Tomorrow I will not be draping myself in the Australian flag. I will not be drinking, nor will I be merry. I wont be BBQing. I will not be celebrating the arrival of the flotilla of warships which landed on this continent 226 years ago. And under no circumstance will I use tomorrow to be thankful for even one of the many positive things about living in this country. Tomorrow is the last day I could think to do any of these things. The plain reality is that tomorrow, millions will mindlessly give their roaring approval of the fact that we honour the founding of this nation not on the day it was actually founded (January 1 1901) or on the day of independence (which I hope will occur at some point soon). Instead, we celebrate the day that white people first came here. January 26 represents the beginning of a shameful history of systematic dispossession, massacres, disease, poverty and oppression of the original people of this land at the hands of an occupying force. And in spite of this, Aboriginal people have continued to live, to fight and to survive on this continent in the face of some of the most brutal attempts in human history to marginalise, tread down upon and (in many cases) completely eradicate an entire race of people. So tomorrow, whatever you happen to be doing, dont forget that this land was never peacefully settled – it was violently invaded. Sovereignty was never ceded and therefore, the occupation of this land continues. Tomorrow marks the commencement of that occupation and therefore, for me, it marks the continuation of the struggle of Aboriginal people for justice and sovereignty.
Posted on: Sat, 25 Jan 2014 09:29:02 +0000
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