so today, january 26th, is australia’s national day. but actually, it’s better known to indigenous or aboriginal australians- australia’s first peoples- as invasion day. and here’s why:
january 26th 1788 was the day britain first claimed australia for the british king with no regard for the people already living on the land. what followed were the frontier wars, containing a series of massacres of indigenous australians by white settlers.
did it get worse? yeah, obviously. the australian government implemented a series of policies over a decade that aimed to literally turn aboriginal people white and “breed out” their colour until their cultures died out. in addition to this, thousands of children were taken from their loving families and put on white christian missions where they were disconnected from their culture and in most cases abused. many still haven’t come home.
and this bullshit continues today. indigenous australians form a large percentage of our prison population and are often abused in custody. just today, I was at an invasion day protest where indigenous people and supporters were shoved and sprayed with fire extinguishers by riot police- all because one indigenous guy was burning an australian flag in hurt and anger, which is NOT a criminal offence here.
a lot of people in australia want to move on from this and use australia day to celebrate unity- but we just can’t when the very day marks division and aboriginal australians are STILL not being respected in australian law.
this day, january 26th, marks the beginning of genocide, and australians celebrate it.
I’m white, but I recognise that I live on the land of the dharawal people of new south wales. one of my ancestors was a proud wiradjuri woman of western nsw. they take care of this land.
australian land is, was, and always will be aboriginal land.
this is the australian aboriginal flag, and below it is the torres strait islander flag. don’t forget them.
“POC” is a popular term thrown around on tumblr but you guys are really happy to use it to make everything about america and group all ~people of colour~ together when they have different experiences and cultures. keep this day in mind, and speak out with people in australia.
don’t let the australian government get away with invasion day.
And the National Parks Services said, “lol, no” and went rogue and we were all like, “I was not expecting the park rangers to lead the resistance, none of the dystopian novels I read prepared me for this but cool.”
“The Dutch Government is planning to launch an international fund to finance access to birth control and abortion in developing countries, in order to fill the gap left after the Trump administration announced it would no longer fund any overseas aid organisations which discussed abortion.
“Banning abortions does not result in fewer abortions,” Dutch Trade and Development Minister Lilianne Ploumen said, according to Dutch news website NOS. “It leads to more irresponsible practices in back rooms and more maternal deaths.”
The World Health Organisation estimates that 22 million women experience unsafe abortions every year, the vast majority of whom are in developing countries. A 2008 report from the organisation estimated that nearly 50,000 women die from complications in such procedures annually.
Minister Ploumen said that the Trump administration’s decision risked undermining recent advances in women’s health.
“We must not let this happen,” she said.
“We need to compensate for this financial blow as much as possible, with a broad-based fund, where governments, businesses and civil society organizations can donate to – so that women can remain in control of their own bodies.”
u know what … i changed my mind… all u scientists out there who worked ur butts off just to have your research purposefully ignored by the government… do your science thing and bring back the dinosaurs… catch them ignoring you when a velociraptor is our next president…. like ding dong what’s that? it’s science, it doesn’t care about your silly ignorant opinion… it’s back with a vengeance… and it’s hungry, bitch
