By Maurice Sibelle
BRISBANE — Sam Watson, president of the Brisbane Aboriginal Legal Service, gave an inspiring address on the topic of "Black rights after the Year of Indigenous People", at a Resistance Centre Invasion Day forum here on January 26. The forum was presented by the Democratic Socialist Party.
Watson opened by dealing with the issue of black deaths in custody. The federal government, he said, spent $65 million on the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. It came up with 239 recommendations. Twenty-one key recommendations were breached in the Daniel Yock arrest. Daniel Yock died in police custody late last year.
The recommendations were "accepted" by the Queensland government and police force. Yet not one of the police officers involved in the Yock arrest had read the recommendations; they therefore claimed not to be bound by them. Watson argued that basic humanitarian care could not be found in the Queensland police force.
He went on to list some of the many instances of discrimination that Aborigines suffer. In Wilcannia, west of Bourke, Kooris are 30 times more likely to be arrested than whites. Recently, Brisbane Murri hostels were raided by police in search of "criminals" and the residents of the hostel were harassed. On January 25 the Goss Labor government moved to have native title claims removed from the courts.
The struggle for black rights in this country continues. Nothing substantial had changed for black people after the Year of Indigenous People.
This year is especially important for Aborigines. Watson explained that the International Year of the Family was important because the family is a basic building block of the Aboriginal community. The extended family is a necessary institution because of the lack of access to employment and some social services and the failure of the system to provide for people's needs, due to racism.
Watson urged listeners to "step up the struggle". In the Brisbane City Council elections we should support each other and work together.
"Black people need to open up a political dialogue, to talk politics, to debate and discuss", he said. "In 1994 we need to politicise the struggle. We need to link up with people who don't have any brief with Goss and Keating. We can't compromise on the needs of people to have decent food and living conditions."
Commenting on recent reports that the Brisbane City Council plans to put video surveillance cameras in the Fortitude Valley Mall, which many Murri people frequent, he said, "Video cameras in the mall will help get prosecutions but will not solve the core issues of why young people are on the streets".
Watson explained that broad based working class action will change society. "We have to turn the anger into politicisation. We need a broad process of politicisation. Ninety per cent of Murris are not on the electoral roll", he said.
"The AIPP [Australian Indigenous People's Party] is a short-term tactic. When we reach a certain level, we can phase out and get involved in the broader movement. We have to unite with other groups. Young black people have to push themselves forward in this process", he concluded.