‘No more whitewashing of British colonialism’: Protesters demand abolition of the monarchy on Day of Mourning
Image: Protesters at an 'Abolish the Monarchy' rally gathered in front of the Town Hall steps. Photo: Christine Lai.
By CHRISTINE LAI
Thousands of protesters across Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, and Canberra marched in objection to the National Day of Mourning for Queen Elizabeth on Thursday. Protesters demanded the abolition of the monarchy and condemned ongoing British colonialism in Australia.
The Sydney rally was hosted by Fighting in Solidarity Towards Treaties (FISTT), a group that describes themselves as being a “social and political initiative aiming to represent and liberate Australia’s First Nations people”. First Nations woman Lizzie Jarrett chaired the rally.
FISTT spokesperson and NSW Greens upper house candidate Lynda-June Coe begun her speech with a request for a minute’s silence to pay respects to the loss of Indigenous people since British colonisation, and specifically to the passing of some “really profound leaders and pioneers this year” including Uncle Archie Roach and Uncle Jack Charles.
Coe declared that Indigenous people today were part of the “continuation of the first resistance of this country here in Gadigal land.”
“There was no peaceful settlement. There was waves of genocide in this country, attempted annihilation of first nation’s people and what we’ve seen since the death of Elizabeth is the whitewashing of history. That’s why we’re here today,” Coe said.
Coe referred to the Aborigines Welfare Ordinance (1954) which Queen Elizabeth signed to legalise the removal of children from the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and surrounding districts in New South Wales as an example of the monarchy’s complicity in the ethnic cleansing of Indigenous people.
“We are calling for the abolition of inherited power, a power that has been accumulated through stolen land, stolen wealth, and stolen resources. Queen Elizabeth was the longest reigning thief,” Coe declared.
No tears shed for colonial history
Aboriginal Tent Embassy ambassador Gwenda Stanley stated that she would “not shed a tear” for someone whose legacy benefitted off the genocide of Indigenous people throughout the nation.
“We are the descendants of those that you never killed. We are the longest resistance of this country, fighting for what is ours. We are fighting for justice, peace, freedom, and equality but most of all we are fighting for our people and the love of our land,” Stanley said.
Stanley spoke on Australia’s long history that was “entrenched in intergenerational trauma” and criticised first prime minister Edmund Barton for his support of the White Australia policy (1901).
“There’s no equality in this country for us. You’re walking on sacred land, burial grounds, massacre sites. We need our fucking land back”, Stanley declared.
Indigenous rights activist Kyah Patten declared that she was mourning “our children that got taken away, for the women who were raped and for our culture that we are still trying to keep surviving today”.
Patten is the niece of Eddie Murray, an Aboriginal rugby league player who died in police custody, and she has continued her grandparents’ fight in finding justice for his passing 41 years on.
“January 26 is our day of mourning and still we get told to get over it. It’s been 41 years since the Royal Commission investigated my uncle’s death. 41 years and we’re still asking for an independent investigation into my uncle’s death”, Patten said.
Seeking justice for police brutality
Paul Silva, nephew to David Dungay Junior, an Aboriginal man who died at the hands of action guards in a cell in Sydney’s Long Bay jail in 2015, called out the atrocities of black deaths in custody and the need to continue seeking justice against police brutality.
Dungay Junior was dragged to a cell and held face down before being injected with a sedative, while he called out he was unable to breathe a dozen times.
Silva called for another protest to abolish the monarchy and asserted, “We’re not the only people that are outraged.”
Palestinian activist Amal Naser spoke about the shared struggle between Indigenous people and Palestinians at the hands of colonialism.
“On your day of mourning, on Invasion Day we see violence and racist celebrations of the genocide and land theft of your people. However today, the state has finally declared a day of mourning only this time it’s not to mourn the fact that this country was bult on violence, theft, and colonisation but rather the Queen of the empire who subjugated this violence on your people,” Naser said.
Naser referenced the 1917 Balfour Declaration that the British empire signed which declared Palestine as the homeland of the Jewish people, adopting the “cult from the Zionist movement.”
“Balfour conveyed the British government’s promise, sealing the fate of Palestine to live in perpetual war and turmoil”, Naser said.
Naser condemned the British empire’s role in continuing to “support the imperialist project by exporting arms to the US, Israel, Saudi Arabia among other countries who have rampaged war to maintain domination and control.”
Vinil Kumar condemned the “lack of mourning for First nation’s lives that have been taken and dispossessed since the colonisation of Australia” and declared the “litany of crimes that were being washed away every time people mourned the Queen”.
“Every time they say now is not the time (to speak against the Monarchy’s atrocities and war crimes), they’re deliberately whitewashing history”, Kumar said.
