For the information of Australian comrades,
comradely,
Kim B
++++++++++++++++++++
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, banners etc 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 the 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.
--- from list [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---
