NO RECONCILIATION WITHOUT JUSTICE RALLY
(and march across Sydney Harbour Bridge)
The Indigenous Student Network (ISN) invites all students, left progressive
groups & supporters of social justice for Indigenous people to attend the
NO RECONCILIATION WITHOUT JUSTICE rally -
10 am, Sun 28th May,
Clark Park(near Milson's Point - north side of Sydney Harbour Bridge)
The ISN believes that while a great many Indigenous and Non-Indigenous
Australians want reconciliation, we also believe it can not be without real
justice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. (see statement
below).
As a result the rally at Clark Park will demand the following: � Overturn
mandatory sentencing in WA and NT � Treaty and real land rights � Apologise
and compensate the Stolen Generations � Defend and extend Abstudy � Fund
social justice not the Olympics
The rally will then leave at 11am to march across the bridge as part of the
to Corroborree 2000 Bridge Walk on Sunday, 28th May, 2000
Please bring whistles, drums and wear Aboriginal colours. For more
information contact: Kim Bullimore: on [EMAIL PROTECTED]
NO RECONCILIATION WITHOUT JUSTICE (Indigenous Student Network statement)
On May 27, the Reconciliation Council of Australia will turn over the
document it has been working on for 10 years. A document which is supposed
to take the Australian community, both black and white forward.
Instead, however, it is a document that now has little relevance. While
the majority of Indigenous people want reconciliation, as do many
non-Indigenous Australians, it could never have been without justice. John
Howard and his government believe that the injustices visited on the
original inhabitants of Australia are a mere "blemish", which can easily be
covered over. Since 1996, Howard and his government have attempted to
block and discredit Indigenous people and their calls for justice and an
apology.
For Howard, the reconciliation process has nothing to do with justice or
equality for Indigenous people. Instead, he has attempted to white wash
the past and the real injustices suffered by the Indigenous population of
Australia.
Across Australia, the number of Indigenous deaths in custody has increased
since 1991, when the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody
disclosed its findings. The incarceration rate of Indigenous people stands
at 20 times that of non-Indigenous people and suicides have risen even more
under the Howard government. Indigenous children are dying at 3 times the
rate of non-Indigenous children, with Aboriginal adults dying 20 years
earlier than their white counterparts.
The Howard government continues to support mandatory sentencing, and has
attempted to deny the very existence of the Stolen Generation. His
government is the first in the developed industrial world to be called to
account before the U.N. for its policies on race relations in regard to
land rights, child incarceration, social justice and environmental
destruction of Indigenous lands.
For John Howard, reconciliation has never been about two equals coming
together and moving forward, instead it is about forcing Indigenous
Australians to reconcile themselves to their racial oppression.
UNTIL THERE IS JUSTICE FOR INDIGENOUS PEOPLE, THERE CAN BE NO RECONCILATION.
For your information, please distribute as widely as possible.
in solidarity,
Kim Bullimore
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
LL.NE
--
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