WGAR News: Vinka believes it's crucial to empower the next generation to create a healthy community that celebrates culture, cares for country and builds opportunities.

Newsletter date: 6 May 2015

Contents:

* Analysis / Opinion: Jon Altman, New Matilda: The Hunt For The Good Life: A Black Perspective

* Video - Vinka's story: Ella Archibald-Binge, SBS News: Home-grown Derby girl to be town's first Aboriginal doctor [Vinka's story is featured on Living Black: Kimberley Healing this week.]

* Video: Pedestrian TV, YouTube: Ernie Dingo Speaks Against Forced Closure of Aboriginal Communities
* Video: Respect and Listen, Vimeo: John Pilger at the second National Day of Action (1 May 2015) - in Sydney

* News Analysis: Joshua Robertson, The Guardian: Brisbane protest over Indigenous community closures occupies City Hall
* News Analysis: Tony Moore, Brisbane Times: 300 indigenous protesters stage Brisbane City Hall sit-in

* Interview: Padraic Gibson, New Matilda: The Maori Are Coming: Solidarity From Across The Ditch Against Forced Remote Community Closures [Featuring Teanau Tuiono]

* Video: Lachlan McLeod and Louis Dai/Walking Fish Productions, The Guardian: We don't want to see WA Indigenous people have the struggle we've had, Melbourne protesters say - video

* Media Release: Greens Senator Rachel Siewert: Shifting small remote communities into larger ones is still closing them, Colin

* Analysis / Opinion: Amy McQuire, New Matilda: In Andrew Bolt's World, Black Is White And Peaceful Protest Is War

* WGAR Background: Plans to close Aboriginal homelands / remote communities in WA and SA

WGAR News Public Google Group: https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en-GB#!forum/wgar-news
WGAR News - Working Group for Aboriginal Rights (Australia)

- Analysis / Opinion

New Matilda: The Hunt For The Good Life: A Black Perspective
https://newmatilda.com/2015/05/04/hunt-good-life-black-perspective
4 May 15: "Aboriginal aspirations rarely accord with government policy, and that's particularly the case with the Kuninjku, writes Professor Jon Altman. In February I went to Maningrida to investigate the perspectives of the Kuninjku people with whom I have worked for a long time about what constitutes ‘the good life’, whether they have it in today’s precarious world, or not; whether they have ever had ‘the good life’; and whether they thought that it is something that they might achieve, if not today, in the future? ... " By Jon Altman

"Jon Altman is an emeritus professor in anthropology at the Australian National University and was Foundation Director of the Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research from 1990 – 2010 and a research professor there till September 2014. He is currently with the Regulatory Institutions Network (RegNet) in the College of Asia and the Pacific at the ANU and a University Professorial Fellow at Charles Darwin University."

altmanj - new matilda
https://newmatilda.com/users/altmanj

New Matilda - About Us
https://newmatilda.com/about-us
" ... The Funding Model: Our readers are our investors. New Matilda is predominantly reader-funded and remains fiercely independent, with no affiliation to any political party, lobby group or other media organisation. Become a New Matilda funder here: https://newmatilda.com/be-a-supporter
The Mission: We believe that robust media is fundamental to a healthy democracy - and there's never been a more important time for independent media in Australia. With shrinking media diversity, and huge changes underway in delivery, there are fewer and fewer outlets publishing independent-minded journalism like ours. ... "

- Vinka's story - Video

SBS News: Home-grown Derby girl to be town's first Aboriginal doctor
http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2015/05/04/home-grown-derby-girl-be-t...
Vinka's story is featured on Living Black: Kimberley Healing this week.
" ... In medicine, Vinka has found something to aim for - and now she hopes to inspire other young people in her community to set goals of their own. She believes it's crucial to empower the next generation to create a healthy community. A community free from chronic disease; a community where people have a steady income, and a solid purpose - rather than "just existing". A community where projects are developed by the people, for the people. A community that celebrates culture, cares for country and builds opportunities. It's a vision shared by many at Mowanjum, and Vinka is determined to turn it into a reality. ... " By Ella Archibald-Binge

- Video

Pedestrian TV, YouTube: Ernie Dingo Speaks Against Forced Closure of Aboriginal Communities
https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=20&v=jtLQgOa80Zc
http://www.respectandlisten.org/landrights/homeland-closures/protests.html
1 May 15: "Ernie Dingo Speaks At March To Stop Forced Closure of Aboriginal Communities. 'National Day of Action'. Belmore Park, Sydney. May 1st, 2015. ... "

- Video

Respect and Listen, Vimeo: John Pilger at the second National Day of Action (1 May 2015) - in Sydney
https://vimeo.com/126709081
http://www.respectandlisten.org/landrights/homeland-closures/protests.html
4 May 15: "Second National Day of Action - Stop the Forced Closure of Aboriginal Communities: Sydney May 1, 2015; Belmore Park followed by a march to the Block, Redfern For more info, see: http://www.respectandlisten.org/landrights/homeland-closures/protests.html ... "

JohnPilger.com
http://johnpilger.com/
"John Pilger addresses mass Indigenous rights rally in Sydney
Watch John Pilger speak as part of a national day of action against disgraceful moves to shut down Aboriginal communities."
https://vimeo.com/126709081

- News Analysis

The Guardian: Brisbane protest over Indigenous community closures occupies City Hall
http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/may/03/brisbane-protest-o...
3 May 15: "After Friday’s planned protest was called off due to storms, a reported 3,000 protesters gathered on Saturday as hundreds held a peaceful sit-in ... The sit-in, which ended peacefully on Saturday evening after protesters chanted slogans and sported banners in the hall for more than two hours, followed nationwide protests on Friday. Brisbane Aboriginal Sovereign Embassy spokesman Paul Spearim said Indigenous communities were concerned the plight faced by those in WA was a harbinger of what could take hold in the fellow mining state of Queensland. ... " Joshua Robertson, Guardian Australia's Brisbane correspondent

- News Analysis

Brisbane Times: 300 indigenous protesters stage Brisbane City Hall sit-in
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/300-indigenous-protesters-sta...
4 May 15: "Around 300 people stormed into Brisbane's City Hall on Saturday night and staged an old-fashioned sit-in to protest the forced closure of indigenous communities in Western and Southern Australia. The surprise action followed a rally in King George Square on Saturday after indigenous groups under the banner SOS Blak Australia took to the streets of Melbourne and Sydney to protest problems in indigenous communities. ... " Tony Moore, a senior reporter for Brisbane Times            

- Interview

New Matilda: The Maori Are Coming: Solidarity From Across The Ditch Against Forced Remote Community Closures
https://newmatilda.com/2015/04/30/maori-are-coming-solidarity-across-dit...
30 Apr 15: "There’s growing opposition to the forced closure of remote Aboriginal communities. And not just in Australia. Paddy Gibson reports. Teanau Tuiono is a Maori activist helping to build solidarity in Aotearoa (New Zealand) with the movement against the forced closure of Aboriginal communities in WA and across Australia, including NZ protests on the upcoming Day of Action, Friday May 1. Here he speaks with Padraic Gibson from the Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning (UTS) about the common struggle of Indigenous peoples against settler-colonialism. ... " By Padraic Gibson

paddy.gibson - new matilda
https://newmatilda.com/users/paddygibson

New Matilda - About Us
https://newmatilda.com/about-us

- Video

The Guardian: We don't want to see WA Indigenous people have the struggle we've had, Melbourne protesters say - video
http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/video/2015/may/04/melbourne-ma...
4 May 15: "Indigenous protesters in Victoria say they're backing the right of Western Australian Indigenous communities to stay on their traditional homelands - because they don't want them to lose the connection they've fought to get back. Tens of thousands of people across Australia have protested against the WA government's decision to stop providing services to remote Indigenous communities. In Victoria, Indigenous people were forced from their land generations ago - and some people have spent years trying to rebuild the culture that was damaged when the link was severed" Source: Lachlan McLeod and Louis Dai/Walking Fish Productions

- Media Release

Greens Senator Rachel Siewert: Shifting small remote communities into larger ones is still closing them, Colin
Greens (WA): https://wa.greens.org.au/node/923
Greens Senator Rachel Siewert: http://rachel-siewert.greensmps.org.au/content/media-releases/shifting-s...
4 May 15: "Australian Greens Senator Rachel Siewert said today the Premier should be ashamed of his attempts to play down the forced closure of remote aboriginal communities. "I have spent the last three days speaking to communities in the Kimberley and ‘hub and spoke’ plans by Colin Barnett will in fact confirm communities' fears. "People in communities are not stupid, they were aware that the State Government was unlikely to outright shut 150 communities, they are aware that Government can wind back services and fold smaller communities into townships and bigger communities. ... "It is time to abandon any plans to shut down remote communities once and for all. The Federal Government must also take some accountability and reinstate funding that gives these communities a chance to thrive"."

- Analysis / Opinion

New Matilda: In Andrew Bolt's World, Black Is White And Peaceful Protest Is War
https://newmatilda.com/2015/05/04/andrew-bolts-world-black-white-and-pea...
4 May 15: "The conservative columnist has taken offence to protests in opposition to the closure of remote Aboriginal communities. Amy McQuire fires back. For a white, well-paid, widely read columnist, Andrew Bolt likes to talk an awful lot about racism. Of course, ever the martyr, Bolt’s focus is the ‘racism’ directed towards him and his kinfolk, not by those who have been historically discriminated against, dispossessed, disenfranchised and disempowered, since the invasion of their country. That historical discrimination seeps into current-day government policy. ... " By Amy McQuire, a Darumbul woman from central Queensland. Amy McQuire is the former editor of the National Indigenous Times and Tracker

Amy McQuire - New Matilda
https://newmatilda.com/users/amy-mcquire

New Matilda - About Us
https://newmatilda.com/about-us

- Background

WGAR Background: Plans to close Aboriginal homelands / remote communities in WA and SA
https://indymedia.org.au/2014/12/08/background-plans-to-close-aboriginal...
(last updated: 4 May 2015)

- - -

WGAR: Working Group for Aboriginal Rights (Australia)

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'WGAR News' monitors the media, including alternative media, focusing on:

* The Freedom Summit's National Freedom Movement;
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WGAR: Working Group for Aboriginal Rights (Australia)