On December 7, First Nations justice activists gathered on Gadigal Land to call for urgent attention and action on the current and increasing issues that are affecting First Nations communities. The protest was led by Justice for David Dungay Jr and the Blak Caucus. The main calls to action were to end Blak deaths in custody, cease forced child removals, affirm that Sovereignty was Never Ceded, advocate for Land Back Now, and build international solidarity to resist Indigenous genocides.
In light of International Human Rights Day on December 10, Dunghutti organiser Paul Silva identified the irony of so-called Australia celebrating the day, while First Nations people have had those rights taken away by the colonial system. The protest follows increasing rates of disproportionate imprisonment of Aboriginal peoples, with Blak Caucus explaining that Aboriginal people make up a third of the total prison population and over half of the youth population. In NSW alone, Aboriginal women constitute for almost half of those in prison.
The rally started at Sydney Town Hall, opening with a powerful Welcome to Country from Aunty Rhonda Dixon-Grovenor, a Gadigal, Bidgigal and Yuin Elder. Hundreds of protesters gathered in the cold and rain to march and demand for justice.
Uncle David Bell, a Wiradjuri Elder, spoke to the corruption in the government. “The government is allowing major corporations and businesses to enter lands unlawfully, without the permission from the original grassroots custodian people, and destructing [sic] their land. Building on our burial sites. Clearing our waterways. Wake up Australia, whether you’re under the current government or the next government. They’re completely corrupt.”
Ethan Lyons, a Wiradjuri organiser, spoke on the intensely high numbers of women being killed, the imprisonment of children as young as 10 years old and the large number of Blak deaths in custody.
Lyons pointed out that “this is a matter of life and death and mobs are dying. But all the people walking past as they do every day of the year, avoiding these rallies, avoiding the politics, saying “it has nothing to do with me”. It has everything to do with you!”
The discussion of the minimum age of criminal responsibility (MACR) follows the recent legislation changes in Queensland (QLD) and the Northern Territory (NT) to lower the age to 10 years old. This has been implemented only two years after they raised the age to 12. Human rights organisations, such as Amnesty International, have opposed this action due to the implications this has for children who are unnecessarily placed in a system that perpetuates a lifelong cycle of reoffending. This leaves children more vulnerable to other societal disadvantages such as homelessness, unemployment and a block on education. These issues disproportionately affect Indigenous communities due Australia’s racist, colonial system.
Moving away from Sydney Town Hall, protesters marched through the streets and all the way to the Parliament building. The crowd chanted their demands for land back now, to fight back against the colonial practices and to stop attacking Blak women and children.
The crowd echoed a powerful chant:
“When Blak kids are under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back!”
“When Blak mothers are under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back!”
Following chants of “Too many coppers, not enough justice”, protesters paused their march at the Law Courts building and moved into a circle to hear more powerful and moving speeches.
Sister Gloria: “What comes after sorry? You don’t ever do it again, yeah? And you make better measures to make it better for the people you apologise to. Don’t just make it a national apology just to show the whole world.”
Speakers explained that if Indigenous people were running Australia, instead of the current genocide-enabling government, weapons manufacturing and distribution to Israel would cease. Palestinian liberation was a consistent theme throughout the rally, as organisers emphasised their principle of “solidarity between borders” and the need for urgent action to “build international solidarity to resist genocides” towards Indigenous groups and oppressed peoples. Chants of “from Gadigal to Gaza, long live the intifada” echoed through the streets as Palestinian flags were waved alongside Aboriginal flags. Multiple speakers highlighted that the genocide and ethnic cleansing the Palestinian people are currently facing is a struggle the Indigenous community is deeply familiar with and willing to mobilise against.
In our current climate —as Indigenous youth incarceration rates skyrocket, the Northern Territory enacts laws resembling apartheid, and the MACR being lowered to 10— it is more important than ever to stay consistent and staunch in our solidarity with First Nations communities. These First Nations rallies pave the way for the upcoming Invasion Day protests, as organisers reiterated the importance of showing up for Indigenous people as they mourn and protest so-called Australia’s celebration of settler-colonialism on January 26.
Protesters handed out paint onto each other’s hands, leaving hand prints smeared all over the glass walls of the NSW Supreme Law Court building near Martin Place. A powerful symbol of how the criminal justice system has “blood on [their] hands” for the consistent systemic attack on Indigenous communities.
Moving over to the NSW Parliament building, Silva gave a powerful closing speech about how awfully Indigenous communities are treated by the current system.
Silva stated that “there’s been over 600 Aboriginal deaths in custody since the 1991 Royal Commission. Shame! Not one criminal conviction.
This is in today’s day and age. This is not only 236 years ago. This is yesterday. There’s been an influx of deaths in custody in Silverwater Correctional Facility.”
The protest ended with a collective sense of anger at the unjust system we live in today. And that’s how everyone should feel.
Always was, always will be Aboriginal Land.
For further information, follow @blakcaucus on Instagram.
Photography credits to Ethan Floyd.
