Sunday Showdown in the Square
The feisty crew who set up an Aboriginal tent embassy in the King's Domain have been getting up all the right noses; the likes of 3AW shock jock Neil Mitchell and his mate at Kirribilli have been outraged at the latest upstart Koori activism.
And Friday's visit by Lord Mayor John So and state Aboriginal Affairs Minister Gavin Jennings seems to have further fired up the activists. So and Jennings gave them a 4pm deadline today to leave their camp, established during the Commonwealth Games to highlight the ongoing sore of Aboriginal disposession.
So how did the group of "law-breaking Aborigines" respond to this arbitrary ultimatum? Undeterred, they decided to expand their protest.
They gatecrashed a Thai new year festival held at Federation Square, a few hundred metres up the road. Three activists, one performing the traditional smoke ceremony, tried to get on stage but were asked by Thai organisers to leave.
After a Fed Square guard was called the Aboriginal group agreed to depart.
The action was captured in these photos by freelance photojournalist Sasha Uzunov
We'll be watching this afternoon to see if the jumpy civic authorities' 4pm ultimatum leads to the kind of conflict that would signal a victory for intolerant types like Mitchell.
posted by Hugo at 5:10 pm
2 Comments:
That "feisty crew" doesn't even have the support of the traditional owners - who have spoken out, unambiguously, against this action - let alone support from the broader community.
Getting up the noses of pretty much everyone, actually.
Placating the government has become a necessary evil for some sectors of the community, not specifically the Libs federal government, state governments are equally guilty of using coercive methods of silencing dissent.
Aboriginal people have every right to protest and it should be encouraged and supported by the wider community.
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