Thousands mark Invasion Day
The capitalist establishment and mass media organised spectaculars throughout the country on January 26 to celebrate the uninvited arrival of a bunch of scruffy British naval officers, prison guards and convicts at Sydney Harbour in 1788. Meanwhile, thousands of people participated in events to celebrate the fact the indigenous people have resisted and survived the invasion.
In Canberra, hundreds of Aboriginal Tent Embassy members and supporters took part in ceremonies and an afternoon of performances at the embassy site, outside Old Parliament House. The actions were in defiance of the federal government's attempt to remove the embassy.
In a morning purifying ceremony, water from the Molonglo River, Lake Eyre, Moree and the Toowoomba region and other places from where Aboriginal groups had come was mixed and then sprinkled over the land and the "Fire for Justice", which has been burning at the embassy continuously for the last year.
Trees were planted for embassy activists who have died, including 1972 embassy founder Billy Craigie and Ngunnawal supporter Harold Williams. Neville Walker of the Ngunnawal welcomed the participants.
Isabel Coe from the embassy spoke about the recent decision of the ACT Supreme Court on the embassy's genocide case against John Howard, Tim Fischer, Brian Harradine, Pauline Hanson and others. The judge concluded that "no offence of genocide is known to the domestic law of Australia" even though Australia has been a signatory to the UN Genocide Convention for 50 years.
A Victorian court made a similar ruling on January 27. Coe said the case would be taken to the World Court.
Kevin Buzzacott called on his people to return home to Roxby Downs in South Australia, where a uranium mine operates, to occupy the land beginning March 26. He called on others to support the action.
Other speakers included Ray Swan and Wadjularbinna Nulyarimma. Activists managed to lower the Australian flag on the Old Parliament House opposite and display the Aboriginal land rights flag above the doorway.
Invasion Day was marked in Adelaide by a gathering of around 60 people at Currency Creek near Goolwa, near the site of the proposed bridge to Kumarangk (Hindmarsh Island). Bronwen Beechey writes that the day began with a meeting at the 400-year-old Canoe Tree, used by the Ngarrindjeri people to make boats. In December, the tree was ringbarked and painted with racist slogans. Its survival is in doubt.
Participants were addressed by representatives of the Ngarrindjeri and other indigenous people, as well as supporters of the struggle for Aboriginal rights. Anger was expressed at the racist vandalism of the tree and the inadequate reward for information offered by the state government.
The federal government's threat to close the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra was condemned.
After a healing ceremony at the tree, participants gathered at Amelia Park in Goolwa. Tom Trevorrow from the Kumarangk Coalition spoke of the determination of the Ngarrindjeri and their supporters to continue the struggle against the bridge.
Bill Mason reports that more than 300 people in Brisbane rallied in Roma Street Forum on to mark Invasion Day. Aboriginal elders, including Bobby Anderson, urged that the land rights struggle continue. He expressed strong support for the Aboriginal Tent Embassy at Old Parliament House in Canberra.
A Resistance member and organiser of last year's high school anti-racism walkouts, Sarah Cunningham, told the rally that attacks by the Howard government on Aboriginal rights will provoke new struggles by young people against racism. Resistance is planning to help organise these campaigns, Cunningham said.
Aboriginal writer and film-maker Sam Watson warned: "If indigenous people do not draw a line in the sand and take a stand now, then everything we have fought for over the last three decades will disappear overnight".
Other speakers included Les Malezer and Kark-Erik Paasonen, a representative of the Jabiluka Action Group. Following the rally, a spirited march took place through the city to Musgrave Park.
In Byron Bay, on the NSW north coast, more than 300 people marched, danced and drummed in support of the demand that the Jabiluka uranium mine in the Northern Territory be stopped, reports Kath O'Driscoll.
The rally was organised by Bryan Simpson, who had just completed a 20-day hunger strike in protest at the proposed mine. Simpson has previously highlighted the campaign by chaining himself to the office of local National Party MP Larry Anthony.
Simpson and other speakers argued strongly for a national day of action against uranium mining on Palm Sunday, March 28. A message of solidarity from anti-nuclear campaigner Dr Helen Caldicott was read.
Other Invasion Day activities on the NSW north coast included a benefit gig for the campaign against the Timbarra gold mine in Nimbin and a reconciliation event in Brunswick Heads organised by Women for Wik.