We are witnessing an unprecedented attack on rights in Australia - workers rights, refugee, Indigenous, unemployed, immigrants, journalists, whistleblowers, and human rights in general, and we also seeing attacks on the ability to advocate about these issues.
This is made possible through wilful demonisation in the media of those who are being targeted - namely refugees, Indigenous ppl, the unemployed, unions, immigrants, and advocates - because the denial of human rights necessitates dehumanising those who you would take them from.
As Malcolm X once said: 
Not only does this demonisation facilitate a denial of rights, it also reduces the ‘acceptable’ scope of dialogue. In Indigenous Affairs the acceptable range is now limited to ‘equality’ or parity of outcomes, usually through a lens of assimilation or, at best, reconciliation.
Australia used to talk about Indigenous rights, but this has been made synonymous with ‘special treatment’ and ‘free handouts’, so now we talk about ‘closing the gap’ instead.
The right to live on your homelands is now a ‘lifestyle choice’ issue. The right to have Australian history acknowledged has been turned into a ‘Stalanistic attempt to erase history’. The right to determine our own futures, or even have a say on them, is framed as ‘undemocratic’.
The right to be free from racial vilification is more likely to be seen us attempting to ‘steal your free speech’.
Acknowledging government failures in policy and practice is us refusing to accept responsibility.
This is how debate and dialogue has been diminished.
Acknowledging government failures in policy and practice is us refusing to accept responsibility.
This is how debate and dialogue has been diminished.
We have replaced substance with symbolism, replaced partnerships and dialogue with tokenism and sound bites, replaced corporate responsibility with RAPs and luncheons, and replaced government accountability with victim blaming and demonisation.
We now only have small windows of opportunity to air our grievances on a limited number of topics - Invasion Day, Closing the Gap week, the Apology anniversary etc, and these are made as controversial as possible for maximum clicks and minimal thought or action.
We have human rights as human beings, we have citizenship rights as Australian citizens, and we have Indigenous rights as Indigenous peoples as set out by the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Check out the UNDRIP for more info on Indigenous rights: humanrights.gov.au/publications/u…
FYI we made those posters with @KalinyaComm and an Aboriginal graphic designer as part of a mini project called ‘Know Your Rights’. Would love to do more stuff like that in future too.
