Keeping the Fire Burning: Collective Resistance, Sharing Culture, Creating Community and Speaking Truth to Power

Disclaimer: This article mentions racism, genocide, sexual violence.

Note from the authors: This article is dedicated to our Palestinian friends and their families in Gaza.                                                  

We are survivors of war and genocide. We know about navigating challenging times when living through painful losses and grief. We believe collective healing is possible. 

I – Jaala – am a descendant of the Minyirr Djukun Clan. I am a proud Djukun woman from Djukun Country in the Kimberly region of Western Australia. My roots are deeply embedded in the rich culture and history of my ancestors, who have inhabited the region for thousands of years. Raised on Djukun Country, I have spent most of my life in the region where the spirit of my people remains strong, despite centuries of oppression. My ancestors were brutally murdered. More than 200 years since the colonisation of Australia in 1788, we Aboriginal people are still seeking justice. 

I – Udaya-  am a proud Tamil woman from Sri Lanka. I am a descendant of a long lineage of Eelam Tamils who are survivors of genocide. For many generations, we have endured brutal state-sponsored pogroms, violence, systemic discrimination and ethnic-cleansing at the hands of the Sri Lankan government and paramilitary forces. Although we are the original inhabitants of the island, Tamils came under attack for our ethnicity and minority status. Displaced from my native homeland for the majority of my life, the civil war in Sri Lanka robbed my childhood and stripped away my right to live in peace and dignity in my own nation. 

Djukun Nation – Jaala

The Djukun are genocide survivors. It is a reality that has not only influenced my people’s history but also our identity. The First Nations people in Australia were subjected to systematic attempts to wipe out culture, language, and way of life. The Djukun people, as the original custodians of the land now known as Broome, were among the first in the Kimberley region to experience the consequences of permanent white contact when the town of Broome was established as a pearling port in the 1880s.

During this time, the Djukun people faced unimaginable atrocities. Entire families were subjected to slavery, used as forced labour for the booming pearling industry. The women, in particular, suffered severely. Many were forced to become skin divers, sent down to the depths of the ocean to collect pearls while risking their lives, often while heavily pregnant. The physical toll was immense, but the emotional and psychological scars ran even deeper. These women were exploited both in the water and on land, where they were used as sex slaves. This dark chapter of our history, marked by the exploitation of Djukun women, remains a painful reminder of the brutality my people endured in settler-colonial Australia.

During the Stolen Generations, many Djukun families lost touch with their culture, language, and land—a disconnection we are still working to heal today. World War II brought more disconnect and devastation for my people, with the Japanese attacking Broome in 1942. Families were evacuated, some never returning to Djukun Country. The war only added to the long list of challenges faced by the Djukun Nation, forcing my people to fight for their survival once again.

Japanese Bombardment of Broome, March 3, 1942. Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Today, the recognition of Native Title, a legal framework designed to give Indigenous people in Australia certain rights to their respective ancestral lands, has not restored the full ownership and rights that should belong to the Djukun people. Instead, it has further diminished our role as the rightful traditional owners of Djukun Country. The battle for recognition and control of our land is ongoing, and we continue to advocate for the protection of our sacred sites, such as Billingooroo.

Photo caption: Billingooroo on Djukun Country, Western Australia. Provided by Jaala Ozies

Sri Lanka – Udaya

I was six years old when my family was forced to leave Sri Lanka in search of safety elsewhere. While growing up in Toronto in Canada, I was millions of miles away from the battlegrounds, and, yet, gone were any remnants of childhood innocence. The normalcy of living life with child-like wonder was not something I experienced until my 30s after dedicating a lot of time, energy and money towards therapy and healing.

Like many Eelam Tamils living in the diaspora, I held on to love in the face of human cruelty and injustice. 

On May 18, 2009 at the peak of the 26 year civil war, the Sri Lankan military launched a ruthless and unprecedented military attack against Tamil civilians in Mullivaikkal –  a tiny strip of land designated as a no-fire zone by the government during the final stages of its military offensive against my community. By this time, the war had already claimed thousands of lives including my family members.

According to the UN and other independent observers, over 150,000 Tamil women, children and men were killed that day by indiscriminate shelling by the Sri Lankan government forces. Hospitals, local aid workers and the Red Cross came under attack. All international calls for a ceasefire fell on deaf ears. Multiple UN panels called the mass murder a total violation and disregard of all principles of international law.  

Caption: Civilians are being displaced from parts of Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu Districts as a result of the Sri Lanka Army’s military offensive. Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons

The Mullivaikkal massacre marked the culmination of the Sri Lankan government’s systematic efforts towards the total annihilation and murder of Eelam Tamils on the island. These killings took place after many years of forced disappearances and the discrimination of Tamils since Sri Lanka’s independence from British rule in 1948. Today, the United States and Israel are allies of the ruthless Sri Lankan regime and have provided weapons and military intelligence to the Sri Lankan government in their efforts to wipe out ethnic Tamils. The Sri Lankan government continues to evade any accountability for its war crimes against the Eelam Tamils.  Sri Lanka’s new president who was elected to power this past Sunday belongs to a political party that was at the forefront of organising pogroms against Tamils and supported the Mullivaikkal massacre.

Solidarity with Gaza

Our deep connection and friendship as a Djukun and a Tamil woman goes beyond our shared experiences of displacement and trauma. We come from old cultures with our own unique knowledge systems, histories and ways of living and being in this world. 

We are united by our love for our community, our identity, our rich heritage and our languages. We know our respective peoples lived in peace with many tribes prior to colonisation and dispossession, and we take pride in the resilience and strength of our communities. This is why we remain steadfast in our efforts to Keep the fire burning to support those enduring similar challenges. 

This October will mark one-year since the start of the war in Gaza. Unlike the historical periods of settler colonial violence, we are, thanks to our mobile devices, and media outlets around the world, witnessing a genocide in real time. 

At the time of writing, this asymmetrical warfare had killed over 40,000 people including 39, 677 Palestinians, 1, 478 Israelies, 170  journalists and 224 humanitarian aid workers. Italian International legal expert and the UN’s Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Francesca Albanese, speaking to the fifty-fifth session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, remarked there are “reasonable grounds” to believe that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza. She went on to assert that, “genocide in Gaza is the most extreme stage of long-standing settler colonial process of erasure of the native Palestinians.”

At the University of Queensland (UQ), where we both attended graduate school, thousands of students joined international counterparts to protest against the war and to call on their university to divest from Israel. We marched in solidarity for the protection of human rights and did everything in our capacity to raise our voice against genocide. On campus, the UQ Gaza solidarity encampment became a much needed open, challenging and inclusive learning environment. It was a safe space for all including Jewish students who attended some of the events we took part in. 

Globally, student solidarity camps were demonised by the media and faced the realities of confronting often silent or dismissive university administrations. Across Australia, over 1000 university faculty members and staff rallied in support of the student solidarity camps, penned a powerful letter calling for greater financial transparency in the administration of university’s endowment funds and condemned the demonisation of students by the media and by the university administration.

The UQ Gaza student solidarity events became a collective resistance space for hundreds of students who demanded UQ for greater transparency about the university’s research partnerships, financial investments and connections to weapons manufacturing companies including Boeing which supplies military equipment to the Israeli Defence Force. 

One evening, a mutual friend arranged for a meeting with Ndaba Mandela, the grandson of Nelson Mandela. We informed him about the student encampment at UQ and requested his visit. Without a hesitation, Ndaba agreed.

During his visit to the camp, Ndaba met with students from all corners of the world, many of them descendants of survivors of colonial violence, ethnic-cleansing, displacement and conflict. We witnessed how each person through sharing their stories, their efforts to build stronger communities, their resilience, their cultural teachings and their conscious efforts to act with empathy built a sacred fire – the fire of collective persistence in the face of injustice. 

Ndaba Mandela speaking to students at the UQ solidarity Camp on May 7. Photo Credit: Taz Morris 

You never know who will find you to build up your community, give guidance, join forces with your struggles and co-create pivotal moments that will enable you to build even greater resilience. 

We are living at a time in which everyone is starved of real connection and are looking for community. It will take the collective efforts of many from all walks of life and from all corners of the world to unite to keep the fire burning, especially during these critical times as we continue to bear witness to genocides around the world. 

On the evening of May 29, amidst a bomb threat at UQ, the Student General Meeting brought together over 1500 of our peers. Collectively, we voted to call on the University of Queensland to cut ties with weapon companies contributing to the war in Gaza. The motion passed with an overwhelming majority in favour of UQ to divest from Israel. The university agreed to adhere to some of the students’ demands and issued a statement outlining its new commitments. Today, while the encampment is no longer active, students are still organising for justice for the Palestinian people. 

1500 UQ students at the SGM vote to divest from Israel. Photo: Students for Palestine UQ/ Instagram

In May this year, American rap artist Macklemore paid a visit to the student encampment at the University of Sydney, raising his voice in solidarity and support for Palestine. This same month he released his protest song, “Hind’s Hall.” The song is named after Hind Rajab- a six year old Palestinian girl who was killed when her family’s vehicle was shelled by the Israeli Defence Force while they attempted to flee the Gaza strip on January 29, 2024. Macklemore’s song also drew further attention to the power, will and courage of the global student protest movement to withstand police brutality, threats, academic disciplinary actions and hate crimes in their efforts to seek peace and justice for Palestinians. The song also demands for a divestment from Israel and a ceasefire to the war. Macklemore Macklemore has since released “Hind’s Hall 2”, featuring Palestinian artists Anees, MC Abdul, and Amer Zahr.

Changing outdated systems and holding accountable those with power to act morally, justly and fairly for the collective good is a long-term social, political and spiritual project. In an increasingly divisive world, it is dangerous to remain silent and complicit.

As Indigenous women we know what it takes to rise above to consciously take action. This is no easy task and it cannot be done alone. 

Our joint efforts and experiences have resulted in the creation of the Culture Collective,  an organic global Indigenous network. This includes supporting Djukun Nation and its language revival, and the global Tamil diaspora and preserving Tamil culture through artistic practices. 

Our vision is to support meaningful cross-cultural collaborations between all Indigenous peoples from around the world to facilitate the sharing of our stories, the teachings and wisdom of our respective communities, encourage new learnings, growth and to work towards building greater solidarity and stronger communities across borders. At the very least, let us write our own narratives. We believe collaborations such as these will pave the foundations for our collective healing.