May Day: Stolen Wages, Slavery, and inequalities between Indigenous and non-Indigenous workers

Monday, 1 May 2023 - 3:00pm to 4:00pm
An Illustration of silhouettes at a rally in block colours - red black and white, with text superimposed on a flag that reads May Day for Freedom and Liberation, Monday 1st May 5:30pm, State Library of Victoria. Flags and Banners in the background include logos of the Black Peoples Union, LASNET, The Communist Party of Australia, and other organisations who are involved with the rally.

 *Content Warning: This episode of Doin' Time contains audio images of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who have died.

 


 This special episode of Doin' Time falls on May Day, also known as International Workers' Day.

 

 First up on the program, speaks to activist and advocate Marianne MacKay, a Yoorgabilya woman from the Whadjuk Noongar Nation, about the importance of the voices of people with lived experience, inequalities in securing work for Aboriginal people such as unfair criminal history checks and lack of access to identity records. She also discusses modern forms of slave labour in prisons, and why she is voting "No" to the proposed Voice to Parliament.


 Next up on the program, Marisa interviews Keiran Stewart-Assheton, Wani Wandian man and President of the Black Peoples Union, about the atrocious history of slavery and forced labour of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in this country, and how the dehumanisation of Indigenous people which began before Australia's Federation continues to benefit state and private interests. He provides a comprehensive history, including of Queensland's links to the US slave trade, to indentured servitude, and now in the form of Stolen Wages and prison labour.

 Marisa ends up the show by reading a statement on the origins of May Day, by the Melbourne Anarchist Communist Group.

Doin Time 4-5pm Mondays
Monday 4:00pm to 5:00pm
An open forum, presenting information and discussion around issues faced by prisoners in the criminal justice system and migration detention centres.

Presenter

Marisa

Topic