On the anniversary of the day Aboriginal people finally won the right to vote, the Howard Government introduced legislation into Parliament to abolish the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC). Established by the Hawke Government, ATSIC was an attempt to give Indigenous Australians a genuine say through an elected national body. Almost from the… Read more »
indigenous struggles
Maori resistance to the theft of the seabed and foreshore
In June 2003, New Zealand’s Court of Appeal ruled that the customary title of Maori (Aotearoa/NZ’s Indigenous people) to the seabed and foreshore had never been legally extinguished, and that cases relating to it could therefore be heard by the Maori Land Court. The social democratic Labour government of Prime Minister Helen Clarke reacted to… Read more »
Peace is possible! A dialogue between radical Arabs and Jews
Watch the nightly news, and the prospects for peace in the Middle East seem hopeless. The Israeli State is blatantly assassinating Palestinian leaders and the right of return for Palestinians who lived decades in refugee camps is off the agenda. Meanwhile, the Iraqi people are living under U.S. occupation. But the good news is that… Read more »
Stop attacks on Indigenous organisations
In July, the Howard Government made yet another reactionary attack on Indigenous institutions. From July 1, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) lost its powers of Indigenous self-management. Two weeks later, a pre-dawn police raid on the Aboriginal Tent Embassy, outside Canberra’s Old Parliament House, forcibly removed the historic shipping container which was… Read more »
“Government cannot be allowed to buy its way out of the truth” – Black Lives, Government Lies reviewed
Australian Governments have a horrible history of systemic racism. But they didn’t try to hide it! They wrote it all down. Thanks to historian and activist, Ros Kidd, the shameful treatment of Indigenous Australians is not gathering dust in the archives. A second edition of her powerful exposé, Black Lives, Government Lies, was published earlier… Read more »
High Court legitimises dispossession: Racist judgement denies existence of Yorta Yorta Nation
In 1992, Indigenous Nations celebrated the Mabo Judgement, which finally recognised, partially, their traditional ownership of their country. Since then, both major parties have stacked the High Court with judges hostile to civil rights in general and Indigenous rights in particular. On December 12, a five-to-two majority effectively annulled Mabo — part of a ruling… Read more »
Ngarrindjeri women vindicated! Make the developers pay compensation now!
On September 20, 2002 the Ngarrindjeri Nation of South Australia finally got some justice. National media reported the discovery of the 200-year-old bones of a woman and her baby daughter at Goolwa, outside Adelaide. Eighteen months earlier, the Hindmarsh Island Bridge had been opened with much fanfare, linking Goolwa to Kumarangk (traditional name for Hindmarsh… Read more »
From high school rebel to Socialist Alliance leader: Talking with Sam Watson
Sam Watson headed the Socialist Alliance Senate ticket in Queensland at the last Federal election. The ticket attracted a very credible 8,965 votes. After the elections, Alison Thorne, who headed the Victorian Senate ticket for Socialist Alliance, caught up with Sam Watson in Brisbane to discuss his 35-year history of political struggle, Watson’s hopes for… Read more »
In Denial: The Stolen Generations and the Right
Robert Manne has for many years been associated with anti-communism and a trenchant opposition to the Left in Australia. This has led to a tendency among leftists to dismiss him as just another apologist for rampant capitalism. The truth, as always, is more complex. In fact Manne has been a consistent liberal, believing in the… Read more »
Salt water people versus corporate fishing giants: Unite to back their sea rights fight.
In March this year, a summit of Torres Strait Islanders resolved to ban commercial fishing in their “sea country” and this ban could soon extend across northern Australia. While not legally enforceable, it is an assertion by the traditional owners of their rights over the waters they’ve fished and looked after for thousands of years…. Read more »
