Belgo Geordie: Northern Territory Intervention: 10 Years On, it still bleeds... Sydney Rally 24 June 2017

In June 2007 the Australian Government of the day (Johnny Howard and his faction of Tory destroyers) imposed under urgency an intervention on the first people in the Northern Territory. In particular aimed at the lawlessness, "rivers of grog" , bashing of women and neglect of children with at the forefront shocking the average Telegraph reader into a feeding frenzy of froth "paedophile rings". Resulting in the first instance the army arriving to impose the intervention in remote communities followed by police and social services. It is hard to imagine the reaction and grief from communities already dealing with legacies of genocide, "White Australia" legislation and the stolen generation or should that be countless generations since European arrival. It overrode the protections of the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 taking away rights from the first people. Income management (through the Basics Card) was used as a weapon and encouraged 'private' state sanctioned businesses to gouge communities. The perception was the intervention would control alcohol and drug abuse, restrict access to excessive pornography, reduce child abuse and neglect, reduce family violence and violence per say. It would deal with issues of poverty, education, housing and health...the strands of closing the gap - dear to most politicians hearts. In ten years has it achieved that?

Ken as ever at the forefront

From speakers at this rally in Sydney, it is an overwhelming story of failure from successive Governments Coalition and Labor to come to terms with differentiating between fact and myth. Failure from intent and gloss. A system imposed on people that has dragged on and on, with minimal evaluation and growing evidence it is a disaster of gigantic proportions. Such as first people children. Has their quality of life, education or health improved? Their economic well being and future? Statistics, and it was not long ago the general population was reminded of the size of the failure by the Four Corners documentary on Don Dale, show soaring rates of imprisonment of first people youth. The criminalisation, though the intervention, of petty misdemeanours such as driving non payment of fines leading to jail time. Taking away the autonomy of people has resulted in multiple levels of dependence and helplessness. Layers of government overseers of the intervention to contend with. The widening chasm of distrust between impoverished communities and policing. The threadbare justice system when it comes to protecting first people. And after ten years - there are no paedophile rings. The rivers of grog remain a fiction in comparison to mainstream Australia. However the poverty, poor housing stock and amenities, the dependence, the humiliation and shame that remains. And the high rates of youth incarceration and educational failure remains our collective shame. The Intervention has not been demonstrated to have led to any significant improvements to the communities where it was supposed to make such a difference. Should we not call for an an end to a destructive experiment undermining basic human rights and the dignity of our first people?

For better overview than I can give read the Melbourne based magazine Arena No 148 "Ten Years of Intervention". It is ten dollars well spent to get a sense of the size of the fiasco the intervention still is. (www.arena.org.au) I acknowledge the many writers in this edition for informing me off background and current issues.

Meanwhile just over a hundred to one hundred and fifty people turned out on a sunny Saturday afternoon in Sydney. Hosted by the "Stop the Intervention Collective Sydney" and following a forum on the Intervention midweek at Redfern. The usual activists were joined by people with direct connection to the Northern Territory. One politician, the Greens Jenny Leong, attended and spoke. There was minimal visible union presence (Yes the MUA we were represented by three comrades). Socialist and Marxist activists, and Greens were represented. A lot of community activists and Mr Lee. But this being the tenth year - where was everybody else? All those who turned up for May Day or the Women's March or any of the anti-Trump - Coalition protests. Where were you? This takes a small commitment to attend but makes a huge difference to the first people directly impacted by the Intervention. And we are not strong in progressing first people causes through protest action. As Ms Leong said, when you go and see the effect it will not let you sleep well at night. We need to more actively support groups such as Fire and ISJA(Indigenous Social Justice) and our Redfern brothers and sisters.

The burning ceremony

It was a powerful first people driven rally and the speeches reflected that. The children (our future) danced. We marched, refused permission (previously granted) by some police on the ground to make a protest at the War Memorial in Hyde Park. Some of the young coppers looked uncomfortable even a bit bemused at the chant "Too many coppers! Not enough Justice!" But in truth overall they were soft handed compared to recent events where the boys and girls in boiler suits tended to turn up and use questionable crowd control methods causing more injury and upset than was warranted. Then there was the civil disobedience outside Central Station. Fifty people sitting down in an intersection and then observing a minutes silence to the aggravation of the motorists caught in the middle - but as one elder said "If you can't give us five minutes of your time..." After all they have lost to us a whole land including the asphalt roads running through Sydney Town.