bleeding heart hippy leftist

There is a core group of individuals who have been on site for TWO YEARS. Other volunteers come in and out to help and live onsite for anywhere between a few days to a few months at a time, but there’s a few individuals who have been on country for TWO YEARS, without pause. They have been camping, unceasingly, on the land to protect these sites (several trees with varying types of cultural importance, including an 800 year old birthing tree which has been the site of over 10,000 Djapwurrung babies being born) for two years. The sites haven’t been left unmanned even for a few hours since this all started.

One of these indigenous protectors has:

been deliberately sprayed in the face with weed poison by a local farmer

been endlessly targetted by the local cops, including being arrested for having an expired licence (even though he was driving a truck on a private field at the time, and not out on the road, so there was no grounds to arrest him) and put in jail for several months over this offence (even though a white would never be arrested for an expired licence. In the end when it finally got to court, the judge was like “You’ve imprisoned this man for months for an expired licence? What the fuck, get out of here, charges are dropped, give the man a warning and let him go”

had the local MacDonalds threaten to call the cops on him for the “crime” of loitering (read: eating a meal in-store)

had a different MacDonalds threaten to call the cops because he didn’t want to give the staff his name and phone number (the COVID restrictions require restaraunts to ask for phone numbers in case of a break out so they can notify people, but it’s not actually a requirement of diners to give those details, and the restaurant certainly doesn’t have the grounds to call the cops on someone for not supplying their number)

strained himself so much by insisting on staying on the land to protect the sites that he wound up hospitalised with various illnesses that struck him because he was physically and emotionally exhausted by the whole situation

walked from the site into Melbourne city, on foot, in an effort to raise awareness (over 200 kilometres/41 hours worth of walking)

The front line camp is alongside a busy road, and all the asshole locals and truck drivers who go past that are pissed about the protest make sure to express their displeasure by honking their horns loudly and repeatedly whenever they go by, whether that’s at 2 pm or 2 am, which I’m sure you can imagine does wonders for the protectors ability to get a good night sleep

That’s just a snippet of what this one person has gone through. That doesn’t cover the constant abuse faced by all of them, the attempts at property destruction, the attitude they get by locals whenever they go into town for supplies, the constant red alerts because someone’s heard that the machinery is being mobilised and that they’re moving to start works tomorrow. There were several occasions where police were called to disperse the protectors so that works could begin, and it’s only because there were more protectors than cops that everyone wasn’t arrested and dragged off.

I could literally go on for days with details about this. An archeologist came out to the site and was absolutely staggered by the stuff that was there – in addition to the trees themselves, there was more archeological evidence of the local indigenous tribe that had lived there, sitting untouched on the surface of the earth than this archeologist has seen at any other site throughout Australia. A detailed report was sent to the supposed Minister for the Environment, who summarily ignored it and gave her stamp of approval for the works to commence without reading any of the reports. The protectors went to court over this and it was found that yeah, the Environment Minister hasn’t done her job at all, and a full review has been ordered —- but the works haven’t been cancelled altogether.

All this for a road that will shave a few minutes of travel off the road that currently already exists. All this for a road that’s got a speed limit of 80 that they want to boost to 110. All this for a road that could go a different route. There’s another route available that the protectors have been pitching for since the start, but VicRoads refuses to consider it for reasons they won’t specify.

This route that they’re insistent on not only cuts directly through several indigenous sites (some of the only ones left in Victoriaof this kind) it also costs around $630 million more. This route is full of hills and valleys that need to be flattened, and it’s twisty and turny. The Northern Route - the one protectors have been wanting since the beginning - is flat and straight, will be literal hundreds of millions of dollars less expensive, will take less time to complete, and doesn’t cut through any indigenous sites.

If you could sign this petition, that would be awesome. Here is another petition.

Here is a copy of an academic petition sent by RMIT to the Victorian government, signed by over 150 academics.

Here is an article written by an indigenous woman (which I am not, by the way; I’m just a white woman who is outraged by what my government is trying to do to these people) on the topic that has some more information.

For those of us in Australia, it’s easy to support the Black Lives Matter movement from afar, and ignore the violent problems that run rampant in our own back yard. This amazing document was shared by a friend of mine on Facebook and is an amazing guide to better educate yourself on racism in Australia and how to be a proactive and supportive ally in the wider community. 

There are links to funds and relief support for Indigenous Australians, for funds and individuals, if you’re able to donate. There are links to petitions concerning police brutaliaty, land rights, health inequality, and Invasion Day, as well as a reading list, helplines, and links to Indigenous-owned businesses and arts organisations. 

If you’re in Australia (or would like to learn about how Black Lives Matter can be supported in Australia) please take the time to give this a read.

  “I CAN’T BREATHE”: CHARGES MUST BE LAID FOR THE DEATH OF DAVID DUNGAY JNR

PREVENT ANOTHER ABORIGINAL DEATH IN CUSTODY 

Sydney Protest Pepper Spray - Calling for the immediate investigation of Police 

Clean out prisons, free our people - before it’s too late

End Aboriginal Deaths In Custody - Abolish the offence of public drunkenness

Prevent deaths in custody caused by improper restraint.

AUSTRALIA: STOP LOCKING UP 10-YEAR-OLDS IN PRISON

Demand action on Indigenous Incarceration

Take a Stand Against Deaths In Custody

Hold Rio Tinto to account

Protect sacred Djab Wurrung birthing trees from expansion of the Western Hwy by Vicroads.

Victorian Aboriginal lives matter - demand funding for First Peoples’ Health and Wellbeing

Tear down the Captain Cook statue in Cairns!

Tell the Truth - Invasion Day 

Survival Day and a New National Holiday

Sign the Joint Statement in support of a First People Voice in Parliament

Close the Gap Petition 2019

Calling upon The Hills Shire Council to Acknowledge Traditional Custodians

Change the licensing agreement around the Aboriginal Flag #PrideNotProfit

@BlakBusiness - Links for Actions

Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance - WAR

Indigenous Social Justice Association - Melbourne

Indigenous Social Justice Association - SYDNEY

Email templates:

Email templates re Aboriginal deaths in Custody and ongoing incidents of police brutality

Donations:

Justice for Yuendumu: Inquiry on Police Shooting

Day Family Fundraiser

Justice for David Dungay Junior - Facebook

Fundraiser for First Nations water protector facing court

Free Her - Sisters Inside 

Indigenous Deaths in Custody

Donate to Stop Black Deaths In Custody

Support for Djap Wurrung Embassy

National Justice Project 

Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance - WAR

Pay the Rent

Wirringa Baiya Aboriginal Women’s Legal Centre

Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service

North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency

Djirra - Supporting Aboriginal women’s safety and wellbeing

CHANGE THE RECORD 

BUILD COMMUNITIES, NOT PRISONS #JustReinvest

Sisters Inside

Deadly Connections

VACCA - Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency

Full Stop Foundation

Bushfire Fund coordinated by peak Aboriginal health body, VACCHO to support the Aboriginal communities across Victoria

COVID-19 Victorian First Nations Mutual Aid Fund

Wangan and Jagalingou Traditional Owners are fighting to defend our lands from Adani

Black Rainbow - LGBQTI

BlaQ - LGBTQI

Gunawirra

Healing Foundation

Kinchela Boys Home Aboriginal Corporation - Indigenous Stolen Generations Support

First Nations Workers Alliance

AIME Mentoring

Yalari - Educating Indigenous Children

Yirra Yaakin Solidarity Projects Series - Keep artists creating and/or up-skilling during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Women’s Alliance (NATSIWA)

African Communities Foundation Australia 

Pay the rent:

Pay the Rent

Indigenous owned businesses:

Supply Nation

**Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander persons are warned that the following material contains images of those who are now deceased.** 

Today marks the 22 years since the High Court handed down its landmark decision on Indigenous land rights after a 10-year legal battle by Murray Island man Eddie ‘Koiki’ Mabo. 

The Mabo decision altered the foundation of land law in Australia by overturning the doctrine of terra nullius (land belonging to no-one) on which British claims to possession of Australia were based. This recognition inserted the legal doctrine of native title into Australian law. The judgments of the High Court in the Mabo case recognised the traditional rights of the Meriam people to their islands in the eastern Torres Strait. The Court also held that native title existed for all Indigenous people in Australia prior to the establishment of the British Colony of New South Wales in 1788. In recognising that Indigenous people in Australia had a prior title to land taken by the Crown since Cook’s declaration of possession in 1770, the Court held that this title exists today in any portion of land where it has not legally been extinguished. The decision of the High Court was swiftly followed by the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth) which attempted to codify the implications of the decision and set out a legislative regime under which Australia’s Indigenous people could seek recognition of their native title rights (Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, 2012).

Sadly, Mr Mabo was not present when the decision was handed down to recognise the Meriam people as the native title holders of traditional lands on Mer (Murray Island). He passed away due to cancer five months earlier, aged 56. His fighting spirit lives on strong and has paved the way for acknowledgment of culture and land.

The man himself, Eddie 'Koiki’ Mabo.

Left to right: Dave Passi, Eddie Mabo, Bryan Keon-Cohen and James Rice outside the Queensland Supreme Court in 1989.