January 26: sovereignty never ceded

 Written by: Central Committee, CPA (M-L) on 26 January 2021

Statement by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Australian (Marxist-Leninist)

On January 26, we acknowledge that what is known as Australia is stolen land, enforced by brutal massacres across its length and breadth. Such massacres should be unspeakable. Yet they must be spoken.

Our Party Program quotes a Kuku Yalanji man. 
“The tap root of invasion is based on four principles, asserted to this day. It says to First Peoples:

‘You are not who you say you are.’
‘You don’t belong here.’
‘This is not your land.’
‘You must be like us.’

The forces of the state enforce this. 

In almost every community where they live in numbers, First Peoples’ youth are routinely harassed and subject to violence by police. Some are murdered or die through casual criminal neglect in custody. Mothers are threatened with removal of their children. No wonder increasing numbers lose hope. Sorry business is epidemic across the lands. 
 
An avalanche of sophisticated, well-researched lies builds on these four principles. It benefits only the imperialist inheritors of invasion, the giant multinational corporations which give “governments” their orders. 

January 26 is manufactured as OUR day, though it was once only celebrated in the NSW colony. Nearly half this land’s people are alleged to oppose the change of date. This survey is meant to break First Peoples’ spirits. 

As Marxists, we cannot wish this away. But surveys are easily manipulated to come to such conclusions. 

More importantly, and what must be built on, is the over fifty per cent who say, “It’s got to go!” even though they know it will not of itself solve the challenges First Peoples face. But it is an important step that will give hope.

Sovereignty was never ceded. British invasion was everywhere resisted. British military power was kept in place again and again sometimes for decades, in every First Peoples’ Country they dared to enter. This truth is the way forward, for resistance has not ended.  

“For First Peoples, decolonisation reaffirms who they are and where they belong. It places them in their Country. It affirms their identity.” (Party Program, quoting a Kuku Yalanji man)

From Country, Elders have invited First Peoples and allies to stand together in protest on January 26.

We join them. We salute their bravery and resistance.