2023-10-23 05:46:42
Australia
Aborigines denounce “shameful” referendum result
In a scathing open letter to the Australian government, Aboriginal leaders have blasted the “appalling and mean-spirited” views of millions of Australians.
PublishedOctober 23, 2023, 07:46
Aboriginal ceremony at Sydney Harbor in April 2010 (archive).
Aboriginal leaders have broken their self-imposed silence to condemn the failure of the referendum which proposed to recognize indigenous populations in the Australian Constitution and give them more rights, denouncing the “shameful” majority who voted for it. is opposed.
In a scathing open letter to the Australian government, Aboriginal leaders have blasted the “appalling and mean-spirited” views of millions of Australians. “We do not accept for a moment that this country is not ours,” it is written in this letter.
“Nothing positive”
“The truth is that the majority of Australians have committed a shameful act, knowingly or unknowingly, and there is nothing positive to come from it,” the letter added. The document brings together the opinions of indigenous leaders, members of their communities and organizations who supported the “yes” vote in the referendum.
According to “yes” supporter Sean Gordon, the open letter was not signed so that any member of the country’s indigenous peoples – Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, who represent 984,000 people, or 3.8% of the Australian population.
On October 14, Australians voted a majority “no” on whether the 1901 Constitution should be amended to recognize the country’s original inhabitants. They also rejected the creation of an advisory council – nicknamed “The Voice” – to Parliament and the government to issue opinions on laws and public policies that affect indigenous populations. As such, the writers of the open letter expressed their intention to create their own “Voice” in the face of the “injustices” suffered by their people.
After a “week of silence”
Many indigenous leaders had participated in a “week of silence” to mourn the referendum, the failure of which was interpreted by them as a massive rejection on the part of the country’s white majority. “Yes” supporters saw the referendum as a way to unite the country and heal the wounds of historical injustices inflicted on indigenous people during the country’s colonization, who have a life expectancy eight years lower than others. Australians are on average poorer, more often incarcerated and have less access to education.
Instead, the election campaign highlighted the deep divisions that still run through Australian society more than two centuries following British colonization.
(AFP)
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