New Way Aboriginal summit to begin NAIDOC week

Following the New Way Summit on Aboriginal rights in Canberra in January, a second summit will be held in Melbourne over July 1-4.

Convenor of the Victorian New Way Aboriginal Summit, Socialist Alliance member Sharon Firebrace, told Green Left Weekly: “We expect a lot of people will attend to learn that the New Way grassroots movement is a true opposition to what the federal government is dishing up to us in their shameful charade of establishing the First Nation Congress of Australia.”

The summit’s themes are genocide, sovereignty and treaty. One session is called “Native title is not land rights”.

“[At the summit], a number of significant issues pertinent to our future will be addressed by leading Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people, traditional law practitioners, academics, aspiring politicians, managers, and community representatives”, Firebrace said.

“The summit will bring together academics, professional, political and community figures for a unique meeting on the status and place of Aboriginal people in contemporary Australia.”

Sessions will also cover: the civil rights movement; Australia’s black history; the Northern Territory intervention; the Aboriginal movement and the left; Aboriginal community-controlled organisations; the illusion of government and Aboriginal partnerships; deaths in custody; stolen children; and the trade union movement and its role in defending Aboriginal rights.

[The New Way Aboriginal Summit will be held at the Kangan Institute, Broadmeadows, on July 1 and Victorian Trades Hall, Carlton, over July 2-4. For information and booking, call Sharon on 0401 414 967 or Cheryl on 0401 806 331.]