If you want to celebrate January 26 by all means do: just be clear that you are celebrating those with so much wealth power that they will never need, nor want to, invite you to feast with them.
Invasion Day
Socialist Alliance鈥檚 Indigenous Rights spokesperson Sam Watson considers there has been 鈥渁 definite strengthening and expansion of the Black political struggle鈥. Watson was referring to the record-breaking attendance of tens of thousands of people at Invasion Day rallies around the country on January 26.
鈥淵ou can't really pinpoint this phenomenon geographically or by age or gender,鈥 he said.
The New Year is in full swing, and if there is one thing I am really looking forward to in 2018, it is the long overdue introduction of 鈥渞ank socialism鈥 in this nation.
This appears to be on the agenda to go by the dark warnings offered up last year by former prime minister, jogger and war-criminal-at-large John Howard on the matter of a royal commission into the banking sector.
[The following is an abridged version of Gary Foley鈥檚 speech to the huge Melbourne Invasion Day on January 26.]
Look at this! This takes me back a long way. I think you鈥檝e certainly outdone last year. This is a great crowd and I congratulate those who organised it. I haven鈥檛 seen a crowd like this since the 1970s in the heyday of the Aboriginal political movement.
On January 24, Victorian Liberal opposition leader Matthew Guy said 鈥渦npatriotic councils鈥 that do not use January 26 to celebrate would be sacked. He was specifically threatening councils, which have shifted celebrations and citizenship ceremonies away from January 26.
The enormous 鈥 some estimate 60,000-strong 鈥 Invasion Day rally in Melbourne was a fitting rejoinder to the conservative campaign pushed by the mainstream media and politicians in the lead-up to January 26.
The right-wing released a poll on January 24 that, unsurprisingly, found just 11% of those surveyed want the date changed.
If national unity and harmony are the goals for Australia鈥檚 national day, then January 26 is no longer, if it ever was, fit for purpose. It does not meet its objective and, no matter how much it 鈥渄isappoints鈥 Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, we need to re-think Australia Day.
In an event organised by Fighting In Resistance Equally (FIRE) on January 26, more than 10,000 people gathered at The Block in Redfern to pay their respects to Australia鈥檚 first nations and show support for Indigenous rights.
Ken Canning, chairman of the Indigenous Social Justice Association, kicked off the event by saying: 鈥淚t鈥檚 really great to see all of these faces here. We want this to be a healing day and we need this to be a peaceful event.鈥 He added: 鈥淲e are peaceful people despite what the media says.鈥
This year marks 230 years since British military forces invaded Gadigal land and declared British rule over this continent. One hundred and fifty years later a group of Aboriginal men and women met in the Australia Hall in Sydney to declare January 26 a Day of Mourning.
Every year the Invasion Day protests grow as more and more people realise it is not a day to celebrate but a day to say "enough is enough" and stand with first nations鈥 people of this country.
Representatives at the annual meeting of the Australian Local Government Association voted on June 20 to back a motion by Hobart city council to push for the federal government to change the date of Australia Day.
Hobart city council voted in April to sponsor changing Australia Day from January 26, a date many Indigenous people regard as Invasion Day.
This year, the City of Fremantle moved some Australia Day events to January 28, after local Aboriginal elders said January 26 was not a day to celebrate.
鈥淭his brings pride to our people. This is a turning of the tide!鈥,聽First Nation鈥檚 activist Ken Canning told the thousands on the streets for the Invasion Day march from Redfern to Chippendale on January 26.聽
Indeed, it was.聽
The Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations (CAPA) and The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Postgraduate Association (NATSIPA) support renaming January 26 as 鈥淚nvasion Day鈥. The two organisations decided this on January 15.
They are encouraging a rethink of the meaning of "Australia day" on January 26 to support justice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. They are also urging people to attend one of the many nationwide protests on January 26 (see below).
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