The new Australian flag in the Eurasian century? The Australian Aboriginal flag
© ryantipping / Instagram'Australians': White, liberal, and proud
Members of the aboriginal population are increasingly pushing for the annual holiday to be changed to 'Invasion Day', as a reminder to the majority of the population that this land was stolen from their ancestors.
#AustraliaDay is #InvasionDay for the indigenous people. Solidarity with the aboriginal people on this day. pic.twitter.com/6lsPEExHvu— Mina (@mina_ysf) January 26, 2016#InvasionDay Rally - Melbourne pic.twitter.com/ycH1wDADZE— Venessa Fay (@venessa_fay) January 26, 2016Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders commemorate the day as Invasion Day - the day a war began; the day their people were taken by the British:
"The acts of aggression committed against Aboriginal people constitute nothing short of genocide, yet many Australians chooses to remain wilfully ignorant," writes Aussie journalist, Pekeri Ruska.
This is what the 26th of January signifies.
(Warning images of #ATSI people who have passed).
#AustraliaDay pic.twitter.com/rU9MDrRLhm— Kon Karapanagiotidis (@Kon__K) January 26, 2016On the day of the invasion in 1788, the 700,000-strong Aboriginal community made up 100 percent of Australia's population, but by 1900 that number had dropped to around 93,000. As of 2015, Australia's Aboriginal population stands at 3 percent.
© nthorpe_xo / Instagram
© jefftanphoto / Instagram
© jefftanphoto / Instagram
'No pride in genocide,' people chant on #AustraliaDay rally
https://t.co/enO7e15XYD
— RT UK (@RTUKnews) January 26, 2016Mainstream media have been accused of downplaying Invasion Day, with some reporting the protests as being attended by just "several hundred people".
This, for example, is what the media calls a "few hundred in Melbourne" #InvasionDay (photo credit Vivian Malo) pic.twitter.com/OxwM7oTXL8
— Celeste Liddle (@Utopiana) January 26, 2016Some non-Aboriginal Aussies take the stance of "sorry about what our ancestors did, but can we move on now?"
Love this piece by Laura-Alice Art
#Welcome #Sorry #AustraliaDay #InvasionDay #Recognition #Reconciliation #Treaty pic.twitter.com/5jmng2qPeo
— Kelly Fiedler (@KelThinks) January 26, 2016Comment: No, 'we' can't move on while white, Anglo-Saxon, pro-American Australia continues treating others like sub-humans:
Australia's Brutal Treatment of Migrants
Google caused controversy by representing Invasion Day in their 'daily doodle'. Australian journalist, Miranda Devine, called the drawing "disrespectful", while many praised the search engine giant for going against the Australia Day grain.
The World's Most Popular Website Just Ripped The Rug Out From Under Australia Day https://t.co/asEsoAOeBh pic.twitter.com/Rbbz35yRwy
— newmatilda (@newmatilda) January 25, 2016
My wife and I were simply blown away by the ubiquitous war-worshipping attitudes of the Kiwis we encountered all across New Zealand, as they lovingly, nay wildly, celebrate the destruction of their finest young men in WWI (and WW2) via the notorious 'ANZAC Day', as well as by the literally ubiquitous obelisks and other assorted monuments these ponerized Kiwis and Aussies slavishly erect to their 'fallen brothers' in Britain's monstrous wars of aggression. If you even peep a criticism or voice a contrary view on this most sacred of holidays, you're screwed, and I mean screwed, period (see below). And forget Christmas or Easter, as nothing compares to the ecstatic gyrations from the populace leading up to and especially on that most hallowed of holidays, ANZAC Day. Clearly the British Dog is a Dog of WAR, not peace, and is worshipped with unrestrained zeal by seemingly all, young and old alike.
As briefly alluded to above, you must NEVER utter even a word of criticism against this most holy of holy days, ANZAC Day, or you can forget ever being able to count on any Kiwi (i.e., white person of Brit extraction) in the community working with you after that. They are like petulant semi-retarded children, crowding together to ostracize, shun, and f*ck over the 'unbeliever' who doesn't worship at the feet of British militarism, pseudo-supremacy, and the faded glory of one of the bloodiest and most inherently evil 'empires' ever to disgrace the earth, I am very sad to report.
Racism is alive and well here, too, as we have also discovered to our collective embarrassment and disgust. Older Kiwis will pull you to the side to disparage those 'f*cking Maori bastards', who are always banging out tons of kids which invariably end up on the 'dole', sucking away at the Kiwi's wealth and privilege, as there is only so much government largesse to go around, and they would rather it go exclusively to tax cuts for the very wealthiest farmers and Kiwi businessmen, and they make no attempt to hide this attitude, at least in our presence. Once they learn that we were/are not 'of a mind', we were/are ostracized from any of the local's get-togethers and parties, as being just another pair of 'bloody Americans'. Same for any liberal Kiwis, who are usually disparaged by the term "JAFAs" (Just Another F*cking Aucklander) as Auckland is considered basically the center of liberal, progressive opposition here in NZ (as miniscule as those forces are, and growing weaker and smaller by the day, I am also sad to report.)
BUT....... even with all that, we still love our new homeland, do our best to be good citizens, and remember quite well that no place is perfect, nor any group of peoples, and we look for the good in everyone we meet, keeping an open mind as much as possible.
Nevertheless, ANZAC Day is very difficult for us to take, and every time we drive or walk past another monument to 'fallen soldiers' (and they are EVERYWHERE here, believe me!) we shake our heads at the lessons unlearned and the seeming glee with which the youngsters embrace such a blood-spattered holiday as supremely patriotic, never realizing that if a non-nuclear WW3 ever does break out, that they will very likely soon be the new cannon fodder for the old Brit wannabes here in NZ, who love Queen and country above all else, and certainly well above anything resembling a rational, well-informed attitude towards such matters of life and death, both for themselves and for their very own offspring.