The Australian government likes to think it’s in a position of absolute power. Like many governments around the world, they go ahead doing whatever they want with little regard for law or for how their actions will effect the people. Why should they care? They tell us they are the law, and that we are their people.
The sad irony is Governments are not all-powerful sovereign entities. In fact, they are nothing more than corporations, made up of various individuals whom of course hold various common interests. Two of those interests, naturally, are to maintain their power and increase their wealth
Well, since the recent announcement by Howard, alot of people have been coming forward to say NO to both those interests….
There are currently several protests and actions pending or about to take place:
For starters, Chilean Activist Claudio Castro from the “People’s Assembly Movement” is currently in Melbourne, Australia. There will be a Public meeting with him on Wednesday July 18, at 7pm (more info).
Secondly, on July 14 a day of action will commence, also in Melbourne. (more info). A solidarity rally is to be held at the Australian embassy in Aotearoa.
Protests are also being set up for Alice Springs, Canberra, Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth, as well as Auckland and Wellington. (can’t find any info about these)
Aswell, Indigenous Leaders recently threatened to ban tourists from Uluru (Ayers rock), and just today, the Northern Territory Government announced it would support Indigenous groups if they pursued court action.
Last but not least, looking ahead, the NIHRCA recently announced they will be holding the first Human Rights & Social Justice Conference in Sydney 2007 “to commence and accept nominations from Aboriginal communities to establish an Aboriginal International Delegation to act as our Aboriginal Diplomats to the Foreign Representatives that reside in Australia.”
Something such as this is desperately needed in Australia — more specifically, for the People to have National and International Presence. Perhaps in the future a National Confederacy of Indigenous Nations could also be founded, and the just-mentioned delegation could be a central part of that.
In any case, it’s great to see all this movement in Australia. With love and respect from around the world, let this movement grow until the People
return to Their place on Their land.
We are proposing a tourist ban. We being a few concerned bloggers in the US, India, and South Africa.
As of this writing we are putting together a letter aimed at the Howard.
Please stop by and tell us what you think. Make an input into the wording and content of the letter.
I appreciate this forum very much.
Peace and struggle,
Ridwan Laher
Hello Ahni and other Comrades:
This is what our letter looks like now (see below).
Please feel free to comment. It is posted at my site.
I think Ahni is right, we should turn this into a petition so we can collect signatures.
A letter writing campaign will be ignored and it is impossible to measure in terms of numbers.
OK, so we should have this running by the end of this week.
Ahni thanks for the additional resources you posted on my site.
Peace and struggle,
Ridwan
Ambassador Dennis Richardson
Embassy of Australia
1601 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington D.C., 20036
Dear Sir,
I am writing to inform you that I am participating in a boycott by foreign tourists against Australia.
The tourist boycott is in response to Prime Minister Howard’s recently adopted plan to institute what I consider draconian measures against Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory. In particular, I am protesting the intention to institute compulsory medical examinations of Aboriginal children.
I consider the overal effect of Prime Minister Howard’s stated plan to be racist, immoral, and illegal in terms of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights.
I have no wish to make this boycott last any longer than necessary. But I will continue to participate as long as the policies above remain in force.
Sincerely,
[signed]
Thanks for the update Ridwan. As Ana says, it’s good to put as much pressure on AU in as many reasonable ways as possible.
Regarding the list of Protests mentioned in the above post, Ana just sent me the details….
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Aotearoa
Here’s another solidarity rally, this one happening today at the Australian High Commission (50 O’Connor) in Ottawa Ontario.