BY ZANNY BEGG
SYDNEY — Fifty people gathered at the Newtown Neighbourhood Centre on September 20 to assess the movement for indigenous rights in the wake of the small and divided protests coinciding with the opening of the Olympics on September 15.
The forum was hosted by Green Left Weekly and addressed by the Indigenous Student Network convener Joel Bray, president of the Aboriginal Government of Australia, Clarrie Isaacs, Democratic Socialist Party member Kim Bullimore and Indigenous Social Justice Association convener Ray Jackson.
The September 15 protests, at separate venues, were steeped in controversy caused by a public rift between Jenny and Lyall Munro from the Metropolitan Land Council (MLC) and Isobel Coe from the Aboriginal Tent Embassy.
Joel Bray opened the forum by explaining his disappointment with the political direction of the protests during the Olympics. "The year 2000 was going to be the year of indigenous protest", he said. "Up to half a million people walked across the Harbour Bridge for Corroboree 2000 and we all thought the next step would be massive protests during the Olympics."
Bray explained that a "lack of leadership" in indigenous politics squandered the opportunity presented by the Olympics. Crucial to this defeat, Bray argued, was a "lack of vision" over what was needed to build a movement for indigenous rights.
"We have to realise that there are in fact two Tent Embassies" Bray continued, "the original one which was built in 1972 ... and which had a clear vision of what sovereignty meant, and the one today where this vision seems to have been lost".
Ray Jackson agreed that there was a lack of leadership but laid responsibility for this not just on Sydney but on activists nationally.
"In our golden opportunity to tell the world about indigenous politics", Jackson said, "all we could do is throw up a bit of dust. Where were are so called leaders during this time? ... Our 'leaders' let us down badly".
Jackson said that the Anti-Olympic Alliance and the Indigenous Student Network worked tirelessly to build momentum for a rally of thousands; the fact that this did not happen was a "tragedy for Aboriginal Australia".
In addition to lack of support from the established leadership, Jackson blamed the setback on divisions in the movement. Some had fallen for the "divide and rule tactic of the police", in which slander against the S11 protests was used to sow mistrust between the Aboriginal movement and its supporters.
Jackson was also very critical of the split between the two rallies. "I wanted to join the unity march but I stayed at the Tent Embassy only out of respect for the elders."
Jackson concluded that what was needed was for the people to build a new leadership, one which got beyond "egos" and "divisions". "Our mob needs to learn about solidarity", he said.
Kim Bullimore developed this argument when she explained the importance of S11 in raising the possibility of solidarity between oppressed groups.
"At S11", she related, "we learned who was with us and who was against us. With us were the poor, the workers, the unemployed, women fighting for their rights, high school students, gay and lesbian groups, people campaigning for an end to exploitation and oppression.
"Against us were the police, the government, the official media and the rich corporations."
Bullimore saw S11 as a massive victory which the indigenous movement could learn from. "We may have lost out on September 15, but we can by uplifted by the protests on September 11, 12 and 13 in Melbourne, which showed what mass mobilisation can achieve.
"We need to learn from the debacle of September 15 and go back and rebuild a democratic mass movement for indigenous rights."