“The Summit for Freedom shall arise as the largest ever gathering of the most diverse coming together of the First Peoples of this continent.” “We shall gather and we shall reach out to one another, and so shall rise a multitude of voices to reclaim the Aboriginal Rights Struggle – the most profound struggle ever known on this continent. For a time our struggle captivated this so-called modern day nation. But we let go of it. We now have to pick up where we left off, the unfinished business.” “We will reclaim the struggle and go back to the streets if we have to, for our children, for their children.” Mr Sansbury said the Summit has a single minded agenda – the reclamation of the rights struggle by the true leaders. They will form an assembly of every Aboriginal nation on this continent. “We do not recognise any government that will not recognise First People in our own right. Governments should not be dealing publicly with those whom purport to represent our interests.” “If we stand solid together, then governments will have no choice other than to engage our peoples’ leaders. The Indigenous Advisory Council has nothing to do with our interests. They are a mixed bag of Black and White. They do not represent us. Not one of them is a leader of a First People nation.” “Our lands are pillaged – native title is a debacle. Many have become rich from our lands, but our People living on Country remain ramshackle poor. Governments are complicit in this, turning a blind eye and a deaf ear to our protestations, to our suffering – turning a blind eye and a deaf ear to the carpetbagger, to the robber baron, to the exploiter and the exploitations.” “We shall not accept anything less than the right to represent ourselves, to speak for ourselves, to stand up for who we are. We will not be who others want us to be.” “We will not have it that the robber baron shall tell us how to live.” “It is time for those who say they represent us but who do not, to nick off, for they have been tamed by the robber barons, by governments whose only policy is assimilation. They have reaped destructive agendas upon us.” “Our identity is imperative, our cultural continuity, our right to our languages, our right to self-determination should not be cruelled by the rapacious agendas of bigotry and racism.” “We have a right to live on our lands – to be strong and to self-determine on our lands. We have a right to hopes and dreams. We have a right to a future that is worthwhile, that we can leave as a legacy and as protection for our children.” “We have a right to see our children grow up strong and healthy, with the right to move through the world with hope from the beginning of life – from life’s sunrise to life’s sunset. We have the right to be able to provide for our children from our lands, to leave them legacies borne rich from the earth we walk on.” We were not put on the earth to bury our children, but we do “Our children are dying, and our souls cry,” said Mr Sansbury. “Those who have taken hope from us have blood on their hands. By reclaiming the struggle for freedom we do them a favour, we wash some of the blood from their hands.” “The shame of what has been done to us cannot continue. Freedom is the calling of any human being.” People are not the property of people – and the First Peoples should not be done in as if they are the property of any other people. “We are respectful of all that has meaning under and above the sun. We would never do to others as our oppressors have done and continue to do to us.” “Our expectations have often been given rise to, especially these last five decades, and then follow tortuous twists and turns and ultimately the inevitable of our expectations betrayed.” “Only united as First Peoples can we call for freedom, can we at long last crash through the gate of betrayal and out of the corral of oppression and misery.” “Tragically, greater numbers of our people are living in extreme and miserable poverty than ever before.” “Our people are jailed at evil rates, among the highest in the world. In Western Australia, our brothers and sisters are jailed among the highest rates in the world. Too many of our people are homeless, strangers on their own land.” “We must journey to Mparntwe – to the Old Telegraph, where the late Charlie Perkins was born, where cruelty wronged our people.” “In our veins there flows the blood of a Black man and of a Black woman, the blood of those gone, and in our veins there flows the blood of those to come – Black blood.” “From the Tiwi Islands we are coming, from the Central deserts, from the remote – far and wide – from the far north, from the east and west, from the southern tips. Together we will stand under the sun, moon and stars of Mparntwe. Our journey to Mparntwe shall be for the ages, and shall kindle the spirits of our children, whom are now half our People, whom are the present and the future, and whom are the hopes of their children and of their futures.” To the far west of the continent, on Yamatji Country, Elder Sandy Davies, who is also Chair of the Board of the Geraldton regional Aboriginal Medical Services said,” We are coming. Rest assured we will be at the Summit. We are coming as a delegation – Elders and leaders.” “There are many unhappy Aboriginal people in this nation. Hundreds will be at the Summit, this will surprise governments, but it will not surprise our People.” To the far east of the continent, to Kamilaroi Country, Dr Woolombi Marcus Waters said, “Nothing will stop me from being in Alice. I am coming. This is the opportunity for our Peoples to unite and reclaim the struggle and our voices.” “Those who have had the ear of governments for now two decades – Pearson, Mundine and Langton – they have failed.” “I will be at the G20 protests and I will go to Musgrave to tell our people that from the G20 and Musgrave we are heading to the Freedom Summit. We will leave in convoys of cars. We will take care of our Elders. We will sleep in swags on the earth itself but we will be in Alice. To the south of the continent, to Tasmania, Palawa, Trawlwoolway and Pinterrairer man, Michael Mansell said, “Our People will be there.” To Victoria, Framlingham’s Geoff Clark said, “We will be there.” To the Eulayhi Nation, Michael Anderson, the last remaining founder of Aboriginal Tent Embassy, said, “We will be there.” To the centre of the continent, to Utopia, 1200 kilometres north of Alice Springs, Arrernte Elder, Rosalie Kunoth-Monks said, “I really feel for the first time in a long time that we have hope, that is a united vision by our People and not some band of so-called leaders chosen by politicians.” “The Freedom Summit will be led by the First Nations.” “This gathering is a beacon for our People to come together to reclaim our rights struggle.” Mr Sansbury said that “the descent to Mparntwe is our calling.” “We come as one, but must stand as thousands.”
Posted on: Wed, 05 Nov 2014 21:38:11 +0000
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