Australians Protest Invasion Day

Protesters across Australia are calling for an end to Australia Day celebrations Tuesday, local time, arguing the national public holiday glorifies the massacre of indigenous Aboriginal people at the hands of European settlers.

Australia Day, celebrated Jan 26, marks the arrival of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove and the subsequent appropriation of Aboriginal land and the genocide of Aboriginal people.

Anti-Australia Day protesters march holding a banner reading “No room for racism.” | Photo: Andrew Self

Thousands of protesters flooded the streets of the country’s major cities to demand recognition of the widespread abuses caused by British conquest and the ongoing discrimination against Australian Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders.

Hard to turn this aside. #InvasionDay pic.twitter.com/h6JkK1wYiS

— Calla Wahlquist (@callapilla) January 26, 2016

Genocide - Established 1788 #InvasionDay #AustraliaDay pic.twitter.com/P3ISYudvqS

— Holly Hammond (@Holly_PTW) January 26, 2016

Calling for the date to be recognized as “Invasion Day,” the demonstrators point to the disproportionate numbers of Aboriginal people incarcerated and the massive gap in life expectancy as evidence of systemic political and cultural marginalization.

Non-indigenous Australians are expected to live up to 11.5 years longer than Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics or ABS.

Anti-Australia Day protesters march through Melbourne. | Photo: Andrew Self

A 2014 ABS report revealed Indigenous people represent 27 percent of Australia’s prison inmates, despite only constituting 2.5 percent of the country’s total population. Those of Aboriginal heritage are 18 times more likely to be sent to jail than non-Indigenous Australians.

OPINION: Australia's Annual Celebration of Genocide and Conquest

The demonstrators, among them Australian intellectual and leftist John Pilger, argue more needs to be done to address discriminatory policies and close the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.

Speaking at a rally at Sydney Town Hall, Pilger compared modern day Australia to South Africa during apartheid, insisting the nation must recognize and reform its racist legacy.

"No country since apartheid Sth Africa has been more condemned for human rights abuse"- John Pilger #InvasionDay Syd pic.twitter.com/0cb5ZEpIXS

— Ben (@bensolity) January 26, 2016

Great turn out at Parliament for #InvasionDay- this city was built on the genocide of the Kulin people #AustraliaDay pic.twitter.com/en9qGTuwDS

— Friends of the Earth (@FoEAustralia) January 26, 2016

Yet racism against Indigenous Australians is one of the most prevalent forms of discrimination in Australian society, a 2014 report by mental health organization beyondblue found.

The research found that one in five non-Indigenous Australians would move away if an Indigenous Australian sat near them; one in three believe Indigenous Australians are lazy and almost half do not accept that moving away from an Indigenous Australian when they sit near them is an act of discrimination.

Aboriginal and other anti-Australia Day protesters gather outside Melbourne Central Train Station. | Photo: Andrew Self

The report also found that almost half of non-Indigenous Australians believe Indigenous Australians are given unfair advantages by the government, despite research from the Australian Human Rights Commission indicating that Indigenous Australians suffer from an inadequate standard of living, higher levels of unemployment, lower levels of education and higher levels of homelessness.

The United Nations has also been critical of the Australian state in recent years. In 2009, the organization wrote to former President Kevin Rudd over the Australian government’s suspension of the Racial Discrimination Act as part of Canberra’s controversial Northern Territory National Emergency Response (also referred to as “the intervention”).

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