Black Nations Rising ISSUE 2 (Print)

7/25/2019 Black Nations Rising ISSUE 2 (Print)

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ISSUE#2 JUNE2015 | WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/BLACKNATIONSRISING


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CONTENTS

Blacks Nations Rising (BNR) magazine is published by Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance (WAR) in both print and

online. If you would like to contribute &/or subscribe to BNR send an email to [email protected]. We

thank all who have made this publication a reality; the writers, photographers, and artists, along with the organizations

assisting with printing and distribution. To read BNR online, go to www.issuu.com/blacknationsrising

CO-EDITORS Pekeri Ruska & Callum Clayton-Dixon

PRINTING/DISTRIBUTION COORDINATOR Merinda Meredith

LAYOUT/DESIGN Anima Dorante & Samantha Paxton

CARTOONISTJade Slockee

PRINTED &/0RDISTRIBUTED BY

3 |We AreBY ARIKA WAULU

4-5 |Remembering the Frontier Wars

BY JIDAH CLARK

6-7 | Invasion Day 2015 BlackoutBY PEKERI RUSKA

8-9 | True allies dont claim Aboriginal landBY HAMISH CHITTS

10-11 | Chiapas and the ZapatistasBY JARROD HUGHES

12-13 | Warrior: the time for talk is over, stand up and be fearless

ROBERT THORPE & MERIKI KALINYA

14 |Words of the Struggle: NeocolonialismHOWARD ADAMS & GORD HILL

15 | Defending Language & LandBY ISHKADI

16-17 | Our Land Our Government

18-19 | Aboriginal OR Australian?BY CALLUM CLAYTON-DIXON

20 | Survival is a meagre existenceBY JACK SHEPPARD

21 | Declaration of Aboriginal NationalityBY DALE RUSKA

22-23 | Coal mining, big banks and climate changeBY MILLIE TELFORD

24-25 | Food is Medicine: Decolonize Your DietBY EVA COGHILL

26 | Conscious Sounds: ProvocalzBY BOGAINE SKUTHORPE-SPEARIM

27 | Pressure PointBY SAM COOK


3/28

They came here to conquer

To hunt down and slaughter

They came here with intentions

Intentions to wrought us

Intentions to rid us

Intentions to hurt us

Law we are

Land we are

Totems we are

They lie, they greed, they will not succeed

Genocide only seen by some, they ignorant they dumb

Suicide we are

Deaths in custody we are

Invisible we are

So we rally the streets, and the main media wont air

Forced removal we areStolen children we are

Invisible we are

They aint shame, they reclaim

They dont care because they in vain

So we light a fire and burn their flag

Now all death threats and keyboard warriors

Where are they now?


4/28

REMEMBERING THEFRONTIER WARS

by Jidah Clark

GUNDITJMARA


5/28

Lest we forget

Although not evident at the

Australian War Memorial in Canberra,

war was waged on these shores, on this

soil. Commonly referred to as the frontier

wars, armed conict between colonial

forces and Aboriginal tribes lasted the rst140 years of European invasion of this

country. This war began in the southeast,

and spread slowly but surely across the rest

of the continent. Conict was protracted

and anguishing, but our warriors resistance

was widespread and persistent.

Forgetfulness

The frontier wars were ultimately

fought over the possession of land and the

exercise of sovereignty. One of the main

reasons that Australians nd it difcult to

acknowledge this war is because it goes

to the very heart of the foundations of

Australian sovereignty and ownership of

this great land. Conveniently, in an effort

to avoid those fundamental questions,

the conventional historical narrative

has played down the scale and extent of

frontier warfare, at times denying that it

took place altogether. Australias culture

of forgetfulness has its roots in the early1900s, when those writing about Australian

history began arguing that this country was

peacefully settled without the experience of

war within its own borders.

However, overwhelming evidence

shows that the conditions under which

this country was settled were far

from peaceful. Frontier conict was

widespread and severe, being one of the

most prominent and persistent features

of life in colonial Australia during the

nineteenth century. And the colonists truly

believed they were at war with our people.

A compelling example of this comes

from a letter published in the Launceston

Advertiser in 1831:

We are at war with them: they look

upon as enemies as invaders as

their oppressors and persecutors they

resist our invasion. They have never

been subdued, therefore they are notrebellious subjects, but an injured

nation, defending in their own way, their

rightful possessions, which have been

torn from them by force.

As historian Henry Reynolds puts

it, If there was no war then thousands of

Aborigines were murdered in a century-

long, continent wide crime wave tolerated

by government.

How the wars played out

As colonists encroached on our

country, they disobeyed local laws,

treating the land as their own. The

colonial aggressors often fought unfairly

and brutally. A policy of extermination

was carried out by settlers. Talk of

exterminationwas widespread and

often spoken about publicly. Even early

Governors believed it necessary to infuse

a universal terroramongst our people.

As the borders of the frontier

gradually spread across the country, it was

not an uncommon tactic to indiscriminately

shoot our people on sight. An uglier

and unnerving feature of the war was

that colonial governments funded and

administered wholesale murder through

the Native Police. The Native Police were

Aboriginal troopers recruited by colonial

authorities to hunt down, murder and

massacre other Aboriginal people.

But we may be reassured by the

fact that our resistance ghters created

severe fear and anxiety amongst the settler

population. One example, of which there

are many more, comes from settlers on the

McIntyre River who lived anxiously for

years during which time:

Not one of them could stir from his hut

unarmed; when one milked or went for

a bucket of water, another fully armed

stood over him.

Putting aside the loss of lives on

both sides (numbering in the tens if not

hundreds of thousands), the destruction

of the invaders property was signicant.

However, what was at stake for our

people was innitely greater. It was the

control of our ancient homelands. What

the invaders sought out to achieve was

one of the greatest appropriations of land

in world history.

Eventually, our resistance ghters

were subdued. Afterwards, our people

were often treated worse than captured

combatants, being subject to routine

brutality with bashings, oggings, rape

and indentured labour. Then the reserve

system was implemented, becoming an

institution akin to open-air prisons for a

defeated enemy.

Nevertheless, a powerful theme isthat our people did not acquiesce to the

invasion, and never accepted the idea that

the land ceased to be ours. Our ghters

mounted attacks on homesteads, dispersed

and killed livestock, used re to push back

intruders, and forced many pastoralists

off their stations. Deep knowledge of the

terrain was often utilized to our advantage

in defending territory. Our warriors often

addressed the invaders stating that the land

belonged to us, accompanied with demands

that they leave our country. These types of

complaints and demands continued through

the reserve days, and, in various forms,

continue through to this very day.

Time to remember

The tendency to forget the frontier

wars stands in direct contradiction with

the culture of remembrance for Australias

military history. Our warriors do not

receive anywhere near the same respectaccorded to service people who die in

overseas wars.

We are all, to some extent, aware

of how the frontier wars affected our

various communities. But Id like

to take this opportunity to encourage

Aboriginal readers to uncover further

and pay homage to the sacrices made

by your own people on the frontier. The

local stories of every community, every

tribe, are worthy of recognition. Our

people fought with valour and bravery

in the face of an insurmountable enemy.

The way we recognise and remember

our heroes, and those lost in battle,

deserves reconsideration. Our resistance

ghters were staunch patriots, willing to

die for kin and country. How will you

remember them?

*JIDAH CLARK (Djabwurrung) comes

from Framlingham, an Aboriginalcommunity in the west of so-called

Victoria. He is a lawyer and activist.

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6/28

Thousands crashed Melbournes Australia Day parade to protest the celebration

of invasion and genocide, writes PEKERI RUSKA(Goenpul/Yuggera).


Every year I question why anyone

in this country would want to

celebrate the 26th of January as

Australia Day. This day in 1788

marked the beginning of an all-out

assault on Aboriginal lands, lives and

liberties. The overwhelming majority

of settler society blindly celebrates

Australias colonial beginnings.

Unfortunately, some of our own people

also partake in Australia Day festivities,

inevitably giving legitimacy to a nation

built upon 227 years (and counting) of

dispossession and genocide.

We must learn the brutal history

of colonization and understand the truth

of exactly what Australia Day is. In

a nutshell, Australia Day is an annual

splurge of shallow government-endorsed

patriotism designed to suppress the

undeniable fact that Australia is a nation

with a sinister and deceitful history. Its

an unashamed continuation of the WhiteAustralia policy. Invasion Day is a far

more appropriate name for what should

be a time of mourning, but also a time

for action, Aboriginal action.

Invasion Day in Melbourne this

year was different. It was like nothing

Id ever experienced before at any

protest. Warriors of the Aboriginal

Resistance (WAR) was determined for it

to be the event that would kick off a year

of actions against the colonial system. It

was exactly that, and more.

We put out the call for people to

gather at the steps of Victorias State

Parliament House on the morning of

January 26. Social media was abuzz withexcitement, and yers were plastered on

lampposts and noticeboards throughout

the streets of Melbourne. With thousands

having clicked attending on our ofcial

Facebook event, Parliament Houses

security team contacted WAR with a list

of conditions for the protest. One of

these conditions was that all activity

shall be conned to the rst six steps

of Parliament House and should not

encroach above the lower six steps. Wedidnt abide by these conditions, and

there was no retaliation from security

or police. Over 2000 people turned up

to the rally. The colours red, black and

yellow spilled out onto the main road

in a sea of ags, banners and raised

sts. As the chants grew louder and the

people poured in, we knew Melbournes

Aboriginal community was going to

make its mark on Invasion Day 2015.

PLANNING & PREPARATION

For our demonstration in Melbourne on the

13th of March against the forced closure of

Aboriginal communities in Western Australia,

we rallied again outside Parliament House.

This time there were police on horsebackblocking us from moving up past than the

sixth step they came in force, and they came

prepared. In 2013, Brisbanes Invasion Day

march pushed through police lines into the

South Bank Australia Day celebrations. In 2014,

the police were better prepared and managed

to prevent the same from happening; a two

metre high fence and a line of police blocked

400 Aboriginal people from entering South

Bank. This year, WAR led a group of 15 into

South Bank via another entrance and anked

the unsuspecting police. But the march was

once again prevented from entering SouthBank, and WARs attempt at a tactical approach

highlighted the need for serious preparation

and planning for any such demonstration.


7/28

Keeping to the principle of culture

rst, the rally began with a smoking

ceremony. Flowers were then laid on the

steps of Parliament House as a symbol

of remembrance for all those weve lost

at the hands of colonization over the last

227 years.

According to WAR organizer and

Gunnai/Gunditjmara woman Meriki

Kalinya, the Victoria Police took a keen

interest in the protest during the leadup:

They asked how many people were

attending and the route we would be

marching. We didnt provide them with

the information they wanted, and they

denitely werent ready for what we were

about to do.

As we marched down Bourke

Street, we could see a crowd at the

bottom of the hill on Swanston Street.

Unbeknown to us, Melbournes Australia

Day parade was in full swing.

Spurred on by a swelling sense of

excitement, our pace quickened and the

march gained momentum. A single police

car sped ahead to join a ustered group of

ofcers on foot and on bicycles. Theydrealized what we were about to do and

were getting ready for a desperate and

futile attempt to stop us. As he and his

colleagues rushed to regroup, one police

ofcer was caught on video exclaiming,

Stop here, we can try, we can try! They

tried, they failed. We pushed past the

police line without hesitation.

It quickly dawned on us that we

were about to hit the Australia Day

parade and didnt have a plan in place.

But we werent about to stop and turn

around. We knew that we had a task to

full, to disrupt and bring a halt to the

Australia Day parade. The next obstacle

we reached was the fence separating

onlookers from the parade. Gunditjmara

man Chris Saunders saw an opening

and set about breaking apart the fence.Flooding onto Swanston Street, we

found ourselves right in the middle of

the parade. This was when Melbournes

Aboriginal community truly took their

stand on Invasion Day 2015 and gave

meaning to the slogan were still here.

Theres no way one little steel

barrier was stop us or contain our

voices,Saunders told BNR magazine.

If we got arrested, so be it.

Preventing the Australia Day parade

from progressing as planned, we stopped

several times at major intersections

where our people broke out into song and

dance. The streets reverberated with the

sound of clapsticks and the didgeridoo.

The parade commentator took to the

loudspeaker over and over again telling

us to move on. We knew that we had

to stay, because we had a right to stay.

We reminded them of the history

they wanted to forget. I think many

people in this country suffer from

cognitive dissonance when it comes

to the reality of Invasion Day. The

commentator telling us to move on is no

exception,Kalinya said.

Mainstream media labelled our

Invasion Day protest as being uninvited

as tourists lined the streets waving mini

Australian ags. How ironic that were

not welcome on own land. Yet the whole

purpose behind our protest was to show

the uninvited colonizer that Aboriginal

people are still here and that this country

remains a crime scene.

Its days like this that our voices

need to be heard, our presence not onlyseen but felt. In doing so, we make clear

our opposition to the colonial states

attempt to whitewash 227 years of

dispossession and genocide.

We were asked what exactly it

was we wanted. Were not just talking

about changing a date. Our ultimate

goal is to end the colonial control of

our lands and lives, to restore our tribal

sovereignty. We will ght for freedom

and independence, to rid our people

and our communities of the interfering

and oppressive hands of the colonial

Australian state.

Its crucial that we as Aboriginal

people never lose the will and

determination to protest, to take a

stand against injustice. We have a

responsibility to our ancestors, ourselves,

and our future generations to never

assimilate. We wont back down, wewont go away, we wont celebrate

Invasion Day.

*PEKERI RUSKA (Goenpul/Yuggera)

is Co-editor of Black Nations Rising

and an organizer with Warriors of the

Aboriginal Resistance in Melbourne.

CHAINSORCHANGE?


8/28

TRUE ALLIESDONT CLAIM ABORIGINAL LAND

By Hamish Chitts, Scottish (MacGregor & Fraser clans)

Many allies of the struggle forAboriginal sovereignty stillproudly identify as being Australian.

While many understand some of the

history of genocide and theft on this

continent, they fail to understand how

their Australian identity perpetuates

that genocide and theft. We also need

to learn and understand that thenotion of being Australian and the

country of Australia was not founded

on feelings of independence, but

founded on ideas of White supremacy.

WHITE AUSTRALIA

In the years leading up to

federation, and in the years after, this

country was regarded as a place for

the White race. The push for the

six colonies to unite and form the

Commonwealth of Australia didnt

come from a burning passion to be

free from Britain. The founders of the

Australian nation merely disagreed

with the cosmopolitan nature of the

British Empire and decided to make a

partial break from Britain to ensure that

Australia remained racially pure.

The Bulletin, a magazine with

the masthead slogan Australia for theWhite Man, made clear their hatred of

the British Empires coloured subjects

who would destroy the decency and

livelihood of the working man by opening

the country to leprous Mongols and every

unwashed tribe of the British dominions

(23rd of April 1887). These ideas were

widespread across the political spectrum.

Trade unions marched under the

banner For a White Australia. One

of the main platforms of the newly

formed Australian Labor Party in 1905

was the cultivation of an Australian

sentiment based on the maintenance

of racial purity. Soon after Australia

was federated, the parliament passed the

Immigration Restriction Act 1901. This

legislation formed the basis of the White

Australia policy which sought to exclude

all non-Europeans from Australia. James

McGowen, the rst Labor Premier of

NSW (1910 to 1913), told parliament,

While Britain is behind us, and whileher naval power is supreme, Australia

will be what Australians want it white,

pure and industrially good.

During the Second World War,

Prime Minister John Curtin reinforced

the policy: This country shall remain

forever the home of the descendants of

those people who came here in peace in

order to establish in the South Seas an

outpost of the British race.

Due to the economic needs of

business for population increases, the

White Australia policy was progressively

dismantled between 1949 and 1973,

but by then the policy was already a

resounding success. Most northwestern

Europeans (especially those from

countries in the British Isles England,

Scotland, Wales and Ireland) living in

Australia now see themselves as the

people of this country.

They are the Australians

of Australia who allow

foreigners to join them as

long as they are willing to

assimilate and recognise

northwestern Europeans

as the people of this land.

Chinese people whose family have

lived on this continent for ve or more

generations are still seen as foreign and

described as Chinese Australians, while

English people who came to this continent

as children are simply called Australian.

DECONSTRUCTING

WHITENESS

By identifying as Australian, youare buying into the project for the South

Seas outpost of the British race, and at

the same time claiming Aboriginal land.

To this day, the Australian identity claims

this continent as the land base of a White

nation a nation only for Whites and

those willing to act White. The term

Australia is a direct contradiction and

denial of the hundreds of tribal countries

that exist on this continent whose

sovereignty over that land has never

been ceded. It is hypocritical to chant,

Always was, always will be Aboriginal

land! while at the same time claiming

to be Australian; the very notion of

Australia claims Aboriginal land for

itself. Brutal and broken from inception,

Australianness cannot be reformed.

When Aboriginal people meet

someone for the rst time they often

ask, Where are you from? They are

not asking you Where do you live? orWhere were you born? They are asking

who your people are, what your heritage

is. When someone replies Australia,

theyre effectively saying I am lost, I

have no culture, I have no land and Im

claiming yours. But it doesnt have to be

this way. Everyone is from somewhere,

every culture has its own unique

perspective and contribution to the world.

Instead of claiming to be Australian, a

pseudo culture and identity which denies

the existence of Aboriginal sovereignty,

investigate, accept and be proud of your

immigrant heritage and culture, and walk

this Aboriginal land with respect.



9/28

As well as respecting the people of

this land, you are helping to weaken the

White Australian gang which dominates

this continent. Northwestern Europeans

living on this continent come from a

variety of cultures. The description of

groups of people as Black or White only

came about in the early North Americanslave trade. Initially, all the slaves were

Irish, Scottish and English criminals

and rebels sentenced to transportation

and slavery for a limited number of

years. When kidnapped Africans

started to arrive as slaves, they started

organizing with the Irish, Scottish and

English slaves and ex-slaves to ght

the slavery system. To derail this unity,

British colonial authorities created laws

that differentiated between Black and

White slaves. White slaves had their

sentences reduced and Black slaves

were made slaves for life. By 1788,

White superiority over Blacks was

an entrenched idea used to justify thesubjugation of peoples around the world

by European colonial powers.

How many allies of the Aboriginal

struggle, born on this continent, actually

know the name of the tribe whose

country they were born on, or the country

on which they live? Learn these things,

and along with your new non-Australian

cultural identity, you will gain a new

perspective on the Aboriginal ght for

liberation. With this new perspective, we

can actually start building a better society

in partnership with the true peoples of

this land, rather than trying to patch up

or make nice the White supremacistoccupation that is Australia.

*HAMISH CHITTS (Scottish) has

been a staunch & committed ally of the

Brisbane Aboriginal Sovereign Embassy

since it was founded in 2012.

ISSUE 2 Black Nations Rising P9


10/28

Chiapasand the

ZapatistasTaungurong manJARROD HUGHES recounts his experiences visiting Chiapas

State in Mexico, the birthplace of the revolutionary Zapatista uprising.

Iarrive in the city of San Cristobal,Mexico at around 6am afteran overnight bus trip that wound

its way through the mountains

and valleys of the Chiapas State.

Walking the streets at this early

hour I notice quickly that San

Cristobal is not like the other

Mexican cities Id visited.

What distinguishes San Cristobal from

the rest of Mexico is its mountainous

setting, which seems to influence all

areas of life. The architecture, for

instance, looks more like something

youd expect to see in the highlands

of Nepal than in Mexico. The cooler

climate affects local dress, which

is most noticeable in the elaborategarments of the local Indigenous

women. The mountains, which

surround San Cristobal and are visible

from any point in the city, are also

home to the people who make San

Cristobal famous: the Zapatistas.

After a few hours, the streets of

San Cristobal start to populate. Three

groups of people interact and avoid

each other at various points in the

city. First, the Indigenous women who

are prominent and spread throughout

the markets and main streets sell

their crafts and attend to children.

Secondly, the Mexicans go about their

daily duties and jobs. Thirdly, the

tourists hang about cafs and wander

the streets taking photos.

Walking through the streets

of San Cristobal, certain buildings

become recognizable. I notice CityHall, which was occupied by the

Zapatistas, along with the rest of San

Cristobal, on the 1st of January 1994

after the North American Free Trade

Agreement came into effect. On this

date, famous images were broadcast

around the world of the s taunch,

armed and balaclava-clad Zapatistas

destroying City Hall documents. I also

notice the San Cristobal Cathedral,

which was the location of early

negotiations between the Zapatistas

and the Mexican Government. I spent

the rest of the day wandering the city,

all the while mindful of the mountains

and the people living in them.

The next day I meet with Cesair,

a guide who takes outsiders to visit

certain Indigenous communities

in the mountains surrounding San

Cristobal. We are planned to visit

two communities: Zinacantn andChamula. Both communities are made

up entirely of Indigenous people who

speak the Mayan language of Tzotzil.

Cesairs family is from the community



11/28

of Zinacantn, but he was raised in San

Cristobal. He is a quiet and reserved

man but his passion for respecting and

protecting these communities is clear from

the outset. When I ask Cesair whether he

feels stronger in his identity as Mexican or

Indigenous he quickly suggests the latter.

The distance between the

communities of Zinacantn and Chamula

is only 8km but in many respects they are

worlds apart as they maintain highly distinct

cultural practices. In one community,

clothing is made from cotton and in the

other wool. In one community, polygamy

is accepted and in the other it isnt tolerated.

These differences are replicated throughout

the hundreds of communities in the Chiapas

State, making it an incredibly culturally

rich, diverse and unique part of the world.

We visit Zinacantn rst. As soon as

we enter the community, its cultural depth

and distinctness becomes apparent. The

men, women and children all wear clothing

of the same purple colour and similar

design. Cesair informs us that the ubiquity

of the clothing represents the values of

equality, community and anti-individualism

familiar to Indigenous societies worldwide.

As we walk through the town, we

are informed that there is a ceremony

taking place in the church. Like many of

the Indigenous communities in Chiapas,

the Zinacantn locals practice a mixture of

Catholic and Indigenous religion. From

outside, the local church appears to be of

typical Latin-American style but on the

inside things are very different. Rather than

having a single priest deliver a sermon, a

group of about 15 men lead the ceremony,

which consists of music and dance. These

men wear elaborate traditional clothing and

their shoes are identical to those worn by

Mayan spiritual men prior to colonization,

the style of which can be seen in engravings

on ruins in the area.

After the church, we visit a family

home. There is no electricity, gas or hot

water and the oors are simply dirt. But

there is no sickness here. In the main

living room a family elder sits by the remaking fresh tortillas. She is 95 years

old. Running around the house and the

streets are the local children. They are all

healthy. In Mexico, a quarter of all men

and a third of all women are obese. Here

the people are healthy.

As we start our drive out of

Zinacantn, the conversation turns to

land rights. Cesair informs us that the

community shares communal ownership

over the land. Recognition of Indigenous

land rights by the Mexican Government is

limited. The 1994 Free Trade Agreement

granted a number of US and Canadian

mining companies access to Indigenous

land in Chiapas and weakened the few legal

protections over Indigenous land rights.

These developments were a catalyst for the

emergence of the Zapatista movement.

What were going to do

is shake this country upfrom below, pick it upand turn it on its head...SUBCOMANDANTE MARCOS

Spokesman of the ZapatistaArmy of National Liberation

While the Zapatistas provide an

effective resistance to the incursions of the

Mexican state into Chiapas Indigenouscommunities, they do not enjoy universal

support from those communities. The

reasons are familiar to any follower of

Aboriginal politics in back home. Chiapas

Indigenous communities are coerced into

participating in the Mexican democratic

system and elect a local representative.

This assimilationist process often delivers

highly conservative leaders who push

out the radical Zapatistas. Many of the

communities that reject the Zapatistas are

also given appeasements from the Mexican

Government such as roads, hospitals and

schools. The most militant Zapatista

communities receive nothing.

We arrive in Chamula. On our walk

to the center of town, we bypass the local

prison. The prison is in proximity to shops

and walkways and the cells are in open

view of the public. All the cells are empty.

In Chamula, justice is administered by

the community rather than the state. TheMexican police do not come here

As we continue on our walk,

the uniqueness of Chamula becomes

increasingly apparent. The clothing worn

by the locals is made of thick black fur.

Again, everyone is wearing the same

black style of clothing. We arrive at the

church, and here too there is a ceremony

taking place. Huddled in the corner of the

church yard is a small group of men and

women surrounding a religious icon, all ofthem in deep and intense concentration.

As we enter the church I am

overwhelmed by what I see. The

Chamula Church separated from the

Roman Bureaucracy in 1969 and is like

no other church in the world. The oor

is completely covered in pine needles

which create a thick haze in the air.

The oor and the walls are dotted with

thousands of small candles which add

to the surreal atmosphere. As I walkthrough the church, I notice a number of

shamans crouched on the oor, many with

chickens, some alive and some recently

sacriced. Cesair later informs us that

the chickens are sacriced for traditional

medicine purposes. The shamans feel for

the pulse of the sick and are believed to

cure many illnesses through traditional

Indigenous practices.

Cesair informs us that one of thegreatest threats to the culture of the

Indigenous communities of Chiapas is

foreign missionaries, often Jehovahs

Witnesses, Mormons and Pentecostal

evangelicals from the United States

of America. They are often seen in

the communities ostensibly providing

charity, such as prescriptive eyewear,

accompanied by religious texts. The

communities respond by exiling converts,

who end up living in dire conditions in

population centers like San Cristobal,

disconnected from their culture and

forced to raise their children without the

assistance of their family and community.

On the drive back to San Cristobal

Cesair and I compare the situation for

Indigenous people in Mexico and back

home. He talks about American mining

companies and their plan to build a

highway through countless Indigenous

communities in Chiapas. I tell himabout the stolen generations and Black

incarceration. We speculate on the

whereabouts of Subcomandante Marcos.

In no time we are back in San Cristobal.



12/28

WARRIORTHE TIME FOR TALK IS OVER

ROBERT THORPE at the 2014 #Genocidal20 protests

BLACK NATIONS RISING magazine talked toveteran Aboriginal activist Robert Thorpe (Gunnai/Djabwurrung/Gunditjmara) about his involvement in the

struggle for liberation.

How did you get involved in the Aboriginal struggle? I think

that if youre Aboriginal, you are born into the struggle. I

come from a strong, proud and determined Aboriginal family.

Standing up for our rights was all that we knew. I was bought

up in very political communities like Redfern and Fitzroy.

Back in the day, there was no recognition of Aboriginal people,

no organisations, there was nothing. We were totally written

off, particularly here in Victoria. But I was fortunate enough

to be around some very wise, strong Aboriginal people, elders,

who I learnt a lot from.

What has your involvement been with Aboriginal resistance

in this country? Ive been involved in activism, thats been my

contribution. Ive been educating myself about what hell has

happened to our people in the last 200 plus years. Ive been

trying to educate other people, non-Aboriginal people as well. I

have been getting involved with like-minded people all around

this country for a long time and working towards liberating

ourselves from our situation. We really have not got much

choice but to ght for our most basic and fundamental human

rights. We need to stand up against racism and the destruction

of our culture. I see this as important, not just for myself, but

for all of our people. Look at how beautiful we are and what a

beautiful culture we have thats why I am involved.

What is the importance of bringing Aboriginal issues to

light at international events? We are always looking for the

next international spotlight. This country is a crime scene,

so we need to expose them at an international level. We have

used things like the Olympics and Commonwealth Games as

opportunities to expose this country for what it really is. Thathas been the strategy. But now we need something more than

that. There has been enough talk, now it is time for action.

What do you see as the issues facing Aboriginal people

today? There has always been the issues around genocide,

the premeditated criminal act committed by the British crown.

There is a lack of recognition of our sovereignty, our humanity,

the law of this land and the fact that there is no treaty. Weve

coined the phrase Black GST genocide, sovereignty, treaty.

Everything we talk about today is underpinned by these three

issues. If people dont understand the issues of genocide and

sovereignty, then maybe they do not want to know. They

havent got a treaty, they havent got consent and they havent

got jurisdiction. The time for talk is over.

What is your advice for young Aboriginal people today?

Young people, know where you stand with your land and your

law, thats what really makes you strong and powerful as an

individual. Know who you are, where you come from, and

know your mobs history its empowering. To understand

where you come from is important, to understand where you are

going is also important. Knowledge is crucial. You will never

stop learning in this life. It is never too late to start learning.Believe in yourself and believe in who you are. Believe in your

Aboriginal rights. Be proud of who you are. We are a beautiful

people. Try and envision what the future will be in 20-30 years.

Is there going to be a violent revolution, or will there be a treaty?



13/28

MERIKI KALINYA on the frontline of demonstrations that shut down Melbournes CBD

WARRIORSTAND UP AND BE FEARLESS


MERIKI KALINYA is a founding member of Warriorsof the Aboriginal Resistance (WAR) and one of thecore organizers of WARs Melbourne chapter. For Meriki,

being a warrior is an obligation:

In todays context, an Aboriginal warrior is somebody

who is actively involved in the process of decolonization. They

revive their own culture and implement cultural practices and

protocols into acts of resistance. They live and breathe the

messages and ideas they ght for. A warrior is someone on the

front line of Aboriginal resistance, someone who speaks out

and stands up for what they believe is right, regardless of the

consequences. But it is not just about protests. It is educating

yourself and educating your peers on the importance of resisting

and reviving. My family have always been involved in the

resistance for as long as I can remember. As a young child, I

would listen to family members having philosophical discussions

about the Aboriginal struggle their passion was contagious. I

had no idea the impact this would have on my adult life. As I

got older, I started connecting the dots. I began educating myself

on what was really happening to my people. I learned of the

massacres and the ongoing oppression of my people. I saw and

felt the injustices. You really dont have any choice once you

open that door of Black consciousness. You cannot sit and watch

colonization and genocide happen to the people you grow up with,

the people you love its our responsibility to resist and revive.

You do it for your ancestors, the future generations, the communityand the people you care about.

In the last 12 months, I have taken a lot of chances. I

weigh up what I could possibly lose and what the consequences

could be, but its all worth it in the end. I travelled to so-called

Canada and was detained because I presented an Aboriginal

passport at Vancouver international airport. Ive burned the

Australian ag, twice. We launched Warriors of the AboriginalResistance and Black Nations Rising magazine. Ive been a part

of all this because I am not Australian.

My purpose as a Gunnai and Gunditjmara is to resist

colonial oppression while educating my own people. I would

do it all again in a heartbeat. It is hard, and I cop criticism

regularly. My former Black Panther mother keeps me in check.

I am blessed to have a big family with siblings, cousins, uncles

and aunties to keep me grounded and support me. We need

warriors who will stand up and be fearless. We need to carry

on the ght of our ancestors and understand the struggles they

endured. We cannot afford to live a life of individualism,

because thats not a part of who we are. We need to take care

of our culture and all that it means to be an Aboriginal person

that includes looking out for each other. We need to actively

resist what compromises our Aboriginal nationhood and rebuild

what was destroyed.

Language is an indicator of assimilation. The extreme

ethnic cleansing we experienced here in so-called Victoria and the

rest of this continent is nothing short of genocide; particularly in

the missionary days where the Gunnai tongue wasnt allowed to

speak the Gunnai language, law, songline and story. Reclaimingmy ancestors words, my birthright, is my way of liberating

myself from colonisation. Although this is only one component,

its a start to a very long road to learning about the civilisation that

underpinned society before European colonization.


14/28

W

ORDS

OF

T

HEST

RUGG

Le


Neocolonialism

N

eocolonialism means a new colonialism.

It involves the use of state-funded Nativeservices, businesses and organizations to

indirectly control Native people (also known as

the Aboriginal industry).

In general, it means giving some of the benets

of the dominant society to a small, privileged

minority, in return for their help in making sure the

majority dont cause trouble the image of Natives

in government helps create the myth that all Native

people have a place in the dominant society.

The change from colonialism to neocolonialism

is a change only in how the state controls thecolonized people. Colonialism is a system in which

the colonized people have no control over their lives

economically, socially, politically, or culturally. The

power to make decisions in these important areas of

daily life are almost totally in the hands of others,

either the state or corporations. The state is willing

to share some of the wealth of a racist system with a

few Natives in return for a more effective method of

controlling the majority.

The most threatening and effective form of neocolonialism devised by the state has been its efforts

to intervene and control popular Native organizations which had been previously independent. Theybegan with core grants to help the associations organize; then the elected leaders of the organizations

got larger and larger salaries, making them dependent on the state just as the Native bureaucrats

in government were. As the years went by more money was provided to organizations, money for

housing, economic development and service programs etc.

The most important effect of government funding, or state intervention, is that the state, by

manipulating grants, can determine to a large extent what strategy the organizations will use. It is no

coincidence that when organizations were independent of government money in the early 70s, they

followed a militant strategy which confronted government. Now, after several decades of government

funding, they are following a strategy that requires subservience to the state.

*adapted from Tortured People: The Politics of Colonizationby HOWARD ADAMS (1995),

cartoon from Colonization and Decolonization: A Manual for Indigenous Liberation in the 21st

Century by GORD HILL (2006)

WARRIOR PUBLICATIONS manuals for Indigenous liberation

and a news aggregator devoted to promoting Indigenous warrior

culture, fighting spirit and resistance movement.

www.warriorpublications.wordpress.com


15/28ISSUE 1 Black Nations Rising P-ISSUE 2 Black Nations Rising P15

DEFENDING LANGUAGE & LANDBy Ishkdi, Tasetn

My name is Ishkdi. I amChiyne (wolf) clan fromTlabnotn (Klabona) territory of

the Tas etn (Tahltan), an indigenous

people of so called Canada. My

grandparents were the last of our

family to live the traditional ways on

the land; they also grew up at a time

where everyone spoke our traditional

language. They tell a story of being

on a hunting party and hearing loud

noises in the distance. These noises

turned out to be, to their surprise,

the construction of a road, something

completely foreign to them. They had

no idea what was to come or how to

deal with it, so they let it be.

I grew up speaking a language

(English), believing in a god, and went

by a name that came from a land I had no

connection to, England. I later learned

that the indigenous peoples of so-called

Canada were prohibited from speakingtheir languages, practicing their culture,

singing their songs. They banned us

from being Indian in an attempt to

civilize and assimilate us through

residential schools (to kill the Indian in

the child) and reservations (to separate

the Indians from their land).

When I was 21 years of age, I

began to take interest in learning our

traditional language as a way of resistingcolonialism. I didnt do so expecting to

nd my identity, nor or the nativeness

my grandparents grew up with that is

now on the verge of being completely

forgotten. On this journey, I also learntthat there was no distinction between

land, body, mind, and spirit. Through

learning our language, I learnt there

was a balance between the land and the

people. It was then I realized how smart

the colonizers were when they outlawed

the speaking of Native languages; to

separate the indigenous from their

connection to the land and themselves.

However, I persevered and have

since found my roots by learning my

traditional language. It has given me

the courage, connection and sense of

responsibility to defend the land of

my ancestors, the same land they have

protected for thousands of years for

me to enjoy and live on. The land my

ancestors protected is under constant

threat from industrial development. For

over a decade, my people have made

continuous efforts to defend the territory

we reside on. We protect our lands viablockades and machinery take-overs.

I have seen elders get arrested

at these blockades. I have seen the

Royal Canadian Mounted Police

(RCMP) handcuff and detain my

grandparents before carting them away

in their vehicles. I have seen sons and

daughters, grandchildren, and great

grandchildren in tears as their families

were taken away all for standingstaunch and protecting their lands.

There is an area in Tlabnotn

territory known as the Sacred

Headwaters, named for the three salmonbearing river drainages, the Stikine,

Skeena, and Nass. This is one of the

areas under threat. In the summer

of 2013, mining company Fortune

Minerals proposed to develop on the

Sacred Headwaters. The company had

two active drills searching for coal

without proper consent from our people.

A blockade was set up on the main

site of operation where the Klabona

Keepers, the Tahltan Elders, presented

the mining company with an eviction

notice. However, the company did not

comply and continued to drill on our

land. The people became frustrated and

decided to take action.

In September 2013, the Klabona

Keepers shut down a drill site by

occupying a drill rig, impeding mining

activity (pictured above). One drill was

down but another was still active. A few

days later the location of the second drillwas identied and it was taken over also.

Fortune Minerals would not abandon

their post, so after a few weeks the next

course of action had to be taken. The

Klabona Keepers then banded together

to occupy Fortune Minerals main camp

in late in September. Ultimately, the

mining company were forced to pull out.

I am on the frontline as a Tas etn

man, an indigenous person, strugglingto decolonize by defending my culture,

language, land, air and water, all of

which we depend on for the survival of

our identity.



On the 19th of July 1990, the Aboriginal Provisional Government (APG) was formed. Established

on the principle that Aborigines are and always have been a sovereign people, the APG campaigns

for Aboriginal self-determination and self-government. Our vision is for Aboriginal people to

take our place among the nations and peoples of the world, not beneath them.

OUR LAND

OUR GOVERNMENT

How did the APG come about?

The Aboriginal Provisional

Government (APG) emerged from the

Federation of Land Councils, a powerful

national body dedicated to ghting

for Aboriginal land justice. A number

of Federation delegates identied the

need for a dedicated political arm of the

Aboriginal movement.

What purpose was the APG to serve?

Despite the presence of countless

Aboriginal organisations across our

country, Aboriginal people still are

not able to fully accept responsibility

for determining their long term future.

Devoted to service delivery, Aboriginal

community organizations are inundated

with all the day to day crises of a people

suffering the effects of over two hundred

years of dispossession and oppression.

They have been so busy trying to keep

their communities alive that they have

had little opportunity to sit down,

design and implement policies aimed at

giving effective control of Aboriginal

communities back to the communities

themselves. The APG was established

with the aim of helping to ll this void.

The APG does not claim to be

representative of all Aborigines and was

not set up to govern Aboriginal people,

hence the word provisional in our name.Rather, the APGs role is to be a political

vehicle with the aim of bringing Aboriginal

aspirations for self-determination and self-

government to fruition.

The policy of acting sovereignty

From its inception, the APG adopted

the policy of acting sovereignty. As

part of this policy, the APG began issuing

Aboriginal passports and Aboriginal birth

certicates. The Aboriginal passport is

issued on the basis that the Aboriginal

nation is separate to the Australian nation,

and that Aboriginal people have distinct

rights, including having a separate

passport. Nations having accepted APG

issued travel documents include Libya(1987 & 1988), Norway and Switzerland

(1990), the Mohawk nation (2014), and

the Solomon Islands (2015). Although

the Australian government refuses to

recognize the Aboriginal passport, many

Aborigines have successfully re-entered

their country through Australian customs

providing only the Aboriginal passport.

Aboriginal birth certicates are issued so

that Aboriginal children can be registered

as citizens of the Aboriginal nation. This

is an alternative to our people being

forced to register their children at birth

with the colonial Australian state.

Sending diplomatic delegations

overseas, the APG has sought recognition

of Aboriginal sovereignty from the

international community. This follows

a legacy set down by the Aboriginal

Embassy in the early 1970s with their

trips to Chairman Maos China, as well

as Aboriginal delegations to ColonelGaddas Libya in the late 1980s. In

1994, founding APG Chairperson Bob

Weatherall and Secretary Michael Mansell

travelled to Vanuatu seeking standing at

the South Pacic Forum. We need to

get status throughout the world,Mansellproclaimed. The APG was refused

entry to the meeting after Australian

Prime Minister Bob Hawke used

Australias nancial muscle to pressure

the South Pacic nations. In 2014, a

delegation met with representatives of the

Haudenosaunee Confederacy in Mohawk

territory [Quebec, Canada].

National Conference - Hobart, 1992

In August 1992, the APG held

its rst national meeting in Lutruwita

[Tasmania]. Over 150 Aboriginal men,

women and children noisily welcomed

delegates at the Hobart airport. Local and

national media lmed the event. Delegates

were driven to the city in a convoy of cars

ying Aboriginal ags from the bonnets.

These people were ambassadors of the

Aboriginal communities they represented.

On its way to the city, the convoy passed

under a bridge where children from the

Tasmanian Aboriginal Child Care Centre

held up a huge banner they had made

proclaiming Welcome APG.

The APG is the product of the many

generations of Aboriginal people

who have fought despairingly for

Aboriginal justice. It represents the

reality that only we, as Aboriginal

people, can forge a proper place for

ourselves and those generations ofAborigines to come.

Bob Weatherall (Gamilaraay)

Founding APG Chairperson



N APG Ex C

On the 30th of January 2015, members of the

Aboriginal Provisional Government elected a new Executive

Council. A spill of all positions saw an injection of new

blood into the organization, including lawyer Pekeri Ruska

(Goenpul/Yuggera), unionist Merinda Meredith (Darumbal),

journalist Callum Clayton-Dixon (Nyaywana), activist Ruby

Wharton (Kooma/Gamilaraay), and longtime sovereign rights

campaigner Dale Ruska (Goenpul). Lawyer and cofounder

of the APG Michael Mansell (Pakana) was re-elected. The

Council is responsible for spearheading the organizations

activities and agenda for change, but does not claim to be

a representative body. Positions can be lled by popular

elections or by co-opting appropriate people.

A P

Earlier this year, the Aboriginal Provisional Governmentopened dialogue with an international supplier of secure

documentation to begin work on revamping the Aboriginal

passport. The updated Aboriginal passport, slated for

rollout in early 2016, will comply with security standards

set down by the United Nations. This follows a decision

by the APG on the need to adopt international standards

for our passports if we truly believe the Aboriginal nation

is part of the international community. The APG will then

work to gain ocial recognition of the Aboriginal passport

from other countries. They will have no choice by to reject

our passports for political reasons as opposed to security

reasons. As part of the design phase, the APG put out a

call for Aboriginal artists to contribute their work for the

revamped Aboriginal passport.

We have also been in talks with the Haudenosaunee

Confederacy (an alliance of six Native tribes in North

America) who issue their own passports as well. Afteridentifying that their passports had become a casualty of

a tighter world security environment, the Haudenosaunee

Documentation Committee (HDC) set about rectifying

this. In December 2014, Mohawk diplomat Kenneth

Deer travelled to Geneva, Switzerland using the updated

Haudenosaunee Confederacy passport. Seeking to learn

from their experience, we consulted the HDC about the

issues surrounding Indigenous passports.

H A

On the 17th of April, APG Chairperson Callum Clayton-

Dixon was hassled for over 40 minutes by Australian

customs ocials at Brisbane international airport before

re-entering Aboriginal land using his Aboriginal passport

alone. On the 12th of May, customs ocials threatened

to body search APG Treasurer Pekeri Ruska after she

insisted on presenting only her Aboriginal passport at

Brisbane international airport. Ms Ruskas passport had

been stamped by Solomon Islands customs on entry into

and exit from Honiara, where she had spent four days

developing relations with key members of the West Papuan

independence movement.

*In September 2014, an Aboriginal delegation used only their

Aboriginal passports to re-enter the country via Brisbane and

Melbourne after a month long tour of Native communities in

so-called Canada. Less than two weeks later, the Minister for

Immigration and Border Protection Scott Morrison issued a

ministerial directive declaring the Aboriginal passport invalid

for use at Australian customs.

www.apg.org.au


18/28

Aboriginal ORAustralian?

We must address the question of national identity if were serious about forging a real future

for ourselves and generations to come, writesCALLUM CLAYTON-DIXON

(Nyaywana).


Tony Abbotts call for full[Aboriginal] participation inAustralian society, like former Prime

Minister John Howards talk of a

reconciled, indivisible nation, was

a clear indication that Australias

assimilation era never ended.

The colonizers current Indigenous

Assimilation Strategy is all encompassing,

and virtually identical to 1950s policy:

All Aborigines and part-Aborigines are

expected eventually to attain the same

manner of living as other Australians and

to live as members of a single Australian

community, enjoying the same rights

and privileges, accepting the same

responsibilities, observing the same

customs and inuences by the same beliefs,

hopes and loyalties as other Australians.

The Australian governments focus

on getting kids to school, adults to

work and the ordinary law of the land

observedisnt about empowering our

people. Its about us conforming to

colonial social norms, and falling into

line with the colonial capitalist economy;

the end result being that we become

another cog in Australias nation building

exploits. They want us to be completely

attached to, dependent on, and controlled

by the institutions of settler society.

Their goal is assimilation, to turn the

Aborigine into the Australian.

Why would we want to identify

with those whove taken so much from

us? Because were conditioned on a

daily basis to be like them: to identify

with their history, their warmongering

traditions, their national symbols, and

their xenophobic attitudes towards ethnic

minorities. We call it the dominant

culture for a reason. From the mainstream

media to the education system, settlersociety uses their cultural hegemony to

pressure us into assimilation. We see it

every time we watch the television, every

time we listen to the radio, and every

time we open a newspaper or magazine.

Were constantly bombarded with

assimilationist propaganda lulling us into

a false sense of security and belonging.

In Australian schools, our children are

expected to stand for and sing Australias

national anthem. We see Australian ags

everywhere we go, from car bonnets and

boardshorts to universities and fast food

restaurants. And each year on the 26th

of January, they bribe Aboriginal people

with money and awards to prop up and

participate in their debauched Australia

Day celebrations. The result is a classic

case of whats commonly referred to

as Stockholm Syndrome, whereby

the captive (the colonized) begins to

bond and identify with their captor

(the colonized). This psychological

condition is prevalent among colonized

peoples globally, a condition induced andreinforced by the colonial powers that be.

The government advances its

agenda even further by ridiculing or just


19/28

simply ignoring the Aboriginal push for

self-determination. Federal Minister

for Immigration Peter Dutton labelled

the Aboriginal passport a nonsense

passport; Herald Sun columnist Andrew

Bolt equated it to apartheid; and 4BC

radio host John Scott insisted were all

Australians. Apparently the right of

Aboriginal people to decide the future ofour own lands and lives is too farfetched.

Howard rejected the absurd notion

of a nation trying to make a treaty with

some of its own citizens, implying that

Aborigines are in fact Australians. This is

despite the United Nations endorsement

of the right of Indigenous peoples to

freely determine our own political status.

As identied by Gamilaraay man and

founding Chairman of the Aboriginal

Provisional Government (APG) Bob

Weatherall, we as Aboriginal people have

the inherent right to decide if we want to

be part of the Australian nation or not:

Governments presume we are citizens

of the Australian nation, and our rights

are accordingly limited. But we have

never been given the opportunity to say if

we agree. APG Papers (Volume Five,

January 2002)

This is the question we must revisit.

Are we(A)members of the Australian

nation with basically the same rights and

responsibilities as other Australians; or (B)

members of a separate Aboriginal nation,

and our respective tribal groups, with

distinct rights and responsibilities? This

is the same question colonized peoples

around the world continue to grapple with.

Staunch supporters of the Scots campaign

for independence proudly brandish t-shirts

emblazoned with the words Scottish NOT

British. The Mohawks reject Canadian

nationality outright, maintaining their

own separate system of self-government

and have been issuing their own

indigenous passport since 1977. These

are just two examples of colonized

peoples expressing and asserting their

right to self-determination. Others in

the mix include the West Papuans and

Palestinians. For them, the question of

national identity is core to their strugglefor justice. If we as Aboriginal people

are serious about forging a real future for

ourselves and generations to come, this is

the question we must answer.

When it comes to our status as a

people, there is really no in-between. By

identifying as Aboriginal Australians,

were still attaching ourselves to the

Australian nation. Unfortunately, this

validates the colonizers license to dictate

and dene our entitlements as if were just

another subgroup of Australian society.

But thats quite alright, as long as werecontent with crumbs from the colonizers

table, whether it be a Reconciliation Action

Plan, a mention in Australias Constitution,

or a Native Title determination. Can

we really convince ourselves that the

Native Title process is real land justice,

when twenty year claims culminate in

the courts granting us less rights over our

traditional lands than farmers and miners?

Theyll only ever make concessions as

long as the concessions dont interfere

with their national interests. Its true that

we as Aboriginal people have the right

to identify as Australians, to embrace

Australian citizenship and Australias

capitalist so-called democracy. But

this choice has inevitable consequences.

This choice can only lead to one future, a

future veteran Gumbaynggirr activist Gary

Foley describes bluntly: The process of

assimilation is well on track, well all be

wiped out within fty years, the genocide

project will be over and there will be noAborigines, simple.

This ties into the fact that our

fundamental rights and responsibilities

as Indigenous Peoples have never been

compatible with Australias national

interests. The most blatant example is land

use. Both the Australian government and

the private sector see land as a commodity

to be bought, sold and exploited

for monetary gain and economic

development. Whereas, it is the steadfast

obligation of indigenous peoples to care

for and protect our traditional lands.

If then the answer is (B), what

does this mean? Do we persist with

slogans alone? Prior to 1788, we ran

this country, a sovereign nation in our

own right; comprising many hundreds

of tribes, our own cultures, languages

and customary laws. If we truly believe

our sovereignty remains intact, we mustact as a sovereign, self-governing and

self-determining people. So where do

we go from here? We must organize.

To organize effectively, we must rst

have a platform from which to do so.

The initial step is to identify and assert

who we are. Once we have a clear

and unwavering national identity, one

of our biggest problems is solved. A

people must know and understand their

national interest. The task of Australian

colonialism is to convince us that our

national interest is within the connes ofAustralian colonialism. The colonizer

labels us Aboriginal Australians and

First Australians because such terms

keep us exactly where we are, holding

onto a system that forces us to become

something were not.

Were Aboriginal, simple. Its true

that Aboriginal and Aborigine are

foreign terms, nding their roots in ancient

Italy (in the Latin language, ab means

from and origine translates to earliest

beginning or lineage). Indigenous

and First Nations are also foreign terms.

Unlike the Mori of Aotearoa, we do not

have a traditional word for our people

collectively. For simplicitys sake, and

for practical purposes, the APG uses the

term Aboriginal nation when referring

to our people collectively as a politically

and culturally distinct group native to this

country. Identifying in this way is not to

diminish our diverse tribal identities, farfrom it. The whole is nothing without

the parts, hence why Im Nyaywana rst

and foremost. Nyaywana is the core of

my identity as an Aboriginal person my

family, my history, my language, and

my connection to country. But there is

substance behind the saying strength in

unity. Trade, ceremony and songlines

have connected our tribes since time

immemorial. From the frontier wars

to the lands rights movement, our ght

against colonization has only reinforced

this bond. Looking forward, a united

Aboriginal front will be vital. Lets not

get waylaid with semantics.

Like the Palestinians, Aborigines are

an occupied people. Like Israel, Australia

is an illegal settler state occupying another

peoples land by force. Once we realize

such truths, our whole outlook changes

Australia is no longer our point of

reference in any shape or form.

*CALLUM CLAYTON-DIXON

(Nyaywana) is Chairperson of the

Aboriginal Provisional Government.



20/28

Survival

is a meagre existence

By Jack Sheppard (Kunjen)

227years of colonization,genocide, and dispossession.This devastation is an assault on our

proud history, but a reality we now

must live and cope with. Its impact

of shock and heartbreak is still just as

menacing and present as it was in the

advent of invasion.

For Australian society, cruelty and

exploitation are the norm when it comes

to the treatment of our people, something

the colonizers dont seem to be ashamed

of. They parade and celebrate the theft

of our lands and the killing of our people,preying on gullible ears and eyes, the

mainstream media complicit.

The Australian government has

endeavoured to strip as much as possible

away from us our land, our children

and our dignity.

We have been left

with little choice butto get by with what

little rights now have

provided to us.

Lets hand it to them. Theyve

become so practiced and efcient in their

methods used to subdue and dismantle

our communities, not dissimilar to South

Africas apartheid regime but far more

subtle and sinister. The colonizers havemanaged to manufacture a system where

government and corporation collaborate

in attempting to exploit us and bring

about our demise.

We squabble over that which has

been largely responsible for our cultural

Blackslide, from the government crumbs

and mining blood money ripping apart

our families and communities, to

the alcohol and drugs poisoning and

pacifying our people.

They nurture and

thrive on division.

We face many uphill battles the

ght for our health, the ght for the

return of our children, the ght to protectour lands from mining, the ght to revive

and maintain and revive our cultures.

At the most basic level, we struggle

to survive in what has become a harsh,

cruel world. Consumed by the demanding

realities of everyday life in modern

society, many of us have lost sight of

the big picture the ght to regain our

rightful place in this country, to reclaim

our pride and dignity, to become a self-

determining people once again.

In order for this dream to become

reality, we must rst address the

elephant in the room. We must mend

the destructive divides within our own

communities.

We have to stop hurting each other

and begin lifting each other up. Once

we have each others back, we will be

at our strongest. To stamp out jealousy,lateral violence, self-loathing and

unhealthy competitiveness is to stamp

out weakness. Only together can we

defeat these evils.

The blood of warriors runs in our

veins. Our ancestors were staunch yet

humble. These traits were entrenched

in our law and tradition, forbidding

weakness while obliging care and

respect for ourselves, each other, and the

land. This is why our society not only

survived, but thrived. Only colonization

caused us to falter.

If we draw on such traits, we can

truly rebuild a strong, dignied and

meaningful future for our people. The

battle that lays ahead is far from conned

to marches and blockades.

It is strengthening our families

and communities that will give us the

foundations we need to push onwards.

We can ght for

justice all we want, but

justice will never come

unless we are unitedand have the capacity

ourselves to endure.

Our lives are worth more than the

media portrays. Our lives are worth more

than what we are pigeon-holed to be:

another Black statistic, another lost cause.

Its time for change, and not

tomorrow, but right now. We can andwe will do this. It is our obligation and

birthright as the indigenous peoples

of this land. Freedom, strength and

wisdom to us all!



21/28

Declaration of

Aboriginal

Nationality

We make this declaration to re-initiate our own

independent process as Aboriginal people in

developing an organized and united position in the

ongoing fight to take our place among the nations

and peoples of the world, not beneath them.

We, the Aboriginal people, are the original owners

of the lands now known as Australia.

Our ownership over these lands is inherited through

our ancestral bloodline connection to country, andour ancient system of customary law.

Our customary law binds us together through

common principles and values of national identity.

Our national identity entitles us to all of the rights

afforded to any nation.

Being a nation entitles us to continue administering

our ancient customary law, to decide and control the

future of our lands and lives.

Our system of customary law bestows upon us our

own unique national identity, totally separate to and

not recognized by the colonial Australian state.

We, the Aboriginal nation, do not accept colonial

Australian law and its claims to authority and

control over our people and our lands.

We, the original owners of Australia, commit

to developing a treaty between and establishinga unified assembly of our many tribal nations,

uniting us under the shared principle of Aboriginal

nationality and ancient law.

Over the past few months, the Aboriginalmovement has been injected with new vigour andenergy. We have once again demonstrated ourability to mobilize the masses on a national scale inprotest against injustices perpetrated by the colonialAustralian government. The question remains,how do we turn this momentum into practical andpermanent solutions for our people and our land?

For colonized peoples around the globe, from theScottish to the Mohawks, the question of nationalidentity is fundamental. It provides them with a

strong and principled platform from which to rebuild.This question is also key to our struggle for justice.

As part of the eort to reinvigorate the push for self-determination and independence, the AboriginalProvisional Government (APG) has drafted theDeclaration of Aboriginal Nationality.

We encourage all Aboriginal people andcommunities to become signatories to theDeclaration as a symbolic demonstration of ourdetermination to forge a real future for ourselvesand generations to come.

Yours in the cause,

Dale Ruska (Goenpul)DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON

Aboriginal Provisional [email protected]

If you are Aboriginal and wishto become a signatory to the

Declaration of AboriginalNationality, go to:

www.apg.org/declaration


22/28

I remember the rst time I saw a coal mine. It was

just last year when I was travelling throughout regional

so-called New South Wales. From every window of thebus it was all you could see: a huge, dark, bottomless

pit. There were trucks lled with coal, trains lled with

coal and if you looked hard enough you could probably

see ships on the horizon lled with coal.

Right now, the land that we survive on is being dug

up, grinded down, tossed around and burnt. With it

goes our culture, our families, our communities and

our future.

If its not already being dug up, then theres probably

a proposal for a new mine on the table or plans to

expand, grow and go places beyond our imagination.

Coal, uranium, coal seam gas, the list goes on. The

fossil fuel industry is prepared to do whatever it takes to

mine our country to pieces. As I write this, our brothers

and sisters along the coastlines of Queensland and the

Northern Territory are picking up the pieces left by

Cyclone Marcia and Cyclone Lam. Other parts of the

country are facing heat waves, bush res, oods, poor

water quality, coastal erosion and rising sea levels.But the injustices go beyond the climate impacts;

the fossil fuel industry has been putting stress on our

land, our communities and our culture for generations.

With every fossil fuel development and every extreme

weather event, its our people who face the impacts rst

and worst.

Right now, theres currently a proposal to build the

worlds biggest coal port on the Great Barrier Reef at

Abbot Point. If built, it would unlock the Galilee basin

one of the largest reserves of coal in the world.

In order to avoid catastrophic impacts of climatechange and protect this sacred land, its crucial that

all new fossil fuels stay in the ground. This means

ensuring the proposed Abbot Point port expansion,

subsequent railway line and coal mines never go ahead.

The coal company, Adani, needs billions of dollars

in bank loans to get this project off the ground. Nine

international banks have already announced they wont

be involved. Now its up to us to put pressure on the big

four Australian banks, Commonwealth, NAB, Westpac

and ANZ, to rule out funding reef destruction.

The good thing is that everyone can play a role in

making sure that this project doesnt go ahead. As

customers of these banks, we need to put our money

where our mouth is and speak in the language that they

understand: money. We wouldnt fund this project, so

Coal mining,

big banks andclimate changeBy Millie Telford, Bundjalung



23/28

why should our banks.

Already thousands of people all across the globe

have moved their money. Were sending clear messages

to the banks that if they invest in reef and climatedestruction, then were dumping them.

Australia is one of the of sunniest and windiest

countries in the world, we have the capacity to play

a huge role in leading the transition to safe, clean

renewable energy if we chose to. Thats why we must

all make a choice, to decide what were going to do

about it.

While the Australian government is taking us

backwards, we need a grassroots movement of people

who are prepared to do what it takes. We need to show

them what true leadership looks like and leave them

with no choice but to follow.

Indigenous people, farmers, students, teachers and

doctors from all walks of life, and from across the

country, were taking a stand. Thousands of people

around the world have already moved their money. If the

fossil fuel industry is prepared to do whatever it takes,

then we need to be able to match them at their own game.

What gives me hope is that today were makinghistory. In spite of the bottomless pit of coal that I saw

from the bus that day last year, Im constantly inspired

by Indigenous people all across the globe who are

coming together in the ght for climate justice. Our

frontline communities are at the forefront of change.

Theres nothing more powerful than a movement led

by strong Indigenous people with a vision that theyre

prepared to ght for. We cant afford for climate change

to be an issue that divides us, we need to stand up and

make sure that climate change is the issue that unites us!

Join the ght for climate justice with Seed at aycc.org.au/seed or take action to stop the Abbot Point

coal port expansion on the Great Barrier Reef at

dumpmybank.org.au

*MILLIE TELFORD (Bundjalung) is the National

Director of the Seed Indigenous Youth Climate Network.

Right now, the land that we survive

on is being dug up, grinded down,tossed around and burnt. With it

goes our culture, our families, our

communities and our future.



24/28


25/28

EUGARI CURRY

How to catch eugariesWhen standing on the eastern shores of Minjerribah, you face the ocean. Eugaries only live inthe ocean - you cannot nd them on the bay side of the island. The triangle shaped shellshcan be found at low tide by looking for bumps in the sand. If you dig about fteen centimeters

under these bumps, you will nd the eugari. However, if the tide is high, stand about ankledeep in the waves and wiggle your feet into the sand. After a wave surges back into the ocean,the eugaries will try to escape with it, this is when you catch them. Otherwise you feel themwith your feet before they come to the surface.

INGREDIENTS

1 kilogram of eugaries

1 capsicum

1 onion

1 medium sized taro

2 celery stalks3 carrots

1 cup of peas

2 tablespoons of curry powder

1 tablespoon of coconut oil

RECIPE

1)Bake the eugaries in the oven at 180 degreesuntil they turn a golden colour and the shells open(keep the juices to be used later).

2)Remove the eugaries from their shells and setaside.

3)

Dice all vegetables into 1cm cubes.

4)

Fry diced vegetables in the coconut oil in alarge pot, with the curry powder.

5)

Add the eugari juices.

6)

Once the vegetables are tender, mash thevegetables together.

7)

Pull the gills o of the eugaries, slice them upand then add to the vegetable mix.

8)Stir the eugaries through and serve.


RECIPE HANDED DOWN FROM MY MOTHER


26/28

Hiphop emerged in the early 70s

as a form of music to express thefrustrations and hardship of Black

ghetto youth in the United States of

America. Parallels can be drawn

with elements of Aboriginal culture

through the reverberating beats

and our didgeridoos, clap sticks and

boomerangs. It can also invoke a need

to express through dance; whether it is

breakdance or traditional dance, both

awaken the warrior spirit.

This style is about rapping,

storytelling and documenting our past,

present and futures. Its about using

lyrics to motivate the masses. There is

no surprise that Aboriginal people have

embraced hiphop as a way to express

their struggle in todays society while also

adding elements of culture to their tracks.

Provocalz is a young Aboriginal political

hiphop artist who has dedicated his music

to the issues faced by his people. Black

Nations Risingmagazine had a yarn with

Provocalz on the topic of hiphop and

political consciousness:

Is there a space for political issues

within hiphop?It has always been a

voice for the voiceless and disempowered.

I like to provide empowerment with

my music for my people, a people born

into disadvantage. I speak about what

I see and live, about politics, about our

struggle. We will never sit down and justtake it. If youve got nothing to die for,

you will die for nothing. Our peoples

future is a very important thing, for our

children and our families.

Why do you write political hiphop?

I write about my own experiences. Igrew up listening to my elders and

reading books on Che Guevara, the

Black Panthers, guerrilla warfare and

many other struggles worldwide. Ive

felt a connection to these stories, these

experiences. My obligation is to provide

something productive with my music

the time for fun and games is over. This

world is getting worse by the minute. If

I didnt have something important to

say, I wouldnt bother trying to be heard.Unfortunately, a lot of MCs do not feel

that way and continue to push their

garbage onto our youth.

Why is it important for you to have a

conscious message within your music?It

is important because it is the truth. Being

genuine and real is the most important

thing I can give people. I do it through my

music and even more so since I became

a father two years ago. How do I teach

my son to be a man and stand for what he

believes in if I dont do the same? I feel

a need to cut through the fakes to try and

reach my people, especially our youth,

before they get lost in an image of hiphop.

It is not the reality of life.

What kind of messages or topics does

your music talk about? My topics and

messages change a lot depending on how

I am feeling or thinking. From straight

raw hiphop, to ex skills, to power music.I do it for people to gain some pride and

empowerment. I address issues within

society or even within the music industry.

Just recently we did a track addressing

the continuing stolen generations. It is

a very powerful track, which I hope notonly gives some insight to outsiders, but

also gives strength to the victims of this

policy. I try to delve into a wide range

of issues faced by my people, be it Black

murders in custody or protests like the

Redfern Tent Embassys ght against the

gentrication and removal of our people

from The Block.

What kind of impact did music you

listened to growing up have on you?The music I listened to had a great impact

on me growing up in the Southwest of

Sydney. I was exposed to a lot of crime,

violence and drugs at a

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