Melbourne Resistance Centre was packed on May 9 as people gathered to hear First Nations activists and other anti-racism activists talk about fighting racism in Australia today. The seminar began with Wendy Brabham, nationally-respected Aboriginal academic and traditional owner from the Wamba Wamba, Wergaia, Nyeri Nyeri and Dhudhuroa first nations.
Colonisation and colonialism
China鈥檚 Second Continent: How a million migrants are building a new Empire in Africa Howard W French Knopf Published May 20, 2014 304 pages www.howardwfrench.com In his 2009 film Rethink Afghanistan, director Robert Greenwald suggested that the US should not try to control the world through military means, but by building schools and hospitals in the countries it wishes to invade. Journalist Howard French's book China's Second Continent shows how such a model can work in practice.
This year marks the bicentenary of the first European crossing of the Blue Mountains in NSW.
For white Australia it was a great triumph and a significant step forward in the process of colonising the entire continent.
For the Aboriginal people of this area, however, it was a disturbing development that heralded the most significant challenge they had ever faced.
It鈥檚 just before the turn of the 20th century, and colonial Australia is desperate to forge a 鈥渘ation鈥 and pull away from self-governing British colonies.
So-called native-born Australians are swept up in a wave of nationalism, keen to cut the apron strings of mother England. At the same time, on the southern edge of the Kimberley, another battle for independence is underway.
But this one won鈥檛 result in a constitution or the formation of a Commonwealth; it will end in rivers of black blood and the deaths of many.
The statement below was released on November 3 by the Canada Haiti Action Network in preparation for Haiti鈥檚 November 28 elections. For more information, visit . To contact CHAN, email canadahaiti@gmail.com.
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The Canada Haiti Action Network is once again expressing its grave concerns about exclusionary elections in Haiti.
The Australian-led Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI), involving involves police and soldiers, is set to continue its occupation of the Pacific island for at least 鈥渇ive to six years鈥, despite a change of government in the Solomon Islands.
Danny Philip was elected prime minister of the Solomon Islands by parliamentary vote on August 25, the Solomon Star said, after the August 4 general elections in which 25 out of 50 seats changed hands.
For five centuries, Africa has suffered at the hands of the West. Starting with the slave trade, through the colonial era, to today鈥檚 neoliberal global economy, the development of industrial capitalism in the West has come at a terrible price paid by Africans.
Food riots in Mozambique early this month and looming mass starvation in Niger after floods that were preceded by years of drought both reflect the ongoing economic exploitation.
However, they also reflect another creation of the industrialised West adversely affecting Africa: climate change.
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