by Keiran Stewart-Assheton
Wallawaani to all my people and everyone else here today.
Nyarga Keiran njindin Wani-Wandian Dhurga.
I’m Keiran Stewart-Assheton from the Wani-Wandian mob of the Yuin nation and would like to acknowledge the Gadigal people on whose stolen land we stand today.
Today, on Invasion Day, we gather to remember the atrocities committed against our people. To honour the resilience and strength of our ancestors, those who survived a genocidal colonial invasion, and those who didn’t. We remember the massacres, the brutal enslavement of our people, the raping of women, and the abduction of children and babies, abduction that is still happening to this day.
We send love to our homeless mob who don’t even have a home in their own country. To our cousins who have fallen into the poisonous traps of drugs and alcohol that the colonisers brought here. And to our mob, even young kids, locked away in cells or murdered by the hands of police.
As the president of the Black Peoples Union, I stand before you today to call on our nations to unite so that we can exercise our sovereignty and self-determination through taking back the land that was stolen from us. We cannot continue to rely on the colonial government to right the wrongs of the past.
The government that committed these atrocities and stole our land cannot be trusted to uphold a treaty, or a Voice, or a constitution that would truly benefit our people or make any meaningful change. History has proved this time and time again.
Instead, we must form a treaty between Indigenous Nations. If we’re going to treaty with anyone, it must be with each other. We must come together as one force capable of taking revolutionary action to forge our own path. Only by taking control of our own future can we truly heal from the trauma of colonization and move forward together as a sovereign and self-determining people.
We will not be silenced. We will not rest.
For too long, we have been oppressed, we have been marginalized, and we have been denied our basic human dignity. But we will not be silenced any longer! We will not be pushed aside any more! We must support each other, we must lift each other up, and we must fight for each other! We will not rest until we have taken back the land that is rightfully ours. We will not rest until we have achieved true self-determination. We will not rest until we have been recognized as the sovereign nations that we are.
It is important to understand that this is not just a struggle for Indigenous Sovereignty but a struggle for all Australians. The legacy of colonization has led to the systemic oppression and marginalization of Indigenous peoples, which in turn has perpetuated poverty and inequality for all. The government that profits from this system will never truly represent the interests of the people and the capitalist system itself is marching us all to our deaths.
Today is Invasion Day but let us vow to continue the fight tomorrow and beyond, for our Sovereignty, for our land, and for our future. Let us not be discouraged by the injustices of the past. Let us not be defeated by the greed and violence of the capitalist government. We must unite in a revolutionary spirit as one people and come together in our struggle to make a better world for ourselves and for our children.
Don’t go home today and think you can do nothing. Power gives up nothing without demands. United together, we can make those demands!
Fuck changing the date, let’s abolish the fucking state!
Black power!
Black Peoples Union can be contacted at linktr.ee/blackpeoplesunion or blackpeoplesunion@protonmail.com
