letter from Hone

Monday 20 April 2015

“The last time I was in Canberra was for SORRY DAY 2008, when I listened to Kevin Rudd apologise to generations of Aboriginal people for the theft of their lands, the destruction of their culture, and the dehumanising of their people” said Hone Harawira, leader of the MANA Movement of Aotearoa (NZ).

“Today I am back in Canberra during ANZAC WEEK 2015, and I am reminded that television channels, radio stations and print media on both sides of the Tasman are full of the remarkable stories of courage and heroism exhibited by the Australian and New Zealand Army Corp during World War One, right across the Western Front of the European campaign, and the beaches, hills and trenches of Gallipoli” said Harawira, “And as it happens, to cement that union of battle, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott is today unveiling a memorial to Australian soldiers who died in WW1, at Pukeatua Memorial Park in Wellington, New Zealand” said Harawira.

“But today, as he unveils a memorial to the mindless destruction of a century ago, Tony Abbott is quietly drawing a veil across the genocide being committed by his own government in Western Australia through the enforced closure of remote Aboriginal communities.

Genocide is defined under the Convention on the Prevention of Genocide as (e) forcibly transferring children of one group to another, and (c) deliberately inflicting on one group, conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part through measures such as:

• removing children from their families,
• cutting off basic medical needs,
• ignoring needs for basic infrastructure such as public transport,
• labelling remote communities as breeding grounds for paedophilia,
• taking away community work programs,
• neglecting aboriginal housing programs, and
• withholding and freezing bank accounts.

The forced closure of Aboriginal communities is genocide – plain and simple – something that colonialistshave been trying to do ever since their arrival, originally through the gunbarrels of white settlers and now through the legislation of overwhelmingly white governments.

Although the United Nations recognises the overwhelming authority of the Indigenous people to the land of Australia, it seems that Australian governments simply refuse to accept the reality of their continued racism.

When John Howard introduced the hated Northern Territory Intervention Plan back in 2007, he earned the universal animosity of Indigenous people the world over as “a racist bastard imposing racist policies on a people who are not in a position to fight back”

Tony Abbott’s backing of Western Australia’s Closure of Remote Communities in 2015 is exactly the same, and deserves exactly the same response – “Tony Abbott is a racist bastard imposing racist policies on a people who are not in a position to fight back”

White Australian governments happily dumped Aboriginals into the outback, out of sight and out of mind – until they realised that they had inadvertently given them rights to millions of acres of land beneath which sat vast deposits of billion dollar minerals and oils.

The Intervention Plan, and now the Closure of Remote Communities, is genocide with a blunt instrument – put an end to Aboriginal title by forcing them from their land, let the big mining companies bully their way in, and force the Indigenous people to take their case to court where they stand no chance of ever winning.

As the leader of the MANA Movement in Aotearoa (NZ), I join with indigenous leaders across Australia and the Pacific in condemning the Closure of remote Communities, and I call on all those who support justice to join in the Day of Action to Stop the Forced Closure of Aboriginal Communities on May 1, both here in Australia and back in New Zealand.

If the ANZAC spirit truly lives 100 years after the defence of the British Empire, let it be in the defence of our own indigenous communities in 2015.

Hone Harawira

MANA Leader

Canberra

Stop the forced closure of Aboriginal Communities in Australia.

Stop the forced closure of Aboriginal Communities in Australia.

This battle to protect and stand with our indigenous brothers and sisters began with this

It has been six months since the federal government signed over funding responsibility for providing municipal and essential services to Western Australia’s 274 remote Indigenous communities to the state government and four since the WA premier, Colin Barnett, said between 100 and 150 of those communities faced “closure” because they were “not viable”.

On Tuesday, Tony Abbott further inflamed the situation by saying his government could not be expected to “endlessly subsidise lifestyle choices if those lifestyle choices are not conducive to the kind of full participation in Australian society that everyone should have”.

Tony Abbott is so bad he makes John Key look okay. Lifestyle choices??? The response has been sharp

The Aboriginal leader Noel Pearson has blasted Tony Abbott’s comments that living in a remote community is a lifestyle choice, saying it is a “deranged debate” conducted in a “substandard manner”... He described the comments as “shameless” and a “disgraceful turn of events”.

and

The chairwoman of the Aboriginal Health Council of Western Australia, Michelle Nelson-Cox, said Abbott’s comments were “hugely disappointing”.

“The prime minister’s comments about Aboriginal communities place no value on the connection to country and culture that these communities provide, nor the important role they play in the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal people,” she said.

“Aboriginal people are obligated to maintain a connection to country to sustain spiritual beliefs, customary activities and traditional lore. In addition to providing a home to many Aboriginal people, these communities provide a continuing sense of identity through this ongoing connection to country.”

This article dispels the myth of closing these communities because of sexual abuse.

And Gerry Brownlee

 denied co-leader of the Māori Party, Marama Fox leave from the House of Representatives to vote on a motion to condemn the Australian Government’s impending closure of remote indigenous communities in Western Australia.

What can we do from here to support our brothers and sisters over there?

Facebook site here  And here is a great profile of Sam Cook who is one of the leaders of the social media campaign.

March on 1 May to show support - will update soon.

UPDATE: Current A-Z listings of upcoming actions ‪#‎SOSBLAKAUSTRALIA‬

first australians - great series

I watched the first part of this series last night on Maori TV. It told the history and deliberate attempted destruction of Tasmanian Aborigines - it was so sad.

History - this series should be on primetime and everyone should watch it. The countries that colonised the indigenous people - the canada's, the australia's, the usa's, and the new zealand's and the many others must realise that unless the truth is known there can be no basis of forgiveness or moving on. You cannot build a society on lies. Thank goodness for maori tv otherwise we would remain ignorant.



Go here for more excerpts

Ampilatwatja walk-off update

I've posted about the Ampilatwatja walk-off before.

The article below is by Richard Downs, spokesperson for the Ampilatwatja walk-off against the Northern Territory intervention.

"The government business manager (GBM) for Ampilatwatja and a representative of department of indigenous affairs were told to leave the Ampilatwatja protest camp on February 14 as they were not invited.

The agents turned up at our meeting with the APY lands people without notice. The GBM was informed we no longer have any relationship and they were not welcome.

The GBM's excuse was that he had to inform me that minister Jenny Macklin has now given approval for us to bring the condemned tin houses from Ampilatwatja to put up at our camp. But he was aware we had already been given approval by the people and Barkley Shire to take them as they were going to be demolished.

Previously, the GBM had stated we were to return the buildings and to first get approval to remove them. Our reply to him was: “Take whatever action you desire as we were not returning them.”

At the meeting, they asked if it was okay to take photos of the building. They were both told clearly to leave and not take any photos of the house as it had nothing to do with them. But on our way back to the camp both were seen wandering into the house. I informed them both they were arrogant, ignorant and had shown no respect to the people. They were both informed with colourful language to remove themselves from the site. They were slow in doing so until I requested the cameras be focused on them. Then they hurried off.

This clearly shows the attitude of the federal government agents. On behalf of the minister they try to intimidate people to show they have the power and authority to go wherever without notice.

I also advised him to personally apologise to Banjo Morton, who was about 20 yards away. The GBM arrogantly turned and walked away, with out showing respect to our 84-year-old leader.

How can conflicts be resolved when they show no respect. Truth is, it will be difficult to resolve and the team that is not showing respect knows that, and that is why they are doing it.

Hat tip Green Left Online

closing the gaps in australia

Sometimes I come across something that really covers the major points well. This article is one of those excellent outlines that encompasses wide ranging sub-topics within the major topic. Think - what do we really know about what is happening over the ditch?

From Green Left an awesome site  "Human rights shame: Aboriginal people fighting back."

"In February 2008 — at the first session of parliament after he won government — Prime Minister Kevin Rudd delivered a moving apology to the Stolen Generations, the Aboriginal children abducted from their families last century as part of a policy of social engineering to extinguish the Aboriginal identity."

The speech carried the promise that, unlike the preceding Coalition government, the new Labor government was willing to address the ongoing oppression Aboriginal Australians have suffered since the British invaded in 1788.

But the grim reality is that Aboriginal people continue to suffer human rights abuses as horrific as any occurring anywhere in the world. The Rudd government is maintaining Coalition policies that are making the situation worse.

Furthermore, such is the institutional nature of anti-Aboriginal racism that these abuses would pass unnoticed were it not for the strong resistance of the Aboriginal people themselves.

Rudd promised to “close the gap” between Indigenous and non-Indigenous education and health outcomes. The gap is indeed glaring: Aboriginal life expectancy is 17 years less than that of other Australians.

However, Rudd’s policies have actually increased the gap."

It is interesting that rudd used the 'closing the gaps' line so quickly dropped by labour here when the racists starting making noises. And isn't it also interesting that in trying to better the situation they have actually made it worse. Why did that happen? Perhaps they should have talked to and worked with the aboriginal people to help empower them.

Go here to read the full article - it really is an eye-opener.

racist biscuits to go

Do we really need to be careful about what we say? Are some of the expressions that we use racist and offensive but we just don't think about it until someone else notices?

"The name of the Coles brand biscuits, Creole Creams, has sparked controversy.

Sam Watson, the deputy director of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit at the University of Queensland, said the word "Creole", often used to describe a person of mixed European and Africa ancestry, was a racially loaded term.

"The word Creole comes from a period when people's humanity was measured by the amount of white blood they had in their bloodstream. This is the same kind of thought that underpinned horrific regimes like the Nazis," Mr Watson said."

"People need to exercise their intellect. This so-called blending was actually the institutionalised rape of black women. They were victims of brutal regimes of rape and victimisation."

Mr Watson described the biscuit name as deeply insensitive and indicative of a "deep undercurrent of racism in white Australian society".


"It virtually infects every level of Australia's consciousness, language, culture and history," he said.

Very strong words. And can you really argue that they are false. Just think about it - why use derogatory terms when you don't need to, to sell bloodly lollies FFS.

"Why the need to use that sort of language to market a confectionery?"

We are represented in this hall of shame.

"Eskimo lollies caused controversy in New Zealand this year, when a Canadian tourist objected to the name.

In the mid-1990s Arnott's renamed its controversial Golliwog biscuits Scalliwags before finally discontinuing the line of biscuits altogether.

In Europe, chocolate and marshmallow biscuits produced by the Dutch biscuit maker Van der Breggen were still marketed as Nigger Kisses as late as 2006, when they were finally rebranded as Buys Kisses."

Why should these lolly companies be allowed to get away with it. Where do you think negative attitudes towards others comes from - thin air?

Jeepers that was quick -

"Supermarket giant Coles will change the name of an in-house brand of biscuits amid claims it is racist.

Coles Spokesman Jim Cooper said the name of the "You'll Love Coles" brand of chocolate and vanilla biscuits, called Creole Creams, will be changed as part of the company-wide rebranding of Coles products.

The name change comes on the back of claims of racism, with the word Creole used to describe a person of mixed European and African ancestry."

That is how you sort out problems - don't moan, don't fight just accept and sort it out.