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 …

June 29 is almost here and I thought I would post an overview of what is being planned. First though, I would like to reiterate something, which Wasase recently pointed out in a commnuique: the need to go beyond a day of action.

With respect, one day of action is simply not enough when our struggle is one that spans our entire lives. It has been going on for dozens of generations now–What can we really accomplish in this one day? There is much need to put this in perspective.

Protest has never changed a System or a Nation, especially …

The following is a look at the AFN, their upcoming National Day of Action; Canada and their recent response to it; and finally the People and a recently-planned alternative day of action, For July 1.

Canada’s Reaction to the AFN; some questions
As June 29 approaches, Canada has started moving to quell so-called “native anger.” Recently, Jim Prentice announced a new plan to begin addressing the backlog of more than 800 unresolved land claims, by creating an independent body based on the Indian Claims Commission.

Yesterday, PM Stephen Harper also came forward, announcing a new bill to be co-written with the Assembly …

Year after year, as the Pataxó Hã-Hã-Hãe and others indigenous to Brazil work to reclaim their lands, they are one by one assassinated. It is sad that those responsible do not understand that for every one person, there is also one leader. Or perhaps they do?

From brazzilmag.com - The Brazilian Pataxó Indian Hã-Hã-Hãe Aurino Pereira dos Santos, 40, married and without children, was shot and killed on May 19, 2007 in the region of Taquari, municipality of Pau Brasil, state of Bahia. His body was found near …

After participating in the United Nations Permanent Forum, a delegation of 6 people from Taiwan came to feel that it is time for the indigenous of Taiwan to do more to protect their rights.

From the Taipei Times: “Although we’re a minority, Aboriginals in Taiwan and in Japan are actually better off than indigenous peoples in many other countries,” Kao Ching-yi (???) said. “We should therefore join others in their struggle for rights.” (source)

In related news, people from the Tao Tribe recently held a gathering on Orchid Island (just off …

At a recent function marking the 40th anniversary of the referendum “that handed indigenous Australians the right to be counted in the Census,” John Howard was accused of genocide…. and he didn’t disagree…

From the Australian - Mr Howard told the gathering of about 400 people, which included original referendum campaigners, the way to true reconciliation was through shared responsibility and so-called practical reconciliation. But the crowd disagreed.

At the end of Mr Howard’s speech a middle-age indigenous woman stood and shouted at Mr Howard. “We have been genocided (sic) by your Government and your court,” the unidentified woman said.

The …

On May 15, Indonesian Police occupied the Kingmi Church in the capital of Papua province, Jayapura.

From Survival International - Six police trucks and a water canon were stationed outside the church offices… Paramilitary police armed with rifles occupied the roof of the building, and more than 50 policemen were positioned outside.

Following the police action, 200 members of the Kingmi Church protested outside the headquarters, blocking one lane of traffic.

[The occupation seems to have been an entirely political move, as] The Kingmi church recently broke away from the Gereja Kemah Injil Indonesia (GKII, The Tabernacle Bible Church of Indonesia) …

From the WW4Report - From the Zochrot (Remembering), a group of Israeli citizens working to raise awareness of the Nakba, the Palestinian catastrophe of 1948:

International Nakba Day, May 15, 2007
The Nakba is the story of the Palestinian tragedy: the destruction of communities, civilization, culture and identity, the expulsion and the killing that took place in 1948. It is a story that constitutes the past and present of the Palestinian people and shapes a large part of Palestinian identity. Yet in many respects the Nakba is also the story of Jews who live in Israel. A story that is …

The following press release was received from Wasase.org.

A CALL FOR ACTION FROM THE INDIGENOUS RIGHTS ALLIANCE
(Victoria, BC) - May 14, 2007
We are united strongly in our love for our people and for the land. We are of one mind in our belief that we have an obligation to the land, which is ours and will always be. The British Columbia Treaty Process is a dead-end for our Nations. For years we have tried to achieve justice for our peoples through the BC Treaty Process. It is time to walk away from this process as there is no …

From the WW4 Report - “Socialist villages”? Sounds to us more like keeping a restive population under control to faciliate a stable investment climate for tourism and other capitalist development—akin to the “model villages” the right-wing Guatemalan dictatorship imposed on the Maya peasantry in the ’80s. Why does the Beijing regime maintain this propaganda charade? Are we the ony ones who grasp the cognitive dissonance? From McClatchy Newspapers, May 6:

ZENGSHOL, Tibet - In a massive campaign that recalls the socialist engineering of an earlier era, the Chinese government has relocated some 250,000 Tibetans—nearly …