Rally on second anniversary of Northern Territory intervention - Melbourne 20 June

Rallies were held across Australia on Saturday 20 June to mark the 2nd anniversary of the NT Intervention. Around 200 attended a rally at the State Library in Melbourne, and a large proportion then marched or otherwise made their way to Trades Hall for further discussions and planning. Music played a big part in the rally, with contributions from Indigenous hip hop artists including Tjimba and Little G., as well as Jake Hapeta, who was joined by MC Stan Dryden, Shiralee Hood, and Tjimba in a rendering of 'Australia's new national anthem', and Ezekiel Ox, representing Musicians against Police Violence. Speakers included Robbie Thorpe, Sina Brown-Davis (one of the G20 arrestees due to face trial next week), Frederick (a West Papuan refugee), Gary Murray, Aletha Penrith from Redfern, David Thomason-Koolmatrie and Lisa Koolmatrie (relatives of Mr Ward, who died, as is well-known, in custody in WA), veteran Indigenous activist Gary Foley, and Valerie Martin from Yuendumu NT.

Gary Foley's speech, in which amongst much else he had hard things to say about Noel Pearson and his new book "Up from the Mission", has been posted on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbEUkIa33bg), and Valerie Martin's speech is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-wK_kpDqEI. More footage is in preparation.

Attached are a few photos from the rally, and one of the march. (Because of the way State Library grounds are laid out, speakers found themselves beside the statue honouring the memory of Redmond Barry, the judge who hanged Ned Kelly and presided over the trials of many of the Eureka rebels. Another nice touch was that the march naturally led past the Old Melbourne Jail ...)

http://rollbacktheintervention.wordpress.com/
http://stoptheintervention.org/

http://www.paybackrecords.com.au/