Just over 200 years before the arrival of the First Fleet in New South Wales in 1788 a group of 120 men and boys sailed from England to the east coast of America. They went by the name of the Virginia Company, licensed by Lord Cecil under the auspices of King James 1. The travellers were partly ‘gentlemen … who relative to their urban counterparts the merchants and lawyers, had not prospered in recent years’[1], a number of cashiered captains, labourers and tradesmen and boys. In return for paying their own way they were promised a share of any valuable commodities they could find. They found deer and turkeys, hares and squirrels, vines, fields planted with corn, wheat and tobacco, flowers, familiar trees, and huge strawberries. They also encountered tribes of native Americans, many though not all of whom were friendly, but they did not find any precious metals. Of the 120 who arrived only 32 colonists survived the first winter, and ‘only then because Native Americans living in the area came to their aid with food’.[2]

As more ships arrived from England so the colony – founded at Chesapeake Bay and named Jamestown – grew, but never thrived. Over the years the death rate – from disease, starvation and a lack of proper management – was around 70%. That it survived at all was thanks not to the finding of exotic minerals but to tobacco.

Settlement at Jamestown 1607 (nasa.gov)

By contrast the First Fleet arrived at their destination in 1788 ‘with no agrarian expectations’ (to quote Michael Symons in his book One Continuous Picnic). Captain Cook had already noted that “The Land naturally produces hardly anything fit for man to eat and the Natives know nothing of Cultivation”. So the Europeans, as they were called, knew they would have to start virtually from scratch. The fact that a remarkable number of them survived despite having been left to fend for themselves for two and a half years on rations that were meant to last for two at the very most, is entirely down to the discipline and fair and steady management of Governor Phillip.

Governor Phillip (factbook.org)

In the circumstances it’s not surprising that ‘The early arrivals brought with them the “cultural baggage” of the British Isles. They spoke, thought, dressed and hoped to eat, as they were accustomed …’  (Hence the oak veneer on the front door of Government House.) Moreover the post Industrial Revolution community was not used to growing its own food in its own back yard. They ‘failed to incorporate a single indigenous food into anything resembling an agriculture and cooking appropriate to the environment’, and so Australia ‘became the world’s earliest truly urban nation, in which many of us could no longer even recognise a tomato plant’. [3]

Sydney Cove 1704 (sl.nsw.gov.au)

That’s not really fair on Mary Pitt and her contemporaries and immediate descendants, who after being on government stores for a year had to learn how to keep and feed themselves pretty darn quickly. It also shows a certain contempt for the culture and feeding habits of Symon’s country, especially when he goes on to quote John Douglas Pringe in Australian Accent (1958): ‘If true culture is the product of a deep and intimate relationship between a people and the soil where they have lived for centuries, then clearly Australia has none and could have none … The white man still seems an incongruous invader, huddling in cities, on the edge of this time-worn continent, building the wrong houses, wearing the wrong clothes, eating the wrong food.’ And Keith Hancock in Australia, (1930) who said Australia “has not inherited a village civilisation nor love of the soil, but she has inherited factories and factory farms and the class-war”.

In this Australia was no different to any other western country, the difference being that it did not go through what Symons terms a ‘peasant’ phase but moved directly from a hunter gatherer community to an industrialised one, with barely a break between.

True or otherwise, what is interesting about these remarks – and there are plenty more in the same vein – is how typically English they are. If you consider how much better the early European colonists of New South Wales fared than their Chesapeake counterparts (and later the Pilgrim Fathers, nearly half of whom died within months of arriving in Massachusetts), at the risk of sounding like John Howard Australians have every reason to be proud of their colonial ancestry. However, to quote a famous American playwright on another topic:

“The British Theatre has long since openly acknowledged that social criticism is entertainment, but that may be because England sees itself as basically a failure compared with America, the success.  Failures tend to examine their suppositions about life; the successful are more likely to celebrate themselves as good examples.” (Arthur Miller)

If the Spanish or the Portuguese or any other European country had colonised Australia first it’s not just the food that would have been different. Australians may inhabit a country that more resembles the US than any other continent but the sense of humour and the self deprecation are entirely English. America never suffered from what Aussies call a ‘cultural cringe’, quite the opposite. (There was even a ‘biological cringe’ – even native antipodean animals were regarded as inferior in the early days by the nobs back home.)

My knowledge of American colonial history being sketchy to say the least I cannot comment on her early colonists’ treatment of the native population. Nor on anything else really, except to ponder on why it is these two countries and their populations have turned out so very differently. No doubt someone has written a PhD on  the subject, in which case I’d be interested to read it.

There has been a modest flurry of interest among extended family and friends but I won’t be putting in my offer on the desert island quite yet. If there is a market out there beyond immediate family then I have to get my marketing hat on.

Received wisdom says social networking is the way to go for self publishers, but in this case I don’t really think my target readership would be particularly Facebook and Twitter savvy. So instead I’m going for editorial, or for reviews, and so far two people in Australia have agreed to review it – a Family History magazine and SAG (Society of Australian Genealogists) – and I’m hoping for a mention in the local Hawkesbury Family History newsletter. In the UK so far I’ve heard back from two editors of family history magazines (no guarantees).  I’m holding a book launch at my home in two weeks’ time and if I make it to Australia next year I may well do the same there.

Meanwhile:

US TAX EXEMPTION

At last, I have my EIN (Employer Identification Number). Thank you David Gaughran who posted details on catherineryanhoward.com. It took me a few goes and when I did eventually get through a few minor misunderstandings, partly because the lady on the phone was using a different phonetic alphabet for the spelling of my name – ‘That’s P for Pilar’ … ‘P for what?’ I found myself asking – and now I have to complete and send three different W-8BEN forms to Kindle Direct Publishing, Smashwords and CreateSpace to request exemption from US tax, otherwise the IRS takes 30% of everything I earn through every channel bar amazon.co.uk. A bit of me was wondering if it’s worth it but now I have it I have it in perpetuity so if – when – I start making any real money I get to keep it. Hoorah again!

]]> http://howielisnoff.wordpress.com/2012/02/25/freedom-from-religion-a-fearless-young-woman-takes-a-stand/ Sat, 25 Feb 2012 21:03:47 +0000 howielisnoff http://howielisnoff.wordpress.com/2012/02/25/freedom-from-religion-a-fearless-young-woman-takes-a-stand/ Freedom From Religion: A Fearless Young Woman Takes a Stand

Published in CounterPunch February 24, 2012

If a person is going to act fearlessly, then it’s best done when young. At least that’s how it worked out for me. Jessica Ahlquist is such a fearless person. Jessica took on the established and entrenched points of view of a large suburban community in Cranston, Rhode Island, and won. She had the help of the American Civil Liberties Union, family, and supporters throughout the country, but her battle was an individual one that resonates very clearly in this election year when some in power wish to destroy the First Amendment’s guarantee of separation between church and state.

The New York Times (“A Brave Stand in Rhode Island,” January 31, 2012) championed Jessica’s cause in an editorial and covered her case in a news article (“Student Faces Town’s Wrath in Protest Against Prayer,” The New York Times, January 26, 2012). Jessica is a self-proclaimed atheist. She took her high school to task for its display of  a student’s prayer that has hung on the wall of Cranston High School West’s auditorium since 1963. I taught briefly at Cranston West during the late 1970s, but I can’t remember the prayer in the school auditorium.

Jessica came to atheism after her mother fell ill when Jessica was in elementary school. And that was what she identifies as being the break she had with religion. Jessica’s case is all the more interesting because Rhode Island is the most Catholic state in the nation. She was labelled “an evil little thing,” by a Rhode Island state representative as her case moved to federal district court in Providence. Several florists in the area refused to send flowers that had been sent to Jessica from supporters around the nation. Local police had to provide escorts for her as the case heated the raw emotions that religious issues often tend to do. A 2009 graduate of the same school called Jessica “an idiot” in The Times news article.

In a wise decision, the Cranston School Committee voted not to appeal the federal district court ruling that supported Jessica’s attempt to have the prayer removed from her school. However, a stunned ACLU-Rhode Island representative, Steven Brown, commented on the apparent delay in removing the prayer banner from the school’s auditorium in response to the mayor of the city’s position that legal fees accrued in the case must be settled before the banner is removed. Brown questioned: “…whether this is an attempt by some petty officials to dredge up a new excuse to avoid complying with the Court’s decision” (“ACLU wants prayer banner removed ASAP,” WPRI.com, February 22, 2012).

Rhode Island holds a place of spectacular importance in the development of the doctrine of separation between church and state as is reflected in the First Amendment. Rhode Island’s founder, Roger Williams, was driven out of Massachusetts in the 17th century for bucking the power of the King of England and local religious authority. Williams took King James to task for the king’s pronouncement as being the sole owner of the title to Massachusetts’s colonial lands. Williams had the audacity to declare that land would have to be bought from native tribes rather than taking title to something that he believed the British and colonists did not own. Williams further infuriated those in authority by forming alliances with the native population. As if this wasn’t enough in the eyes of the Church of England, he drew a firm line in the sand between church and state when he founded Providence Plantations in 1636 after being driven from Massachusetts for his views. I think that Jessica is the sort of high-minded person who Williams would be very, very comfortable with though they are separated by over three centuries.

Religion has come to occupy an important place in the political culture of the US. The far right has successfully injected religion into every political race since becoming a national presence in the 1970s and initiating the culture wars. The right has made religion a litmus test for candidates in local, state, and national races.

The First Amendment and I are no strangers to issues of conscience vis-a-vis Rhode Island. In 1989, I fought a First Amendment case against the Cranston School Committee. I had refused the invitation to lead a recitation of The Pledge of Allegiance before a Flag Day ceremony at an elementary school in the community (“Echoes of the Sixties,” CounterPunch, August 7, 2008). (I had not recited The Pledge since the Vietnam War.) I won a grievance against the principal who  had asked me to lead The Pledge after she began a campaign of harassment following my refusal. I received no support from any group during the grievance process because I had not actually been forced to recite The Pledge. What I recall most from the episode was the near universal condemnation I received from my fellow teachers and union for taking this controversial stand. I left the school district for a similar job in a nearby school district after having been transferred out of the school where I had refused the offer to lead the school in the recitation of The Pledge.

So, while it’s easy to rally around a cause such as Jessica’s for those who support freedom of speech and conscience, what I imagine wasn’t easy is how Jessica persevered against such bald-faced hostility.

Howard Lisnoff is a freelance writer.