Commonwealth of Australia: Difference between revisions

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== Aboriginal genocide ==
== Aboriginal genocide ==
[[File:Pre-colonial Australia.png|thumb|360x360px|Map of indigenous nations in pre-colonial Australia]]
[[File:Pre-colonial Australia.png|thumb|360x360px|Map of indigenous nations in pre-colonial Australia]]
Early governors of New South Wales sent detachments to terrorize the indigenous populations.<ref name=":0" /> In [[Queensland]], 65,000 Aboriginals were killed by white settlers between 1820 and the early 1900s. Throughout Australia, 140 frontier massacres occurred between 1831 and 1918. In Tasmania, the entire indigenous population was wiped out by 1876. The most recent massacre was in Coniston in the [[Northern Territory]], where 60 Aboriginals, including children, were killed after the death of one settler in 1928.<ref name=":1" /> Until 1965, Aboriginals could not vote.<ref>{{News citation|author=Ron Hall|newspaper=[[The Guardian (Australia)|The Guardian]]|title=NAIDOC Week|date=2022-07-04|url=https://cpa.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Guardian2013_2022-07-04.pdf}}</ref>
Early governors of New South Wales sent detachments to terrorize the indigenous populations.<ref name=":0" /> In [[Queensland]], 65,000 Aboriginals were killed by white settlers between 1820 and the early 1900s. Throughout Australia, 140 frontier massacres occurred between 1831 and 1918. In Tasmania, the entire indigenous population was wiped out by 1876. The most recent massacre was in Coniston in the [[Northern Territory]], where 60 Aboriginals, including children, were killed after the death of one settler in 1928.<ref name=":1" /> Until 1965, Aboriginals could not vote on a federal level.<ref>{{News citation|author=Ron Hall|newspaper=[[The Guardian (Australia)|The Guardian]]|title=NAIDOC Week|date=2022-07-04|url=https://cpa.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Guardian2013_2022-07-04.pdf}}</ref>


More than 35% of Australian Aboriginals are now unemployed. In some rural areas, it is as high as 90%. Aboriginal life expectancy is 20 years lower than the rest of Australia and Aboriginals are 29 times more likely than settlers to be in prison.<ref>{{News citation|author=Yabu Bilyana|newspaper=[[World Socialist Web Site]]|title=Yabu Bilyana addresses ICFI World Conference: “Genocide of indigenous peoples is still practiced throughout Australia”|date=2019-04-15|url=https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/04/15/berl-a15.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210125070036/https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/04/15/berl-a15.html|archive-date=2021-01-25|retrieved=2022-06-30}}</ref> Despite making up a small percentage of the young population, indigenous youth account for 75% of mandatory sentences.<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=[[Lalkar]]|title=Racist persecution of Aborigines in Australia continues unabated|date=2022-12-15|url=https://thecommunists.org/2022/12/15/news/australia-racist-persecution-aborigines-in-australia-unabated/|retrieved=2022-12-17}}</ref>
=== "Closing The Gap" ===
"Closing The Gap", in Australia, refers to "the Gap" in reference to Indigenous Australians - a distinct and noticeable disparity between the vital statistics of Indigenous Australians and their non-Indigenous counterparts as a result of intergenerational trauma and the effects of colonialism.<ref>{{Citation|author=Australian Human Rights Commission|year=2019|title=Close the Gap: Indigenous Health Campaign|title-url=https://www.humanrights.gov.au/our-work/aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-social-justice/projects/close-gap-indigenous-health}}</ref> More than 35% of Australian Aboriginals are now unemployed. In some rural areas, it is as high as 90%. Aboriginal life expectancy is 20 years lower than the rest of Australia and Aboriginals are 29 times more likely than settlers to be in prison.<ref>{{News citation|author=Yabu Bilyana|newspaper=[[World Socialist Web Site]]|title=Yabu Bilyana addresses ICFI World Conference: “Genocide of indigenous peoples is still practiced throughout Australia”|date=2019-04-15|url=https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/04/15/berl-a15.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210125070036/https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/04/15/berl-a15.html|archive-date=2021-01-25|retrieved=2022-06-30}}</ref> Despite making up a small percentage of the young population, indigenous youth account for 75% of mandatory sentences.<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=[[Lalkar]]|title=Racist persecution of Aborigines in Australia continues unabated|date=2022-12-15|url=https://thecommunists.org/2022/12/15/news/australia-racist-persecution-aborigines-in-australia-unabated/|retrieved=2022-12-17}}</ref>


=== Uluru Statement ===
=== Uluru Statement and Voice to Parliament ===
In 2017, delegates from 250 indigenous communities made a proposal for an indigenous advisory body to the Australian parliament. Prime Minister [[Malcolm Turnbull]] ruled out a referendum that could have enshrined the proposal in the constitution.<ref>{{News citation|newspaper=CGTN|title=Australian PM accused of 'humiliating' indigenous leaders|date=2018-08-09|url=https://news.cgtn.com/news/3d3d774d336b6a4d79457a6333566d54/index.html|retrieved=2022-07-01}}</ref>
In 2017, delegates from 250 indigenous communities made a proposal for an indigenous advisory body to the Australian parliament. Prime Minister [[Malcolm Turnbull]] ruled out a referendum that could have enshrined the proposal in the constitution.<ref>{{News citation|newspaper=CGTN|title=Australian PM accused of 'humiliating' indigenous leaders|date=2018-08-09|url=https://news.cgtn.com/news/3d3d774d336b6a4d79457a6333566d54/index.html|retrieved=2022-07-01}}</ref>
 
In 2022 the Anthony Albanese Government supported such an advisory body, and laid out its plans to establish just that, an Indigenous "Voice to Parliament", established through a constitutional referendum. This has been met with widespread criticism and rejection from both left and right wings of politics, mostly due to the fact that the proposed Voice "Does not have Veto Power", and therefore is non-binding, and so can be ignored by Parliament at will.<ref>{{Citation|author=Federal Government of Australia|year=2023|title=Design Principles of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice|pdf=https://voice.gov.au/sites/default/files/2023-06/design-principles-aboriginal-torres-strait-islander-voice.pdf}}</ref>
 
In spite of this, the proposal is supported by many working-class organisations, such as the Australian Council of Trade Unions and most left-wing organisations. The Central Committee of the [[Communist Party of Australia (current)|Communist Party of Australia]] has announced a position of critical support in favour of the voice; acknowledging its uselessness but citing the dangers of bolstering far-right politics if the referendum fails.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Vinnie Molina|newspaper=Communist Party of Australia|title=Yes to the Voice to Parliament|url=https://cpa.org.au/yes-to-the-voice-to-parliament/}}</ref> In contrast, the [[Australian Communist Party (2019)|Australian Communist Party]] and some Aboriginal Nationalist Groups have rejected the voice, declaring it to be a useless tokenistic gesture that only serves to placate and stifle more radical movements such as Landback and Decolonisation.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Dan Kelly|newspaper=Australian Communist Party|title=The Voice, Imprisonment and the Movement|date=2023-04-14|url=https://www.auscp.org.au/militant-worker/the-voice-imprisonment-and-the-movement?rq=voice}}</ref>


=== Denialism ===
=== Denialism ===

Revision as of 15:44, 22 July 2023

Commonwealth of Australia
Yarraanbaa
Koey Daudai
Flag of Commonwealth of Australia
Flag
Coat of arms of Commonwealth of Australia
Coat of arms
Anthems: Advance Australia Fair (Official), Waltzing Matilda (Colloquial)
Map of Australia with Antarctic claim in light green
Map of Australia with Antarctic claim in light green
CapitalCanberra
Largest citySydney
Recognised national languagesEnglish
Dominant mode of productionCapitalism
GovernmentDictatorship of the bourgeoisie
• Monarch
Charles III
• Governor-General
David Hurley
• Prime Minister
Anthony Albanese
LegislatureWestminster System
Senate
House of Representatives
Area
• Total
7,692,024 km²
Population
• 2023 estimate
26,636,700


Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a continent and settler-colonial state. Since the CIA overthrew the Australian government in 1975, Australia has been a de facto vassal state of the USA.[1]

History

British colonization

In the 1770s, Captain James Cook claimed Australia for the British according to the terra nullius (nobody's land) principle even though it had already been inhabited for tens of thousands of years. The first European settlement was established at Sydney cove in 1788. In 1790, a Bidjigal man named Pemulwuy began a twelve-year guerrilla campaign against the settlers when he fatally speared Philip John McEntire.[2] He raided settlers' farms, both to obtain food and as revenge for violence against other Aboriginals. He survived two bullet wounds but was eventually killed in 1802.[3] In 1803, the British landed on the island Tasmania, which was inhabited by 5,000 people.[4]

In August 1824, the Bathurst region of New South Wales was placed under martial law after conflicts between Aboriginal people led by Windradyne and settlers. Yagan, a Nyungar leader, led the resistance in Western Australia until being killed in 1833.[3]

In 1854, gold miners in Ballarat, Victoria began an uprising known as the Eureka rebellion. The rebellion was sparked by police harassment and arrests of miners.[5]

Independence

In January 1901, Australia became an independent federation. Soon after, the Immigration Restriction Act of 1901 was passed, preventing non-Europeans from entering the country.[6]

In 1956, Australia joined the imperialist Five Eyes alliance.[7]

1975 coup

See main article: 1975 Australian coup d'état

In 1972, Prime Minister Gough Whitlam from the Labor Party was elected and implemented universal healthcare and free college.[8] In 1973, the White Australia policy was officially removed.[6] In 1975, he recognized independence of Papua New Guinea and returned ancestral lands to the Gurindji people[9] but was overthrown by the CIA shortly after[10] with the help of governor-general John Kerr, who was a former CIA asset.[11]

Aboriginal genocide

Map of indigenous nations in pre-colonial Australia

Early governors of New South Wales sent detachments to terrorize the indigenous populations.[2] In Queensland, 65,000 Aboriginals were killed by white settlers between 1820 and the early 1900s. Throughout Australia, 140 frontier massacres occurred between 1831 and 1918. In Tasmania, the entire indigenous population was wiped out by 1876. The most recent massacre was in Coniston in the Northern Territory, where 60 Aboriginals, including children, were killed after the death of one settler in 1928.[4] Until 1965, Aboriginals could not vote on a federal level.[12]

"Closing The Gap"

"Closing The Gap", in Australia, refers to "the Gap" in reference to Indigenous Australians - a distinct and noticeable disparity between the vital statistics of Indigenous Australians and their non-Indigenous counterparts as a result of intergenerational trauma and the effects of colonialism.[13] More than 35% of Australian Aboriginals are now unemployed. In some rural areas, it is as high as 90%. Aboriginal life expectancy is 20 years lower than the rest of Australia and Aboriginals are 29 times more likely than settlers to be in prison.[14] Despite making up a small percentage of the young population, indigenous youth account for 75% of mandatory sentences.[15]

Uluru Statement and Voice to Parliament

In 2017, delegates from 250 indigenous communities made a proposal for an indigenous advisory body to the Australian parliament. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull ruled out a referendum that could have enshrined the proposal in the constitution.[16]

In 2022 the Anthony Albanese Government supported such an advisory body, and laid out its plans to establish just that, an Indigenous "Voice to Parliament", established through a constitutional referendum. This has been met with widespread criticism and rejection from both left and right wings of politics, mostly due to the fact that the proposed Voice "Does not have Veto Power", and therefore is non-binding, and so can be ignored by Parliament at will.[17]

In spite of this, the proposal is supported by many working-class organisations, such as the Australian Council of Trade Unions and most left-wing organisations. The Central Committee of the Communist Party of Australia has announced a position of critical support in favour of the voice; acknowledging its uselessness but citing the dangers of bolstering far-right politics if the referendum fails.[18] In contrast, the Australian Communist Party and some Aboriginal Nationalist Groups have rejected the voice, declaring it to be a useless tokenistic gesture that only serves to placate and stifle more radical movements such as Landback and Decolonisation.[19]

Denialism

In order to avoid persecution for the genocide of the indigenous peoples, the Australian government refused to recognize genocide as a crime until 2002 and has continued to refuse to make it apply to previous genocides.[20]

Foreign policy

Aggression against China

Australian major general and war criminal Jim Moran said in 2021 that Australia was going to go to war with China within 10 years and perhaps as early as 2024. He called pacifists "panda huggers" and said China would invade Australia after reunifying with Taiwan. Australian news program 60 Minutes said that Australians must be prepared to die to protect the Republic of China and called New Zealand "New Xi-Land" for refusing to align with the United States.[21]

References

  1. ↑ John Pilger (2020-06-01). "The Forgotten Coup against the 'Most Loyal Ally'" MintPress News. Archived from the original on 2022-03-13. Retrieved 2022-07-02.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Gary Pearce (2021-06-27). "Australia Was Founded on an Act of Genocide. It’s Time to Make Amends." Jacobin. Archived from the original on 2022-04-30. Retrieved 2022-05-15.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Busting the myth of peaceful settlement". Australians Together. Archived from the original on 2022-03-06. Retrieved 2022-05-15.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "The truth about white Australia: The genocide few talk about" (2021-09-17). CGTN. Archived from the original on 2021-09-19. Retrieved 2022-05-15.
  5. ↑ "The Eureka rebellion" (2016-04-28). The Socialist. Archived from the original on 2021-07-03. Retrieved 2022-05-27.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Jed Graham (2020-07-22). "History of the White Australia Policy" History of Yesterday. Archived from the original on 2022-03-24. Retrieved 2022-05-15.
  7. ↑ Richard Norton-Taylor (2010-06-25). "Not so secret: deal at the heart of UK-US intelligence" The Guardian. Archived from the original on 2013-12-05. Retrieved 2022-01-08.
  8. ↑ Jenny Hocking (2008). Gough Whitlam: A Moment in History (pp. 321–5). The Miegunyah Press. ISBN 9780522857054
  9. ↑ "Gough Whitlam – In Office". National Archives of Australia. Archived from the original on 2013-04-19. Retrieved 2022-01-08.
  10. ↑ William Blum (2003). Killing Hope: U.S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II. London: Common Courage Press. ISBN 1-56751-252-6
  11. ↑ Guy Rundle (2020-07-17). "The PM, the spy and the governor-general: what John Kerr didn’t tell the palace" Crikey. Archived from the original on 2022-03-23. Retrieved 2022-05-08.
  12. ↑ Ron Hall (2022-07-04). "NAIDOC Week" The Guardian.
  13. ↑ Australian Human Rights Commission (2019). Close the Gap: Indigenous Health Campaign.
  14. ↑ Yabu Bilyana (2019-04-15). "Yabu Bilyana addresses ICFI World Conference: “Genocide of indigenous peoples is still practiced throughout Australia”" World Socialist Web Site. Archived from the original on 2021-01-25. Retrieved 2022-06-30.
  15. ↑ "Racist persecution of Aborigines in Australia continues unabated" (2022-12-15). Lalkar. Retrieved 2022-12-17.
  16. ↑ "Australian PM accused of 'humiliating' indigenous leaders" (2018-08-09). CGTN. Retrieved 2022-07-01.
  17. ↑ Federal Government of Australia (2023). Design Principles of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice. [PDF]
  18. ↑ Vinnie Molina. "Yes to the Voice to Parliament" Communist Party of Australia.
  19. ↑ Dan Kelly (2023-04-14). "The Voice, Imprisonment and the Movement" Australian Communist Party.
  20. ↑ The Holodomor Genocide Question: How Wikipedia Lies to You
  21. ↑ Caitlin A. Johnstone (2021-11-18). "Australian war propaganda keeps getting crazier" Monthly Review. Archived from the original on 2022-02-17. Retrieved 2022-06-30.
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