Video footage from Monday 3rd July's successful solidarity demonstration in Auckland against the
racist bastard John Howard's attack on Aboriginal communities is
now online (with a kicky soundtrack). Activists from Citizens Against Privatisation, Socialist Worker, the Workers Party, and other radical and indigenous groups successfully entered the Australian consulate and read out a message of solidarity. The only downside was a display of violent and unnecessary "police" work saw one of our comrades arrested.
More solidarity action in New Zealand this Saturday:
Actions against Howard's invasion of Aboriginal Communities are being held throughout Australia, New Zealand and in London. A call for a tourist boycott of Australia has begun circulating in the International community.
Robbie Thorpe, from the Krautungalung people of the Gunnai Nation, the traditional owners of Lake Tyers, and a spokesperson for the Black GST and Camp Sovereignty said:
“The Howard Settler Governments invasion of the Northern territory is land-grabbing racism nothing more. This invasion is part of the neo liberal structural adjustment programme of Intuitions such as the World, Bank, and the IMF & APEC to diminish and extinguish Indigenous rights forever.
“It is no surprise to see that the four countries that are blocking the passage of the Draft Declaration of indigenous rights through the United Nations, Australia, New Zealand, United States & Canada, they are the same four states that as part of APEC are raping the marine ocean environment in the Pacific, and are further oppressing & eroding the hard won rights of their Indigenous Nations & Peoples through out the world and within their own countries. What is happening to our brothers and sisters in the NT, is part of that process, part of that genocide.”
Te Upoko o te Ika/Wellington [ Call Out ]
12:30-1:30pm Friday July 13th,
Demo at Australian Embassy (Hobson St, Thorndon). Meet at the park over the road from 12:15pm.
12-2pm Saturday July 14th,
Rally and march from Midland Park to Te Aro park, Central Wellington.
Tamaki Makaurau/Auckland [ Call Out ]
11am-12pm Saturday July 14th,
Rally and march from Britomart Transport Centre to Australian Consulate
Ōtepoti/ Dunedin
12pm- Saturday July 14th, The crew in Dunedin will be
Setting up a Tent Embassy in the Octagon
Otautahi [ Call Out ]
12pm- Saturday July 14th, Come along and join in the
solidarity action at Cathedral Square
We aim to:
- Send a loud and clear message of solidarity to the indigenous peoples suffering from Howard's racist attacks on human rights.
- Raise awareness of issues concerning colonisation and stolen land, racism, family violence, and how indigenous peoples throughout the South Pacific face further loss of land to big mining companies.
We stand in solidarity with the International Day of Action against Howard's land grab- - Stop the Genocide on Stolen Aboriginal Land
- End Aboriginal deaths in Custody! Justice for Mulrunji and all killed in custody.
- Implement the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody!
- Land rights not mining rights! No new mines, no new dumps!
- Fund community controlled services, not troops, cops and martial law!
- Social well-fair, not social control!
- Aboriginal control of Aboriginal affairs! Treaty NOW!
1 comment:
OTTAWA, Ontario: Rally in Solidarity with Aboriginal People in the
Northern Territory
RALLY ON THE "INTERNATIONAL DAY OF ACTION
STANDING IN SOLIDARITY WITH ABORIGINAL AUSTRALIANS
50 O'CONNOR STREET, AUSTRALIAN HIGH COMMISSION
12 NOON JULY 13/07
In a show of Indigenous solidarity, a rally is being held Friday July
13, 2007 at 12 noon outside the Australian High Commission at 50
O'Connor to express opposition to the extreme measures implemented by
the Howard government against Aboriginal Australians in the Northern
Territory. Organized by Prosperity for First Nations and a diverse,
ad-hoc group of concerned Aboriginal people, the rally will support
other rallies being held on July 13 and 14 in Sydney, Brisbane,
Canberra, and Perth Australia, and in Wellington and Auckland,
Aoteaoroa/New Zealand. Speakers will include Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm, a
well known member of the local and national Aboriginal community, and
others.
The paternalistic, culturally insensitive, racist and short-sighted
measures announced by the Howard government include:
* widespread bans on alcohol and pornography,
* forcing all indigenous children under the age of 16 in the
territory to submit to medical examinations,
* putting a quarantine on 50 per cent of welfare payments to
parents of children in affected areas,
* linking welfare payments to school attendance for all people
living on Aboriginal land,
* and enforcing unilaterally imposed land reforms on Aboriginal
lands.
The plan shifts the overall control of communities away from
Aboriginal land councils to the federal government, which has assumed
five-year leases of the townships.
These measures only affect Aboriginal Australians in these areas.
Police and military troops have been deployed in the area to enforce
these measures. Permits previously required by police to enter these
communities (in place to protect Aboriginal people from a history of
police brutality and Aboriginal deaths in custody) have been
rescinded. Police and the military now have free access to these
vulnerable communities.
The goals of the rally are to:
* Send a message of solidarity to Aboriginal Australians who are
suffering from Howard's racist attacks on human rights;
* Raise awareness of this issue and related issues of
colonization, racism, family violence, and human rights;
* Garner public support for a boycott of Australia and a petition
denouncing the actions of the Howard government and demanding they
enter into meaningful discussions with the Aboriginal community;
* Express to the Australian High Commission our opposition and
outrage to the attack on the human rights of Aboriginal peoples in
Australia.
Please lend your support. Circulate this message. Attend the Rally.
Sign the petition. Join the Boycott. Show your Support. Stand in
Solidarity with our Indigenous Brothers and Sisters.
More info:
http://www.nwac-hq.org/en/documents/PressReleaseAustraliaJune29-07.pdf
http://www.nowpublic.com/aotearoa_national_day_action_july_14th_melbourne
http://action.amnesty.org.au/index.php/centre/action/ensure_aboriginal_communiti\
es_right_to_consultation_consent_and_participati/
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