SOSBLAKAUSTRALIA held its third round of international action against Aboriginal community closures over the weekend of June 26 to 28. There were rallies in most capital cities in Australia, including Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth, as well as London and Dunedin.
Rallies in Sydney and Melbourne disrupted peak hour traffic due to rally goers marching through the city. In Sydney the march also included an Aboriginal dance troop performing at each intersection as the rally marched through the city to the Redfern Aboriginal Tent Embassy.
Community closures
The National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) has written to Prime Minister Tony Abbott stating its complete opposition to the forced closure of remote Aboriginal communities.
Paddy Gibson spoke at a Stop the Intervention Collective public meeting in April on the Northern Territory Intervention and Western Australian community closures. Gibson has lived in Alice Springs, researching the impact of the Intervention. He is a senior researcher with the Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning, University of Technology Sydney and co-editor of Solidarity magazine. This is an edited version of his speech.
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