Jan 26, 2019 - Abolish Australia Day

Today is the 26th of January, 2019. This marks the anniversary of the 1788 British invasion of the Indigenous Peoples territories in so – called Australia. In 1938 on January 26 our Elders held an official Day of Mourning to mark our sorrow for the beginning of the seizure and usurpation of our lands, acts of genocide and the callous ongoing treatment of our people. On that day the Australian government were attempting to re-construct the invasion of our Country, to do so, they forced 25 Aboriginal men from Menindee Mission to participate in the re-enactment with the threat that if they didn’t do so their families would starve.

Growing from these histories and tensions is our Peoples movement now labelling the day as ‘Invasion Day’ against a contrasting white australia national public holiday on January 26. Terra Nullius and colonial white supremacy remain dominant here and our Indigenous peoples are in dire circumstances on every socio – economic indicator, our life expectancy rates are 10 years lower, we are the most incarcerated people in the country, we suffer spiritually from being removed and kept from our lands we have some of the suicide rates in the world.

Many of our communities suffer from lack of access to clean drinking water and healthy food, and our lands are still being colonised and our bodies are still being assimilated. Every year we mobilise prior to January 26 through various public act of resistance, this time is known as #7DayOfResistance. We gear up to hold mass rallies in cities and towns to assert our presence, our rejection of Australia Day and our survival – we rally to campaign for the abolishment of Australia Day and to change the nation. We are gaining increasing solidarity from non – Indigenous people here and from people over seas as well. Our families, friends, supporters and allies who are not able to be on the ground at the rallies can show their solidarity by reposting our social media content. We will be taking images and recording video at the rally. The FB page to tune into is:

Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance – WAR:

https://www.facebook.com/WARcollective/

Also, to increase visibility for the cause, on top of re-posting our content people can also post an image of our Aboriginal flag or one of them holding a fist or sign up in solidarity of our People and our cause, using the hashtags #InvasionDay #AbolishAustraliaDay #7DaysOfResistance #WAR #ChangeTheNation

Please show your support for our cause and join us in our struggle. Please pray to the Creator and the Ancestors to guide and to embolden us with strength and determination to do the work necessary for real, substantial change.

Darrundung nganyundi barrmarrany (thank you my family).

In spirit and solidarity.

Indigenous Peoples Movement