The people of East Timor have plenty of reasons to want to be free of rule from Jakarta. Since the Indonesian invasion in 1975, over 200,000 East Timorese — or one in every three — have died as a result of the occupation.
indigenous struggles
No justice, No peace Letty Scott: The story of a fighter
Letty Scott is a fighter. Her husband allegedly hung himself at Berrimah Prison in the Northern Territory on 5 July 1985. For the last decade-and-a-half, Letty has used her anger to campaign for the reopening of his case to expose the truth surrounding his death.
Jabiluka Must Not Proceed!
The international spotlight is on Australia. The Howard government is hell-bent on allowing construction of the Jabiluka uranium mine at the Kakadu National Park. The United Nations World Heritage Committee has threatened to place Kakadu on the “World Heritage in danger list.” It has given the Howard government until April 15 to prove scientifically that… Read more »
Wik is Women’s Business National Feminist Conference Rejects Big Business Land Grab
The panels at the Women & Labour Conference reinforced Wik as a feminist issue. They showed how non-Indigenous rural people are hurting badly from a crisis-ridden system, which is becoming increasingly brutal. The profiteers are attempting to use small farmers to incite mass panic in Australia – a panic fuelled by misinformation.
A Conversation with Ray Jackson from the Aboriginal Deaths in Custody Watch Committee
“Nearly 80% of the Aboriginal people lost their lives to the soldiers’ and squatters’ guns and poison; to starvation and disease; and from the acute anguish arising from the loss of land and kin.” This is how a 1988 poster, Tall Ships, Tall Stories, dispelled the Aussie national hype in the bicentennial celebration of British… Read more »
Exclusive: FSB talks with Victorian Koori Elder, Liz Hoffman
Elizabeth Hoffman, is chair of the Yorta Yorta Clans Group. She shared insights into the hidden history of the Indigenous peoples of the continent’s south-east. Like so many other such histories, it is about the murderous onslaught of the white invaders and of the struggle of the people to survive.
Being an Aboriginal woman
I am a 31-year-old Aboriginal woman of Ugarapul and Bundjalung tribal roots, who is strong in my culture, but contends with the aftermath of European invasion of this my sacred land, Australia.
More Aboriginal Genocide: Miners Battle White Death at Baryulgil
“If the bullet takes 20 years to kill you, it’s not called murder, it’s called business” – (Paul Brodeur in Blue Murder by Ben Hills) The Aboriginal community of Baryulgil, in northern New South Wales, is fighting to redress an act of genocide — this time, the weapon is asbestos and the murderer is James… Read more »
Meriam People Win Land Title Case Indigenous rights not extinguished by invasion
Mer Island is the largest of the easternmost group of islands, the Murray Islands, in Torres Strait. About 400 Islander people live there. In 1879 the Murray Islands were annexed to the then Crown colony of Queensland. This annexation was done without reference to the Meriam people, but with relatively little disruption to customary society…. Read more »
THROUGH BLACK EYES: A Unique Approach to Family Violence
Aboriginal women have developed a unique approach to combating domestic violence. Through Black Eyes is a landmark document that, in its approach to combating violence in the home, places the focus on community-inspired, rather than state-driven, solutions.