Two of the BPU’s most committed organisers are at breaking point after a traumatic 18 months. These are good, hardworking people who have given everything to the community, and right now, they need the community to have their backs.

A recent act of financial abuse has left them in crisis, forcing them to cover urgent costs for accommodation, relocation, and medical needs. We’re aiming to raise $10,000 to help them regain stability.

Please donate what you can and share this fundraiser widely. Solidarity is everything.

https://chuffed.org/project/124457-support-two-bpu-organisers-in-crisis

#Aboriginal #Indigenous #Australia #Decolonise #BPU #BlackPeoplesUnion #MutualAid #PleaseShare #PleaseHelp #AboriginalMutualAid #BlackMutualAid
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[shared from the BPU Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18mWsNpYmi/]

The BPU* have installed a new Aboriginal Tent Embassy** in Naarm (Melbourne).

It's been set up at "Kings Domain" Park, which was the site of Camp Sovereignty***.

They've set up tents, a fire site, and have every intention to hold the space indefinitely.

This is an Aboriginal act of resistance, directed and performed by Aboriginal people in defiance of Australia Day****.

Please consider donating to the BPU to support this action - https://www.blackpeoplesunion.org/donate

#Aboriginal #Indigenous #Decolonise #SovereigntyNeverCeded #Treaty #FuckRacism #FuckWhiteness #FuckColonisation #AustraliaDay #InvasionDay #BPU #BlackPeoplesUnion #PleaseShare #PleaseHelp #MutualAid #IndigenousMutualAid #BlackMutualAid

*Black People's Union
https://www.blackpeoplesunion.org/

**Aboriginal Tent Embassy
https://theconversation.com/a-short-history-of-the-aboriginal-tent-embassy-an-indelible-reminder-of-unceded-sovereignty-174693

***Camp Sovereignty
http://www.kooriweb.org/foley/news/2000s/2006/age20apr06.html

****Australia Day
https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2016/1/26/australia-day-a-day-of-mourning-for-aboriginals

Very, VERY important things for my fellow whites in #Australia to consider when you vote today ~ https://www.facebook.com/keiran.stewart/posts/pfbid06WMBj5oQPXrsFnhZ2yrferPNujT1zrSJP49BB18EnP4JU4wAh7GThr5LMytqUETMl

Have you actually been listening to First Nations people and their history, or are you listening to propaganda funded by the same mining giants and centrist-conservative politicians who have been undermining First Nations (and other racialised people such as Palestinians and asylum seekers) rights for years, if not decades?

The #VoiceToParliament was NOT made by Indigenous people, it was prescribed to them in a false ultimatum, both at the conventions in 2017 and especially now during the referendum. There was, and there continues to be, major Indigenous protest to the proposals, claims of near-unanimous Indigenous support are blatantly false.

We should NOT keep boiling this down to a racism litmus test. Yes =/= not-racist, especially if you use that to talk down on Indigenous people who are undecided or opposed to the Voice (white paternalism is still racism, we need to let go of the myth that racism only exists as overt hatred). No =/= racist, especially when Indigenous people are saying No or abstaining in favour of stronger, more self-determined measures.

The Voice isn't the only, let alone best, solution. This #referendum isn't an ultimatum, so why do we insist on treating it like it is? If you're voting Yes to not "let the racists win" despite being aware of Indigenous trepidation regarding the subject, you are centering your own white guilt and Australia's international reputation over the racism itself... it doesn't absolve the more normalised, "benevolent" forms of racism on display there. Ignoring undecided and oppositional Indigenous voices erases the self-determination you claim to be advocating for.

A single vote won't dismantle systemic racism, even if the Voice had been as self-empowering and productive in the process of its creation as its expensive, sensationalised advertising has claimed. We are ALL racist, as racism is an inherent part of the white-centred sociopolitical power structures we exist in. The sooner we can come to terms with that and start centering the voices that actually matter, the better.

#VoteYES #VoteNO #SovereignNO #TreatyBeforeVoice #BlakSovereignMovement #Referendum2023 #VoiceTreatyTruth #TreatyBeforeVoice #BlackPeoplesUnion

Interview on ABC News Breakfast this morning with Keiran Stewart-Assheton, President of the Black Peoples Union around The Voice Referendum tomorrow.

https://youtu.be/G0kFfqb-63s

#VoiceToParliament #AusPol #BlackPeoplesUnion #Referendum #VTP

Statement from the #BlackPeoplesUnion on the behaviour of Socialist Alternative on #MayDay

“Statement by the Black Peoples Union on Socialist Alternative's actions at the May Day rally

The Black Peoples Union strongly condemns the actions of Socialist Alternative at the May Day rally in Naarm on Monday night.

During the event, while two Indigenous people were speaking, Socialist Alternative members used megaphones and chants to drown out the Indigenous speakers in what is essentially counter-protest tactics, showing a complete lack of respect for the voices of oppressed First Nations people - voices that we all know are silenced every other day by reactionary and racist forces in the colony.

Furthermore, we are appalled by the slanderous and factually incorrect statements that Socialist Alternative have made about the Black Peoples Union on social media.

Accusing us of being divisive and not using solidarity is a baseless and offensive claim, especially considering the context of their actions at a May Day rally organised by a collective of organisations representing several oppressed ethnicities across the world as well as the exploited Indigenous and non-Indigenous proletarians of this continent - a committee that Socialist Alternative was originally invited to be a part of in the spirit of solidarity, but refused… 1/2

This image shows a statement by the BPU (Black Peoples' Union).

The image description is in the comments, because it's too long to post.

#BPU #racism #Indigenous #Aboriginal #Australia #BlackPeoplesUnion

#Narrm / #Melbourne, so-called #Australia, 11.03.2023:

Veteran #FirstNations activist Robbie Thorpe speaking at the 'PROTEST AGAINST THE VOICE : WE DEMAND MORE THAN JUST A VOICE' demo on the steps of Parliament House that was organized by the #BlackPeoplesUnion.

Pretty good turnout for the first rally, if past campaigns are anything to go by this is likely to end up being huge!

Black Peoples Union linktree: https://linktr.ee/blackpeoplesunion

So-called #Australia: Demos tomorrow (March 11) organized by the #BlackPeoplesUnion to protest against the farcical #VoiceToParliament!

4pm @ #Ngambri, (canberra) Parliament House.
11am @ #Naarm, (melbourne) Parliament House.

#Meanjin (brisbane) & #Warrang (sydney) postponed until March 18th.