Representatives of various climate action groups met with banners, surf boards and placards at Parliament House to promote the campaign to replace Angelsea’s coal-fired power station with renewable energy sources.
On the steps of Parliament House
As far as one can can tell, no major event is planned for World Environment Day in Melbourne this year, but there is to be a Climate Emergency Rally on Saturday 13 June – details on http://www.climateactioncentre.org/junerally
Indigenous activists and supporters outside office of Jenny Macklin
Federal Indigenous Affairs Minister apparently did a Ferguson when faced with a protest over her plan to compulsorily acquire the Alice Springs town camps – a notice bluetacked to the door announced the office was ‘closed for a meeting’. But perhaps it was a genuine coincidence.
Notice on door of office
For background to the protest the best source is the website Rollback the Intervention, from which this statement is taken:
Statement Opposing the Commonwealth’s Proposal to Compulsorily Acquire the Alice Springs Town Camps
We recognize the right of Tangentyere Council and town camp residents to self-determination. Town camp residents have called upon governments to address overcrowding and poverty in their communities over several years. More often than not, their demands have been ignored.
We support the recent decision by the Council to reject the Commonwealth’s proposal that would transfer control of housing and tenancy management to the Northern Territory Government. Representatives from all town camps voted to maintain community control. This is vital because of a long history of neglect and indifference to the needs of Aboriginal people by Northern Territory Housing. People rightly fear eviction and rent-increases that are beyond their capacity to pay. It is critical that Aboriginal people have the power to shape their own destinies.
We condemn Minister Macklin’s proposal for the Commonwealth to compulsorily acquire the town camps of Alice Springs. We call on the Commonwealth to respect the independence of the Tangentyere Council and to act in good faith in all of its negotiations with the Tangentyere Council.
We recognize the long struggle for land by both town camp residents and Aboriginal land holders throughout Australia. We condemn the Federal Government’s policy of withholding funding for desperately needed housing in Aboriginal communities, before Aboriginal people relinquish control of their land.
It is disgraceful that the party who championed the first land rights legislation in Australia is holding impoverished Aboriginal communities to ransom. This Government has lost its moral compass. We offer our full support to the Tangentyere Council in their struggle.
……………………………….
Media release 24 May
Takeover of Aboriginal Land marks Opening of Reconciliation Week
Today Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin marked the opening of
Reconciliation Week by announcing that Alice Springs town camps will
be compulsorily acquired. The announcement has been met with outrage
by town camp residents. The move comes after Tangentyere Council,
acting on behalf of town camp residents, rejected a 40 year lease deal
which precluded all Aboriginal control and management of camp housing
which would put decision-making and resources into the hands of
Territory Housing.
The community housing model proposed by Tangentyere Council and the
ability of residents to have input into housing management has been
flatly rejected by the government. The community housing model was to
be run by the Central Australian Affordable Housing Company, which
Minister Macklin helped establish in March last year but has now been
rejected in favour of a government takeover.
Residents represented by Tangentyere are opposed to Territory Housing
management of the camps due to the high rate of evictions and
predicted rent increases under government management. Many Aboriginal
people who have been former residents of NT Housing, have already
experienced evictions, with the most common reasons being for cooking
kangaroo tail in the backyard or for having relatives from the bush
visit. People are concerned they will have nowhere to go if evicted
from town camps under Territory Housing, which already has a three
year waiting list for new occupancy.
“This is an appalling decision by the federal government. It marks
the start of a takeover for all Aboriginal communities who reject
government leases. If the government were genuine about consultation
with communities it would not be blackmailing people with long-term
leases and the threat of compulsory acquisition” said Hilary Tyler
from the Intervention Rollback Action Group in Alice Springs.
“You can’t take someone’s land without free, prior and informed
consent. It is very hypocritical of the Government to endorse the
United Nation Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples when the
Intervention contravenes at least 26 articles. By keeping the Racial
Discrimination Act (1975) in place it goes to show the Government of
Australia is in fact racist.” says Barbara Shaw from Mt Nancy town
camp.
A rally of town camp residents targeting both the NT government and
federal government over its announcement of outstation closures and
the compulsory acquisition of Alice Springs towncamps will take place
later this week in Alice Springs.
Contact: Barb Shaw on 0401 291 166, Hilary Tyler on 0419 244 012 or
Lauren Mellor on 0413 534 125
…………………………………
Today’s protest involved activists not only from Australia but also Aotearoa (and from Latin America, but no banner…):
Solidarity from Aotearoa
As part of the protest, a reminder was added to the coat-of-arms:
Sticker added to the coat-of-arms
In Sydney, a similar protest was planned at the office of Federal Housing Minister Tanya Plibersek, as well as other actions at Alice Springs and elsewhere. Reports from these will no doubt appear on the website in due course.
Several hundred members of the Palestinian community along with supporters from all walks of life rallied at the State Library on Friday to mark the 61st anniversary of some see as the birth of the state of Israel, but others as the catastrophe that overtook the people of Palestine on that day. Also remembered was the ongoing struggle of Indigenous people in Australia, and the sufferings of Tamils in their homeland.
The rally began with an acknowledgment of Aboriginal ownership of the land, and a minute’s silence for the dead. There were several speakers, and a group of Palestinian dancers. Then a march to Federation Square, to join a vigil in protest at the current killings in Sri Lanka.
Some of the following images are included in a slideshow on YouTube:
Some of the banners and placards at the rally:
Palestine Solidarity Campaign
Swinbourne Student Union/Students for Palestine
LaTrobe University Students for Palestine
Monash Students for Palestine
Indigenous Social Justice Association - Melbourne
One protester was wearing this patch on her back
(Sondos Ismael was on board the SIEVX, which sank on 19 October 2001 on route from Indonesia to Christmas Island, with the loss of 353 lives. She survived, and was eventually reunited with her husband in Australia, but her three young daughter drowned. See http://www.tonykevin.com.au/TheTragedy.html)
Some of the speakers:
Hisham Mustafa of the Islamic Council of Victoria
The leaflet Hisham is waving is a key part of the campaign to boycott transport company Connex, which currently runs Melbourne’s train network and is tendering for a renewal of the contract. It has also won a contract for a light rail system connecting Jewish settlements on the West Bank – see the link to Dump Connex.
Pratheepan Balasubramanian
As already mentioned, the rally ended with a march to Federation Square, where it merged with a vigil held by the Tamil community. Pratheepan Balasubramanian spoke at the rally, tracing the history of the present conflict back to the end of British colonial rule and the creation of Sri Lanka (Ceylon) in 1948, the same year as the ‘birth’ of Israel.
Alison Thorne of ISJA (see above)
Here is the text of what she said:
On behalf of the Indigenous Social Justice Association — Melbourne, greetings! On the occasion of the 61st anniversary Al Nakba we stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people. We support this struggle as we support the Tamils, Maori, West Papuans and indeed all oppressed nations battling occupation, theft of land, suppression of culture and genocidal practices.
It is vital that we acknowledge that we too are standing on occupied land and that Aboriginal Australians experienced their own catastrophe in 1788.
Just as anti-Zionist Jews in Israel must take action to stop the atrocities of the Israeli State, every one of us has a responsibility to make the connections and integrate the struggle to win justice for Indigenous Australians into every aspect of our organising.
The apartheid state of Israel is not only a catastrophe for the Palestinian people, it is also a death trap for Jewish people who want to live in peace. Because there can be no peace without justice. And there can be no justice when Palestinian refugees have no right of return, live in crowded refugee camps and have their miserable fragments of territory divided by an apartheid wall, Zionist settlements and roads and restrictive checkpoints.
And there can be no peace in this country built on the theft of Aboriginal land when Aboriginal people continue to die in custody, have their incomes quarantined, see their languages disappearing, die too young and live in overcrowded and poorly maintained homes.
But what we do really does make a difference. When we build international multi-racial coalitions, draw the links and challenge land theft and occupation we are a force to be reckoned with. And our message must be clear — without real justice, there can be no damn peace!
Before the march set off, a group of Palestinian dancers took the ’stage’:
Dancers
Dancers - another view
On the march:
On the march
Connex again
At Federation Square, where the Tamil vigil is in progress:
