Gomeroi author, blogger and activist Kelly Briggs recently wrote in the Guardian’s Comment is Free of the pressing need for white feminists in Australia to talk seriously about race.
indigenous
What colonialism has perpetrated and the activists fighting back
Friday Hoydens: Lakota and Dakota Grandmothers vs Neo-Nazis
These women from the Standing Rock Indian Nation in North Dakota are only holding this Nazi flag up to the camera because they’re about to burn it, having captured it from public display on the property of a white supremacist in the nearby very small town of Leith, ND.
The 62nd Down Under Feminists Carnival
This is the 62nd monthly Down Under Feminists Carnival. This edition of the carnival gathers together June 2013 feminist posts from writers living in Australia and New Zealand.
NAIDOC Week!
I plan to head into town tomorrow for NAIDOC in the City in Hyde Park – the forecast is for a beautiful sunny day, so it should be especially joyous.
Sport, racial vilification, casually racist gaffes, calling out slurs and apologies
I haven’t been paying attention to all the details of who said what about Adam Goodes since the on-field incident last week, but I’m pleasantly surprised to see Eddie Maguire now offering proper acknowledgements of the effects of racial vilification and proper apologies for uttering a racial slur. It’s a start.
Signal Boost: women being prosecuted for retracting domestic violence allegations
From Destroy the Joint, a call for action at NSW state level: call upon the Attorney General Greg Smith to issue a direction to the NSW DPP under the Director of Public Prosecutions Act to ensure that no one is prosecuted solely for retracting an allegation of domestic or sexual violence without the approval of a senior lawyer within the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Update: Attorney-General Greg Smith has made a statement that he has no plans to revise the existing laws relating to this matter. Now is the time to up the pressure.
National Cultural Policy launched
Yesterday, the Minister for the Arts unveiled Australia’s new National Cultural Policy.
“Creative Australia, the Australian Government’s 2013 national cultural policy, celebrates Australia’s strong, diverse and inclusive culture. It describes the essential role arts and culture play in the life of every Australian and how creativity is central to Australia’s economic and social success: a creative nation is a productive nation.”
5 years since the Apology
Link round up for the 5th Anniversary of the Apology to the Stolen Generation [edited ~M]
Thoughts on Australia Day / Invasion Day
Wesley Enoch, Artistic Director of the Queensland Theatre Company, and always a wise voice from the Aboriginal community, wrote this about the significance of what we have chosen to commemorate today. I found it both insightful and moving, and (with his permission) wanted to share it:
Friday Hoyden: Sekai Holland
The current Zimbabwean Minister for Reconciliation, Healing and Integration has a long history with Australia, going back to her days as a university student. Sekai was here this week to accept the Sydney Peace prize, and give its associated lecture.