NT Intervention is ageist

June 17, 2008 at 4:19 pm (Aboriginal affairs, Indigenous sovereignty, NT intervention, ageism, children, patriarchy, race and racism, sexual abuse, sexual violence, sexuality, state repression, the state)

And a peak legal body representing Indigenous Territorians says the intervention has had the unintended consequence of prosecuting teenagers for having sex with each other.

Helen Wodak from the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency says a year on from the release of the Little Children Are Sacred report, its teenagers who are being targetted.

“We expected to see an increase in people being charged for sex offences with children and that’s not what we’ve seen. We’ve seen an increase in teenagers being prosecuted for having sex with other teenagers.”

Ms Wodak says the intervention has unevenly targetted Indigenous teenagers, but not other teens who are also having sex.

She says it may be a matter of racial discrimination.

from ‘Intervention under legal attack’ Posted Mon Jun 16, 2008 9:40am AEST; Updated Mon Jun 16, 2008 10:24am AEST, ABC News

When we say the intervention is “paternalistic” I think it literally refers to an authoritarian parental kind of control to which Aboriginal people — young and old — are supposed to respond with filial loyalty. And if you want to frame it in terms of the heterosexual nuclear family, then the framing of colonial state authority as “paternal” subtly invokes the gendering of community authority as “maternal”… which indeed a lot of community authority is, in the sense of being in the control of women.

I.e. the message is: mothers can’t take care of their children (blame women for men’s sexual abuse of children); children can’t take care of themselves (Aboriginal children are sexually irresponsible); Aboriginal men have failed in their patriarchal duties to protect women and children (and aren’t ‘real men’); Daddy State must step in and take a firm hand with them all. It’s a dynamic which repeats itself all over colonial regimes: disruption of familial (especially women’s) authority by an overarching colonial state patriarchy.

But what do young people (and I mean kids under the age of eighteen) have to say about the intervention? What must it feel like to live in an environment where your sexual decisions are ascribed either to depravity being visited upon you from outside, or your own internalised depravity? Where there is nothing to empower you to make sexual decisions for yourself?

If we frame (all) child abuse as an act of ageism — an effect of a political system which disenfranchises children and young people, which deprives them of the ability to make sexual decisions for themselves, which deprives them of a voice to speak about their sexuality (including abuses thereof) — then responses to child abuse which constrain children must also be viewed as abusive and ageist.

So why isn’t criminalising Aboriginal adolescents for having sex viewed as a form of sexual abuse of children? (A question which is based on a statement I made: you cannot combat sexual abuse of children by instituting a system of racial abuse.)

2 Comments

Call for a National Day of Action on Saturday June 21 to Stop the Racist Northern Territory Intervention

June 5, 2008 at 11:56 pm (Aboriginal affairs, Indigenous peoples, Indigenous sovereignty, NT intervention, activism, call for action, colonisation, land rights, military, police brutality, policing, race and racism, sexual violence, state repression, the state, violence, white supremacy)

[Not dead, just gone to ground as the meatspace obligations spiral out of control.]

Please spread far and wide.

Endorsed by the national conference called by the Aboriginal Rights Coalition on Sunday May 25 in Sydney attended by over 200 people.

- Repeal all “NT intervention” legislation
- Restore the Racial Discrimination Act
- Fund infrastructure and community controlled services
- Sign and implement the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
- Aboriginal Control of Aboriginal Affairs

June 21 will mark one year since the Howard Government announced the NT intervention. Far from improving child welfare, the intervention has created a new wave of dispossession and is compounding social problems.

The Racial Discrimination Act has been suspended, land taken over and business managers imposed on communities.

The universal quarantining of welfare payments, the closure of many Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP) and the compulsory acquisition of Aboriginal property has forced thousands of people from their communities into urban centres.

Bagot town camp in Darwin, for example, has increased in population from 500-1200 people since the intervention. People are facing extreme hardship without jobs, services or stable accommodation.

While the Rudd Labor government made a symbolic apology for the Stolen Generations, in practice, it has retained and expanded Howard’s explicitly racist intervention laws. The government refuses to acknowledge the social break down taking place. They continue to deny protection under the Racial Discrimination Act.

Aboriginal people are suffering stark discrimination as they are forced to stand in segregated queues in Centrelink, in supermarkets and in schools. The practice of traditional culture is becoming impossible for many, unable to travel due to welfare restrictions. As Lyle Cooper, Vice President Bagot Community has said, “I thank you Prime Minister Rudd for your apology…(but) it’s an invasion all over again. We are being told where to shop, what to eat, how to act and how to live”.

Communities continue to stand up against the intervention. Scores of representatives from “prescribed areas” traveled to join the 2000 strong Canberra Convergence at the opening of the new Parliament. Many more will come from communities around the Northern Territory to protest in Alice Springs and Darwin as part of the national protests on 21 June.

One of the strongest examples is Yuendumu, where a strategy of non-cooperation has held off repeated attempts by the government to take over local programs and implement “income management”. Jeannie Nungarrayi Egan from the community council has said, “No body likes it, we have to control our own community, we’re going to push out the quarantine”.

Social Justice Commissioner Tom Calma recently released a report which demonstrates how NT intervention legislation contravenes numerous UN charters to which Australia is signatory, including International Covenants on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR); on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR); and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD).

In July Jenny Macklin, the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs will begin a review of the Intervention. We need to bring thousands of people out onto the streets around the country to ensure grass-roots voices are no longer ignored. The new Government must break with the assimilationist policies of the Howard era. They must act on the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. A massive injection of funds and resources into communities is badly needed, but cannot come at the expense of basic human rights. Only an approach which respects self-determination will lead to improvements in community life.

Stop the intervention, Stop the Racism - Human Rights for all!

Sydney: 11am, The Block, Redfern
contact Monique Wiseman 0415410558 or Paddy Gibson 0415800586

Alice Springs - Mbantua: 2pm Court House Lawns
contact Barbara Shaw 0401291166 or Marlene Hodder 0889525032

Darwin: 10am Raintree park
contact Liv 0401955405

Perth: 11am Wesley Church, cnr Hay and William st
contact Natasha Moore 0434303248

Brisbane: 11am State Parliament, George st
contact Lauren 0413534125

Melbourne: 12pm State Library
contact Michaela 0429136935

Wollongong: 10am Lowden Square (east side of Wollongong Station)
contact Sheree Rankmore 42281585 or Tina McGhie 0415504589

Adelaide: details tba
contact John Hartley 0424943990 Sue Gilby 0431112898

Rally endorsed by the national conference called by the Aboriginal Rights Coalition on Sunday May 25 in Sydney attended by over 200 people. Support from Aboriginal leaders and activists includes: Barbara Shaw (Mt Nancy town camp, Alice Springs), Lyle Cooper (President of Bagot community, Darwin), Harry Nelson (President, Yuendumu community council), June Mills (Long-grass association, Darwin), Pat Eatock (National Secretary, National Aboriginal Alliance), Brian Butler, Shireen Malamoo, Millie Ingram, Pastor Ray Minniecon, Mitch, Peta Ridgeway, Heidi Norman, Shane Phillips

Supportive organisations include: Maritime Union of Australia (MUA NSW & NT), Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), Railway Tram and Bus Union (RBTU NT), Australian Services Union (ASU NT), Top End Aboriginal Conservation Alliance, Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTaR NSW & NT), Indigenous Social Justice Association, Alliance for Indigenous Self Determination Melbourne, Intervention Rollback Action Group (Alice Springs), Aboriginal Rights Coalition (Darwin, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth)

1 Comments

Labor party hypocrisy

February 27, 2008 at 10:31 pm ((in)security, Aboriginal affairs, NT intervention, colonisation, power, race and racism, sexual violence, state repression, terror, violence)

From a mailing list:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/02/27/2174099.htm

Welfare restrictions for WA Indig families

Federal Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin has announced welfare restrictions for some Western Australian Aboriginal families in the same way they apply in the Northern Territory.

A Western Australian coroner recently delivered a scathing report into service delivery for the state’s Aboriginal people and called for welfare restrictions.

Ms Macklin has announced that she will adopt his recommendation.

“I am announcing that the Australian Government will proceed with a trial of welfare payment conditionality and income management to combat poor parenting and community behaviours in selected Western Australian communities including in the Kimberley,” she said.

Ms Macklin says the WA Government will be partners in a trial and will fund parent responsibility teams.

“[They will] work with Centrelink to improve parenting where children are being neglected and are at risk of abuse,” she said.

“As part of the case management of a family, Western Australian child protection officers will be able to request Centrelink require that a person be subject to income management.”

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23249316-5013172,00.html

Outback taskforce gets star chamber

Simon Kearney | February 21, 2008

A FEDERAL investigation into child sexual abuse and violence in Aboriginal communities has been given star chamber powers to imprison unco-operative witnesses after its 18-month investigation hit a wall of silence in the outback.

The granting of the status of a special intelligence operation is a significant upgrade of the Alice Springs-based taskforce running the investigation, and came only after members had to argue its case in front of Australia’s eight police commissioners.

The new powers put violence and child sexual abuse in Aboriginal communities on a par with outlaw motorcycle gangs and international crime syndicates as priority for law enforcement. The powers investigators will use are similar to those granted to people investigating a terrorist plot.

The Australian understands that investigators, while having significant success uncovering information, have been frustrated by the unwillingness of non-government organisations to provide formal disclosures.

In addition, people in Aboriginal communities are often intimidated into not disclosing crimes, such as child sexual abuse and domestic violence. Critically, the investigators have uncovered many communities run through intimidation and standover tactics by men involved in criminal activity, including abuse.

Anyone questioned in what is known as the star chamber is legally prevented from revealing that the interview occurred, except to their lawyer.

Australian Crime Commission chief executive Alastair Milroy told The Australian yesterday the aim of the new powers was to obtain specific intelligence relating to violence, child abuse and related offences of substance abuse and pornography.

“Coercive powers will provide a clear legal basis and protection for non-government organisations, state and territory authorities, service providers and individuals to provide confidential information, as well as an environment that is more conducive to gathering personal testimony,” he said. “The approval of coercive powers was considered essential to overcome impediments in accessing information collection relating to indigenous violence and child abuse.”

Mr Milroy said the powers would not be used to target victims. The star chamber may travel to communities, if necessary, taking into greater account the need in many cases to protect the identity of witnesses being questioned.

The 31-strong National Indigenous Violence and Child Abuse Intelligence Task Force has made significant inroads exposing an epidemic of child sexual abuse and violence similar to revelations contained in the Little Children Are Sacred report, which was released in June last year and prompted the Howard government’s emergency intervention in the NT.

As of Tuesday, the taskforce had provided police and child protection authorities in every state and the NT with 236 reports that could be used in subsequent investigations.

The star chamber inquiry is carried out by an independent examiner.

The findings of inquiries cannot be used in court but the disclosures can be passed to police to investigate later.

Initially, the powers would be used to force organisations and individuals to produce documents from which further inquiries would be launched, Mr Milroy said.

“The ACC will utilise coercive powers in a culturally sensitive manner in order to identify offenders and obtain specific intelligence relating to violence, child abuse and related offences of substances abuse and pornography,” Mr Milroy said.

The taskforce is expected to continue its work until the end of this year before presenting a comprehensive report to the nation’s police commissioners in the middle of next year.

There are NO WORDS.

None.

I absolutely cannot believe that they would do this and have the nerve to try to cover themselves in glory by “apologising” for kidnapping Aboriginal children at the same time as imposing this authoritarian, racist horror on Aboriginal children now.

Here’s a newsflash, Kevin: if you apologise, but keep doing the same harmful things you were doing that you had to apologise for, then it becomes clear that you’re not only insincere and untrustworthy, but also an opportunistic, manipulative abuser.

3 Comments

Public Announcement: Black Australia Proclaims July as BLACK HISTORY MONTH

January 27, 2008 at 9:02 am (Aboriginal affairs, Indigenous peoples, Indigenous sovereignty, Redfern, colonisation, community, history, imperialism, land rights, power, race and racism, social movements, the state, theory, violence, whiteness, women of colour)

A message forwarded over e-mail lists:

26th January 2008

PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT

TO ALL AUSTRALIANS

On this 26th Day of January 2008, in commemoration of the 20th Anniversary of the proclamation of SURVIVAL day, it is hereby announced that the month of JULY 1-31st is now proclaimed BLACK history month in Australia.

From this day forth and for all years to come, JULY will remain a month of significance and symbolism for the unity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nations, in celebration of Australia’s rich, vibrant Indigenous histories and cultures.

JULY will provide an opportunity for ALL AUSTRALIANS to recognise the true Australian identity, giving Schools, Government, Multicultural Australia and most significantly Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities the opportunity to respectfully promote greater awareness of the diversity, innovation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander splendour.

Australia’s BLACK history month, will join the worldwide celebration of Black History Month, giving a greater international profile to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nations, alongside Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States of America.

The Australian community is hereby advised to BLACK out JULY in their diaries annually as a month of pride and celebration of all tribal groups and people throughout Australia and the Torres Strait.

1st JULY ­ 31st JULY AUSTRALIA’S BLACK HISTORY MONTH

WE HAVE SURVIVED

6 Comments

Calling all Aboriginal people and supporters to converge on Canberra!

January 26, 2008 at 2:57 am (Aboriginal affairs, Indigenous peoples, Indigenous sovereignty, NT intervention, activism, call for action, colonisation, power, race and racism, social movements, state repression)

Stand up for Aboriginal rights on the first day of the new parliament!

Converge on Canberra poster

Tuesday, February 12 2008
Meet Aboriginal Tent Embassy 11:30am
March to Parliament for 1pm rally

Turn back Howard and Brough’s racist legacy!

- Reinstate the Racial Discrimination Act
- Demand immediate review of the NT intervention
- End welfare quarantines, compulsory land acquisition and
‘mission manager’ powers
- Implement the UN Declaration on the Rights of Aboriginal People
- Aboriginal control of Aboriginal affairs

In the final months of government, John Howard introduced a package of discriminatory, unfair and punitive measures against Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory. Aimed at controlling Aboriginal lives and land, the legislation was a stark violation of basic human rights and dignities.

Federal Labor is promising a new era in Aboriginal affairs. They are pledging to say sorry to the stolen generation and to sign the UN declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People. They have promised to restore both the CDEP (Community Development and Employment Program) and the permit system, which will ameliorate some of the worst effects of the NT intervention.

Unfortunately there are aspects of ALP policy that is still disturbingly similar to the Liberals’. Plainly discriminatory measures such as mandatory welfare quarantines, compulsory land acquisition and the presence of non-Aboriginal “business managers” with extraordinary powers are being suffered under right now. There has been no move to allow the operation of the Racial Discrimination Act. The cry for immediate review of the legislation coming from across the NT has been ignored.

The Labor Government must comply with accepted international human rights laws and standards of non discrimination, equality , natural justice and procedural fairness. Legislation being implemented in the NT breaches commitments Australia has made as a signatory to major human rights treaties and conventions; such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The Human Rights Commission must immediately review the legislation to ensure compliance with these obligations.

The federal election revealed overwhelming opposition to the intervention among Aboriginal communities. When Labor MP’s in affected areas emphasised political differences to the Coalition they consistently received over 80% of the vote; with 95% in the town of Wadeye.

Despite government claims that the intervention is a response to the Anderson & Wild “Little Children are Sacred” report, no new community-based services to ensure the safety and protection of children have been established, and there has been a notable duplication of services - particularly in the area of child health checks. There is an urgent need for delivery of essential services, infrastructure and programs genuinely targeted at improving the safety and well being of children and developed in consultation with communities. Huge amounts of public money have been wasted, with $88 million alone going towards bureaucrats to control Aboriginal welfare.

Moving Forward
A vibrant, mass convergence Canberra on the first day of parliament will be an important step in challenging the lingering legacy of Howard’s racism. We can strongly push for an immediate end to what Aboriginal communities have themselves described as an invasion. We can send a strong signal to Kevin Rudd and his new government to put Aboriginal rights at the centre of their agenda; to massively increase the resources available to communities across Australia and to respect Aboriginal control of Aboriginal affairs.

How to get there!
Buses will be leaving from the Block, opposite Redfern Station, on Tuesday 12 February. Get there at 7am for 7:30am departure.

Ring Janene to book a seat on the bus – 0416 490 481 - $20 ($10 concession).

If you are interested in going down to Canberra on Monday 11 Feb, let us know that as well. Bus times for Monday are still being confirmed.

Initiated by the Aboriginal Rights Coalition, Sydney. Come to the meetings 6pm every Monday at Redfern Community Centre, Hugo St.

Contact:
Shane Phillips 0414077631
Greg Eatock 0432050240
Read the rest of this entry »

1 Comments

When is rape not rape?

December 10, 2007 at 9:50 pm (Aboriginal affairs, NT intervention, colonisation, race and racism, rape, sexual abuse, sexual violence, violence, whiteness, women of colour)

Answer: when it happens to Aboriginal women.

Recently Cairns District Court Judge Sarah Bradley sentenced nine men, aged between 14 and 26, who pleaded guilty to the rape of a 10-year-old girl, to probation. I.e. no conviction is being recorded for this offence, according to Judge Bradley’s judgement.
One of the men has a prior conviction for child sexual abuse. Despite this, the Crown Prosecutor did not ask for custodial sentences for the men.
[***EDIT: Correction-- No conviction is being recorded against the juvenile perpetrators, who are getting probation. The adult perpetrators will have suspended sentences with convictions recorded. Articles were a little ambiguous on that point.***]

The lenient sentence was justified on the basis that the girl apparently “was not forced and she probably agreed to have sex with all of [them].”

Many of them are from powerful families in Aurukun, the remote Cape York community in which the rape occurred; the girl is not. She has now been placed in foster care.

The Queensland Attorney-General Kerry Shine is planning to appeal the sentence, although the appeal period of 28 days has expired, and the state Premier Anna Bligh will review all sentences handed down in Cape York over the past two years.

More details:

The issue not being discussed in any of these reports is the whiteness of the judge who handed down the non-sentence. Why did she play havoc with the life of a young Aboriginal girl? Why is her life worth so little to this white judge? Why is she being kinder to rapists (black though they may be) than to young women? Isn’t it because Aboriginal women are considered worthless by the white legal system?

And why has this girl been removed from her family? In the Age article it suggests that the girl was initially placed in care in the Aurukun community.

I think Auntie Shirley said it best: for Aboriginal people, child removal equals paedophilia.

I think this case reveals the corruption and hypocrisy of Australian governments in dealing with child sexual abuse in Aboriginal communities. While the state is enabling confessed abusers, it is also chastising the entire Aboriginal population of the Northern Territory with punitive welfare quarantines and paternalistic community managers. While Aboriginal leaders condemn the enabling of abuse and the malevolent neglect of governments, the state congratulates itself on taking military action. For eleven years John Howard let report upon report about abuse, poor health, inadequate housing, unemployment and poverty pile up and he did nothing but take a knife to the guts of Indigenous leadership and rights. And now all Aboriginal people get is their money quarantined and threats to roll it out to the entire country.

It looks like the ALP is tripping on whatever ideological sauce the Coalition was on. It’s the only way this kind of bullshit could possibly make any goddamn sense.

7 Comments

The Intervention - a letter

November 6, 2007 at 10:07 pm (Aboriginal affairs, NT intervention, police brutality, policing, state repression, the state)

EDIT: This report contains errors and is based on second-hand accounts. It was Northern Territory police (not Federal police) who conducted the raids checking outstanding warrants. The reports of surveillance cameras has not been confirmed, and the reports of the Muckaty station women has been questioned.

This letter circulated a few months ago, but it has resurfaced on some e-lists I’m on. I wanted to blog then, but I was on my hiatus and couldn’t justify taking the time to do it.

Read the rest of this entry »

Comments

International Day of Action for Community Response to Sexual Assault

October 28, 2007 at 7:25 pm (Aboriginal affairs, activism, call for action, community, sexual assault, sexuality, the state)

November 30th 2007

We are calling for people to organise in their own towns and cities to take action on this day. This means whatever it means to you – maybe organising in your school, occupying an office or a court or a police station, holding a rally, making a publication, talking to people, or anything you can think of.

The government has used sexual assault to justify the military invasion, removal of land permits, and denial of Indigenous autonomy in the Northern Territory. But this is not a way of dealing with sexual assault – fear, intimidation, and military and police presence as a “solution” shows no understanding of sexual assault or ways of dealing with it. The police and military have been perpetrators of sexual assault in communities around Australia, in Iraq, around the world. Some communities have themselves called for police involvement in dealing with sexual abuse, but not all. What is most important is that communities themselves direct the way they want to deal with sexual violence.

The Northern Territory intervention is a racist intervention. It is ridiculous that our white government thinks that Indigenous communities are unable to respond to sexual assault themselves, with their own processes and understandings, especially when we look at the way sexual assault is dealt with across the rest of Australia, by relying on an alienating, adversary and difficult to access legal system.

Almost no sexual assaults are reported to police, and most reported cases result in no conviction. This is not because they are “false claims” but because the legal system forces someone who has been assaulted to try to “prove” their claim, doubting them, disbelieving, pressuring them to relive their assault and undergo invasive medical examinations. Most assault happens in private – it makes it the survivor’s word against the perpetrator’s. The court system is designed so that survivors of sexual assault are attacked and broken by defence lawyers who only want to win their case. In the rare case that a perpetrator is convicted, prison does nothing to confront and challenge the behaviour and underlying assumptions and understandings that foster a culture of sexual assault.

We want a day of action calling for community – not military, not legal – responses to sexual assault. Our government shows no interest in trying to engage with the real issues of sexual assault and how to confront it, so we need to do it ourselves. We are calling for support for survivors of sexual assault, and a process of community response that prioritises their needs and safety. We are calling for processes that try to change the underlying myths and power dynamics that lead to assault, before it happens. We want processes that deal with perpetrators in a way that challenges their beliefs and behaviours, and gets them to take responsibility for their actions and trying to change.

For more information, or to add your own:
communitiesresponsetosexualassault.wordpress.com

Email: ida_2007@graffiti.net

Other links for info on community response, the Northern Territory intervention, etc:
www.worldwithout.org
theoryoftheoffensive.blogsome.com

9 Comments

Call for Solidarity with Aboriginal People in the Northern Territory

October 28, 2007 at 6:29 pm (Aboriginal affairs, activism, blogosphere, call for action, the state)

Stop the Invasion!

International Day of Action, November 17th

In June this year, the Australian Prime Minister, John Howard, announced that there would be a ‘National Emergency Response’ to combat child abuse in Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory. The measures announced included the quarantining of half of all welfare payments, the abolition of the Community Development Employment Program, the appointment of managers for 73 prescribed communities, compulsory sexual health examinations of children, and the abolition of the permit system, amongst other things.

These measures are a violation of human rights, and is obviously racist and authoritarian. The passage of the Emergency Response legislation is dependent on the suspension of the Racial Discrimination Act, and the Northern Territory Native Title Act. Federal police and the military have been sent into the NT to enforce these measures.

Aboriginal people that work through the Community Development Employment Program (CDEP) manage their own wages and money. Abolishing CDEP will push people onto welfare and the welfare income management system that allows for quarantining and tight control of how people’s money is spent. Many people running businesses on CDEP in remote outstations are already being forced to move into larger regional towns. The extraordinary measures give the Federal Government power to seize lands and property without compensation. The owners of those lands and properties have no right of appeal. Lands will be leased for five years, but the government has plans to extend these measures for 99 years. It is entirely up to ministerial discretion whether rent is paid on those lands or not.

The Federal Government has appointed non-Indigenous business managers to the ‘prescribed’ communities. These managers have the power to decide who lives in a community and who must leave; they can observe any meeting of an organisation working at the community, they can change any local programme. Many Aboriginal communities consider these measures, often being administered by under-prepared military personnel, as an invasion rather than an intervention.

These measures return Aboriginal people to the days of mission stations, where life was tightly controlled by authoritarian managers. It is a return to times of colonial control on Aboriginal life, and the complete absence of any autonomy or self-determination. The removal of basic property rights as enjoyed by all other Australians, with the abolition of the permit system, is a gross violation of human rights. Even the Northern Territory police oppose this measure, for the likely adverse effect it will have on crime.

Some $570 million is being spent on these measures. Half of that money will be spent on the salaries of 700 new bureaucratic positions created to regulate this intervention. $88 million will be spent on measures to control the incomes of Aboriginal people on any government payment (including aged pensions and veterans payments).

This is an insult to the hard work of Aboriginal people who have been campaigning for basic services in remote communities. Roads, schools, health care, housing and social services are desperately needed by these communities. It is estimated that the housing backlog alone for Northern Territory Aboriginal communities is half a billion dollars. Moreover, with the publication of the Closing the Gap report by Oxfam earlier this year, it has been shown that Indigenous life expectancy is 17 years below that of non-Indigenous life expectancy.

A week and a half ago, the Australian Prime Minister, John Howard, announced the Federal election for November 24th.

This came shortly after Australia voted against the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous peoples (along with Canada, New Zealand and the USA).

It is time to stand up for justice for Indigenous peoples everywhere, to demand either a change of policy, or a change of government!

One week before the Australian Federal election, on November 17th, various groups across Australia will be taking action to show opposition to the Federal government’s intervention into the Northern Territory. We hope that those outside Australia will join us in calling for an end to this government, an end to racist, colonialist policies towards Indigenous people, and support for the strong self-determination that Indigenous people demonstrate every day.

With allegations that the Australian Federal government is manipulating international media about the intervention, it is vitally important that information about the intervention and views of Indigenous people in the Northern Territory are widely disseminated through social justice networks. Please use your community and activist media to promote the interests of Indigenous Australians, and Indigenous people worldwide!

Learn more:

National Aboriginal Alliance: http://www.nationalaboriginalalliance.org/
Combined Aboriginal Organisations of the Northern Territory - alternative to the government’s Emergency Response: http://www.snaicc.asn.au/news/documents/CAOreport8july.pdf
Women for Wik: http://www.womenforwik.org/
Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation: http://www.antar.org.au/
Oxfam: http://www.oxfam.org.au/world/pacific/australia/
Koori Mail: http://www.koorimail.com/

Things you can do:

1. Organise a protest outside the Australian Consulate in your nearest city. Make it clear that the Howard government’s shameful opportunism on human rights is gathering international criticism.
2. Donate to the National Aboriginal Alliance. Find out more on their website, here: http://www.nationalaboriginalalliance.org/
3. Spread the news of this horrendous violation of human rights to as many people as possible. Write an article about it, post to your blog about it, send the news to your friends via email. Encourage your friends to speak out about it as well.
4. If you are part of a political organisation, collective, or group, please send your words of solidarity and support to the National Aboriginal Alliance. Send messages of solidarity to: secretariat at nationalaboriginalalliance dot org.
5. Write letters to Mal Brough, the Minister for Indigenous Affairs, or John Howard. You can find guidelines here: http://www.antar.org.au/action/current_actions/

11 Comments

Australia Recolonised

June 21, 2007 at 6:43 pm (Aboriginal affairs, colonisation, environment, imperialism, land rights, race and racism, the state)

I want to scream. I want to cry.

The Indigenous Land Council has announced that it will set up a system of boarding houses to give Indigenous children an education… This article is so disgustingly racist that I need to make fun of it to make sense of the fact that the things it’s reporting on are deathly serious.

“Think of the children!” has been uttered before in Australian history. It produced the Stolen Generation.

Prime Minister John Howard has just announced a series of extremely repressive measures for Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory, including taking control of Indigenous townships through a system of leases and increased police intervention into Aboriginal communities.

Did I mention that there have already been proposals for nuclear waste dumps on Indigenous lands in the Northern Territory despite the PM’s assurances there never would be?

And oh gods, I need a rest so I’ll just offer you these two terms for consideration:
“divide-and-rule”
“comprador”
Seriously, they explain a lot more than you’d imagine.

8 Comments

Racist Australia

June 16, 2007 at 3:55 pm (Aboriginal affairs, colonisation, land rights, race and racism, sexual abuse, the state)

I know I just said I’d take a break from blogging, but I really thought these articles needed to be passed on.

1. The Sydney Morning Herald reports on white sexual abuse of Aboriginal children in the Northern Territory with characteristic power-aversive race talk that downplays the colonial violence occurring there.

2. Academic Larissa Behrendt says that there’s a racist discourse of Indigenous issues in this country which is destructive to Indigenous peoples’ rights, health, safety, and wellbeing. (What about self-determination, Larissa?)

Comments

RSL opposes indigenous soldiers’ ANZAC Day march

April 17, 2007 at 7:37 pm (Aboriginal affairs, media, military, race and racism, the state, whiteness)

from the Sydney Morning Herald

WHEN David Williams’s uncle returned from the Korean War - exhausted and recovering from a gunshot wound - the family took him to Greenslopes Repatriation Hospital in Brisbane. The door was closed in their faces.”They basically said, ‘Just another black coon’,” Mr Williams said. “They didn’t want to know us. The fact that he fought for his country - nearly died for his country - didn’t mean anything to them.

“They left him to look after himself and he ended up hitting the booze and just slowly deteriorating.”

This was not an isolated experience. About 500 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders fought in World War I and as many as 5000 took part in World War II, according to Australian War Memorial records.

But while they fought alongside other Australians in the trenches, on the battlefields of Europe and in the jungles of Asia, those who made it back often received little or no recognition of their efforts and continued to face racism at home.

Next Wednesday, despite criticism from the RSL, their unique experiences and contribution will be recognised when hundreds of indigenous veterans and their descendants march through Redfern in Sydney’s first Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Anzac Day parade.

The RSL is an extremely conservative organisation. They’ve taken many anti-queer stances in the past. It’s hardly surprising that they’re opposing this effort to recognise indigenous soldiers (and subtly undo the image of white masculinity that’s celebrated as quintessentially “Australian” on ANZAC Day). Because of course, so long as white Australians get recognised, everyone else is unimportant!

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Lake Cowal activists arrested

April 9, 2007 at 1:27 pm (Aboriginal affairs, activism, environment, race and racism, the state)

from the Sydney Morning Herald:

Eighteen anti-gold mine activists have been charged following a protest in central NSW, which concluded with a man allegedly ransacking the protesters’ campsite while armed with a knife.The activists, who included members of the Wiradjuri people, Friends of the Earth and the Australian Student Environment Network [ASEN], were arrested about 1.30pm yesterday after allegedly breaching the perimeter of the Lake Cowal gold mine, which is run by the world’s largest gold producer, Barrick.

They claim the mine’s operations are environmentally damaging.

“Barrick … is stripping NSW of its precious water resources, internationally significant wetlands and destroying Wiradjuri history and culture,” ASEN’s national convenor, Nicola Ison, said in a statement released by Friends of the Earth yesterday.

“Barrick is transporting over 6000 tonnes of cyanide annually from Gladstone, Queensland, to Lake Cowal, New South Wales, creating risk of spill and lethal contamination of waterways along the 1600 km transport route,” Ms Ison said.

The activists were each charged with entering enclosed lands. They were granted conditional bail and are due to appear in West Wyalong Local Court on April 26.

Police said a 32-year-old man was arrested yesterday evening after allegedly driving into the protesters’ campsite and damaging vehicles and tents.

He was charged with malicious damage, failing to undergo a breath analysis, stalking/intimidation, carry a knife in a public place, as well as driving offences.

He is expected to appear in Griffith Local Court this morning.

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Life on the run, with added news!

April 8, 2007 at 10:08 pm (Aboriginal affairs, Redfern, academia, activism, environment, race and racism, refugees, self-involved blather, the state, thesis, writing)

I’ve been lax with my blogging over the past few days because Real Life intervened. I wrote about 3000 words of thesis in 2 days and then family from India came to town.

I’ve been busy busy busy busy and no signs of life slowing down are emerging.

Wiradjuri campaigners at Lake Cowal have also been busy. Along with a Corroboree to celebrate Easter, campaigners are occupying the offices of Barrick Gold to protest the illegal and dangerous gold mine on Wiradjuri lands.

There are also refugees in Villawood immigration detention centre on a hunger strike to protest against a new wave of deportations.

About 60 prisoners at one of Australia’s notorious immigration detention centres launched a hunger strike on March 28 to protest against a new wave of refugee deportations

In the face of massive, life-threatening issues like deportation and cyanide poisoning of indigenous waters, I feel a bit intimidated in expressing the doubts and difficulties of trying to start up an anti-racism collective at my university.
But we have to start somewhere. Hopefully we can start tackling issues around the Block once we kick things off.

I have to organise a reading group to get it all started, but I’m not sure what’s a good starting point. If anyone has any suggestions for a reading (preferably a self-contained chapter from a book, or an article, bonus if it’s available as a PDF), I’d really appreciate it. I want to discuss anti-racist activism broadly, as well as delve into the political/psychic/ontological/material/historical/social dimensions of race.

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Aboriginal health care a ’scandal’

April 2, 2007 at 1:03 pm (Aboriginal affairs, health, imperialism, race and racism, the state)

from ABC News Australia:

A new report has found Australia lags badly behind other wealthy nations in addressing the health and wellbeing of its Aboriginal population.

The report was commissioned by Oxfam and the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation and examined a range of key health indicators.

It found Australia was ranked at the bottom of a league table of wealthy nations such as New Zealand, Canada and the United States.

Oxfam executive director Andrew Hewett labelled the situation a “scandal”.

“If you’re an Indigenous Australian you’re going to die 20 years younger than most other Australians,” he said.

“That compares to similar countries where the gap is only about seven years.

Mr Hewett says governments should stop ignoring the issue.

“What’s lacking in Australia is the political will from governments of all parties at all levels and that’s what we need, we need to set a national target to close the gap between between health outcomes for Indigenous Australians and non-Indigenous Australians,” he said.

Here’s the full report from Oxfam.

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