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Call it what it is: Invasion Day

14 1
16.01.2024

In a Word War II call to arms in 1942, then Labor Prime Minister John Curtin (whose government unashamedly promoted a White Australia) said:

“From the day that Captain Arthur Philip landed here until this hour, this land has been governed by men and women of our race. We do not intend that that tradition shall be destroyed merely because an aggressor marches against us … Australians you are the sons and daughters of Britishers.”

See also

After the referendum: Continue the struggle for justice

Celeste Liddle on the Voice: ‘Truth-telling is the first important step’

Invasion Day is not just about the date

Another Labor leader, Billy Hughes, was even more explicit about the brutal colonisation. In a 1913 speech on the foundation of Canberra as the country’s capital, he bluntly said: “We were destined to have our own way from the beginning … [and] killed everybody else to get it.”

He added: “The first historic event in the history of the Commonwealth we are engaged in today [is] without the slightest trace of that race we have banished from the face of the earth.”

Invasion, colonisation and genocide cannot be air-brushed out of the official celebrations of so-called “Australia Day” on January 26.

We must call it what it is — Invasion Day — and join thousands of First........

© Green Left Weekly


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