iDIDJ Australia Didgeridoo Cultural Hub

[indigenous.global.network]

The historic 2020 Summit today in Australia's capital

http://www.abc.net.au/ra/news/stories/200804/s2220623.htm?tab=latest

[ididjaustralia]

A friend of mine James Houston did us proud I must say! He was one of 1000 delegates invited to the Summit. Take a look at the following:

Quote:

No louts, but larrikin spirit surges in hotbed of creative dissent Ray Cassin April 21, 2008 AS HAMLET could have told Kevin Rudd and Glyn Davis, the plot really gets tricky when there's a play within the play. Evidently they didn't ask him, because yesterday the summit's opening session spawned its own play within the play, which briefly took over the proceedings. And many of the 1000 best and brightest enjoyed the diversion enough to give the solo performer a round of applause. The session was intended to be about how the world sees Australia, by way of a conversation between Sky News political editor David Speers and four summiteers. And it was to have happened in the summit's best Denton-and-Oprah manner, with a fanfare of disco music as Speers' interlocutors filed on to the dais to take up their places on a comfy sofa. Except that someone got there first. The four summiteers, like the three bears, found that someone had been sitting in their chair. He had been eating breakfast. And he was still there. James Graham Houston, a Victorian delegate to the summit's "Future of rural Australia" stream, wanted to lodge his protest about the previous day's session, believing his voice had not been adequately heard. Summit organisers decided that he shouldn't be heard the next day, either. "I'm sorry, James, maybe we can have a chat later on," David Speers said. That was asking nicely, but the summit's fixers took no chances. They dimmed the illuminated disco floor supporting the comfy sofa, a security measure that may be unprecedented in the history of summitry. Mr Houston surrendered his place on the sofa, only to return as the conversation with Speers got under way. He seated himself in a lotus position on the reilluminated floor while the four summiteers contended with questions about whether people in other countries regarded Australians as a bunch of loutish larrikins. The consensus on the sofa was "No, they don't (and we're not!)". But the actor in the play within the play was demonstrating that the true Aussie larrikin spirit was too resilient to be defined away, and the delegates closest to him began to cheer. As artistic types from the "Creative Australia" stream, they knew all about plays within plays, with subverting subtexts. An official was dispatched to coax Mr Houston from the dais, and eventually he yielded. Later, asked if he could reveal to The Age what his suppressed message had been, he said: "A new song has been created from our hearts. I wanted to say, 'You who are in power, sing!' " That probably wouldn't have been adopted as the really big idea Kevin Rudd hoped would emerge from the summit. But it might have made parliamentary question times more interesting. Apart from Mr Houston's scene-stealing opening, yesterday was not a day of drama. But in several sessions, his resentment of the close management of debate found resonance. In "Creative Australia", the seething hotbed of dissent that provided Mr Houston with his audience support, several delegates demanded the overnight summary of the previous day's discussions be rejected. The summaries, prepared by the 2020 team from the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, were meant to help participants hone their final reports. But "Creative Australia" was irked by phrasing that suggested that the arts, and creativity generally, were valued for, among other things, their contribution to the economy. They must be valued for their own sake, insisted the dissenters, and PM&C must not make us say what we do not wish to say. The stream's co-chairwoman, Cate Blanchett, flapped her arms, partly in exasperation and partly in admiration of this genuinely creative resistance. Creativity, she proudly told the summit's closing plenary session, was our defining characteristic as human beings. So it is, Cate, so it is.

Source: The Age newspaper

James is a friend of the Gurruwiwis too.

I'm proud of ya James, keep that larrikin spirit alive!

Guan

_________________
iDIDJ Australia - Didgeridoo Cultural Hub
E-mail: info@ididj.com.au
Web: www.ididj.com.au
YouTube: www.youtube.com/ididjaustralia