Costs and benefits of protest camp

18 May 2006

Depending on who you talk to, Black GST has either successfully thrust the issue of indigenous rights back onto the political agenda – just in time for this month's Reconciliation Week – or has inadvertently undone many years of hard work.

Camp Sovereignty was set up in Melbourne's Kings Domain by members of Black GST (Genocide to end, Sovereignty to be acknowledged, Treaty to be made) as a protest against the Commonwealth Games. After almost two months, its fire was finally extinguished by authorities in the early hours of last Thursday morning.

Camp organisers dubbed it the ‘StolenWealth Games’, and the protest dominated the mainstream media for several weeks as the Melbourne City Council and even the State Government attempted to remove them from the camp. John Howard criticized the protesters in the national press. Despite its currency with the newspapers, the question of how effective this protest has been cannot be avoided.

Reconciliation Australia, an independent organisation dedicated to building respectful relationships between indigenous and non-indigenous peoples, has commented diplomatically that this protest was an exercise in democratic liberties. Other protest groups have congratulated the organisers of the camp on their success, and on their levels of exposure.

But respected elders of the Wurundjeri tribe – the traditional owners of most of the land that encompasses Melbourne – have denounced the protest as disrespectful and disingenuous. They argue that the action was taken without consideration of their rights as elders of the land, and that their requests for a ‘culturally appropriate’ action were ignored.

Camp Sovereignty is the first campaign for Black GST - and ending the genocide of the indigenous population is just one of their goals. The definition of genocide employed by some of these groups is admittedly somewhat more all-encompassing than is usually defined.

As State Convenor of Socialist Alliance Jody Betzien contends, ‘There’s been a destruction of culture, of community. You’ve got indigenous people dying twenty years earlier than non-indigenous people.’

The CEO of Reconciliation Australia, Barbara Livesey, is of similar opinion. ‘Our vision is of a country where everyone enjoys equal life chances, and that hasn’t happened yet. A goal for our organisation is to close the gap in life expectancy between indigenous and non-indigenous peoples.’

Yet protests are a process, she says – not an end in itself. ‘Protests serve a valuable purpose, and we have good relationships with a diverse range of

AUSTRALIA

Costs and benefits of protest camp

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