The Aboriginal Tent Embassy:
A letter from Aboriginal Elders to all people

By Indigenous Solidarity Action Network isan_tentembassy@hotmail.com,
11 September 2001, 10:27am

We have fought against the imposition of British law and the export of capitalism to our country since invasion. We...never ceded our sovereign rights in this country. We have held many rallies and events over the last 29 years at the...Embassy and we will continue to do so until this criminal and racist government ceases to operate.

Money raised will go directly towards supporting the Tent Embassy in its struggles. For further details email isan_tentembassy@hotmail.com.

Read below for a letter from Aboriginal Elders.

Dear People

The 26th January, 2002 will be the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy on the lawns of Old Parliament House, Canberra. At the Aboriginal Tent Embassy,indigenous people from the many nations continue to struggle against the system that the invaders have enforced across this continent. We have don this by taking back land from the commonwealth and consistently occupying this land. We have used this prime position in the parliamentary zone of Canberra to protest against the commonwealth government and the queen. We have fought against the imposition of British law and the export of capitalism to our country since invasion. We are the original people of this land who never ceded our sovereign rights in this country. We have held many rallies and events over the last 29 years at the Aboriginal Tent Embassy and we will continue to do so until this criminal and racist government ceases to operate.

The Aboriginal Tent Embassy is a sacred site where we have ceremony. The sacred fire for peace and justice is constantly burning, surrounded by our sacred objects and humpies. This is the place we talk of our world before the coming of the white people. This is where we know and fight the present genocide of our people. This is the place where we talk of and fight for the future when the destruction of the land and the people will end. The ashes of warriors for indigenous justice have been spread on the earth at the Aboriginal Tent Embassy. Many indigenous people have brought ashes and wood from their ancestral homelands to this sacred place.

This year the commonwealth and white australia celebrate the centenary of federation. The constitution of the commonwealth of australia is based on lies, theft and murder. The centenary of federation is nothing more than a celebration of invasion and genocide of a race of people, the original people of this land.

A large proportion of indigenous people are locked up by the white law. As a race of people we are the poorest Australians with the worst levels of health, housing, education. We are locked up for stealing because we have nothing. We are locked up for being alcoholics because we are sick with pain from being stolen from our families and kept in concentration camps such as missions, reserves and homes. We are locked up for refusing to vote for an illegal white government. We are locked up for protesting because our people are being killed by the system. When we are in the cages of the white man we die in custody at an alarming rate.

Our laws continue to be broken as our land is torn apart by mining companies, as pastoralists, industry and developers clear the land and poison the earth, the rivers and the air. Yet these criminals walk free.

This is the extent of genocide committed by the commonwealth on the indigenous australian race. There can be no reconciliation. We at the Aboriginal Tent Embassy call on all people who support our struggle for justice and all those who marched for reconciliation due to good intentions to join us in fighting against the government until the genocide ends. Until there is no more exploitation of the land our mother, until there is no more exploitation of any peoples in the name of economic benefit to a minority.

The commonwealth government plans to build a monument to reconciliation called Reconciliation Place at a cost of 5.5 million dollars from the public purse. Reconciliation Place is a dirty public relations exercise based on lies. In an attempt to keep indigenous australians in our place as an oppressed race, the commonwealth would ultimately like to combine the construction of Reconciliation Place with the removal of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy. It just doesn't fit to have an everything is OK now we have reconciliation monstrosity alongside a site of protest for justice for indigenous people.

We, the grassroots Aboriginal people will not allow this Reconciliation Place monument to be built. We would like your support in our campaign to prevent the construction of Reconciliation Place and to protect our sacred Aboriginal Tent Embassy protest site. We are currently occupying the site of the proposed Reconciliation Place with our sacred fire ceremony for peace and justice. The National Capital Authority and the Australian Federal Police have moved in on our protest on four separate occasions over the last month and a half, each time breaking our law by desecrating our sacred ceremonies, impounding sacred objects and arresting a keeper of the sacred fires.

We would encourage you to show your support by visiting the Aboriginal Tent Embassy. Bring some wood for the sacred fires and come to speak with us and learn about our struggle and discuss a better future for us all.

This year in October, Australia is hosting the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM). CHOGM is a major decision making body of the British Empire. We will be protesting against the Queen of the British Empire, the Commonwealth of Australia, the Centenary of Federation in the period surrounding CHOGM. We would appreciate your attendance and efforts to build for our protest rallies and events to be held at the Aboriginal Tent Embassy from October 1st to 9th. We will inform people of what will be happening on each date shortly or contact us for further information.

We would also appreciate your attendance and efforts to build for our protest to be held on invasion day, 26th January 2002 on the 30th Anniversary of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy.

We urgently need assistance with funding with all these campaigns relating to the Aboriginal Tent Embassy. Please make cheques out to 'Elders for Spirituality/Justice'. Alternatively make a direct deposit to this account through Australia Post (cost=$2). The account details are as follows -

ACCOUNT NAME: Elders for Spirituality/Justice
INSTITUTION: Canberra Credit Union
BSB: 801009
ACCOUNT NO: 1142075

We appreciate your solidarity,
The Aboriginal Tent Embassy.