The impacts of climate change in the Pacific are compounded by the legacy of colonial occupation and the responses of rich countries to displacement, writes Susan Price.
Colonisation and colonialism
The ongoing injustices and dispossession of First Nations peoples can be seen in the devastating impact of stolen water rights. But, writes Tracey Carpenter, some changes have been won in Victoria.
Tens of thousands have turned out around the country for Invasion Day protests, reports Kerry Smith.
Rupen Savoulian writes that modern history is full of examples where, rather than erasing history, tearing down statues of racist conquistadors has been a necessary starting point for illuminating the darkest corners of imperial colonisation.
Human rights activist Stephen Langford has been charged with defacing the Governor Lachlan Macquarie statue in Hyde Park. Jim McIlroy reports his 'crime' was to paste Macquarie's own words to the statue.
A tweet by Victoria’s deputy Chief Health Officer Dr Annaliese van Diemen on the 250th anniversary of Captain Cook’s arrival in Australia, which provoked a furious response from right-wing culture warriors, has led to a greater awareness of the legacy of colonialism, writes Chloe DS.
It has happened again. A white supremacist has committed another atrocity, this time in El Paso, Texas, in the United States. Like the Christchurch murderer, he took to the internet to promote his motives.
I don’t know if an opinion poll has ever been done, but a sizeable portion of Australians, perhaps a majority, recognise that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people had their land invaded by the British and experienced a systematic genocide.
The fact that this is widely recognised is reflected in the huge protests in response to threats to close remote Aboriginal communities and the response to Warriors of Aboriginal Resistance’s call-out for protests. Even back in 1988, there were 100,000 people protesting the so-called Bicentenary in Sydney.
Without anywhere that is home, Aboriginal people have been without a physical space to reinvent themselves and their culture in modern Australia.
Since colonisation, Aboriginal people have been internally displaced from their country. The doctrine of terra nullius — a land without people — was established under British colonial government and persisted in Australian law until 1992.
Earlier this month, a 10-year-old Aboriginal girl took her own life in a small Kimberly community near the town of Derby in Western Australia. It is believed that her life leading to her suicide was marred by “trauma and tragedy” and she had previously witnessed the suicide of a close family member.
Brisbane
See a film at Red Cinema: Disruption. This film looks at the 2014 People’s Climate March in New York. Entry $15/$10 conc. Meal and drinks available. Friday November 6 at 6pm. Brisbane Activist Centre, 74B Wickham St, Fortitude Valley. Phone Angus 0431 935 576.
Melbourne
Melbourne Resistance Centre was packed on May 9 as people gathered to hear First Nations activists and other anti-racism activists talk about fighting racism in Australia today. The seminar began with Wendy Brabham, nationally-respected Aboriginal academic and traditional owner from the Wamba Wamba, Wergaia, Nyeri Nyeri and Dhudhuroa first nations.
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