James Crafti, Canberra
Indigenous activists converged on Canberra on July 20 for the anniversary of the federal government's attempt in 1972 to destroy the Aboriginal Tent Embassy outside Old Parliament House. The tent embassy was erected on Invasion Day (January 26), 1972, and was forcibly dismantled by police six months later.
Sam Watson, an Indigenous leader from Queensland and a Socialist Alliance national executive member who attended the convergence, recalled the street battles between the police and demonstrators in the days following the police attack on the embassy. He described how 2500-3000 Indigenous people, and students and unionists who supported their cause, forced the police to back down within four days.
While the tent embassy has faced repeated harassment since then, there have been no further government attempts to destroy it.
The convergence marched along the same route as the original protest. It then marched from the Australian National University to the tent embassy where future campaigns were discussed.
Watson told Green Left Weekly he is discussing with other Indigenous activists the possibility of organising a rally outside Parliament House on August 9, the first sitting day of the new Senate, to demand: "Stop the genocide!", "A treaty now!", and "Restore Aboriginal sovereignty!". An Indigenous rights convergence on that day would coincide with a Unions ACT rally and a high school students' strike against the Howard government's industrial relations legislation. For more information, contact Sam Watson at <sam.watson@uq.edu.au>.
From Green Left Weekly, July 27, 2005.
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