Check out this footage of MAIC's last action against the Government. There were some excellent speeches and a fantastic spirit of defiance. Lets work to make the next protest bigger and even more fiery!
Jenne from the Tiwi Islands talks of her experience on welfare quarantining.
Alistair Nicholson, former Chief Justice of the Family Court, discusses the negative effects of the NT Intervention and slams the ALP.
Steve Patrick Jampijinpa, assistant teacher from Lajamanu in NT, talks about the ban on Indigenous language being spoken freely in schools.
Richard Kennedy talks about the racialisation of the Intervention, and the history of racist 'interventions' into Indigenous society.
Robbie Thorpe talks about racism in Australia.
And if you haven't seen this 5 minute doco on the Picket of FaHCSIA held on 18 June 2010, please do!
If you would like to be involved in organising more actions against the racist NT Intervention, come along to the Melbourne Anti-Intervention Collective meetings, every Monday, 6.30pm at New International Bookshop in Trades Hall, cnr Lygon and Victoria St.
23 June 2010
21 June 2010
5 minute documentary of the June 18th Picket of FaHCSIA
Check out this excellent 5 minute documentary of the June 18th Picket of FaHCSIA. If you want to be involved in organising our next action and activities--come along to our collective meetings every Monday, 6.30pm at the New International Bookshop in Trades Hall.
http://melbourneprotests.wordpress.com/2010/06/21/basics-cards-a-racist-card-picket-of-fahcsia-office-in-melbourne-18-june-2010/
http://melbourneprotests.wordpress.com/2010/06/21/basics-cards-a-racist-card-picket-of-fahcsia-office-in-melbourne-18-june-2010/
20 June 2010
Come along to the MAIC meeting tonight
Fantastic Picket on Friday! Joe the MC is right: we want to use the spark that set fire to that racist Basics Card, to ignite this campaign. Come along to the MAIC meeting tonight and bring your ideas and enthusiasm.
Melbourne Anti-Intervention Collective (MAIC) meets every Monday, 6.30pm at the New International Bookshop (NIBS). The bookshop is easily found in the basement of the Trades Hall building located on the corner of Lygon and Victoria Streets in South Carlton. All welcome!
You may also wish to join the Melbourne Anti-Intervention Collective (MAIC) Facebook group.
Pictures/Video of the Picket:
Did you take any? Send 'em to alexettling [at sign] gmail.com because we would love to use them on our blog and publicity material.
17 June 2010
Stop the Racist Intervention – Picket FaHCSIA!
Stop the Racist Intervention – Picket FaHCSIA!
Friday, 18 June 2010, noon
Casselden Plane, cnr Lonsdale Street and Spring Street
Speakers:
• Ringo Terrick (Wurundjeri elder)
• Steve Patrick Jampinjimpa (teacher from Lajamanu in NT)• Alistair Nicholson (former Chief Justice of the Family Court)
• Nova Peris (first Aboriginal Olympic gold medallist)
• Liam O’Hearne (CFMEU)
• Kevin Bracken (MUA)
• Adam Bandt (The Greens)
• Nova Peris (gold medal winning Olympian)
This Friday we will protest the third year of the NT Intervention. Three years of horrific government policies that have, in almost every way possible, advanced the genocide of Aboriginal people.
The NT Intervention has made Indigenous health worse. It has forced Aboriginal workers back onto working for ration cards and less than $4/hr in cash. It has ripped properly paid jobs out of the communities. It has banned Indigenous languages from being spoken freely in schools. It has stolen back hard-fought-for Aboriginal land, and on top of it, installed white ‘Government Business Managers’ in the only opulent houses in the towns. The Intervention does nothing to empower Indigenous communities or improve their living conditions. The reality is, it was never supposed to.
The NT Intervention was rammed through parliament in the final months of the Howard-era by disallowing the application of the Racial Discrimination Act (RDA). It was implemented in its early days by military force, terrorising remote Aboriginal communities. There are stories of some elders fleeing in terror at the sight of soldiers entering their communities. The trauma of what happened with the Stolen Generations-era is still present in many communities. Aboriginal communities fought for land rights, but now they are having to fight against the Government and mining interests trying to steal their homes for a second time.
The Government has done its best to blackmail economically starved Aboriginal communities into signing over their land. It has withdrawn funding for essential services, only to offer its return in exchange for these communities signing over their land. Is it surprising that the first radioactive waste dump in Australia has just been announced to be located on Aboriginal land in Muckaty, in the Northern Territory?
What about the poor housing conditions that the Government said they were going to address? In the first two and a half years of the Intervention, only 2 houses were built for the Aboriginal community, and only this in Wadeye where they had to move on to leasing their land. Meanwhile, many more houses have been built for the white Government Business Managers, who earn salaries up to $200,000pa. Not to mention the police that have been newly installed in these communities.
What about jobs? Currently, there are Aboriginal people working full-time jobs in essential services, but who are only paid on the CDEP ‘work for the dole’ scheme. An example of this is Kalkaringi worker Peter Inverway who was earning less than $4/hr + ration card for working on a construction site. What about the Aboriginal worker who has been fired from his job for refusing to dispose of sewerage in the town tip? Is this a Government that really wants to improve sanitation in Indigenous communities?!
What about the crisis in health and the massive gap in life-expectancy between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians? Research from the Menzies School of Health, has shown that dietary outcomes have gotten even worse since the Intervention started. Food and transport continues to be poor quality and prohibitively expensive, if available at all.
All reviews of the NT Intervention, including those commissioned by the Government, have been scathing. They point out the lack of consultation which has undermined Aboriginal self-determination. They point out how things are getting worse, despite the Government saying they wish to ‘close the gap’. And yet, the Rudd Government happily takes the baton from Howard’s brutal regime.
Under pressure from activists around Australia, Jenny Macklin has said she will amend some of the laws. An inspection of her proposals reveals that all of the racist Intervention policies introduced by Howard in 2007 will remain—only now labelled as ‘special measures’ to prevent them being challenged with the Racial Discrimination Act in the courts.
Join us on Friday in sending a strong message to FaHCSIA, the Government department responsible for administering the NT Intervention. The ongoing genocide of Aboriginal people will not be accepted without a fight! Stop the racist Intervention now!
Get Involved!
Melbourne Anti-Intervention Collective (MAIC) meets every Monday, 6.30pm at the New International Bookshop (NIBS). The bookshop is easily found in the basement of the Trades Hall building located on the corner of Lygon and Victoria Streets in South Carlton. All welcome!
You may also wish to join the Melbourne Anti-Intervention Collective (MAIC) Facebook group.
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/group.php?gid=91084301876&ref=ts
Friday, 18 June 2010, noon
Casselden Plane, cnr Lonsdale Street and Spring Street
Speakers:
• Ringo Terrick (Wurundjeri elder)
• Steve Patrick Jampinjimpa (teacher from Lajamanu in NT)• Alistair Nicholson (former Chief Justice of the Family Court)
• Nova Peris (first Aboriginal Olympic gold medallist)
• Liam O’Hearne (CFMEU)
• Kevin Bracken (MUA)
• Adam Bandt (The Greens)
• Nova Peris (gold medal winning Olympian)
This Friday we will protest the third year of the NT Intervention. Three years of horrific government policies that have, in almost every way possible, advanced the genocide of Aboriginal people.
The NT Intervention has made Indigenous health worse. It has forced Aboriginal workers back onto working for ration cards and less than $4/hr in cash. It has ripped properly paid jobs out of the communities. It has banned Indigenous languages from being spoken freely in schools. It has stolen back hard-fought-for Aboriginal land, and on top of it, installed white ‘Government Business Managers’ in the only opulent houses in the towns. The Intervention does nothing to empower Indigenous communities or improve their living conditions. The reality is, it was never supposed to.
The NT Intervention was rammed through parliament in the final months of the Howard-era by disallowing the application of the Racial Discrimination Act (RDA). It was implemented in its early days by military force, terrorising remote Aboriginal communities. There are stories of some elders fleeing in terror at the sight of soldiers entering their communities. The trauma of what happened with the Stolen Generations-era is still present in many communities. Aboriginal communities fought for land rights, but now they are having to fight against the Government and mining interests trying to steal their homes for a second time.
The Government has done its best to blackmail economically starved Aboriginal communities into signing over their land. It has withdrawn funding for essential services, only to offer its return in exchange for these communities signing over their land. Is it surprising that the first radioactive waste dump in Australia has just been announced to be located on Aboriginal land in Muckaty, in the Northern Territory?
What about the poor housing conditions that the Government said they were going to address? In the first two and a half years of the Intervention, only 2 houses were built for the Aboriginal community, and only this in Wadeye where they had to move on to leasing their land. Meanwhile, many more houses have been built for the white Government Business Managers, who earn salaries up to $200,000pa. Not to mention the police that have been newly installed in these communities.
What about jobs? Currently, there are Aboriginal people working full-time jobs in essential services, but who are only paid on the CDEP ‘work for the dole’ scheme. An example of this is Kalkaringi worker Peter Inverway who was earning less than $4/hr + ration card for working on a construction site. What about the Aboriginal worker who has been fired from his job for refusing to dispose of sewerage in the town tip? Is this a Government that really wants to improve sanitation in Indigenous communities?!
What about the crisis in health and the massive gap in life-expectancy between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians? Research from the Menzies School of Health, has shown that dietary outcomes have gotten even worse since the Intervention started. Food and transport continues to be poor quality and prohibitively expensive, if available at all.
All reviews of the NT Intervention, including those commissioned by the Government, have been scathing. They point out the lack of consultation which has undermined Aboriginal self-determination. They point out how things are getting worse, despite the Government saying they wish to ‘close the gap’. And yet, the Rudd Government happily takes the baton from Howard’s brutal regime.
Under pressure from activists around Australia, Jenny Macklin has said she will amend some of the laws. An inspection of her proposals reveals that all of the racist Intervention policies introduced by Howard in 2007 will remain—only now labelled as ‘special measures’ to prevent them being challenged with the Racial Discrimination Act in the courts.
Join us on Friday in sending a strong message to FaHCSIA, the Government department responsible for administering the NT Intervention. The ongoing genocide of Aboriginal people will not be accepted without a fight! Stop the racist Intervention now!
Get Involved!
Melbourne Anti-Intervention Collective (MAIC) meets every Monday, 6.30pm at the New International Bookshop (NIBS). The bookshop is easily found in the basement of the Trades Hall building located on the corner of Lygon and Victoria Streets in South Carlton. All welcome!
You may also wish to join the Melbourne Anti-Intervention Collective (MAIC) Facebook group.
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/group.php?gid=91084301876&ref=ts
10 June 2010
Coming Up in June 2010!
Come to these two MAIC events in the next couple of Fridays. Lets keep up the campaign to stop this racist Intervention!
1. Public Meeting: Jobs with Justice!
Friday, June 11th Trades Hall, 6:30pm
Special guests: Peter Inverway, Basics Card worker from Kalkaringi; Mick Bull, AMWU member that helped build protest house in Ampilawatja
On the site of the famous Wave Hill Walk-off, Aboriginal people are again working for rations.
As part of the Northern Territory Intervention, Aboriginal people have had their welfare quarantined, their land “compulsorily acquired” and government business managers in control of communities. Community run programs were cut, and with them thousands of Jobs for Aboriginal people.
Now, as part of work for the dole schemes, Aboriginal workers in the NT are working full-time for dole payments that are income-managed, meaning they are effectively working for rations — returning people to '50s era racial discrimination.
2. Picket on 3rd Anniversary of NT Intervention
Noon, Next Friday, June 18th, FaHCSIA offices, Casselden Place, cnr Lonsdale and Spring Streets
Bring yourself, bring your workplace, union or community group!
Kevin Rudd has continued and extended the Intervention policy towards Aboriginal people pushed through in the final days of the Howard era.
The Intervention was based upon the suspension of the Racial Discrimination Act (RDA), indicating the racist basis of the Intervention. Aboriginal Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin claims her new Intervention legislation is ‘reinstating the RDA’. This is a lie.
Under the new laws all of the racist Intervention policies introduced by Howard in 2007 will remain in place. Government measures to control Aboriginal communities include:
• Government Business Managers on Aboriginal communities
• Signing over Aboriginal land for 5-40 years before housing or services are offered
• Racist alcohol and pornography bans
People will not have access to the Racial Discrimination Act to challenge these measures.
Send a message to FaHCSIA, the government department responsible for administering these policies. This racist Intervention must go!
Contact: Lucy Honan on 0404728104 or Sharon Firebrace on 0401414967
Get involved in MAIC!
Melbourne Anti-Intervention Collective (MAIC) is meeting this Monday, 21 June at 6:30pm at 3CR studios, 21 Smith Street, Collingwood. This is a one-off due to the public holiday. We usually meet every Monday, 6:30pm at the New International Bookshop (NIBS). The bookshop is easily found in the basement of the Trades Hall building located on the corner of Lygon and Victoria Streets in South Carlton. All welcome!
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