ratbag number 3 final pdf

8/13/2019 Ratbag Number 3 Final PDF

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THE

RATBAGAUSTRALIAs BEST WORST ZINE - PUBLISHED MONTHLY - FREE

IN THIS ISSUE:

Australias Invasion Day Vs NZs Reconciliatory Waitangi Day John Pilgers Utopia - An ISJA Overview: By Ray Jackson, ISJA (Sydney) History - 1946 Pilbara strike - Australias longest strike.

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RATBAG ZINEScurrilous doggerel, seditious malarkey and informative gonzo journalism since 2013

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AUSTRALIAs BEST WORST ZINE - PUBLISHED MONTHLY - FREE

Sick of the poor choice between the barely concealed rightwing Neo-con media juggernaut on one hand or the unashamedlybiased to their viewpoint micro party socialistpropaganda kicking around on the other side of the fence we

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The aim of RATBAG is not to sway your thoughts one way or theother, it is to share some though provoking articles that areout there in circulation in the public domain and also tocreate a bit of space for the publishing original alternativecontent.

We wish to be inclusive of all, so please do feel free toemail us your article about what ever is on your mind!Political content is fine but RATBAG is not the organ of anypolitical grouping. Nor will be publish any hate-basedarticles and the like We suggest you call Howard Sattler.

CONTENTS:

Australias InvasionDay Vs NZs

Reconciliatory WaitangiDay

John Pilgers Utopia -An ISJA Overview, AndOther Comments By: RayJackson, ISJA (Sydney)

1946 Pilbara strike -

Australias longeststrike

Backcover: MadridPolice Stomp On AnAntifascist

http://thefreeonline.wordpress.com/2013/11/30/spain-30-anti-fascists-held-new-law-fines-up-to-

600000-euros-for-demos/
http://thefreeonline.wordpress.com/2013/11/30/spain-30-anti-fascists-held-new-law-fines-up-to-600000-euros-for-demos/http://thefreeonline.wordpress.com/2013/11/30/spain-30-anti-fascists-held-new-law-fines-up-to-600000-euros-for-demos/http://thefreeonline.wordpress.com/2013/11/30/spain-30-anti-fascists-held-new-law-fines-up-to-600000-euros-for-demos/http://thefreeonline.wordpress.com/2013/11/30/spain-30-anti-fascists-held-new-law-fines-up-to-600000-euros-for-demos/http://thefreeonline.wordpress.com/2013/11/30/spain-30-anti-fascists-held-new-law-fines-up-to-600000-euros-for-demos/http://thefreeonline.wordpress.com/2013/11/30/spain-30-anti-fascists-held-new-law-fines-up-to-600000-euros-for-demos/http://thefreeonline.wordpress.com/2013/11/30/spain-30-anti-fascists-held-new-law-fines-up-to-600000-euros-for-demos/http://thefreeonline.wordpress.com/2013/11/30/spain-30-anti-fascists-held-new-law-fines-up-to-600000-euros-for-demos/


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ustralias Invasion Day Vs NZs Reconciliatory Waitangi Day

As the 26th of JanuaryAustralias national holiday for

getting completely shit faced pissed and also to

collectively continue to refuse to acknowledge that it is

actually marks a day of Invasion for Australias

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoplesrapidity

approaches it is important to look for a better way forthe bulk than just to mindlessly continue with what has

always been done.

It would seem bizarre for even many Australians to look

objectively at the facts of this datethat we hold a

national day of celebration on the date which simply

remembers the first day of the British Empire in 1788

dispossessing Aboriginal people in order to found a penal colony which was to serve as a

deliberately induced hell on Earth for a few outright (but useful) villains plus the majority of

the convicts being the starving poor of Englands lowest classes - and in years to soon come

Irish political prisoners, English Chartists, orphaned children and a medley of others

arrested by the Empire.

Certainly other nations celebrate truly grand days - the French celebrate the people of Paris

rising up against the tyranny of an absolute monarch and storming the Bastille at the very

start of the 1789 French Revolution, the modern Global Empire Good-ole US of A celebrate

their 1776 Independence Day (Or the founding of their Empire as separate and rival to thenow redundant British Empire) and Mexicos Grito de Dolores (Shout of Dolores)

celebrates Mexico defeating the colonialist Spanish Empire and hence gaining

independence in 1810.

Yet we celebrate the

start of the

dispossession of a

whole continent and the

founding of a prison.


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Across the ditchIn New Zealand, a land also founded on the dispossession of a native

people, they do things quite differentlyand much for the better, with Waitangi Day,

which is held on the date of the signing of the treaty of Waitangi. It wasnt always this way

though.

The Treaty of Waitangi was signed on 6 February 1840. The Treaty made New Zealand apart of the British Empire, guaranteed Mori rights to their land and gave Mori the rights

of British subjects. Of course the Brits being the Brits, when the Treaty began to be just too

darn bothersome they changed their minds, with a Imperialist tool in the shape of a certain

Chief Justice James Prendergast, who under British colonial law declared the Treaty to be a

'legal nullity' in 1877.

The first steps to have a Waitangi Day to be added to the existing schedule of national

holidays began in 1957, when such was first added to the NZ Labor Partys objectives. It was

not until 1971 when the shadow minister of Mori Affairs, Matiu Rata, introduced a privatemember's bill to make Waitangi Day a national holiday. The ruling conservative government

of course did not approve. It took the 1972 election of the third Labour government for it to

be announced that from 1974 Waitangi Day would be a national holiday.

Along with being a widely celebrated day, Waitangi Day is a key date in regards to modern

Maori protesting. Several hundred protesters often gather at Waitangi to reflect the long-

standing frustrations Mori have fostered since the Treaty's signing. Although not part of

the Government celebrations, Mori sovereignty activists often fly the Tino Rangatiratanga

flag (see below) from the flagstaff.

Of course the mere holding of Waitangi Day

not an all in one reconciliatory fix-allthere is

still much of the Treaty to be worked through

along with more societal matters such as the

repercussions of dispossession and endemic

racism, but rather than ignoreor merely

acknowledge - a past injustice as Australia

does, New Zealand is willing to experience

Waitangi Day as focus point of the ongoing

reconciliatory and justice discussions.

The Australian nation as a group of people would do well to follow the NZ example and

move on from a day of no significant discussion - except the chanting of jingoistic ocker

slogans and clichs - to a certainly at times challenging yet genuine day of reconciliation

and righting the balance of justice for Aboriginal and Torrez Strait peoples.

The Tino Rangatiratanga

From a Mori language term that can

be interpreted as 'absolute sovereignty'


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John Pilgers Utopia - An ISJA Overview And Other Comments.(ISJA: Indigenous Social Justice Association (Sydney)

The film review below by Julian Drape proves to us all that indeed John Pilger is back in

town with his latest gut-wrenching expose of the terrible and vile conditions of Aboriginal

life once the 'white-blindfold' has been removed from the general public's eyes to clearly see

and know the truth, the black invasion historical truth.

This may be new to some but every politician in this country, past and present, is very well

aware of these deplorable, even criminal, conditions, that have been wrought on us by the

invasion and its aftermath. The reply to the question from John of why little of a positive

nature has been done in the NT over some 50 years clearly shows the utter contempt most,

if not all, politicians have to addressing the plight of our people, In the NT especially.

As we are only too well aware, their answer, after 50 years of abject and constant failure,

was to enforce the horrendous, soul-destroying and invasive assault on the human rights of

the NT Aborigines, along with the most blatant land grab of the NT Aboriginal communities

since the invasion began!

Under the NT lands right act, 1976, initiated by Gough Whitlam but made law by Malcolm

Fraser, the initial stolen lands were returned to the traditional owners.

This current land grab is a double jeopardy being a double theft of Aboriginal lands. We

must never forget that what one government can give, can be more easily taken away by

another. That is why we need the Racial Discrimination Act (to be watered down soon by the

Abbott government) and a bill of rights to better protect our rights in these areas. Additions

to the Australian/British constitution of our sovereign rights would also help against such

government theft.


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Any informed person of sound and moral mind following the Aboriginal history since the

invasion will find no surprises by viewing Utopia, they will already be aware of the horror

shown by Pilger. As Julian Drape says "there is not a lot that is genuinely new" in the

documentary.

Even so that does not mean that Pilger should not have made it. Our survival history in all itssqualor must be seen again and again until there is a real groundswell of righteous

indignation that in such a rich country we Aborigines are living at a third world level. The

fact that the film was commissioned in England, the historic invader, speaks volumes on the

low social morals of the governments in these stolen lands.

I was appalled and angry when I first read Pilger's book, 'the secret country, back in the

early 90's. John was highlighting during that time the criminality of deaths in custody,

especially the son and brother of the Murray family, Eddie Murray, who was murdered bythe Wee Waa Police of 1981.

After several coronial inquests,

including the royal commission into

aboriginal deaths in custody, none

were prepared to charge the police

officers involved with murder or even

a lesser crime despite the glaringfacts of the event. The struggles of

the death in custody families,

including Arthur and Leila Murray,

both now deceased, who fought for

justice for over 30 years.

Their passing has not lessened the hunger for justice of the sisters and other family

members for Eddie's murder. Over 400 other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander familiesare also seeking justice.

At least now there has been some tentative movement in the willingness of coroners and

magistrates, along with some very limited assistance from the state and territory directors

of public prosecutions, to actually charge Police who become involved in death in custody

events. Then s/s Chris Hurley of the Palm Island death of Mulrunji Doomadgee springs to

mind (he was acquitted by an all-white Townsville jury) and the death by torture of Roberto

Laudisio Curti just recently by Sydney City Police.

Example of Police Brutality - Jamie Jackson, 18,

mid-being thrown to the ground and arrested by a

police officer for attending the 2013 Sydney Mardi


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After many months of legal deliberation the NSW DPP, Mr. Babb, decided that some of the

officers involved in the torture and death of Roberto should indeed face a court of law but

on much diminished charges. Other outstanding events concerning Mr. Babb include the

death of Adam Salter by NSW police and the assault and failed cover-up by Ballina police

against Cory Barker.

A further item of interest for ISJA, if not Mr. Babb, is his shelving of charges being laid

against the Kings Cross Police for their wildly erratic shootings of 2 youth and, still again,

another cover-up. We want his decision reversed and the matter duly processed through a

court of law.

But to return to Pilger's latest social expose. We owe john Pilger and other like-minded film

makers for their good works of putting these truths before us all to see, much thanks for

their ongoing support. Utopia should be shown in all educational establishments fromprimary school on. Governments will not like nor accept that this be done, nor will the

mining and pastoral industries as they have too much to lose by the removal of the white-

blindfold and strict justice being applied.

One more final point. In his review Julian Draper informs us of comments made in the film

by a white tour guide at the national war memorial in Canberra who provides a succinct

analysis of what might really be going on. "I don't know why we don't embrace that

history," he says when Pilger asks why the Frontier Wars aren't commemorated in Canberra.Maybe we're not overly proud of that history.". Not only not very proud but also because it

is "too dark" and "'it might upset people with its myth-busting'," as one film distributor

stated when asked why he, along with all the other distributors, refused to handle the

showing of the film.

The control of history by governments is most essential when ignorance becomes a white

bliss. All world governments are guilty of the social crime of wanting to rewrite history as

the death of Nelson Mandela testifies to and governments will contort their hold of theirown particular history to suit their own rewrite to their required means and ends.

Ongoing political debates continue, mostly by well-meaning supporters of Aboriginal and

Torres Strait Islanders, on two matters that must be of a concern and a deliberative choice

of our own mobs. The first is our flag and its use. Most Aborigines I know and talk to about

this issue agree that our flag is a separate flag, a land rights flag, and must not be

incorporated into any other flag design. Amen to that.


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The second point is the inclusion of the Frontier Wars into the national war memorial.

Again, when this issue is raised, there is very little interest in having the Frontier Wars

enjoined to and swallowed up by the national memorial.

We want our own memorial to the frontier wars and the other wars. it is our history and our

wars. There must be no watering down or white-washing of that history by governments. Asthe Jews have their holocaust memorials to maintain the truth of the genocide of Jews so to

we must have ours. And ours alone.

There is too much bad history of sublimating our black and white invasion history to trust

that task to governments. Those who fought in the mainly imperialist wars, with the

singular exception of the fight against fascism in the second world war, of course must be

included in the national memorial as a justified right.. but their history too is shameful but

whilst their bravery and sacrifice can, and must, be extolled so to must the racist treatmentgiven to them be shown and explained and must be forever condemned.

We must have our own war memorial in our own agreed place. A place that is not

shamefully hidden up a dirt track behind the national war memorial. John Pilger's Utopia

clearly shows us why! And again, John, many thanks for your work and continued support.

Go, see, learn, enjoy. There is strength in enlightenment.

Article by: Ray Jackson, President Indigenous Social Justice Association

Link to Julian Drapes Review of Utopia -

http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/movies/john-pilgers-damning-new-film-about-

indigenous-australia-20131231-303tf.html

Link to ISJA (Sydney) Facebook page -

https://www.facebook.com/IndigenousSocialJusticeAssociationSydney
http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/movies/john-pilgers-damning-new-film-about-indigenous-australia-20131231-303tf.htmlhttp://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/movies/john-pilgers-damning-new-film-about-indigenous-australia-20131231-303tf.htmlhttp://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/movies/john-pilgers-damning-new-film-about-indigenous-australia-20131231-303tf.htmlhttps://www.facebook.com/IndigenousSocialJusticeAssociationSydneyhttps://www.facebook.com/IndigenousSocialJusticeAssociationSydneyhttps://www.facebook.com/IndigenousSocialJusticeAssociationSydneyhttp://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/movies/john-pilgers-damning-new-film-about-indigenous-australia-20131231-303tf.htmlhttp://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/movies/john-pilgers-damning-new-film-about-indigenous-australia-20131231-303tf.html


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1946 Pilbara strike - ustralias longest strikeOn May 1, 1946, 800 Aboriginal pastoral workers from 27 stations in Western Australia

walked off the job for better pay and conditions. This was the first industrial action by

Indigenous Australians since colonisation in 1788 and predates the famous Wave Hill strike

in the Northern Territory by 20 years. The Pilbara strike lasted until 1949, making it thelongest strike in Australias history.

From the 1890s to the 1920s it was

common for Aboriginal workers to be

paid only in rations of food and clothing.

During the 1920s some workers began

to receive minimal wages. The 1936

Native Affairs Act legally compelledpastoralists to provide shelter and meet

the medical needs of their workers, but

this was never enforced by the

government.

Aboriginal stockmen were housed in

corrugated iron humpies, without floors,

lighting, sanitation, furniture or cooking

facilities. It was illegal for the Aboriginal

people to leave their place of

employment, and it was even illegal to

pay them wages equal to the white

peoples.

In 1942, there was a secret Aboriginal law meeting to discuss a strike proposal, an idea first

discussed by white labourer and prospector Don McLeod and Aboriginal people Clancy

McKenna, Dooley Bin Bin and Nyamal Elder Peter Kangushot Coppin from the Pilbara

community who were instrumental in calling together the 1942 meeting.

200 law men from 23 Aboriginal groups gathered, and after six weeks

a consensus was reached to begin a strike on May 1, the international

day of workers struggle and the beginning of the shearing season,

thereby putting maximum pressure on the squatters. However, the

strike was postponed until after the Second World War had ended.


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On the stations there were no phones or radios and the Aboriginal workers couldnt read or

write English. Dooley was responsible for spreading word of the strike. He visited each

station pretending to be a visiting relative just passing through to avoid any suspicion.

Dooley distributed calendars to the workers on all stations, made from labels from jam tins,

on which they marked off each passing day so they would all go out at the same time.

On May 1 hundreds of Aboriginal workers left 20 stations, affecting 10,000 square

kilometres of sheep farming country. They gathered at strike camps - Twelve Mile outside

Port Hedland and Moolyella near Marble Bar - where they would spend much of the

following three years.

At its height, at least 800

people were on strike.

The sheep stations wereparalysed without

Aboriginal labour. In order

to survive, the strikers

coordinated the collection

of bush food and pearl

shells and hunted

kangaroos and goats to

sell the skins. Many

Aboriginal people got

their first taste of

economic independence. However, many Aboriginal strikers were jailed for their

participation in the strike, some even put in chains for several days.

Although the striking stockmen won award rates in 1949 many never returned to the

stations. Measured against the workers initial demands, the 3-year Pilbara strike was not a

complete victory. But the strike was of great historical significance, providing a powerful

example of Aboriginal peoples resolve to struggle against their slave-like conditions.

The struggle for equal wages was finally won in the wake of the 1966 Gurindji strike in

Wave Hill, Northern Territory. The West Australian government awarded the Nyamal

people the abandoned Yandeyarra pastoral lease in 1974 where they live to this day.

From:http://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/politics/1946-pilbara-strike-

australias-longest-strike#ixzz2mnIChmXx
http://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/politics/1946-pilbara-strike-australias-longest-strike#ixzz2mnIChmXxhttp://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/politics/1946-pilbara-strike-australias-longest-strike#ixzz2mnIChmXxhttp://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/politics/1946-pilbara-strike-australias-longest-strike#ixzz2mnIChmXxhttp://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/politics/1946-pilbara-strike-australias-longest-strike#ixzz2mnIChmXxhttp://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/politics/1946-pilbara-strike-australias-longest-strike#ixzz2mnIChmXxhttp://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/politics/1946-pilbara-strike-australias-longest-strike#ixzz2mnIChmXx


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Don McLeod in 1987 at the age of 79. An active

unionist and also member of the Communist Party of

Australia for a short period, Don McLeod was an

Australian Worker's Union delegate at Port Hedland

wharf who motivated support by the Australian labour

movement. (Note: The AWU of the North West WA

1940s was not the ALP Right Wing beast it is today)

For more on Don seehttp://indigenousrights.net.au/person.asp?pID=975

Video: Don McLeod recounts his experience of meeting Hodge and their trip to 12 Mile

strike camp to meet the other organisers -http://aso.gov.au/titles/documentaries/how-

west-was-lost/clip2/ Don is also the author of the 1987 Book How the West was lost-

http://www.roninfilms.com.au/feature/2232/how-west-was-lost-native-question.html

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http://indigenousrights.net.au/person.asp?pID=975http://indigenousrights.net.au/person.asp?pID=975http://indigenousrights.net.au/person.asp?pID=975http://aso.gov.au/titles/documentaries/how-west-was-lost/clip2/http://aso.gov.au/titles/documentaries/how-west-was-lost/clip2/http://aso.gov.au/titles/documentaries/how-west-was-lost/clip2/http://aso.gov.au/titles/documentaries/how-west-was-lost/clip2/http://www.roninfilms.com.au/feature/2232/how-west-was-lost-native-question.htmlhttp://www.roninfilms.com.au/feature/2232/how-west-was-lost-native-question.htmlhttp://www.roninfilms.com.au/feature/2232/how-west-was-lost-native-question.htmlhttp://aso.gov.au/titles/documentaries/how-west-was-lost/clip2/http://aso.gov.au/titles/documentaries/how-west-was-lost/clip2/http://indigenousrights.net.au/person.asp?pID=975


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