Tony Abbott is a Racist Bastard

Hone Harawira, MANA leader

May 1 2015, Wellington NZ

May 1st is International Labour Day, a day when we commemorate the fight for workers to have decent working conditions and wages.

May 1st is also HE TAUA Day, a day when we honour those who brought a swift end to decades of racism at Auckland University by stopping the Engineering Students racist Haka Party.

And on May 1st 2015, we also stand in support of the land rights of our cousins across the Tasman.

Today we march against the plans by the racist government of Australia, to close down remote Aboriginal communities right across the state of Western Australia.

We march against the plans to force Aboriginal people from their homelands so that the Western Australian government can prop up its failing economy.

And we march against the plans to force Aboriginal people from their homelands so that transnational mining companies to steal the mineral wealth that lies beneath Aboriginal lands.

And at a time when Australia mourns the loss of two of its sons executed in Indonesia, we march against the ongoing genocide being committed against the indigenous people of Australia by the government of Australia, through the enforced closure of remote Aboriginal communities.

Genocide is defined under the Convention on the Prevention of Genocide as deliberately inflicting on one group, conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part through measures such as: forcing people from their lands, removing children from their families, cutting off basic medical needs, closing down basic infrastructure, denial of access to the basic requirements for life.

And that is exactly what the forced closure of Aboriginal communities is – conscious and deliberate genocide, something that colonialists have been trying to do ever since their arrival, originally through the gun barrels of white settlers and now through the legislation of white governments.

The UN recognises the overwhelming authority of the indigenous people to the land of Australia, and UN agencies have roundly condemned the Australian treatment of indigenous rights, and yet the racism of White Australia has continued unabated since the first convicts were dumped there in the 1800s.

Racism strengthened by the Australian Prime Minister’s introduction of the hated Northern Territory Intervention Plan back in 2007, which led to the words "John Howard is a racist bastard for imposing racist policies on a people who are not in a position to fight back"

Racism reinforced by the current Australian Prime Minister’s support for Western Australia’s Closure of Remote Communities in 2015, and to which I say "Tony Abbott is a racist bastard for supporting racist policies against a people who are not in a position to fight back"

And the irony of it all is that 20 years after forcing Aboriginal Australians out of the cities and back onto their lands in the Outback, the Australian government now realises those lands harbour vast deposits of billion dollar minerals oils and gases, hence the Northern Territory Intervention Plan and the Closure of Remote Communities in Western Australia, both designed purely to force Indigenous Australians off their homelands in favour of money hungry miners and their greedy white conspirators in government.

Tony Abbott says living in remote communities is a lifestyle choice, but that’s a load of crap. John Key having a batch in Omaha is what you call a lifestyle choice.

Aboriginal people living in communities on their homelands is a choice defined by the racism of white Australia, the genocidal policies of white Australian governments, and the desire of Aboriginal people to build strong communities where their children can flourish and their culture can survive.

Much like Maori here in Aotearoa who - facing decades of racism, unemployment, poor health, educational rejection, and the denial of justice in the courts of our lands - choose to go home where they can rebuild themselves, their whanau and their culture in a place where a limited unemployment benefit can be supplemented by access to food from the land and the sea, only to be told that if they move back to those communities they will be cut off from the dole – NZ’s very own Closure of Remote Communities policy.

So today we commend the stand taken by Timana Tahu, Maori-Aboriginal dual international rugby and rugby league star for opposing the Closure of Remote Communities in Australia.

Today to commend the stand taken by Bella Bropho and all those who have been arrested for daring to stand up for those wanting to live in communities close to their homelands.

Today we join with those rallying right across Aotearoa, Australia and the Pacific, in condemning the racist policies and practices that deny indigenous people the rights to live on their own lands.

Today we stand in solidarity with te iwi moemoea, the dream people, by calling on the NZ government to condemn Western Australia’s Closure of Remote Communities policy.

And just as importantly, today we call on the NZ government itself to end its own Closure of Remote Communities policy, and allow all citizens of Aotearoa to enjoy the benefits of our society, in the communities that we call home.

ENDS

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