STATEMENT ON THE UNWELCOME THE KING PROTESTS
In 1788, the war was brought to our home. Eleven ships sailed into the waters and soldiers stepped foot on the lands of the Gadigal people. As whispers travelled down the continent of ghost-faced people and their giant ships, the colonists violently dispossessed the Darug clans from their homelands to establish the colonial project of Port Jackson. Blood was shed on this soil in the name of the King. Genocide was committed on this soil in the name of the King. The bloodshed and genocide never stopped, and this week the crown has returned. In a long line of Indigenous resistance, Blak Elders, community and activists stood their ground against the monarchist bogans and lines of cops to fight for liberation and restitution. The visit of King Charles III is a stark reminder that the illusion of the ‘Australian dream’ egalitarian society is a sham. The ‘Australian dream’, is a Blakfullas nightmare. Australia is a colony and it must be smashed.
From 20-21 October 2024, Blak Sovereign activists protested the arrival of King Charles III, the current figurehead and principal illegal occupier of all Aboriginal and Zenadth Kes peoples territories. It is under the false sovereignty of the Crown (King Charles III) that the occupation of Blak lands, the genocide of Blak peoples, the destruction of sacred sites and ongoing colonial violence persist. In the face of the brutal genocide being perpetrated by the Zionist entity against our Palestinian and Lebanese siblings - peoples who have also suffered at the hands of British imperialism - and the shameful news of the reintroduction of spit hoods against Aboriginal children and the lowering of the age of criminal responsibility to 10 in the NT, this royal tour should have seen mobilisation in the thousands.
The numbers who uplifted and shared the snap call to action were small, and the number of people who showed up, actioning the requests of Sovereign Blakfellas was even smaller. Activists were present on the land of Cammeraygal, a Sovereign clan of the Darug Nation, in such low numbers that even the banners could not be held up properly. A sea of monarchist thugs surrounded them, as well as a large cop contingent. This in itself was a shameful and colonial failure of the community to show up for First Nations organisers who had been planning the execution of an anti-monarch protest for months. The weekly Palestine protest, a 10-minute drive away from this action, in a beautiful expression of solidarity against Israel’s murderous regime, saw thousands attend. As they do and should week in and week out. There is, however, a pattern of failure of setter organisers to support and mobilise for actions that are Blak-led and for Blak liberation. The disconnection of our struggles is not only hurtful to the Blak people who show up for all oppressed peoples in this colony, but it is also dangerous. It isolates Blak people in a way that positions our liberation as evitable, unlikely, unimportant and pointless.
After expressing our disappointment and anger with the community for their failure to show up for Blak people, the expectation of settlers to step up on Ngunnawal and Ngambri Country was elevated. Yet again, a crowd of only 30 mostly Indigenous people including the Kanak Great Chief Sinewami Htamumu Hippolyte Wakewi gathered, putting their bodies on the line without the solidarity of settler so-called allies, with snipers aimed at them from the roof of a nearby building. In pursuit of his mission to serve Charles III an arrest warrant, Uncle Wayne ‘Coco’ Wharton, a sovereign Kooma elder, along with a Ngunnawal elder, was arrested by the colonial police. This is clear: we do not want or need your cries of shame after the fact, we need your real presence at these important actions. What good is it to express disdain for something already committed, when there have been no attempts to mobilise and support us prior? The lack of numbers directly puts our Elders and community on the frontlines in danger of state violence, but we know this all too well. Time and time again, when the call for solidarity and action comes from the Sovereign grassroots community, no one’s to be seen.
We cannot shy away from the discrepancies in the solidarity shown to oppressed peoples. Settler allies failed Blak people over the weekend, as they have many times before, and will continue to if this issue is not reckoned with. The refusal to sit with Blak anger is a certain sign of coloniality in your “solidarity.” The normalisation of the occupation of our lands has resulted in a sentiment amongst the settler left that leaves them with nothing but a sour taste in their mouths when confronted with Blak genocide and occupation. Everyone said “The colony will fall” in January as bronze statues fell, but when the head of the colony arrived at the doorstep of Sovereign lands you were nowhere to be seen. We will not take excuses that shift the blame onto organisers. It is not only in the interest of Indigenous peoples to resist against the monarchy, but also the broader working class and migrant communities. It is not only actionable to be in solidarity with Indigenous resistance but to also take action autonomously against the hydra-headed snake of the colony once the call has been made by Blakfellas. By not mobilising, frontline communities, specifically our Elders are in danger of state-sanctioned violence and the carceral system. Any organisation that did not support, amplify or mobilise is complicit in the violent events that took place. Leaving Indigenous groups vastly outnumbered, and then crying shame after they are brutalised is malicious.
We demand a formal apology from every organisation that failed Mob.