A Palestinian journalist pays tribute to his little boy who was just murdered by 'Israel'.

I just think anyone who goes down the path of “who is a real Australian” is asking the wrong questions. “Australia” is a settler-colony. “Australian” is therefore a colonial fabrication. so in my mind. claiming that the only “real Australians” are first nations people is completely missing the point. nobody is a real Australian! we are turned into Australians by systems of colonisation and white supremacy! imo

that’s not to say that it’s bad or wrong to claim Australian as a part of your identity. you just need to be able to acknowledge where that identity comes from, what it means, and who it has traditionally excluded

A reminder...

Remember inalienable rights? Yeah?

I haven't seen much discussion of the student encampments for Palestine in Australia, so I thought I would share this joint statement from 11 student solidarity encampments (including one at my uni) that was published in Overland Literary Magazine (bold sections my own):

This is a statement by the Palestine solidarity encampments at University of Sydney, University of Adelaide, University of Queensland, Curtin University, Monash University, RMIT University, Deakin University, University of Tasmania, Latrobe University, Australian National University, and University of Wollongong.

We have established peaceful protest encampments on unceded Aboriginal land to stand with the people of Gaza against the bombings, invasion and occupation by Israeli forces. Our struggle is for them, and our encampments are for them. We are horrified at the brutality that is being brought down upon Palestinians. We cannot sit by while it unfolds. To do so would be a moral travesty. We believe in the possibility of a world without war, but that belief demands action.

Our demands are simple. We call on our universities to disclose all of their ties with Israel, divest from those ties, and sign on to the international Boycott Divestment & Sanctions statement. In particular, we are deeply disturbed by the partnerships that many of our universities hold with weapons companies. We are peace activists. We firmly believe that universities should be institutions of education and learning, and should not have any connection to the weapons industry that brings death and destruction to our world.

We condemn the physical attacks against numerous encampments by supporters of Israel. This has included fireworks being shot at tents at the University of Adelaide and repeated violent attacks on the Monash encampment in the night. We condemn the physical attacks against numerous encampments by supporters of Israel. We similarly condemn racist attacks on Muslim students by supporters of Israel.

We are aware that people in Gaza know about our camps. We have seen photos with the names of Australian universities written on tents and held up on signs in the war zone.

Internationally, governments and institutions have attempted to isolate the Palestinians. Our encampments strive to show those in Gaza that they do not walk alone. We want to show that young people in this country are with our brothers and sisters in Gaza. We stand with them, we breathe with them, we share their sorrows, we raise their flag.

Our encampments are acts of nonviolent protest. We believe firmly in freedom of speech and expression, and oppose any and all attempts by university administrations to shut down encampments or discipline any of those involved. We make decisions democratically through camp meetings made up of any and all participants who wish to attend. We reject all forms of racism and discrimination including Islamophobia, antisemitism, sexism, transphobia and homophobia. Opposition to the state of Israel and to Zionism as an ideology is not antisemitism. Many of the student leaders of our protests are Jewish. We stand alongside Jewish people against discrimination, and we see ourselves as standing on the shoulders of a long line of Jewish pro-Palestine and anti-war activists. We welcome Jewish participants in the encampments. We are grateful to all those who have supported our camps by visiting, donating supplies, or sending messages.

We call for university management teams to meet with us and answer our demands, but we refuse to meet with them behind closed doors or carry out secret negotiations. We insist that any process of dialogue with the university be open to all those participating in the encampments, as well as any other staff or students who wish to attend.

We end this statement with the words of the late historian Howard Zinn:

"To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness."

We reject passivity, cynicism, pessimism and lethargy. We replace them with hope, determination and civil disobedience. Together, we are capable of more than we think. Our protests form one small link in the historical chain of activism against war and racism.

Recently the universities have been trying harder and harder to shut down these camps, so I really urge my fellow Australians to support them and their goals.

Please enjoy the infectious laughter of the Australian senate struggling to keep its composure while grilling a man about bee semen

“Australia Day” is almost over and I haven’t even seen the photo of Burnum Burnum planting the Aboriginal flag on the cliffs of Dover and claiming Britain for the Indigenous people of Australia on my dash yet

ok I’m trying to see something here

Are you Australian? Are you worried about Australia's zero-consequence attitude towards Israel's treatment of Palestinians? Sign this officially registered petition which calls for Australia to cut diplomatic ties with Israel specifically over their treatment of Palestinians.

To protect their identities I will not be posting images of the victims.

Yesterday a 45 year old white man took it upon himself to do a "citizens arrest" wherein he physically restrained three blak kids, binding their wrists together with zip ties and then binding them to each other. The children were aged 6, 7 and 8. They had gone swimming in the pool of a vacant property which is currently for sale, you know, regular kid stuff.

The perpetrator is not the owner of the property, allegedly he is a tradesman who was called to work on the air conditioning in the property and took great personal issue with three kids taking a cheeky swim on a blistering summers day. The man then called the police to report trespassing.

You know you've fucked up when so called australia's famously racist cops rock up on the scene and go "what the fuck mate." even the WA police commissioner was able to find a shred of empathy in his cold dead heart to call the scene "disturbing"

The children were attended by an ambulance and there has been no reports of injuries, though I suspect they're deeply traumatized by the experience, if the images of them sobbing are anything to go by.

The man has been arrested and is facing three counts of aggravated assault.

As I was making sure I had my information correct writing this post I saw a lot of white folks on twitter asking where the parents were, how they wouldn't let their kids do this, how its still trespassing blah blah blah, regular entitled white racist nonsense.

I was once a cheeky kid myself, and more than once I hopped a fence to go swimming in the neighbours pool while they weren't home alongside my siblings, but I'm white, so I'm allowed the luxury of kids will be kids. These were just children, innocent little bubs who just wanted to cool down in the suffocating heat. They were punished for the crime of daring to be children while blak.

It just goes to show just how deeply racism against indigenous people is still rooted in our society.

Australian Federal Election 2001: Pranksters follow around Prime Ministerial contender Kim Beazley in an attempt to sneak fake microphones into news footage

Follow for more Batshit Moments in Australian Politics

A police officer shoots his ex boyfriend and partner with his police issued gun and the grieving queer community BEGS for them not to march in pride because we literally just lost two of our own, and there's absolutely no sympathy from the cops? I'm not surprised, but I'm disgusted and appalled. ACAB includes queer cops too.

For Australian residents!

A House of Representatives petition has just been filed. Unlike other petitions, this one will be presented to the House and requires a response from a Minister.

Elbit Systems, the Israeli defence contractor responsible for much of the weaponry currently causing devastation in Gaza, has just been awarded a $917 million contract with the Australian government.

The demand of this petition is to remove all contracts and deals between Australia and Elbit Systems.

Again, this is more than a change.org petition - this is a government petition with a certainty of being tabled before the House of Representatives. This is just one step of many that this country needs to take in ending Australia's support for the genocide of Palestinians.

Please sign and share the petition here. And don't forget to confirm your signature via the email afterwards.

The deadline is April 17th - make sure to sign before then.

No contracts with the Israeli war machine.

in the same vein as that last post about cottagecore and American colonialism, there's this incredibly pervasive attitude in Australia that "everyone (settlers) live on the coast and noone (important) lives in the interior", so you get genius ideas like "let's divert a river and flood central Australia for farmland!" and "lets sell of huge swathes of land to mining companies" like people haven't been living there about longer than anywhere else on earth. it ties into the colonial view of deserts and lack of care for ecosystems but it's genuinely such a mainstream idea that noone lives there and it's just going to waste, terra nullius still alive and well unfortunately.

diversity win this gay coloniser wants to "move into the bush" with their fifteen cats they let run wild and will go straight to the governor general if someone shoots them for being invasive. this sure doesn't look like the frontier wars! it's cottagecore!