Start: 2008-06-21T01:00:00
End: 2008-06-21T04:00:00
Location: The Block, Redfern
Call for a National Day of Action on Saturday June 21
Endorsed by the national conference called by the Aboriginal Rights Coalition May 23-25 in Sydney attended by over 200 people.
– Repeal all “NT intervention” legislation
– Restore the Racial Discrimination Act
– Fund infrastructure and community controlled services
– Sign and implement the UN Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples
– Aboriginal Control of Aboriginal Affairs
Communities continue to stand up against the intervention.
Scores of representatives from “prescribed areas” traveled to join the 2000 strong Canberra Convergence at the opening of the new Parliament. Many more will come from communities around the Northern Territory to protest in Alice Springs and Darwin as part of the national protests on 21 June.
In July Jenny Macklin, the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs will begin a review of the Intervention. We need to bring thousands of people out onto the streets around the country to ensure grass-roots voices are no longer ignored. The new Government must break with the assimilationist policies of the Howard era. They must act on the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. A massive injection of funds and resources into communities is badly needed, but cannot come at the expense of basic human rights. Only an approach which respects self-determination will lead to improvements in community life.