Identity

Still too many coppas, not enough justice

“Too Many Coppas, Not enough Justice” A protest chant heard annually on Jan 26 and regularly through the year whenever the police do their acts…

The fight for Djab Wurrung continues

While the country’s current focus is on the referendum, Djab Wurrung women focus on yet another attack on sacred women's country. Djab Wurrung woman Sissy Austin writes of the latest attack on another sacred tree on Country.

Stand Back Waleed: Sovereignty is more complex than an oath

The danger of Aly’s assertions is that it oversimplifies a very complex notion in political and legal philosophy and, by reducing the act of ceding sovereignty to a singular oath, it reveals a lack of critical insight to what sovereignty can mean and how it can operate for First Nations peoples.

Attention Colonisers: we have a few questions…

For COOKED a group of young Indigenous people (aged from six years to 27 years old) posed questions to the settlers/colonisers and newcomers of so-called Australia via a website where mob could submit anonymous answers and also ask questions of us. We then turned that into a show. And what a journey it has been.

Who planted them seeds?

Now, if we are to recognise that shame is an exterior thing, it is both natural and instructive to then ask: who planted them seeds? I ask this question not at all as part of the process of discarding shame, as some have suggested is the best course of action. The shedding of shame, from my standpoint, is in fact at best lazy thinking and at worst wasteful.

ALWAYS AND AGAIN

Always and Again is a poem written by queer Goorie writer, Brooke Scobie.

KOORI GRAS is a radical celebration of sparkling defiance

First Nations LGBTQI+ people and communities have a long history of contributing to the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras (SGLMG) festival, particularly as parade participants.

We know ‘the system’ has long failed Aboriginal people – so why not cyberpunk it?

Indigenous disruption of cruel government policies could further the cause of self-determination and might even help save the planet

Black Queerness: A Mutually-Assured Construction

The celebration and assertion of our identities as queer mob has always unsettled and challenged colonial sentiments; that complex sexualities are incompatible with Aboriginality. Resilience and reclamation runs in the blood of our mob, queer Blakfullas have always been at the frontier of resistance.

Why vaccination presents an ethical dilemma for us, but remains the best way to keep our families safe

Our distrust of the healthcare system is justified and it is no surprise that many of us are skeptical of the medical industry. Similarly, knowing the history of the ways our bodies have been abused and used, I know that still, the vaccine is the best way I can keep my family and community safe.

Without quite knowing

Jared Field discusses beautifully the search through story for a word that sheds colonial norms and labels.

We need to create diverse spaces that include Blak women. The time for invisibility is over

As Aboriginal women we have to fight tooth and nail to be listened to, even in spaces where we are beyond capable.

If your child asks why Australia is celebrating a day of invasion, what will you tell them?

Children ask vital questions of the world which expose accepted ‘truths’. On 26 January, we contrast Australian displays of amnesia with Aboriginal truth-telling

On-screen diversity is important but what happens offscreen is paramount

We need leaders on all levels who understand the importance of representation in the media, because they themselves have shouldered the burden of representation and wish to make a world where others of non-Anglo heritage see themselves on and off screen. The consequences of doing otherwise are stark.

We don’t get to gatekeep conversations, we have a responsibility to encourage them

And even though colourism is not a new conversation, and neither is cultural appropriation, or community accountability, I feel both a freedom with which younger ones are willing to talk about them, and an attempt to shut them down by some of my contemporaries which I do not want to engage in.

Our next generation will be formidable. Their identity will not be denied.

I spent so much time walking the streets fighting an enemy I couldn’t see, so I struck out at everything.

Our Mother is hurting without us leading

Neil Morris explains why he started a campaign to help Indigenous peoples displaced by the fires ravaging Australia.

Putting down my masks

When I thought about my experience being a queer blackfulla, I thought to myself, “what experience”?
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