Indigenous
You shut down our communities: we shut down your city
“These are our streets, These are our protests,
These are our sit-ins, Lock downs, Lock ons,
These are our people chained to machinery in the Leard state forest,
Our religious leaders occupying MPs offices,
Our activists keeping deportation flights grounded
These are our campaigns,
our unions
Representing
our interests,
our student bodies,
our graffiti,
our publications.
Our stories,
our spirit,
our history”
So exciting to hear such a powerful voice acknowledging so many campaigns we support. A remarkable rally today shut down the city streets of Melbourne in solidarity with the mooted closures of aboriginal communities.
1000’s of people held the intersection of Flinders Street and Swanston in a strong showing of resistance for hours. Phenomenal speakers, an incredibly powerful spoken word and an inspiring feisty resistance – as well as messages direct from impacted communities. Check out #SOSBlakAustralia on twitter and facebook for more information, and their website here.
Despite the ridiculous critique of ”selfish rabble” … Read More »
Blackfellas rising
Whilst there are always daily defiances, and ongoing acts of resistance from first nations people… remarkable still, considering the ongoing policies reflecting the earlier worst practices of colonisation… the broader and visible public resistance seems to ebb and flow.
There has been some particularly inspiring recent activity – from the gathering at the #G20, grandmothers march and newsjacking of the ‘leadership’ spill #libspill to the reclaiming of space on invasion/survival day on wurundjeri country and elsewhere… and a new generation of young crew are determined to keep their culture strong in the face of adversity with fierce resistance and connection to country.
They are inspiring us to do better. As governments close services and communities, and deaths in custody continue to shame our nation(s) how do we step up to be better allies and support?
One of our organisational new years resolutions was … Read More »
We won… six months on
Well it has been a long time coming, but we have finally launched the updated version of the Camp Walmadan booklet, complete with the ‘WE WON’ wrap around copy, with reflections and stories from the successful campaign to stop Woodside’s proposed gas refinery on the Kimberley coast.
A huge shout out to our lovely and patient designer friend Lilia who did such a fab job and everyone who shared their stories… as well as those that didn’t have a chance.
Celebration is important, and we wanted to make the resource available for everyone to share, but add in some positive stories – as we all know, wins like this don’t come around every day.
It is timely as ‘Heritage Fight‘ – the remarkable documentary of the Goolarabooloo people and Broome community is currently showing on NITV, and Part One is available for a … Read More »
Walking on country, coming home
I wanted to volunteer on the Lurujarri trail, near Broome for many reasons… to see friends, to walk the country I worked with others to save, to challenge myself physically, to hear the stories and connect to the living environment, and to acknowledge that I live on stolen land – and that it is necessary for all of us in similar positions to contribute in some way.
I have been thinking about what solidarity looks like, about what it means to be an ally to the original peoples of this country. It is as simple and hard as listening… and so much more. There is definitely more to write on this, but as I was thinking about it, I came across this new resource which looks wonderful.
So what is the Lurujarri trail?
You can read more about it here – the short … Read More »