everyone who has shared their views in our 2007 questionnaire. If you have not yet done so, please fill out our 2007 questionnaire for your chance to win an amazing Brad Gosam didj!

You can read more Didjshop comments here.

November Winner!

The winner of our November A$50 shopping voucher is:

Jennifer White from Nanaimo, Canada.
Jennifer automatically received his winning ticket when she became a Didjshop affiliate. If you have a web site, you too can join our affiliates scheme to earn some cash through your links to Didjshop.com and you will automatically get an additional entry in the didj competition. You can also get an additional competition entry by simply linking to Didjshop.com - all you need to do is email us and let us know the URL of your link to the Didjshop!

Here is Jennifer's comment on Didjshop: "I love your enthusiasm and willingness to share your knowledge."

We also welcome Jennifer's contribution to the debate about non-Aboriginal made didjes: "I happen to own a bamboo didj because it was affordable ($20.00) and readily available in my small town. It was my introduction to didjing and now I love it and want a true Aboriginal termite-hollowed one. So in a weird way if it wasn't for the non-aboriginal market I might not have got "hooked". Also my ancestry is Celtic but my cells, molecules and DNA have been shared by All-who-have-gone-before me. We can All meet in Dreamtime." (read more comments on this subject in the above newsletter section)

Aboriginal News

And here our selection of this month Aboriginal news:

• In a vivid display of the lack of respect and consultation with which the federal governments intervention policy is being pursued and pushed through, five intervention workers arrived at Numbulwar on the Gulf of Carpentaria, dismissed instructions by local council workers and dug a long-drop (a toilet) right in the middle of the areas most important ceremonial ground. Traditional owner Billy Gumana is incensed: "They think our culture is a toy culture, they think it's not real, but to us it is real, because we belong to this ground"
  We hope that the intervention force learns from this appalling incident and makes a real effort to consult and cooperate with Aboriginal people.
• In other news about the intervention, the new alcohol restrictions applying to Aboriginal communities have led to Aboriginal woman and children going just outside of the fences around their community so they can legally drink. This is causing potential problems as the drunk woman and their children could become easy prey for paedophiles and rapist. Another example of how important local knowledge and consultation is.
  The new alcohol restrictions around Alice Springs have also caused a 'booze migration' of hundreds of Aboriginal people moving south. Coober Pedy major Steve Baines claims that over three hundred people from Alice Springs have moved to Cooper Pedy alone, stretching that towns housing and social services.
  It is important that any intervention does not simply shift the problems, but tackles them once and for all.
• We welcome the news that the family of Mulrunji has filed legal action against the Queensland Government and Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley in the Supreme Court in Brisbane.
  Regular readers will remember that Mulrunji died from internal injuries including broken ribs and a split liver in police custody on Palm Island about three years ago. Police claim that the fatal injuries were incurred in a fall, but many people believe they were a consequence of Mulrunji being kicked and beaten. In June this year Senior Sergeant Hurley was acquitted of a manslaughter charge, a judgement that has incensed Aboriginal people.
  Queensland Attorney-General Kerry Shine says the Government has asked for legal advice on whether to settle or defend the claim, indicating that the government might offer a payout to the family to avoid more publicity in this embarrassing case.
• We also very much welcome the High Court challenge by Maningrida elder Reggie Wurridjal and the Bawinanga Aboriginal Corporation which questions whether the imposed five year leases on Aboriginal communities and the removal of the permit system are actually constitutional. While we do not know which sections of the constitution their lawyers are talking about we wish them good luck and hope they can at least overturn the permit system removal.
• Live in Aboriginal communities is never boring...: In Nhulunbuy, police had unexpected visitors: two 18 and a 20 year old men turned up at the station with a two and a half meter long spear. They claimed that the spear was thrown at the back windscreen of their car as they pulled into the police station, which they did to escape another car that was chasing them through town and from which another spear was thrown at them earlier on. Police arrested two alleged attackers, who will face assault charges.

Keep on didjing until next month and please participate in the next Worldwide Didj Circle on 22 December...
and remember to check out the 15 % discount on all Canvas art, Shields and Spears which will finish on 12 December and the private didj specials that will finish on 26th December!!!

Keep on didjing until next month

from Svargo and the DIDJSHOP.COM team