Month: January 2019

Invasion Day 2019

Posted on Wednesday, 30 January, 2019Sunday, 31 May, 2020 by Dr Zuleyka Zevallos

This past weekend was the Australia Day long weekend. The holiday marks the genocide and dispossession of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. This day will never be inclusive or live up to ideals of multiculturalism, as it is a Day of Mourning for First Nations people. We need to not just change the date but also #ChangeTheNation. This is time for truth-telling of our national history, a Voice to Parliament and Makarrata (treaty), as outlined in the Uluru Statement From the Heart.

On 26 January, beginning at 11am, we marched at the Invasion Day rally from Hyde Park South to the Yabun Festival. The rally starts with speeches, smoking ceremony and dance commentating survival. Remembering the Waterloo Creek massacre.

Whiteness, Racism, and Power

Posted on Tuesday, 29 January, 2019Monday, 2 February, 2026 by Dr Zuleyka Zevallos

Two hands hold up a sign that says: STOP RACISM

Here’s a typical example of how white people exercise and maintain racism. TV personality, Kerri-Anne Kennerly, flies into a rage about Saturday’s Invasion Day protests, led by Aboriginal people, seeking to change the date of Australia Day and establish systemic reform that includes a Voice to Parliament and Makarrata (treaty). Kennerly taps the table angrily, ‘Has anyone of them been out to the Outback where children, babies, 5 year olds are being raped. Their mothers are being raped. Their sisters are being raped. They get no education. What have you done? Zippo.’