This world of ours is in a terrible state. 

Right now, here in Australia, many of us are reeling with shame and sadness at the negative result of our October 2023 Referendum to provide our First Nations people with a voice to parliament (to be recognised in our constitution so as to ensure it could not be abolished by an unsympathetic change of government). It comes after years of hard, slow work to introduce steps towards justice for the dispossessed of this country – all undone in one day with a No vote by the self-interested, the indifferent, the poorly informed and the basically racist white majority. 

Australia was founded on racism. It was written into the constitution of the country, which enabled the White Australia policy to flourish from Federation in January 1901 until the final vestiges of the policy were dismantled in 1973. Our Constitution, which provides the legal and political foundation upon which our country is built and functions, remains unchanged.  

I am a whitefella, a goonya – for my indigenous friends it is like a complete rejection, a cruel response given the appalling treatment they have received in the 236 years since colonisation by the British. I think, as always, we are following in the footsteps of the US. Conspiracy theories, deliberate lies and misinformation abound. The Murdoch empire has unseermly media control. Self-interest, envy, distrust have crept into the very soul of the nation, and it is being encouraged by the right and neo-liberals, determined to wrest power at any cost from the current Labor governments around the country. 

And this is just a small part of the global disasters, the wars, the genocides, the famines, the dispossessions, the wildlife extinctions – and under it all the terrifying prospect of climate change which our capitalist system has brought on itself and is determined not to relinquish. I just keep telling myself that we have to keep going day by day and remind ourselves of human resilience and the kindness of strangers. 

           With thanks to my friend Elizabeth who creates great zines

In the end I am an optimist at heart. Better than giving up. And I remind myself that 6,286,894 Australians voted yes on 14 October 2023: 39.94%, which I know is a long way from a majority. But it is still a lot of people. The constitutional amendment was supported by a majority of First Nations people, who make up just 3.8% of the total population.

    Source: Australian Electoral Commission and circulating on Facebook

On Friday 26 January 2024 tens of thousands of people in cities all over the country gathered to mark what many now call Invasion Day but is officially promoted as Australia Day. It is the day the First Fleet, under the command of Arthur Phillip, landed at Sydney Cove and raised the Union Jack, declaring the territory for Great Britain and changing the lives of First Nations people forever. Yes, 39.94% is still a lot of people.

     Crowds arriving at Tarndanyangga, Adelaide to mark Invasion Day