Australia: Aboriginal man dies in Casuarina Prison as hundreds rally around WA to protest deaths in custody

Protesters gather at Western Australia parliament in Perth.

by Powell, ABC News, Oct 23, 2014

A 31-year-old Aboriginal man has died in a Perth prison, as hundreds rally around the state to protest Aboriginal deaths in custody.

It is the second death in custody in WA in three months.

Protesters rallied in Perth, South Hedland and Geraldton to demand answers over the death of a 22-year-old Aboriginal woman in police custody in August.

Ms Dhu, 22, died after being locked up in the South Hedland Police Station over unpaid fines.

Aboriginal Australians Are Still Dying in Police Custody

By Lauren Gillin, Vice, September 13, 2014

This article originally appeared on VICE Australia.  

In 1983, a 16-year-old Aboriginal man called John Pat died of massive head injuries after being taken into police custody in Western Australia. His death, along with several others, sparked the historic Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. The commission eventually delivered 339 recommendations, including that police only take Aboriginal people into custody as a last resort.

More than three decades later, it seems that Australia has learned very little from its history.

Australia: Aboriginal children removed from home ‘at gunpoint’ by heavily armed police

By Tim Lamacraft, ABC News, Sept 12, 2014

Heavily armed police were used to remove Aboriginal children from their home “at gunpoint”, the New South Wales Greens say.

Greens MLC David Shoebridge is demanding the State Government explain why the officers helped Family and Community Services (FACS) workers take eight children from a house in Moree earlier this year.

Mr Shoebridge said the family was traumatised.

“[It’s a] deeply troubling story of a family that’s been woken soon after dawn,” he said.

“[They used] shields, helmets, assault rifles, the mother and father taken from their beds, shaken from their beds, handcuffed naked, children marched out at gunpoint.”

Police confirmed officers from the Barwon Local Area Command helped FACS officers execute a court warrant, saying they attended to prevent any breach of the peace or public order incident.

Australia: Protesters scale buildings to stop bulldozing of The Block

One of several banners at The Bloc, an aboriginal housing site set to be demolished, July 7, 2014.

James Robertson, Sydney Morning Herald, July 7, 2014

Two protesters have scaled buildings at The Block in Redfern with banners early on July 7, 2014. Construction work is due to begin today and the protesters have vowed to blockade the site to stop the Aboriginal Housing Commission’s planned commercial redevelopment.

About 200 protesters gathered at The Block in Redfern on Monday as tensions flared over the fear that the site will be bulldozed for redevelopment.

Australia: Aboriginal Tent Embassy is Reclaiming the Black Heart of Sydney

By Paul Gregoire, Vice,  June 15, 2014

As you approach the Aboriginal tent embassy on the Block in Redfern, inner city Sydney, you see the sacred fire burning within a large circle marked on the ground, serving to cleanse the area. Some ten metres up from the fire, at the edge of the Block, the Aboriginal Housing Company (AHC) has erected a sign that reads: “Warning. Private Property.”

On Saturday, a group of more than 200 protesters gathered in support of the tent embassy that was established on National Sorry Day, May 26 [2014].

Brisbane Blacks Protest British Royal Family Visit

“It is only through the Royal Family’s false and illegal claim of sovereignty over this continent that the Federal, State and Territory governments derive their authority to pass laws and enforce them.  Give back what you stole.  Our sovereignty has never been ceded!” – Wayne Wharton (Kooma)

Australia Invasion Day 2014

Front of the march in Brisbane on Invasion Day, Jan 26, 2014.

Every January 26, Australia celebrates “Australia Day,” but for many Aboriginal peoples it has become known as Invasion Day.  The annual mobilization includes rallies and events intended to challenge the state’s narrative of colonization and to promote Aboriginal resistance.

In Australia, apartheid is alive and kicking

The richest land on Earth writes Aboriginal people out of history and pushes them to the margins. Like South Africa 30 years ago

Aboriginal elders playing cards in their camp near Alice Springs.

John Pilger, The Guardian, November 5, 2013

The corridors of the Australian parliament are so white you squint. The sound is hushed; the smell is floor polish. The wooden floors shine so virtuously they reflect the cartoon portraits of prime ministers and rows of Aboriginal paintings, suspended on white walls, their blood and tears invisible.

Australia: Indigenous groups angry about roll-back of Wild Rivers laws

Stephanie Smail, ABC News, Thursday, August 1, 2013

Feb 2013 Australia anti-fracking protests see police escort for drilling company trucks.

Indigenous groups in Queensland’s Channel Country are calling on the State Government to reverse its decision to allow oil and gas development in the Lake Eyre Basin.

The Newman Government says it will wind back the previous government’s Wild Rivers protection declarations in western Queensland to allow some shale and coal seam gas extraction.