Newsletter date: 31 January 2015
Contents:
Analysis / Opinion:
* Amy McQuire, New Matilda: Waging WAR Against Radio Shock Jocks Amid Invasion Day Protests
* Amy McQuire, New Matilda: 'Recognising' The Artful Con That Is The Constitutional Reform Debate
* Amy McQuire, New Matilda: Black Australia Would Be 'Essentially Free Labour' Under Work-For-The-Dole Changes
* Ghillar Michael Anderson, Sovereign Union: Anderson: Finding solidarity in the core of the resistance to 'recognition' in the racist constitution.
* Ghillar Michael Anderson, Sovereign Union: History repeats: Ethnic cleansing in ACT 1954 and now in WA removal from homelands.
* Rosalie Kunoth-Monks, Amnesty International Australia: A message from Rosalie, Alyawarr/Anmatyerr elder
* Dr Woolombi Waters, Indymedia Australia: Litigation now the new censorship in reporting the news in the 21st century - National Indigenous Times
* Dr Woolombi Waters, The Stringer: Freedom struggle to relieve First Peoples from cruelties of neoliberalism
* Jeff McMullen: Sovereign Rights in the 21st Century
* Jeff McMullen: Justice for Australia’s First Peoples
* Gerry Georgatos, The Stringer: 8 little children on the streets; youngest less than 30 days old
* Gerry Georgatos, The Stringer: A nation shamed when the solution for its children is homelessness
* Gerry Georgatos, The Stringer: "It is racism killing our people - suicides born of racism"
* Chris Graham, Tog's Place.Com.:The tent embassy: fact v fiction, black v white by Chris Graham
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: Waging WAR Against Radio Shock Jocks Amid Invasion Day Protests
https://newmatilda.com/2015/01/28/waging-war-against-radio-shock-jocks-a...
28 Jan 15: "The Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance (WAR) took on 3AW on Invasion Day and won, writes Amy McQuire. The next generation of young black warriors are so on fire they are able to attract 2,000 people to an Invasion Day rally... and even the nation’s leading shock jocks are struggling to catch up. 3AW’s Tom Elliott is the latest, who used Invasion Day to grill an Aboriginal activist about why she chose not to call herself "Australian", and questioned whether she was then entitled to collect ‘benefits’ from the government." By Amy McQuire, a senior reporter with New Matilda. She's the former editor of Tracker magazine and the National Indigenous Times.
New Matilda: 'Recognising' The Artful Con That Is The Constitutional Reform Debate
https://newmatilda.com/2014/12/12/recognising-artful-con-constitutional-...
12 Dec 14: "Tony Abbott and Bill Shorten agree on at least one thing: constitutional reform. That's the first good reason to oppose it, writes Amy McQuire. ... where there is a bipartisanship backed by reams of PR spin as a "positive", while in reality it demonstrates one of the most insidious developments in black policy today - a dangerous "Canberra consensus", as described by Indigenous policy expert Jon Altman. How can two white leaders agreeing on the best way to shortchange blackfellas, at the expense of Aboriginal opinion, be a good thing?" By Amy McQuire, a senior reporter with New Matilda. She's the former editor of Tracker magazine and the National Indigenous Times.
New Matilda: Black Australia Would Be 'Essentially Free Labour' Under Work-For-The-Dole Changes
https://newmatilda.com/2014/12/09/black-australia-would-be-essentially-f...
9 Dec 14: "The Greens, Labor, and advocates have raised the red flag about a new plan to make welfare recipients work 52 weeks a year. Amy McQuire reports. Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory will be working for around $5 cash an hour under changes to a remote work-for-the-dole scheme, bringing back memories of the old ‘work for rations’ days. ... It will put tougher requirements on welfare recipients in remote areas, who are already working for the dole, and where the scrapping of CDEP has had disastrous consequences." By Amy McQuire, a senior reporter with New Matilda. She's the former editor of Tracker magazine and the National Indigenous Times.
Sovereign Union: Anderson: Finding solidarity in the core of the resistance to 'recognition' in the racist constitution.
http://sovereignunion.mobi/content/anderson-finding-solidarity-core-resi...
http://sovereignunion.mobi/pdf/2015/150129-SU-MA-Constitution.pdf
http://sovereignunion.mobi/
29 Jan 15: "The time has come where we must draw the line in the sand to use Arabunna Elder, Kevin Buzzacott 's statement: 'The Black Line is drawn', in respect to the issue of constitutional reform and recognition. The intent of genocide in its rawest form. We will be finished as a distinct race of people, approved of by the selected few chosen First Nations people. This is wrong and absolutely unjust!. If we are going to be wiped out through assimilation, then we must stand and fight by whatever means possible." Ghillar Michael Anderson, Convenor and Joint Spokesperson of the Sovereign Union and Head of State of the Euahlayi Peoples Republic
Sovereign Union: History repeats: Ethnic cleansing in ACT 1954 and now in WA removal from homelands.
http://sovereignunion.mobi/content/history-repeats-ethnic-cleansing-1954...
http://sovereignunion.mobi/pdf/2014/141217-SU-MA-EthnicCleansing.pdf
18 Dec 15: "We are at a point in history where the governments of Australia blatantly expose themselves as having gone military-mad, as if they have acute paranoia. They continually and blatantly attack the most vulnerable in our communities and argue that they are concerned for our welfare and the widening 'Gap' in terms of the disparity in our education, etc., while calling us Australian citizens. But we know we are not Australians citizens under the Australian Constitution and never have been and this is why governments can commit the gross violations of human rights against us and think they can get away with it. ... " Ghillar Michael Anderson, Convenor and Joint Spokesperson of the Sovereign Union and Head of State of the Euahlayi Peoples Republic
Amnesty International Australia: A message from Rosalie, Alyawarr/Anmatyerr elder
http://www.amnesty.org.au/indigenous-rights/comments/26142
5 Jul 11: "We are pleased to bring you a message from Rosalie Kunoth-Monks; an Alywarr and Amnatyerr elder from Utopia homelands."
"I can look back over 70 years on this part of the land. There was a richness of the relationships between people so you felt never alone. You felt secure, you felt you belonged. We always said pmerel atnyenem, we never said pmer nhenh tha atnyenem. That means, country owns or holds you, not you holding the country and becoming master of the land. ... To the Alyawarr people, the land owning you means that through your song lines, you've got to know which part of the land owns you and where you are responsible for the wellbeing of that earth...Let me assure anybody who cares for the Aboriginal people of Australia that once we are moved from our place of origin, we will not only lose our identity, we will die a traumatised tragic end." Rosalie Kunoth-Monks
Indymedia Australia: Litigation now the new censorship in reporting the news in the 21st century - National Indigenous Times
https://indymedia.org.au/2015/01/28/litigation-now-the-new-censorship-in...
28 Jan 15: "I wish the first article of the year brought happier news but as I am sure most readers will have heard we are now publishing issue by issue without knowing who will own the National Indigenous Times for another few weeks. The lesson learnt is that modern news is no longer about truth but instead its about retaining social capital to the elite in ensuring the rhetoric of neoliberalism right wing conservative politics is retained at all cost. ... " By National Indigenous Times columnist, Dr Woolombi Waters
The Stringer: Freedom struggle to relieve First Peoples from cruelties of neoliberalism
http://thestringer.com.au/freedom-struggle-to-relieve-first-peoples-from...
7 Dec 14: "This is not a war we are going to win with steering committees and elected board members replicating the very systems that are working against us. To put it bluntly, Western free market economies and in particular neo-liberalism just doesn’t work. The United Nations no less agrees stating that privatisation and free market economies have had devastating effects on Indigenous health and wellbeing in its "State of the Indigenous Peoples Report" in 2009." Dr Woolombi Waters, a Kamilaroi language speaker and writer, a lecturer at Griffith University. He writes a weekly column for the National Indigenous Times.
Sovereign Rights in the 21st Century
http://www.jeffmcmullen.com.au/#!articles-2013/c13ia
http://media.wix.com/ugd/81f86c_eb35b811aefc476093cf7f5ce5c97f54.pdf
Jan 14: "Early in the 21st Century the population of Australia’s First Peoples is approaching or may have already surpassed the number here when James Cook made his extraordinary claim of sovereignty on behalf of England’s King George III. In so many respects it is the unresolved question of sovereign rights that will overshadow the major political discussion in the next few years over recognition of the rightful place of the ‘First Australians’ who are still dispossessed, discriminated against and disempowered in their own land." Jeff McMullen; Reporter, Author, Speaker; Advocate for Human Rights, Education & Health
Justice for Australia’s First Peoples
Address to Macquarie University Law students
http://www.jeffmcmullen.com.au/#!articles-2013/c13ia
media.wix.com/ugd/81f86c_51099fbc27fa41a2bf29be657b16fb21.docx?dn=Justice%20for%20the%20First%20Peoples.docx
27 Aug 14: "The evidence, I am certain, shows that when Aboriginal communities follow the neo-liberal development path, hoping for a trickle of wealth to the poorest people in the land, it is then we see the terrible feuding over who will get the greasy handshake from the government or mining company. It is then we see the divide and conquer tactics by government and corporations, the factional feuding, the brutal competition for a trickle of paltry mining royalties. When we ignore the common good the disunity sets brother against brother, poisoning the real wellbeing of communities every bit as destructively as brutal Government control and enforced social dependence." Dr. Jeff McMullen AM; Reporter, Author, Speaker; Advocate for Human Rights, Education & Health
The Stringer: 8 little children on the streets; youngest less than 30 days old
http://thestringer.com.au/8-little-children-on-the-streets-youngest-less...
24 Jan 15: "On New Year’s Day a little girl was born, opening her eyes to the world, but to what kind of a world? Compassionate or merciless? By this Thursday, only 28 days old this little baby will be homeless. It is bullsh*t a 28 day old baby should be homeless. Not just this little baby but also her six sisters and her brother. A whole family is about to be evicted and they have not put a single foot wrong. What sort of society are we? Their mum is a good mum, who circumstance has betrayed. Where is society’s compassion? ... " By Gerry Georgatos, a life-long human rights and social justice campaigner, a multi-award winning investigative journalist
The Stringer: A nation shamed when the solution for its children is homelessness
http://thestringer.com.au/a-nation-shamed-when-the-solution-for-its-chil...
27 Dec 14: "It is not often I am brought to tears but this morning I was bereft as I left behind a beautiful family of five who have been homeless for 9 months. They have been living in a single tent in bush on the northern outskirts of Perth. Four beautiful girls are homeless but in their loving mother’s vigilant care. Their bastion of hope, all their hope, rests in the dignity of remaining united. ... " By Gerry Georgatos, a life-long human rights and social justice campaigner, a multi-award winning investigative journalist
The Stringer: "It is racism killing our people - suicides born of racism"
http://thestringer.com.au/it-is-racism-killing-our-people-suicides-born-...
7 Dec 14: "The First Peoples of the Kimberley and the Northern Territory have among the world’s highest suicide rates, and unless the Federal Government as a whole steps up I can state without any reservation that this catastrophic crisis is only going to get worse. ... It is only at the request of Philinka’s mother’s that we have published the photo of Philinka and used her name. Philinka’s mother, Lena, is urging for much to change for all her people, and that her daughter’s passing brings on the journey to the changes that would have made a difference to Philinka and the many others who we should not have lost." By Gerry Georgatos
- Declaration of impartiality conflict of interest: The author of this article, Gerry Georgatos, is a senior researcher and community consultant with the Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention Evaluation Project (ATSISPEP).
Tog's Place.Com.:The tent embassy: fact v fiction, black v white by Chris Graham
http://togsplace.blogspot.com.au/2012/02/tent-embassy-fact-v-fiction-bla...
15 Feb 12: "There is perhaps no event in the last few decades that better sums up the divide between black and white Australia than the debacle that engulfed the Embassy celebrations. It had everything: media misreporting; white political mischief; black political disunity; police violence; frustrated activists. And it had the odd rat-bag, black and white. If nothing else, the debacle that engulfed the Tent Embassy celebration has once again exposed to the rest of the world the racist underbelly of a very ignorant nation. But first the facts, because a lot of people have formed opinions on the Embassy based on media reporting. And that is almost always a bad idea. ... " Chris Graham, a Walkley Award and Walkley High Commendation winner, and has twice won the Human Rights Award for his reporting on Indigenous affairs.
- - -
WGAR: Working Group for Aboriginal Rights (Australia)
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