ISSUE #2 JUNE 2015 | WWW.FACEBOOK.

COM/BLACKNATIONSRISING

CONTENTS
Blacks Nations Rising (BNR) magazine is published by Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance (WAR) in both print and
online. If you would like to contribute &/or subscribe to BNR send an email to blacknationsrising@gmail.com. We
thank all who have made this publication a reality; the writers, photographers, and artists, along with the organizations
assisting with printing and distribution. To read BNR online, go to www.issuu.com/blacknationsrising
CO-EDITORS Pekeri Ruska & Callum Clayton-Dixon
PRINTING/DISTRIBUTION COORDINATOR Merinda Meredith
LAYOUT/DESIGN Anima Dorante & Samantha Paxton
CARTOONIST Jade Slockee

PRINTED &/0R
DISTRIBUTED BY

3 | We Are
BY ARIKA WAULU
4-5 | Remembering the Frontier Wars
BY JIDAH CLARK
6-7 | Invasion Day 2015 Blackout
BY PEKERI RUSKA
8-9 | True allies dont claim Aboriginal land
BY HAMISH CHITTS
10-11 | Chiapas and the Zapatistas
BY JARROD HUGHES
12-13 | Warrior: the time for talk is over, stand up and be fearless
ROBERT THORPE & MERIKI KALINYA
14 | Words of the Struggle: Neocolonialism
HOWARD ADAMS & GORD HILL
15 | Defending Language & Land
BY ISHKADI
16-17 | Our Land Our Government
18-19 | Aboriginal OR Australian?
BY CALLUM CLAYTON-DIXON
20 | Survival is a meagre existence
BY JACK SHEPPARD
21 | Declaration of Aboriginal Nationality
BY DALE RUSKA
22-23 | Coal mining, big banks and climate change
BY MILLIE TELFORD
24-25 | Food is Medicine: Decolonize Your Diet
BY EVA COGHILL
26 | Conscious Sounds: Provocalz
BY BOGAINE SKUTHORPE-SPEARIM
27 | Pressure Point
BY SAM COOK

They came here to conquer

To hunt down and slaughter
They came here with intentions
Intentions to wrought us
Intentions to rid us
Intentions to hurt us
Law we are
Land we are
Totems we are
They lie, they greed, they will not succeed
Genocide only seen by some, they ignorant they dumb
Suicide we are
Deaths in custody we are
Invisible we are
So we rally the streets, and the main media wont air
Forced removal we are
Stolen children we are
Invisible we are
They aint shame, they reclaim
They dont care because they in vain
So we light a fire and burn their flag
Now all death threats and keyboard warriors
Where are they now?

REMEMBERING THE
FRONTIER WARS
by Jidah Clark
GUNDITJMARA

Direct Action AD: Memefest

Lest we forget
Although not evident at the
Australian War Memorial in Canberra,
war was waged on these shores, on this
soil. Commonly referred to as the frontier
wars, armed conflict between colonial
forces and Aboriginal tribes lasted the first
140 years of European invasion of this
country. This war began in the southeast,
and spread slowly but surely across the rest
of the continent. Conflict was protracted
and anguishing, but our warriors resistance
was widespread and persistent.

Forgetfulness
The frontier wars were ultimately
fought over the possession of land and the
exercise of sovereignty. One of the main
reasons that Australians find it difficult to
acknowledge this war is because it goes
to the very heart of the foundations of
Australian sovereignty and ownership of
this great land. Conveniently, in an effort
to avoid those fundamental questions,
the conventional historical narrative
has played down the scale and extent of
frontier warfare, at times denying that it
took place altogether. Australias culture
of forgetfulness has its roots in the early
1900s, when those writing about Australian
history began arguing that this country was
peacefully settled without the experience of
war within its own borders.
However, overwhelming evidence
shows that the conditions under which
this country was settled were far
from peaceful. Frontier conflict was
widespread and severe, being one of the
most prominent and persistent features
of life in colonial Australia during the
nineteenth century. And the colonists truly
believed they were at war with our people.
A compelling example of this comes
from a letter published in the Launceston
Advertiser in 1831:
We are at war with them: they look
upon as enemies as invaders as
their oppressors and persecutors they
resist our invasion. They have never
been subdued, therefore they are not
rebellious subjects, but an injured
nation, defending in their own way, their
rightful possessions, which have been
torn from them by force.
1
ISSUE 2

As historian Henry Reynolds puts

it, If there was no war then thousands of
Aborigines were murdered in a centurylong, continent wide crime wave tolerated
by government.

How the wars played out

As colonists encroached on our
country, they disobeyed local laws,
treating the land as their own. The
colonial aggressors often fought unfairly
and brutally. A policy of extermination
was carried out by settlers. Talk of
extermination was widespread and
often spoken about publicly. Even early
Governors believed it necessary to infuse
a universal terror amongst our people.
As the borders of the frontier
gradually spread across the country, it was
not an uncommon tactic to indiscriminately
shoot our people on sight. An uglier
and unnerving feature of the war was
that colonial governments funded and
administered wholesale murder through
the Native Police. The Native Police were
Aboriginal troopers recruited by colonial
authorities to hunt down, murder and
massacre other Aboriginal people.
But we may be reassured by the
fact that our resistance fighters created
severe fear and anxiety amongst the settler
population. One example, of which there
are many more, comes from settlers on the
McIntyre River who lived anxiously for
years during which time:
Not one of them could stir from his hut
unarmed; when one milked or went for
a bucket of water, another fully armed
stood over him.
Putting aside the loss of lives on
both sides (numbering in the tens if not
hundreds of thousands), the destruction
of the invaders property was significant.
However, what was at stake for our
people was infinitely greater. It was the
control of our ancient homelands. What
the invaders sought out to achieve was
one of the greatest appropriations of land
in world history.
Eventually, our resistance fighters
were subdued. Afterwards, our people
were often treated worse than captured

combatants, being subject to routine

brutality with bashings, floggings, rape
and indentured labour. Then the reserve
system was implemented, becoming an
institution akin to open-air prisons for a
defeated enemy.
Nevertheless, a powerful theme is
that our people did not acquiesce to the
invasion, and never accepted the idea that
the land ceased to be ours. Our fighters
mounted attacks on homesteads, dispersed
and killed livestock, used fire to push back
intruders, and forced many pastoralists
off their stations. Deep knowledge of the
terrain was often utilized to our advantage
in defending territory. Our warriors often
addressed the invaders stating that the land
belonged to us, accompanied with demands
that they leave our country. These types of
complaints and demands continued through
the reserve days, and, in various forms,
continue through to this very day.

Time to remember
The tendency to forget the frontier
wars stands in direct contradiction with
the culture of remembrance for Australias
military history. Our warriors do not
receive anywhere near the same respect
accorded to service people who die in
overseas wars.
We are all, to some extent, aware
of how the frontier wars affected our
various communities. But Id like
to take this opportunity to encourage
Aboriginal readers to uncover further
and pay homage to the sacrifices made
by your own people on the frontier. The
local stories of every community, every
tribe, are worthy of recognition. Our
people fought with valour and bravery
in the face of an insurmountable enemy.
The way we recognise and remember
our heroes, and those lost in battle,
deserves reconsideration. Our resistance
fighters were staunch patriots, willing to
die for kin and country. How will you
remember them?
*JIDAH CLARK (Djabwurrung) comes
from Framlingham, an Aboriginal
community in the west of so-called
Victoria. He is a lawyer and activist.

Black Nations
Nations Rising
Rising P5
PBlack

Thousands crashed Melbournes Australia Day parade to protest the celebration

of invasion and genocide, writes PEKERI RUSKA (Goenpul/Yuggera).

very year I question why anyone

in this country would want to
celebrate the 26th of January as
Australia Day. This day in 1788
marked the beginning of an all-out
assault on Aboriginal lands, lives and
liberties. The overwhelming majority
of settler society blindly celebrates
Australias colonial beginnings.
Unfortunately, some of our own people
also partake in Australia Day festivities,
inevitably giving legitimacy to a nation
built upon 227 years (and counting) of
dispossession and genocide.
We must learn the brutal history
of colonization and understand the truth
of exactly what Australia Day is. In
a nutshell, Australia Day is an annual
splurge of shallow government-endorsed
patriotism designed to suppress the
undeniable fact that Australia is a nation
with a sinister and deceitful history. Its
an unashamed continuation of the White
Australia policy. Invasion Day is a far
more appropriate name for what should
be a time of mourning, but also a time
for action, Aboriginal action.
1
ISSUE 2

Invasion Day in Melbourne this

year was different. It was like nothing
Id ever experienced before at any
protest. Warriors of the Aboriginal
Resistance (WAR) was determined for it
to be the event that would kick off a year
of actions against the colonial system. It
was exactly that, and more.
We put out the call for people to
gather at the steps of Victorias State
Parliament House on the morning of
January 26. Social media was abuzz with
excitement, and flyers were plastered on
lampposts and noticeboards throughout
the streets of Melbourne. With thousands
having clicked attending on our official
Facebook event, Parliament Houses
security team contacted WAR with a list
of conditions for the protest. One of
these conditions was that all activity
shall be confined to the first six steps
of Parliament House and should not
encroach above the lower six steps. We
didnt abide by these conditions, and
there was no retaliation from security
or police. Over 2000 people turned up
to the rally. The colours red, black and

yellow spilled out onto the main road

in a sea of flags, banners and raised
fists. As the chants grew louder and the
people poured in, we knew Melbournes
Aboriginal community was going to
make its mark on Invasion Day 2015.
PLANNING & PREPARATION
For our demonstration in Melbourne on the
13th of March against the forced closure of
Aboriginal communities in Western Australia,
we rallied again outside Parliament House.
This time there were police on horseback
blocking us from moving up past than the
sixth step they came in force, and they came
prepared. In 2013, Brisbanes Invasion Day
march pushed through police lines into the
South Bank Australia Day celebrations. In 2014,
the police were better prepared and managed
to prevent the same from happening; a two
metre high fence and a line of police blocked
400 Aboriginal people from entering South
Bank. This year, WAR led a group of 15 into
South Bank via another entrance and flanked
the unsuspecting police. But the march was
once again prevented from entering South
Bank, and WARs attempt at a tactical approach
highlighted the need for serious preparation
and planning for any such demonstration.

Black Nations
Nations Rising
Rising P6
PBlack

Keeping to the principle of culture

first, the rally began with a smoking
ceremony. Flowers were then laid on the
steps of Parliament House as a symbol
of remembrance for all those weve lost
at the hands of colonization over the last
227 years.
According to WAR organizer and
Gunnai/Gunditjmara woman Meriki
Kalinya, the Victoria Police took a keen
interest in the protest during the leadup:
They asked how many people were
attending and the route we would be
marching. We didnt provide them with
the information they wanted, and they
definitely werent ready for what we were
about to do.
As we marched down Bourke
Street, we could see a crowd at the
bottom of the hill on Swanston Street.
Unbeknown to us, Melbournes Australia
Day parade was in full swing.
Spurred on by a swelling sense of
excitement, our pace quickened and the
march gained momentum. A single police
car sped ahead to join a flustered group of
officers on foot and on bicycles. Theyd
realized what we were about to do and
were getting ready for a desperate and
futile attempt to stop us. As he and his
colleagues rushed to regroup, one police
officer was caught on video exclaiming,
Stop here, we can try, we can try! They
tried, they failed. We pushed past the
police line without hesitation.
It quickly dawned on us that we
were about to hit the Australia Day
parade and didnt have a plan in place.

But we werent about to stop and turn

around. We knew that we had a task to
fulfil, to disrupt and bring a halt to the
Australia Day parade. The next obstacle
we reached was the fence separating
onlookers from the parade. Gunditjmara
man Chris Saunders saw an opening
and set about breaking apart the fence.
Flooding onto Swanston Street, we
found ourselves right in the middle of
the parade. This was when Melbournes
Aboriginal community truly took their
stand on Invasion Day 2015 and gave
meaning to the slogan were still here.
Theres no way one little steel
barrier was stop us or contain our
voices, Saunders told BNR magazine.
If we got arrested, so be it.
Preventing the Australia Day parade
from progressing as planned, we stopped
several times at major intersections
where our people broke out into song and
dance. The streets reverberated with the
sound of clapsticks and the didgeridoo.
The parade commentator took to the
loudspeaker over and over again telling
us to move on. We knew that we had
to stay, because we had a right to stay.
We reminded them of the history
they wanted to forget. I think many
people in this country suffer from
cognitive dissonance when it comes
to the reality of Invasion Day. The
commentator telling us to move on is no
exception, Kalinya said.
Mainstream media labelled our
Invasion Day protest as being uninvited
as tourists lined the streets waving mini
Australian flags. How ironic that were

CHAINS OR
CHANGE?

not welcome on own land. Yet the whole

purpose behind our protest was to show
the uninvited colonizer that Aboriginal
people are still here and that this country
remains a crime scene.
Its days like this that our voices
need to be heard, our presence not only
seen but felt. In doing so, we make clear
our opposition to the colonial states
attempt to whitewash 227 years of
dispossession and genocide.
We were asked what exactly it
was we wanted. Were not just talking
about changing a date. Our ultimate
goal is to end the colonial control of
our lands and lives, to restore our tribal
sovereignty. We will fight for freedom
and independence, to rid our people
and our communities of the interfering
and oppressive hands of the colonial
Australian state.
Its crucial that we as Aboriginal
people never lose the will and
determination to protest, to take a
stand against injustice. We have a
responsibility to our ancestors, ourselves,
and our future generations to never
assimilate. We wont back down, we
wont go away, we wont celebrate
Invasion Day.
*PEKERI RUSKA (Goenpul/Yuggera)
is Co-editor of Black Nations Rising
and an organizer with Warriors of the
Aboriginal Resistance in Melbourne.

TRUE ALLIES
DONT CLAIM ABORIGINAL LAND
By Hamish Chitts, Scottish (MacGregor & Fraser clans)

any allies of the struggle for

Aboriginal sovereignty still
proudly identify as being Australian.
While many understand some of the
history of genocide and theft on this
continent, they fail to understand how
their Australian identity perpetuates
that genocide and theft. We also need
to learn and understand that the
notion of being Australian and the
country of Australia was not founded
on feelings of independence, but
founded on ideas of White supremacy.

WHITE AUSTRALIA
In the years leading up to
federation, and in the years after, this
country was regarded as a place for
the White race. The push for the
six colonies to unite and form the
Commonwealth of Australia didnt
come from a burning passion to be
free from Britain. The founders of the
Australian nation merely disagreed
with the cosmopolitan nature of the
British Empire and decided to make a
partial break from Britain to ensure that
Australia remained racially pure.
The Bulletin, a magazine with
the masthead slogan Australia for the
White Man, made clear their hatred of
the British Empires coloured subjects
who would destroy the decency and
livelihood of the working man by opening
the country to leprous Mongols and every
unwashed tribe of the British dominions
(23rd of April 1887). These ideas were
widespread across the political spectrum.
Trade unions marched under the
banner For a White Australia. One
of the main platforms of the newly
formed Australian Labor Party in 1905
was the cultivation of an Australian
sentiment based on the maintenance
1
ISSUE 2

of racial purity. Soon after Australia

was federated, the parliament passed the
Immigration Restriction Act 1901. This
legislation formed the basis of the White
Australia policy which sought to exclude
all non-Europeans from Australia. James
McGowen, the first Labor Premier of
NSW (1910 to 1913), told parliament,
While Britain is behind us, and while
her naval power is supreme, Australia
will be what Australians want it white,
pure and industrially good.
During the Second World War,
Prime Minister John Curtin reinforced
the policy: This country shall remain
forever the home of the descendants of
those people who came here in peace in
order to establish in the South Seas an
outpost of the British race.
Due to the economic needs of
business for population increases, the
White Australia policy was progressively
dismantled between 1949 and 1973,
but by then the policy was already a
resounding success. Most northwestern
Europeans (especially those from
countries in the British Isles England,
Scotland, Wales and Ireland) living in
Australia now see themselves as the
people of this country.

They are the Australians

of Australia who allow
foreigners to join them as
long as they are willing to
assimilate and recognise
northwestern Europeans
as the people of this land.
Chinese people whose family have
lived on this continent for five or more
generations are still seen as foreign and

described as Chinese Australians, while

English people who came to this continent
as children are simply called Australian.

DECONSTRUCTING
WHITENESS
By identifying as Australian, you
are buying into the project for the South
Seas outpost of the British race, and at
the same time claiming Aboriginal land.
To this day, the Australian identity claims
this continent as the land base of a White
nation a nation only for Whites and
those willing to act White. The term
Australia is a direct contradiction and
denial of the hundreds of tribal countries
that exist on this continent whose
sovereignty over that land has never
been ceded. It is hypocritical to chant,
Always was, always will be Aboriginal
land! while at the same time claiming
to be Australian; the very notion of
Australia claims Aboriginal land for
itself. Brutal and broken from inception,
Australianness cannot be reformed.
When Aboriginal people meet
someone for the first time they often
ask, Where are you from? They are
not asking you Where do you live? or
Where were you born? They are asking
who your people are, what your heritage
is. When someone replies Australia,
theyre effectively saying I am lost, I
have no culture, I have no land and Im
claiming yours. But it doesnt have to be
this way. Everyone is from somewhere,
every culture has its own unique
perspective and contribution to the world.
Instead of claiming to be Australian, a
pseudo culture and identity which denies
the existence of Aboriginal sovereignty,
investigate, accept and be proud of your
immigrant heritage and culture, and walk
this Aboriginal land with respect.
Black Nations
Nations Rising
Rising P8
PBlack

As well as respecting the people of

this land, you are helping to weaken the
White Australian gang which dominates
this continent. Northwestern Europeans
living on this continent come from a
variety of cultures. The description of
groups of people as Black or White only
came about in the early North American
slave trade. Initially, all the slaves were
Irish, Scottish and English criminals
and rebels sentenced to transportation
and slavery for a limited number of
years. When kidnapped Africans
started to arrive as slaves, they started
organizing with the Irish, Scottish and
English slaves and ex-slaves to fight

the slavery system. To derail this unity,

British colonial authorities created laws
that differentiated between Black and
White slaves. White slaves had their
sentences reduced and Black slaves
were made slaves for life. By 1788,
White superiority over Blacks was
an entrenched idea used to justify the
subjugation of peoples around the world
by European colonial powers.
How many allies of the Aboriginal
struggle, born on this continent, actually
know the name of the tribe whose
country they were born on, or the country
on which they live? Learn these things,

and along with your new non-Australian

cultural identity, you will gain a new
perspective on the Aboriginal fight for
liberation. With this new perspective, we
can actually start building a better society
in partnership with the true peoples of
this land, rather than trying to patch up
or make nice the White supremacist
occupation that is Australia.
*HAMISH CHITTS (Scottish) has
been a staunch & committed ally of the
Brisbane Aboriginal Sovereign Embassy
since it was founded in 2012.

All white men who come to these shores with a clean record, and who
leave behind them the memory of class distinctions and the religious
differences of the old world, are Australian. In this regard all men
who leave the tyrant-ridden land of Europe for freedom of speech and
right of personal liberty are Australians before they set foot on the
ship which brings them hither. No nigger, no Chinaman, no lascar, no
kanaka, no purveyor of cheap coloured labour is an Australian...

Australian identity according to THE BULLETIN magazine, 1887

ISSUE 2

Black Nations Rising P9

Chiapas
Zapatistas
and the

Taungurong man JARROD HUGHES recounts his experiences visiting Chiapas

State in Mexico, the birthplace of the revolutionary Zapatista uprising.

arrive in the city of San Cristobal,

Mexico at around 6am after
an overnight bus trip that wound
its way through the mountains
and valleys of the Chiapas State.
Walking the streets at this early
hour I notice quickly that San
Cristobal is not like the other
Mexican cities Id visited.
What distinguishes San Cristobal from
the rest of Mexico is its mountainous
setting, which seems to influence all
areas of life. The architecture, for
instance, looks more like something
youd expect to see in the highlands
of Nepal than in Mexico. The cooler
climate affects local dress, which
is most noticeable in the elaborate
garments of the local Indigenous
women. The mountains, which
surround San Cristobal and are visible
from any point in the city, are also
1
ISSUE 2

home to the people who make San

Cristobal famous: the Zapatistas.
After a few hours, the streets of
San Cristobal start to populate. Three
groups of people interact and avoid
each other at various points in the
city. First, the Indigenous women who
are prominent and spread throughout
the markets and main streets sell
their crafts and attend to children.
Secondly, the Mexicans go about their
daily duties and jobs. Thirdly, the
tourists hang about cafs and wander
the streets taking photos.
Walking through the streets
of San Cristobal, certain buildings
become recognizable. I notice City
Hall, which was occupied by the
Zapatistas, along with the rest of San
Cristobal, on the 1st of January 1994
after the North American Free Trade

Agreement came into effect. On this

date, famous images were broadcast
around the world of the staunch,
armed and balaclava-clad Zapatistas
destroying City Hall documents. I also
notice the San Cristobal Cathedral,
which was the location of early
negotiations between the Zapatistas
and the Mexican Government. I spent
the rest of the day wandering the city,
all the while mindful of the mountains
and the people living in them.
The next day I meet with Cesair,
a guide who takes outsiders to visit
certain Indigenous communities
in the mountains surrounding San
Cristobal. We are planned to visit
two communities: Zinacantn and
Chamula. Both communities are made
up entirely of Indigenous people who
speak the Mayan language of Tzotzil.
Cesairs family is from the community
BlackNations
NationsRising
RisingP10
PBlack

of Zinacantn, but he was raised in San

Cristobal. He is a quiet and reserved
man but his passion for respecting and
protecting these communities is clear from
the outset. When I ask Cesair whether he
feels stronger in his identity as Mexican or
Indigenous he quickly suggests the latter.
The distance between the
communities of Zinacantn and Chamula
is only 8km but in many respects they are
worlds apart as they maintain highly distinct
cultural practices. In one community,
clothing is made from cotton and in the
other wool. In one community, polygamy
is accepted and in the other it isnt tolerated.
These differences are replicated throughout
the hundreds of communities in the Chiapas
State, making it an incredibly culturally
rich, diverse and unique part of the world.
We visit Zinacantn first. As soon as
we enter the community, its cultural depth
and distinctness becomes apparent. The
men, women and children all wear clothing
of the same purple colour and similar
design. Cesair informs us that the ubiquity
of the clothing represents the values of
equality, community and anti-individualism
familiar to Indigenous societies worldwide.
As we walk through the town, we
are informed that there is a ceremony
taking place in the church. Like many of
the Indigenous communities in Chiapas,
the Zinacantn locals practice a mixture of
Catholic and Indigenous religion. From
outside, the local church appears to be of
typical Latin-American style but on the
inside things are very different. Rather than
having a single priest deliver a sermon, a
group of about 15 men lead the ceremony,
which consists of music and dance. These
men wear elaborate traditional clothing and
their shoes are identical to those worn by
Mayan spiritual men prior to colonization,
the style of which can be seen in engravings
on ruins in the area.
After the church, we visit a family
home. There is no electricity, gas or hot
water and the floors are simply dirt. But
there is no sickness here. In the main
living room a family elder sits by the fire
making fresh tortillas. She is 95 years
old. Running around the house and the
streets are the local children. They are all
healthy. In Mexico, a quarter of all men
ISSUE 2
1

and a third of all women are obese. Here

the people are healthy.
As we start our drive out of
Zinacantn, the conversation turns to
land rights. Cesair informs us that the
community shares communal ownership
over the land. Recognition of Indigenous
land rights by the Mexican Government is
limited. The 1994 Free Trade Agreement
granted a number of US and Canadian
mining companies access to Indigenous
land in Chiapas and weakened the few legal
protections over Indigenous land rights.
These developments were a catalyst for the
emergence of the Zapatista movement.

What were going to do

is shake this country up
from below, pick it up
and turn it on its head...
SUBCOMANDANTE MARCOS
Spokesman of the Zapatista
Army of National Liberation
While the Zapatistas provide an
effective resistance to the incursions of the
Mexican state into Chiapas Indigenous
communities, they do not enjoy universal
support from those communities. The
reasons are familiar to any follower of
Aboriginal politics in back home. Chiapas
Indigenous communities are coerced into
participating in the Mexican democratic
system and elect a local representative.
This assimilationist process often delivers
highly conservative leaders who push
out the radical Zapatistas. Many of the
communities that reject the Zapatistas are
also given appeasements from the Mexican
Government such as roads, hospitals and
schools. The most militant Zapatista
communities receive nothing.
We arrive in Chamula. On our walk
to the center of town, we bypass the local
prison. The prison is in proximity to shops
and walkways and the cells are in open
view of the public. All the cells are empty.
In Chamula, justice is administered by
the community rather than the state. The
Mexican police do not come here
As we continue on our walk,
the uniqueness of Chamula becomes

increasingly apparent. The clothing worn

by the locals is made of thick black fur.
Again, everyone is wearing the same
black style of clothing. We arrive at the
church, and here too there is a ceremony
taking place. Huddled in the corner of the
church yard is a small group of men and
women surrounding a religious icon, all of
them in deep and intense concentration.
As we enter the church I am
overwhelmed by what I see. The
Chamula Church separated from the
Roman Bureaucracy in 1969 and is like
no other church in the world. The floor
is completely covered in pine needles
which create a thick haze in the air.
The floor and the walls are dotted with
thousands of small candles which add
to the surreal atmosphere. As I walk
through the church, I notice a number of
shamans crouched on the floor, many with
chickens, some alive and some recently
sacrificed. Cesair later informs us that
the chickens are sacrificed for traditional
medicine purposes. The shamans feel for
the pulse of the sick and are believed to
cure many illnesses through traditional
Indigenous practices.
Cesair informs us that one of the
greatest threats to the culture of the
Indigenous communities of Chiapas is
foreign missionaries, often Jehovahs
Witnesses, Mormons and Pentecostal
evangelicals from the United States
of America. They are often seen in
the communities ostensibly providing
charity, such as prescriptive eyewear,
accompanied by religious texts. The
communities respond by exiling converts,
who end up living in dire conditions in
population centers like San Cristobal,
disconnected from their culture and
forced to raise their children without the
assistance of their family and community.
On the drive back to San Cristobal
Cesair and I compare the situation for
Indigenous people in Mexico and back
home. He talks about American mining
companies and their plan to build a
highway through countless Indigenous
communities in Chiapas. I tell him
about the stolen generations and Black
incarceration. We speculate on the
whereabouts of Subcomandante Marcos.
In no time we are back in San Cristobal.
Black
BlackNations
NationsRising
RisingP11
P-

WARRIOR
THE TIME FOR TALK IS OVER

ROBERT THORPE at the 2014 #Genocidal20 protests

LACK NATIONS RISING magazine talked to

veteran Aboriginal activist Robert Thorpe (Gunnai/
Djabwurrung/Gunditjmara) about his involvement in the
struggle for liberation.
How did you get involved in the Aboriginal struggle? I think
that if youre Aboriginal, you are born into the struggle. I
come from a strong, proud and determined Aboriginal family.
Standing up for our rights was all that we knew. I was bought
up in very political communities like Redfern and Fitzroy.
Back in the day, there was no recognition of Aboriginal people,
no organisations, there was nothing. We were totally written
off, particularly here in Victoria. But I was fortunate enough
to be around some very wise, strong Aboriginal people, elders,
who I learnt a lot from.
What has your involvement been with Aboriginal resistance
in this country? Ive been involved in activism, thats been my
contribution. Ive been educating myself about what hell has
happened to our people in the last 200 plus years. Ive been
trying to educate other people, non-Aboriginal people as well. I
have been getting involved with like-minded people all around
this country for a long time and working towards liberating
ourselves from our situation. We really have not got much
choice but to fight for our most basic and fundamental human
rights. We need to stand up against racism and the destruction
of our culture. I see this as important, not just for myself, but
for all of our people. Look at how beautiful we are and what a
beautiful culture we have thats why I am involved.
What is the importance of bringing Aboriginal issues to
light at international events? We are always looking for the
1
ISSUE 2

next international spotlight. This country is a crime scene,

so we need to expose them at an international level. We have
used things like the Olympics and Commonwealth Games as
opportunities to expose this country for what it really is. That
has been the strategy. But now we need something more than
that. There has been enough talk, now it is time for action.
What do you see as the issues facing Aboriginal people
today? There has always been the issues around genocide,
the premeditated criminal act committed by the British crown.
There is a lack of recognition of our sovereignty, our humanity,
the law of this land and the fact that there is no treaty. Weve
coined the phrase Black GST genocide, sovereignty, treaty.
Everything we talk about today is underpinned by these three
issues. If people dont understand the issues of genocide and
sovereignty, then maybe they do not want to know. They
havent got a treaty, they havent got consent and they havent
got jurisdiction. The time for talk is over.
What is your advice for young Aboriginal people today?
Young people, know where you stand with your land and your
law, thats what really makes you strong and powerful as an
individual. Know who you are, where you come from, and
know your mobs history its empowering. To understand
where you come from is important, to understand where you are
going is also important. Knowledge is crucial. You will never
stop learning in this life. It is never too late to start learning.
Believe in yourself and believe in who you are. Believe in your
Aboriginal rights. Be proud of who you are. We are a beautiful
people. Try and envision what the future will be in 20-30 years.
Is there going to be a violent revolution, or will there be a treaty?
BlackNations
NationsRising
RisingP12
PBlack

WARRIOR
STAND UP AND BE FEARLESS

MERIKI KALINYA on the frontline of demonstrations that shut down Melbournes CBD

ERIKI KALINYA is a founding member of Warriors

of the Aboriginal Resistance (WAR) and one of the
core organizers of WARs Melbourne chapter. For Meriki,
being a warrior is an obligation:
In todays context, an Aboriginal warrior is somebody
who is actively involved in the process of decolonization. They
revive their own culture and implement cultural practices and
protocols into acts of resistance. They live and breathe the
messages and ideas they fight for. A warrior is someone on the
front line of Aboriginal resistance, someone who speaks out
and stands up for what they believe is right, regardless of the
consequences. But it is not just about protests. It is educating
yourself and educating your peers on the importance of resisting
and reviving. My family have always been involved in the
resistance for as long as I can remember. As a young child, I
would listen to family members having philosophical discussions
about the Aboriginal struggle their passion was contagious. I
had no idea the impact this would have on my adult life. As I
got older, I started connecting the dots. I began educating myself
on what was really happening to my people. I learned of the
massacres and the ongoing oppression of my people. I saw and
felt the injustices. You really dont have any choice once you
open that door of Black consciousness. You cannot sit and watch
colonization and genocide happen to the people you grow up with,
the people you love its our responsibility to resist and revive.
You do it for your ancestors, the future generations, the community
and the people you care about.
In the last 12 months, I have taken a lot of chances. I
weigh up what I could possibly lose and what the consequences
1
ISSUE 2

could be, but its all worth it in the end. I travelled to so-called
Canada and was detained because I presented an Aboriginal
passport at Vancouver international airport. Ive burned the
Australian flag, twice. We launched Warriors of the Aboriginal
Resistance and Black Nations Rising magazine. Ive been a part
of all this because I am not Australian.
My purpose as a Gunnai and Gunditjmara is to resist
colonial oppression while educating my own people. I would
do it all again in a heartbeat. It is hard, and I cop criticism
regularly. My former Black Panther mother keeps me in check.
I am blessed to have a big family with siblings, cousins, uncles
and aunties to keep me grounded and support me. We need
warriors who will stand up and be fearless. We need to carry
on the fight of our ancestors and understand the struggles they
endured. We cannot afford to live a life of individualism,
because thats not a part of who we are. We need to take care
of our culture and all that it means to be an Aboriginal person
that includes looking out for each other. We need to actively
resist what compromises our Aboriginal nationhood and rebuild
what was destroyed.
Language is an indicator of assimilation. The extreme
ethnic cleansing we experienced here in so-called Victoria and the
rest of this continent is nothing short of genocide; particularly in
the missionary days where the Gunnai tongue wasnt allowed to
speak the Gunnai language, law, songline and story. Reclaiming
my ancestors words, my birthright, is my way of liberating
myself from colonisation. Although this is only one component,
its a start to a very long road to learning about the civilisation that
underpinned society before European colonization.
BlackNations
NationsRising
RisingP13
PBlack

WORDS OF THE STRUGGLe

1
ISSUE 2

Neocolonialism
N

eocolonialism means a new colonialism.

It involves the use of state-funded Native
services, businesses and organizations to
indirectly control Native people (also known as
the Aboriginal industry).
In general, it means giving some of the benefits
of the dominant society to a small, privileged
minority, in return for their help in making sure the
majority dont cause trouble the image of Natives
in government helps create the myth that all Native
people have a place in the dominant society.
The change from colonialism to neocolonialism
is a change only in how the state controls the
colonized people. Colonialism is a system in which
the colonized people have no control over their lives
economically, socially, politically, or culturally. The
power to make decisions in these important areas of
daily life are almost totally in the hands of others,
either the state or corporations. The state is willing
to share some of the wealth of a racist system with a
few Natives in return for a more effective method of
controlling the majority.

The most threatening and effective form of neocolonialism devised by the state has been its efforts
to intervene and control popular Native organizations which had been previously independent. They
began with core grants to help the associations organize; then the elected leaders of the organizations
got larger and larger salaries, making them dependent on the state just as the Native bureaucrats
in government were. As the years went by more money was provided to organizations, money for
housing, economic development and service programs etc.
The most important effect of government funding, or state intervention, is that the state, by
manipulating grants, can determine to a large extent what strategy the organizations will use. It is no
coincidence that when organizations were independent of government money in the early 70s, they
followed a militant strategy which confronted government. Now, after several decades of government
funding, they are following a strategy that requires subservience to the state.
*adapted from Tortured People: The Politics of Colonization by HOWARD ADAMS (1995),
cartoon from Colonization and Decolonization: A Manual for Indigenous Liberation in the 21st
Century by GORD HILL (2006)

WARRIOR PUBLICATIONS manuals for Indigenous liberation

and a news aggregator devoted to promoting Indigenous warrior
culture, fighting spirit and resistance movement.
www.warriorpublications.wordpress.com

BlackNations
NationsRising
RisingP14
PBlack

DEFENDING LANGUAGE & LAND

By Ishkadi, Tasetan

y name is Ishkadi. I am
Chiyone (wolf) clan from
Tlabanotin (Klabona) territory of
the Tas etan (Tahltan), an indigenous
people of so called Canada. My
grandparents were the last of our
family to live the traditional ways on
the land; they also grew up at a time
where everyone spoke our traditional
language. They tell a story of being
on a hunting party and hearing loud
noises in the distance. These noises
turned out to be, to their surprise,
the construction of a road, something
completely foreign to them. They had
no idea what was to come or how to
deal with it, so they let it be.
I grew up speaking a language
(English), believing in a god, and went
by a name that came from a land I had no
connection to, England. I later learned
that the indigenous peoples of so-called
Canada were prohibited from speaking
their languages, practicing their culture,
singing their songs. They banned us
from being Indian in an attempt to
civilize and assimilate us through
residential schools (to kill the Indian in
the child) and reservations (to separate
the Indians from their land).
When I was 21 years of age, I
began to take interest in learning our
traditional language as a way of resisting
colonialism. I didnt do so expecting to
find my identity, nor or the nativeness
my grandparents grew up with that is
now on the verge of being completely
ISSUE 2
1

forgotten. On this journey, I also learnt

that there was no distinction between
land, body, mind, and spirit. Through
learning our language, I learnt there
was a balance between the land and the
people. It was then I realized how smart
the colonizers were when they outlawed
the speaking of Native languages; to
separate the indigenous from their
connection to the land and themselves.
However, I persevered and have
since found my roots by learning my
traditional language. It has given me
the courage, connection and sense of
responsibility to defend the land of
my ancestors, the same land they have
protected for thousands of years for
me to enjoy and live on. The land my
ancestors protected is under constant
threat from industrial development. For
over a decade, my people have made
continuous efforts to defend the territory
we reside on. We protect our lands via
blockades and machinery take-overs.
I have seen elders get arrested
at these blockades. I have seen the
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
(RCMP) handcuff and detain my
grandparents before carting them away
in their vehicles. I have seen sons and
daughters, grandchildren, and great
grandchildren in tears as their families
were taken away all for standing
staunch and protecting their lands.
There is an area in Tlabanotin
territory known as the Sacred

Headwaters, named for the three salmon

bearing river drainages, the Stikine,
Skeena, and Nass. This is one of the
areas under threat. In the summer
of 2013, mining company Fortune
Minerals proposed to develop on the
Sacred Headwaters. The company had
two active drills searching for coal
without proper consent from our people.
A blockade was set up on the main
site of operation where the Klabona
Keepers, the Tahltan Elders, presented
the mining company with an eviction
notice. However, the company did not
comply and continued to drill on our
land. The people became frustrated and
decided to take action.
In September 2013, the Klabona
Keepers shut down a drill site by
occupying a drill rig, impeding mining
activity (pictured above). One drill was
down but another was still active. A few
days later the location of the second drill
was identified and it was taken over also.
Fortune Minerals would not abandon
their post, so after a few weeks the next
course of action had to be taken. The
Klabona Keepers then banded together
to occupy Fortune Minerals main camp
in late in September. Ultimately, the
mining company were forced to pull out.
I am on the frontline as a Tas etan
man, an indigenous person, struggling
to decolonize by defending my culture,
language, land, air and water, all of
which we depend on for the survival of
our identity.
Black
BlackNations
NationsRising
RisingP15
P-

OUR LAND
OUR GOVERNMENT
On the 19th of July 1990, the Aboriginal Provisional Government (APG) was formed. Established
on the principle that Aborigines are and always have been a sovereign people, the APG campaigns
for Aboriginal self-determination and self-government. Our vision is for Aboriginal people to
take our place among the nations and peoples of the world, not beneath them.

How did the APG come about?

The policy of acting sovereignty

The Aboriginal Provisional

Government (APG) emerged from the
Federation of Land Councils, a powerful
national body dedicated to fighting
for Aboriginal land justice. A number
of Federation delegates identified the
need for a dedicated political arm of the
Aboriginal movement.

From its inception, the APG adopted

the policy of acting sovereignty. As
part of this policy, the APG began issuing
Aboriginal passports and Aboriginal birth
certificates. The Aboriginal passport is
issued on the basis that the Aboriginal
nation is separate to the Australian nation,
and that Aboriginal people have distinct
rights, including having a separate
passport. Nations having accepted APG
issued travel documents include Libya
(1987 & 1988), Norway and Switzerland
(1990), the Mohawk nation (2014), and
the Solomon Islands (2015). Although
the Australian government refuses to
recognize the Aboriginal passport, many
Aborigines have successfully re-entered
their country through Australian customs
providing only the Aboriginal passport.
Aboriginal birth certificates are issued so
that Aboriginal children can be registered
as citizens of the Aboriginal nation. This
is an alternative to our people being
forced to register their children at birth
with the colonial Australian state.

What purpose was the APG to serve?

Despite the presence of countless
Aboriginal organisations across our
country, Aboriginal people still are
not able to fully accept responsibility
for determining their long term future.
Devoted to service delivery, Aboriginal
community organizations are inundated
with all the day to day crises of a people
suffering the effects of over two hundred
years of dispossession and oppression.
They have been so busy trying to keep
their communities alive that they have
had little opportunity to sit down,
design and implement policies aimed at
giving effective control of Aboriginal
communities back to the communities
themselves. The APG was established
with the aim of helping to fill this void.
The APG does not claim to be
representative of all Aborigines and was
not set up to govern Aboriginal people,
hence the word provisional in our name.
Rather, the APGs role is to be a political
vehicle with the aim of bringing Aboriginal
aspirations for self-determination and selfgovernment to fruition.
ISSUE 2
1

Sending diplomatic delegations

overseas, the APG has sought recognition
of Aboriginal sovereignty from the
international community. This follows
a legacy set down by the Aboriginal
Embassy in the early 1970s with their
trips to Chairman Maos China, as well
as Aboriginal delegations to Colonel
Gaddafis Libya in the late 1980s. In
1994, founding APG Chairperson Bob
Weatherall and Secretary Michael Mansell
travelled to Vanuatu seeking standing at

the South Pacific Forum. We need to

get status throughout the world, Mansell
proclaimed. The APG was refused
entry to the meeting after Australian
Prime Minister Bob Hawke used
Australias financial muscle to pressure
the South Pacific nations. In 2014, a
delegation met with representatives of the
Haudenosaunee Confederacy in Mohawk
territory [Quebec, Canada].
National Conference - Hobart, 1992
In August 1992, the APG held
its first national meeting in Lutruwita
[Tasmania]. Over 150 Aboriginal men,
women and children noisily welcomed
delegates at the Hobart airport. Local and
national media filmed the event. Delegates
were driven to the city in a convoy of cars
flying Aboriginal flags from the bonnets.
These people were ambassadors of the
Aboriginal communities they represented.
On its way to the city, the convoy passed
under a bridge where children from the
Tasmanian Aboriginal Child Care Centre
held up a huge banner they had made
proclaiming Welcome APG.
The APG is the product of the many
generations of Aboriginal people
who have fought despairingly for
Aboriginal justice. It represents the
reality that only we, as Aboriginal
people, can forge a proper place for
ourselves and those generations of
Aborigines to come.
Bob Weatherall (Gamilaraay)
Founding APG Chairperson

Black
BlackNations
NationsRising
RisingP16
P-

New APG Executive Council elected

On the 30th of January 2015, members of the
Aboriginal Provisional Government elected a new Executive
Council. A spill of all positions saw an injection of new
blood into the organization, including lawyer Pekeri Ruska
(Goenpul/Yuggera), unionist Merinda Meredith (Darumbal),
journalist Callum Clayton-Dixon (Nyaywana), activist Ruby
Wharton (Kooma/Gamilaraay), and longtime sovereign rights
campaigner Dale Ruska (Goenpul). Lawyer and cofounder
of the APG Michael Mansell (Pakana) was re-elected. The
Council is responsible for spearheading the organizations
activities and agenda for change, but does not claim to be
a representative body. Positions can be filled by popular
elections or by co-opting appropriate people.

our passports for political reasons as opposed to security

reasons. As part of the design phase, the APG put out a
call for Aboriginal artists to contribute their work for the
revamped Aboriginal passport.
We have also been in talks with the Haudenosaunee
Confederacy (an alliance of six Native tribes in North
America) who issue their own passports as well. After
identifying that their passports had become a casualty of
a tighter world security environment, the Haudenosaunee
Documentation Committee (HDC) set about rectifying
this. In December 2014, Mohawk diplomat Kenneth
Deer travelled to Geneva, Switzerland using the updated
Haudenosaunee Confederacy passport. Seeking to learn
from their experience, we consulted the HDC about the
issues surrounding Indigenous passports.

Hounded and harassed by Australian

customs officials

Aboriginal Passport revamp

Earlier this year, the Aboriginal Provisional Government
opened dialogue with an international supplier of secure
documentation to begin work on revamping the Aboriginal
passport. The updated Aboriginal passport, slated for
rollout in early 2016, will comply with security standards
set down by the United Nations. This follows a decision
by the APG on the need to adopt international standards
for our passports if we truly believe the Aboriginal nation
is part of the international community. The APG will then
work to gain official recognition of the Aboriginal passport
from other countries. They will have no choice by to reject

ISSUE 1

On the 17th of April, APG Chairperson Callum ClaytonDixon was hassled for over 40 minutes by Australian
customs officials at Brisbane international airport before
re-entering Aboriginal land using his Aboriginal passport
alone. On the 12th of May, customs officials threatened
to body search APG Treasurer Pekeri Ruska after she
insisted on presenting only her Aboriginal passport at
Brisbane international airport. Ms Ruskas passport had
been stamped by Solomon Islands customs on entry into
and exit from Honiara, where she had spent four days
developing relations with key members of the West Papuan
independence movement.
*In September 2014, an Aboriginal delegation used only their
Aboriginal passports to re-enter the country via Brisbane and
Melbourne after a month long tour of Native communities in
so-called Canada. Less than two weeks later, the Minister for
Immigration and Border Protection Scott Morrison issued a
ministerial directive declaring the Aboriginal passport invalid
for use at Australian customs.

www.apg.org.au

Black
BlackNations
NationsRising
RisingP17
P-

Aboriginal

OR Australian?

We must address the question of national identity if were serious about forging a real future
for ourselves and generations to come, writes CALLUM CLAYTON-DIXON (Nyaywana).

ony Abbotts call for full

[Aboriginal] participation in
Australian society, like former Prime
Minister John Howards talk of a
reconciled, indivisible nation, was
a clear indication that Australias
assimilation era never ended.
The colonizers current Indigenous
Assimilation Strategy is all encompassing,
and virtually identical to 1950s policy:
All Aborigines and part-Aborigines are
expected eventually to attain the same
manner of living as other Australians and
to live as members of a single Australian
community, enjoying the same rights
and privileges, accepting the same
responsibilities, observing the same
customs and influences by the same beliefs,
hopes and loyalties as other Australians.
The Australian governments focus
on getting kids to school, adults to
work and the ordinary law of the land
observed isnt about empowering our
ISSUE 2
1

people. Its about us conforming to

colonial social norms, and falling into
line with the colonial capitalist economy;
the end result being that we become
another cog in Australias nation building
exploits. They want us to be completely
attached to, dependent on, and controlled
by the institutions of settler society.
Their goal is assimilation, to turn the
Aborigine into the Australian.
Why would we want to identify
with those whove taken so much from
us? Because were conditioned on a
daily basis to be like them: to identify
with their history, their warmongering
traditions, their national symbols, and
their xenophobic attitudes towards ethnic
minorities. We call it the dominant
culture for a reason. From the mainstream
media to the education system, settler
society uses their cultural hegemony to
pressure us into assimilation. We see it
every time we watch the television, every
time we listen to the radio, and every

time we open a newspaper or magazine.

Were constantly bombarded with
assimilationist propaganda lulling us into
a false sense of security and belonging.
In Australian schools, our children are
expected to stand for and sing Australias
national anthem. We see Australian flags
everywhere we go, from car bonnets and
boardshorts to universities and fast food
restaurants. And each year on the 26th
of January, they bribe Aboriginal people
with money and awards to prop up and
participate in their debauched Australia
Day celebrations. The result is a classic
case of whats commonly referred to
as Stockholm Syndrome, whereby
the captive (the colonized) begins to
bond and identify with their captor
(the colonized). This psychological
condition is prevalent among colonized
peoples globally, a condition induced and
reinforced by the colonial powers that be.
The government advances its
agenda even further by ridiculing or just
Black
BlackNations
NationsRising
RisingP18
P-

simply ignoring the Aboriginal push for

self-determination. Federal Minister
for Immigration Peter Dutton labelled
the Aboriginal passport a nonsense
passport; Herald Sun columnist Andrew
Bolt equated it to apartheid; and 4BC
radio host John Scott insisted were all
Australians. Apparently the right of
Aboriginal people to decide the future of
our own lands and lives is too farfetched.
Howard rejected the absurd notion
of a nation trying to make a treaty with
some of its own citizens, implying that
Aborigines are in fact Australians. This is
despite the United Nations endorsement
of the right of Indigenous peoples to
freely determine our own political status.
As identified by Gamilaraay man and
founding Chairman of the Aboriginal
Provisional Government (APG) Bob
Weatherall, we as Aboriginal people have
the inherent right to decide if we want to
be part of the Australian nation or not:
Governments presume we are citizens
of the Australian nation, and our rights
are accordingly limited. But we have
never been given the opportunity to say if
we agree. APG Papers (Volume Five,
January 2002)
This is the question we must revisit.
Are we (A) members of the Australian
nation with basically the same rights and
responsibilities as other Australians; or (B)
members of a separate Aboriginal nation,
and our respective tribal groups, with
distinct rights and responsibilities? This
is the same question colonized peoples
around the world continue to grapple with.
Staunch supporters of the Scots campaign
for independence proudly brandish t-shirts
emblazoned with the words Scottish NOT
British. The Mohawks reject Canadian
nationality outright, maintaining their
own separate system of self-government
and have been issuing their own
indigenous passport since 1977. These
are just two examples of colonized
peoples expressing and asserting their
right to self-determination. Others in
the mix include the West Papuans and
Palestinians. For them, the question of
national identity is core to their struggle
for justice. If we as Aboriginal people
are serious about forging a real future for
ourselves and generations to come, this is
the question we must answer.
ISSUE 2
1

When it comes to our status as a

people, there is really no in-between. By
identifying as Aboriginal Australians,
were still attaching ourselves to the
Australian nation. Unfortunately, this
validates the colonizers license to dictate
and define our entitlements as if were just
another subgroup of Australian society.
But thats quite alright, as long as were
content with crumbs from the colonizers
table, whether it be a Reconciliation Action
Plan, a mention in Australias Constitution,
or a Native Title determination. Can
we really convince ourselves that the
Native Title process is real land justice,
when twenty year claims culminate in
the courts granting us less rights over our
traditional lands than farmers and miners?
Theyll only ever make concessions as
long as the concessions dont interfere
with their national interests. Its true that
we as Aboriginal people have the right
to identify as Australians, to embrace
Australian citizenship and Australias
capitalist so-called democracy. But
this choice has inevitable consequences.
This choice can only lead to one future, a
future veteran Gumbaynggirr activist Gary
Foley describes bluntly: The process of
assimilation is well on track, well all be
wiped out within fifty years, the genocide
project will be over and there will be no
Aborigines, simple.
This ties into the fact that our
fundamental rights and responsibilities
as Indigenous Peoples have never been
compatible with Australias national
interests. The most blatant example is land
use. Both the Australian government and
the private sector see land as a commodity
to be bought, sold and exploited
for monetary gain and economic
development. Whereas, it is the steadfast
obligation of indigenous peoples to care
for and protect our traditional lands.
If then the answer is (B), what
does this mean? Do we persist with
slogans alone? Prior to 1788, we ran
this country, a sovereign nation in our
own right; comprising many hundreds
of tribes, our own cultures, languages
and customary laws. If we truly believe
our sovereignty remains intact, we must
act as a sovereign, self-governing and
self-determining people. So where do
we go from here? We must organize.
To organize effectively, we must first

have a platform from which to do so.

The initial step is to identify and assert
who we are. Once we have a clear
and unwavering national identity, one
of our biggest problems is solved. A
people must know and understand their
national interest. The task of Australian
colonialism is to convince us that our
national interest is within the confines of
Australian colonialism. The colonizer
labels us Aboriginal Australians and
First Australians because such terms
keep us exactly where we are, holding
onto a system that forces us to become
something were not.
Were Aboriginal, simple. Its true
that Aboriginal and Aborigine are
foreign terms, finding their roots in ancient
Italy (in the Latin language, ab means
from and origine translates to earliest
beginning or lineage). Indigenous
and First Nations are also foreign terms.
Unlike the Mori of Aotearoa, we do not
have a traditional word for our people
collectively. For simplicitys sake, and
for practical purposes, the APG uses the
term Aboriginal nation when referring
to our people collectively as a politically
and culturally distinct group native to this
country. Identifying in this way is not to
diminish our diverse tribal identities, far
from it. The whole is nothing without
the parts, hence why Im Nyaywana first
and foremost. Nyaywana is the core of
my identity as an Aboriginal person my
family, my history, my language, and
my connection to country. But there is
substance behind the saying strength in
unity. Trade, ceremony and songlines
have connected our tribes since time
immemorial. From the frontier wars
to the lands rights movement, our fight
against colonization has only reinforced
this bond. Looking forward, a united
Aboriginal front will be vital. Lets not
get waylaid with semantics.
Like the Palestinians, Aborigines are
an occupied people. Like Israel, Australia
is an illegal settler state occupying another
peoples land by force. Once we realize
such truths, our whole outlook changes
Australia is no longer our point of
reference in any shape or form.
*CALLUM CLAYTON-DIXON
(Nyaywana) is Chairperson of the
Aboriginal Provisional Government.
Black
BlackNations
NationsRising
RisingP19
P-

Survival
is a meagre existence

By Jack Sheppard (Kunjen)

227

years of colonization,
genocide, and dispossession.
This devastation is an assault on our
proud history, but a reality we now
must live and cope with. Its impact
of shock and heartbreak is still just as
menacing and present as it was in the
advent of invasion.
For Australian society, cruelty and
exploitation are the norm when it comes
to the treatment of our people, something
the colonizers dont seem to be ashamed
of. They parade and celebrate the theft
of our lands and the killing of our people,
preying on gullible ears and eyes, the
mainstream media complicit.
The Australian government has
endeavoured to strip as much as possible
away from us our land, our children
and our dignity.

We have been left

with little choice but
to get by with what
little rights now have
provided to us.
Lets hand it to them. Theyve
become so practiced and efficient in their
methods used to subdue and dismantle
our communities, not dissimilar to South
Africas apartheid regime but far more
subtle and sinister. The colonizers have
managed to manufacture a system where
government and corporation collaborate
in attempting to exploit us and bring
about our demise.
1
ISSUE 2

We squabble over that which has

been largely responsible for our cultural
Blackslide, from the government crumbs
and mining blood money ripping apart
our families and communities, to
the alcohol and drugs poisoning and
pacifying our people.

They nurture and

thrive on division.
We face many uphill battles the
fight for our health, the fight for the
return of our children, the fight to protect
our lands from mining, the fight to revive
and maintain and revive our cultures.
At the most basic level, we struggle
to survive in what has become a harsh,
cruel world. Consumed by the demanding
realities of everyday life in modern
society, many of us have lost sight of
the big picture the fight to regain our
rightful place in this country, to reclaim
our pride and dignity, to become a selfdetermining people once again.
In order for this dream to become
reality, we must first address the
elephant in the room. We must mend
the destructive divides within our own
communities.
We have to stop hurting each other
and begin lifting each other up. Once
we have each others back, we will be
at our strongest. To stamp out jealousy,
lateral violence, self-loathing and
unhealthy competitiveness is to stamp
out weakness. Only together can we
defeat these evils.

The blood of warriors runs in our

veins. Our ancestors were staunch yet
humble. These traits were entrenched
in our law and tradition, forbidding
weakness while obliging care and
respect for ourselves, each other, and the
land. This is why our society not only
survived, but thrived. Only colonization
caused us to falter.
If we draw on such traits, we can
truly rebuild a strong, dignified and
meaningful future for our people. The
battle that lays ahead is far from confined
to marches and blockades.
It is strengthening our families
and communities that will give us the
foundations we need to push onwards.

We can fight for

justice all we want, but
justice will never come
unless we are united
and have the capacity
ourselves to endure.
Our lives are worth more than the
media portrays. Our lives are worth more
than what we are pigeon-holed to be:
another Black statistic, another lost cause.
Its time for change, and not
tomorrow, but right now. We can and
we will do this. It is our obligation and
birthright as the indigenous peoples
of this land. Freedom, strength and
wisdom to us all!
Black
Nations
Rising
PBlack
Nations
Rising
P20

Declaration of
Aboriginal
Nationality
Over the past few months, the Aboriginal
movement has been injected with new vigour and
energy. We have once again demonstrated our
ability to mobilize the masses on a national scale in
protest against injustices perpetrated by the colonial
Australian government. The question remains,
how do we turn this momentum into practical and
permanent solutions for our people and our land?
For colonized peoples around the globe, from the
Scottish to the Mohawks, the question of national
identity is fundamental. It provides them with a
strong and principled platform from which to rebuild.
This question is also key to our struggle for justice.
As part of the effort to reinvigorate the push for selfdetermination and independence, the Aboriginal
Provisional Government (APG) has drafted the
Declaration of Aboriginal Nationality.
We encourage all Aboriginal people and
communities to become signatories to the
Declaration as a symbolic demonstration of our
determination to forge a real future for ourselves
and generations to come.
Yours in the cause,
Dale Ruska (Goenpul)
DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON
Aboriginal Provisional Government
deputychair@apg.org.au

If you are Aboriginal and wish

to become a signatory to the
Declaration of Aboriginal
Nationality, go to:
www.apg.org/declaration

We make this declaration to re-initiate our own

independent process as Aboriginal people in
developing an organized and united position in the
ongoing fight to take our place among the nations
and peoples of the world, not beneath them.
We, the Aboriginal people, are the original owners
of the lands now known as Australia.
Our ownership over these lands is inherited through
our ancestral bloodline connection to country, and
our ancient system of customary law.
Our customary law binds us together through
common principles and values of national identity.
Our national identity entitles us to all of the rights
afforded to any nation.
Being a nation entitles us to continue administering
our ancient customary law, to decide and control the
future of our lands and lives.
Our system of customary law bestows upon us our
own unique national identity, totally separate to and
not recognized by the colonial Australian state.
We, the Aboriginal nation, do not accept colonial
Australian law and its claims to authority and
control over our people and our lands.
We, the original owners of Australia, commit
to developing a treaty between and establishing
a unified assembly of our many tribal nations,
uniting us under the shared principle of Aboriginal
nationality and ancient law.

Coal mining,
big banks and
climate change
By Millie Telford, Bundjalung
I remember the first time I saw a coal mine. It was
just last year when I was travelling throughout regional
so-called New South Wales. From every window of the
bus it was all you could see: a huge, dark, bottomless
pit. There were trucks filled with coal, trains filled with
coal and if you looked hard enough you could probably
see ships on the horizon filled with coal.
Right now, the land that we survive on is being dug
up, grinded down, tossed around and burnt. With it
goes our culture, our families, our communities and
our future.
If its not already being dug up, then theres probably
a proposal for a new mine on the table or plans to
expand, grow and go places beyond our imagination.
Coal, uranium, coal seam gas, the list goes on. The
fossil fuel industry is prepared to do whatever it takes to
mine our country to pieces. As I write this, our brothers
and sisters along the coastlines of Queensland and the
ISSUE 2
1

Northern Territory are picking up the pieces left by

Cyclone Marcia and Cyclone Lam. Other parts of the
country are facing heat waves, bush fires, floods, poor
water quality, coastal erosion and rising sea levels.
But the injustices go beyond the climate impacts;
the fossil fuel industry has been putting stress on our
land, our communities and our culture for generations.
With every fossil fuel development and every extreme
weather event, its our people who face the impacts first
and worst.
Right now, theres currently a proposal to build the
worlds biggest coal port on the Great Barrier Reef at
Abbot Point. If built, it would unlock the Galilee basin
one of the largest reserves of coal in the world.
In order to avoid catastrophic impacts of climate
change and protect this sacred land, its crucial that
all new fossil fuels stay in the ground. This means
ensuring the proposed Abbot Point port expansion,
subsequent railway line and coal mines never go ahead.
The coal company, Adani, needs billions of dollars
in bank loans to get this project off the ground. Nine
international banks have already announced they wont
be involved. Now its up to us to put pressure on the big
four Australian banks, Commonwealth, NAB, Westpac
and ANZ, to rule out funding reef destruction.
The good thing is that everyone can play a role in
making sure that this project doesnt go ahead. As
customers of these banks, we need to put our money
where our mouth is and speak in the language that they
understand: money. We wouldnt fund this project, so
Black
Nations
Rising
P22
Black
Nations
Rising
P-

why should our banks.

Already thousands of people all across the globe
have moved their money. Were sending clear messages
to the banks that if they invest in reef and climate
destruction, then were dumping them.
Australia is one of the of sunniest and windiest
countries in the world, we have the capacity to play
a huge role in leading the transition to safe, clean
renewable energy if we chose to. Thats why we must
all make a choice, to decide what were going to do
about it.

Right now, the land that we survive

on is being dug up, grinded down,
tossed around and burnt. With it
goes our culture, our families, our
communities and our future.

around the world have already moved their money. If the

fossil fuel industry is prepared to do whatever it takes,
then we need to be able to match them at their own game.
What gives me hope is that today were making
history. In spite of the bottomless pit of coal that I saw
from the bus that day last year, Im constantly inspired
by Indigenous people all across the globe who are
coming together in the fight for climate justice. Our
frontline communities are at the forefront of change.
Theres nothing more powerful than a movement led
by strong Indigenous people with a vision that theyre
prepared to fight for. We cant afford for climate change
to be an issue that divides us, we need to stand up and
make sure that climate change is the issue that unites us!
Join the fight for climate justice with Seed at aycc.
org.au/seed or take action to stop the Abbot Point
coal port expansion on the Great Barrier Reef at
dumpmybank.org.au
*MILLIE TELFORD (Bundjalung) is the National
Director of the Seed Indigenous Youth Climate Network.

While the Australian government is taking us

backwards, we need a grassroots movement of people
who are prepared to do what it takes. We need to show
them what true leadership looks like and leave them
with no choice but to follow.
Indigenous people, farmers, students, teachers and
doctors from all walks of life, and from across the
country, were taking a stand. Thousands of people
ISSUE 2
1

Black
Nations
Rising
P23
Black
Nations
Rising
P-

FOOD
IS
MEDICINE
DECOLONIZE YOUR DIET
For Goenpul woman EVA COGHILL, decolonization includes sustainable hunting/fishing practices. Respecting animals by
following cultural protocol will ensure we can continue to enjoy the traditional foods that keep us healthy.

or many thousands of years,

my people have relied on
Quandamooka (Moreton Bay) and the
ocean surrounding Minjerribah (North
Stradbroke Island my paternal
grandfathers country) to sustain
us. Historically, our diet consisted of
mostly seafood. We ate and continue
to eat many types of djauwan (fish),
crustaceans and shellfish.
My people worked closely with the
bubangan (dolphins) who would assist us
in rounding up the djauwan and driving
them toward the shore where we would
be waiting with spears to catch them.
Once we had caught enough to feed our
family, we would always provide the
dolphins with the best djauwan of the
catch to thank them for their help.
This way of hunting continued for
many thousands of years. However, due
to the invasion of Minjerribah, we were
forced to stop this practice and sadly
lost that special connection with the
bubangan.
Whilst the seafood supply
surrounding Minjerribah was once
abundant, it is now diminishing due to
increased commercial and recreational
fishing in the surrounding bay and ocean.
This has meant the quantity we can
legally take has been reduced.
ISSUE 2
1

However, we continue to assert our

sovereign right to our traditional foods
and as we were taught, only take as
much food as we need to feed our family
and elders. We have also been taught
to only take certain species of animals
when they are in season. For example,
we only catch ngandagal (sea mullet)
during the winter and we only take the
male wiinyam (mud crabs) to allow the
females to continue the breeding cycle.

To this day, we continue to

follow this protocol never
taking more then we need,
never hunting or fishing out
of season.
We continue to gather shellfish
such as quampies (pearl shell), mussels,
clams and ghinn-yingarra (oysters) from
the tidal flats surrounding the island.
We also eat a shellfish from the coastal
side of the island called eugaries (more
commonly known as pipis).
Historically, once we would
finishing eating the shellfish (among
other kinds of seafood), we would put
the shells in a pile. These piles grew
over time to create what we now know
as middens. The jercruca (middens)
on Minjerribah date back at least 25,000
years and identified our places of living

and gathering. Today, we continue to

add to the middens every time we eat
seafood.

It is important that I
incorporate as much seafood
as possible into my diet. It
is the food that my body is
immune to.
Foreign, introduced foods make me
feel ill. Eugaries assist with digestion
and the juice is good for our immune
systems.
My father taught me all I know
about catching seafood around
Minjerribah. I also learned much by
observing other family members partake
in traditional hunting practices. My
parents and Elders taught me how to
prepare and cook seafood. I ensure that
these practices are handed down to my
son, younger siblings and cousins.
*EVA COGHILL (Goenpul/Mununjali)
is a mother, daughter and sister. She
proudly spends her time gathering
native foods from Minjerribah.

Black
Nations
Rising
P24
Black
Nations
Rising
P-

EUGARI CURRY
r e c i p e h a nd e d down from my mother

RECIPE
1) Bake the eugaries in the oven at 180 degrees
until they turn a golden colour and the shells open
(keep the juices to be used later).
2) Remove the eugaries from their shells and set
aside.
3) Dice all vegetables into 1cm cubes.
4) Fry diced vegetables in the coconut oil in a
large pot, with the curry powder.
5) Add the eugari juices.
6) Once the vegetables are tender, mash the
vegetables together.

INGREDIENTS
1 kilogram of eugaries
1 capsicum
1 onion
1 medium sized taro
2 celery stalks
3 carrots
1 cup of peas
2 tablespoons of curry powder
1 tablespoon of coconut oil

7) Pull the gills off of the eugaries, slice them up

and then add to the vegetable mix.
8) Stir the eugaries through and serve.

How to catch eugaries

When standing on the eastern shores of Minjerribah, you face the ocean. Eugaries only live in
the ocean - you cannot find them on the bay side of the island. The triangle shaped shellfish
can be found at low tide by looking for bumps in the sand. If you dig about fifteen centimeters
under these bumps, you will find the eugari. However, if the tide is high, stand about ankle
deep in the waves and wiggle your feet into the sand. After a wave surges back into the ocean,
the eugaries will try to escape with it, this is when you catch them. Otherwise you feel them
with your feet before they come to the surface.
ISSUE 2
1

Black
Nations
Rising
P25
Black
Nations
Rising
P-

Conscious Sounds
H

iphop emerged in the early 70s

as a form of music to express the
frustrations and hardship of Black
ghetto youth in the United States of
America. Parallels can be drawn
with elements of Aboriginal culture
through the reverberating beats
and our didgeridoos, clap sticks and
boomerangs. It can also invoke a need
to express through dance; whether it is
breakdance or traditional dance, both
awaken the warrior spirit.
This style is about rapping,
storytelling and documenting our past,
present and futures. Its about using
lyrics to motivate the masses. There is
no surprise that Aboriginal people have
embraced hiphop as a way to express
their struggle in todays society while also
adding elements of culture to their tracks.
Provocalz is a young Aboriginal political
hiphop artist who has dedicated his music
to the issues faced by his people. Black
Nations Rising magazine had a yarn with
Provocalz on the topic of hiphop and
political consciousness:
Is there a space for political issues
within hiphop? It has always been a
voice for the voiceless and disempowered.
I like to provide empowerment with
my music for my people, a people born
into disadvantage. I speak about what
I see and live, about politics, about our
struggle. We will never sit down and just
take it. If youve got nothing to die for,
you will die for nothing. Our peoples
future is a very important thing, for our
children and our families.
ISSUE 2
1

Why do you write political hiphop?

I write about my own experiences. I
grew up listening to my elders and
reading books on Che Guevara, the
Black Panthers, guerrilla warfare and
many other struggles worldwide. Ive
felt a connection to these stories, these
experiences. My obligation is to provide
something productive with my music
the time for fun and games is over. This
world is getting worse by the minute. If
I didnt have something important to
say, I wouldnt bother trying to be heard.
Unfortunately, a lot of MCs do not feel
that way and continue to push their
garbage onto our youth.
Why is it important for you to have a
conscious message within your music? It
is important because it is the truth. Being
genuine and real is the most important
thing I can give people. I do it through my
music and even more so since I became
a father two years ago. How do I teach
my son to be a man and stand for what he
believes in if I dont do the same? I feel
a need to cut through the fakes to try and
reach my people, especially our youth,
before they get lost in an image of hiphop.
It is not the reality of life.
What kind of messages or topics does
your music talk about? My topics and
messages change a lot depending on how
I am feeling or thinking. From straight
raw hiphop, to flex skills, to power music.
I do it for people to gain some pride and
empowerment. I address issues within
society or even within the music industry.
Just recently we did a track addressing

the continuing stolen generations. It is

a very powerful track, which I hope not
only gives some insight to outsiders, but
also gives strength to the victims of this
policy. I try to delve into a wide range
of issues faced by my people, be it Black
murders in custody or protests like the
Redfern Tent Embassys fight against the
gentrification and removal of our people
from The Block.
What kind of impact did music you
listened to growing up have on you?
The music I listened to had a great impact
on me growing up in the Southwest of
Sydney. I was exposed to a lot of crime,
violence and drugs at a young age. But
listening to groups like Public Enemy, WuTang, Dead Prez and Immortal Technique
helped me understand why things are the
way they are. It gave me a craving for
knowledge. It made me start to value my
family, my community and myself.
Some final words... I think the real props
must go to our mob on the front lines of
our protests, fighting for all of us daily.
I dont like to get credit for making the
music I do because I feel it is my duty and
the least I can do to help our people in
the struggle. When I make a dope track,
I get an adrenaline rush because I cant
wait to show my mob and for them to gain
something from it not because I want to
become famous or anything like that.
*Interviewed by BOGAINE SKUTHORPE
SPEARIM (Gamilaraay/Kooma/Murrawarri).
Find out more about Provocalz:
www.facebook.com/provocalz
Black
Nations
Rising
P26
Black
Nations
Rising
P-

rowing frustrations in the Aboriginal

community reached a pressure point.
Our people issued a vote of no confidence in
Australias state and federal governments.
But the plan goes far beyond calls to action,
beyond street marches and sit-ins. At the heart of this
movement is a humanitarian effort we are aiming to
drive alongside the communities under threat.
It is our plan to defy the rhetoric around so-called
viability by making our communities sustainable
through alternative power, water and waste solutions,
replacing neglected and flailing infrastructure.

We remain firm in our resolve and strong in our

commitment to continue for as long as it takes to
remove this oppressive regime from the backs of our
people. We will stand against the great land grab for
our mineral rich country that sits behind the agendas
and policies of government in their attempts to remove
Aboriginal people from their traditional homelands.
Sam Cook, NYIKINA
Organiser in campaign against
forced closure of Aboriginal communities

ISSUE #2 JUNE 2015 | WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/BLACKNATIONSRISING

REMEMBERING THE

FRONTIER WARS