Webb Dock Picket Reflections, VALS Invasion Day Webinar 2024, Janet Galpin at Tunnerminnerwait and Maulboyheenner Commemoration, Uncle Coco on Sovereignty and Liberation, Black Peoples Union on ReCONciliation

Thursday, 25 January 2024 - 7:00am to 8:30am
Wayne Coco Wharton sits on a stage in a large open shed with a multicoloured mural in the background. He is talking and wearing a green long sleeved shirt and black pants.

 

Acknowledgement of Country//

 

Headlines//

 

Declan Furber Gillick, Arrernte writer and political organiser and representative of the Black Peoples Union, spoke with Inez about last weekend’s community picket of Webb Dock in Port Melbourne. The picket, organised by activists including those from Unionists for Palestine, Free Palestine Melbourne, WACA and Black Peoples Union, successfully prevented the docking and unloading of Israeli shipping company Zim’s vessel Ganges for multiple days. This conversation touched on campaign wins and the importance of material anti-colonial solidarity in the face of Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.//

 

Nerita Waight, Yorta Yorta, Ngarrindjeri and Taungurung person and CEO of the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service, joined us to discuss VALS' 2024 Invasion Day webinar, which will run today from 4PM AEDT. This year's discussion will focus on treaties and First Nations justice, with overseas First Nations legal expert Andrea Hilland KC, member of the Nuxalk Nation on the Pacific Coast of Canada, and Ngāti Kahungunu academic Dr Carwyn Jones, joining Nerita and Rueben Berg, Gunditjmara man and co-chair of the First Peoples' Assembly of Victoria. Registrations for today's conversation are still open at tinyurl.com/ID24webinar.//

 

Boon Wurrung Elder Janet Galpin gave a Welcome to Country and discussed her ancestor Mannalargenna at the annual Tunnerminnerwait and Maulboyheenner Commemoration held this past Saturday the 20th of January at the corner of Victoria and Franklin Streets in Melbourne's city. Tunnerminnerwait and Maulboyheenner were two Tasmanian Aboriginal freedom fighters who were brought to and hanged in Victoria, the first people to be officially executed in Melbourne.//

 

We heard an excerpt of the plenary discussion between Wayne Coco Wharton and Djuran Bunjileenee Robbie Thorpe, held on day two of the Australian Student Environment Network's Victoria Training Camp last week. In this segment, Uncle Coco speaks about honouring a legacy of First Nations resistance and what it means to keep fighting for freedom against the genocidal Australian colony. Follow Treaty Before Voice for updates on how to keep supporting sovereign First Nations resistance organising guided by staunch, lifelong activists including Uncle Coco and Uncle Robbie, on both Invasion Day and year-round.//

 

We listened back to a segment from a webinar co-convened by Hirak and Black Peoples Union on Saturday the 20th of January titled 'Towards anti-colonialism, anti-imperialism and liberation'. The event featured Keiran Stewart-Assheton and Leah House of Black Peoples Union in conversation with Amal Naser, Jamal Nabulsi and Lina Koleilat of the Palestinian collective Hirak. The excerpt we'll play today includes commentary by Keiran and Leah on decolonizing your mind, what real solidarity means, and debunking the con of reconciliation.//