Antinuclear

Tweed Heads indigenous community march on 31 March to support remote communities

Tweed march backs WA Aboriginal communities Ech Net Daily, March 23, 2015 | by  Luis Feliu The Tweed’s indigenous community has organised a protest march for next week in the Tweed Heads CBD in solidarity with remote Aboriginal communities in Western Australia who face being forcibly removed from their lands. The fears about the closures were sparked by WA premier Colin Barnett flagging the possibility that up to 150 communities could be closed after the Commonwealth withdraws funding for essential services from June this year.

The Tweed’s Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander community are urging locals to support the march next Tuesday at 4pm from Tweed Heads Civic Centre to the Jack Evans Boat Harbour.

A joint statement by Tweed Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander community leaders Leweena Williams, Ronella Phillips and Nicole Rotumah calls for ‘your support to march with us as we protest against the forced closure of remote Aboriginal communities in Western Australia and show solidarity and support to our Aboriginal elders, children, brothers and sisters who are being dispossessed from their traditional country’.

‘In this modern democratic society of Australia, our governments have suspended the Racial Discrimination Act to enact discriminatory measures on Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory and now this forced removal from traditional lands in Western Australia,’ the statement read.

‘It is of grave concern to our community that in 2015 this is happening at all, but more alarmingly that it is taking place on the same day and week that communities around the country are holding Close The Gap awareness campaigns.

‘Closing these communities and removing people from country, will most assuredly have a negative impact on the “Close The Gap” campaign and will in fact “Widen The Gap”.’

‘And what of the “Recognise” campaign and Acknowledgements to Country?

‘How can the government ask the general public to recognise that Aboriginal people were the first people’s of this nation and ask people to acknowledge country and who we are, where we belong geographically in this vast land, our deep connection to country that spans some 60,000 years, and then support the removal from the very thing that makes us Goori, Koori, Murri and Noongar people (this is to name a few)?’

Byron shire academic Ian Browne, who used to teach teenagers from remote communities, toldEchonetdaily that 12,000 Indigenous people would be removed from WA townships……”by shifting tribal groups, language and skin groups, to new soil, you also run the risk of social conflict and degradation of cultural identity, but I doubt many of our politicians understand, or care deeply enough about this.

‘Aboriginal people didn’t ask to be settled within town camps, they were forced to.

‘This new proposed move, which I have been awaiting, might see improved book-keeping for tax payers initially, but this would be traumatic and in fact downright dangerous for the vulnerable.’…….http://www.echo.net.au/2015/03/tweed-march-backs-wa-aboriginal-communities/

March 25, 2015 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | ACTION