Solidarity Means Showing Up

There will be no climate or economic justice in this place without justice for First Nations people.

As a movement fighting for justice in Australia, we must remember that all our actions take place on stolen land.

When we think about economic justice in this country, we must remember that all its wealth stems from the original violent dispossession of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders peoples from their lands and culture.

And this violence is ongoing.

Many of us were horrified to learn that a black man, George Floyd, was killed by a police officer last week in the US. This sparked global protests against systemic racial violence.

More than 430 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have died in police custody since the royal commission into it in 1991. This is not just a number, it is over 430 people who were loved ones and family members. It includes David Dungay Jr, a 26 year old Dunghutti man who was killed in very similar circumstances to George Floyd in a NSW prison in 2015. You can support David’s family to fight for justice here>

This country was founded on the racist lie of ‘terra nullius’. First Nations people have been violently forced from their lands ever since so that resources can be extracted for profit. This is the logic of white supremacy and capitalism in action. It was the supremacy of these toxic ideologies that allowed Rio Tinto to destroy a 46,000 year old sacred site last week for the sake of mining profits.

We need to listen to First Nations people, black people and people of colour, learn from their centuries of resistance and then we need to move to action.

Here are some actions you can take right now:

1. Support First Nations led campaigns, organisations and businesses. This resource has an excellent list of fundraisers and organisations to support.>>
2. Find out about the protests happening across the country this weekend. The protest organisers are asking all attendees to follow health recommendations including wear marks, stay 1.5 metres apart and stay home if sick or immunocompromised. See the full lists of rallies here>
3. Learn about the history of colonisation, racism and white supremacy on this continent. A good place to start is this Timeline of Resistance from First Nations organisation Original Power. If you can, please make a donation to Original Power when you download the resource.>

Solidarity means showing up. There are lots of different ways to do this and these are just three options. We can all keep listening, learning and reflecting on how we can keep showing up. Not just in moments of crisis, but in sustained deliberate solidarity.

There will be no climate or economic justice in this place without justice for First Nations people.

In solidarity,

Lee and the team at the Tomorrow Movement