Thousands of Australians yesterday protested the anniversary of British colonization of their nation, with large crowds urging for Australia Day to be moved and for a day of mourning on the holiday some call “Invasion Day.”
The holiday marks the arrival of 11 British ships carrying convicts at Port Jackson in present-day Sydney on Jan. 26, 1788. For many, the day marked the beginning of a sustained period of discrimination and expulsion of Indigenous people from their land without a treaty.
Thousands of people, many of whom waved Indigenous flags, rallied in front of the Victoria State Parliament in Melbourne, calling for an official day of mourning to be declared across Australia. Roads and tram lines were shut down for more than four hours.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Large crowds in Sydney chanted for the Australia Day date to be moved. Thousands of protesters also rallied in Brisbane and the second day of Australia’s Test cricket match against the West Indies was briefly disrupted by demonstrators.
Major sports have stopped calling the holiday Australia Day, and the Australian Football League Players’ Association, several clubs and hockey teams have called for the date to change.
Two monuments symbolizing Australia’s colonial past were damaged in Melbourne on Thursday. A statue of British naval officer James Cook, who in 1770 charted Sydney’s coast, was sawn off at the ankles, and a Queen Victoria monument was doused in red paint.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people represented 3.8 percent of Australia’s population of 26 million in 2021, according to an Australian Bureau of Statistics census. Indigenous people are the nation’s most disadvantaged ethnic minority.
Tensions are high after Australian voters in October last year resoundingly rejected a referendum to create an advocacy committee to offer advice to parliament on policies that affect Indigenous people. The government had proposed the first constitutional change since 1977 as a step forward in Indigenous rights.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday said that the national day was an opportunity for Australians to “pause and reflect on everything that we have achieved as a nation.”
‘GREAT OPPRTUNITY’: The Paraguayan president made the remarks following Donald Trump’s tapping of several figures with deep Latin America expertise for his Cabinet Paraguay President Santiago Pena called US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming foreign policy team a “dream come true” as his nation stands to become more relevant in the next US administration. “It’s a great opportunity for us to advance very, very fast in the bilateral agenda on trade, security, rule of law and make Paraguay a much closer ally” to the US, Pena said in an interview in Washington ahead of Trump’s inauguration today. “One of the biggest challenges for Paraguay was that image of an island surrounded by land, a country that was isolated and not many people know about it,”
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
‘FIGHT TO THE END’: Attacking a court is ‘unprecedented’ in South Korea and those involved would likely face jail time, a South Korean political pundit said Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday stormed a Seoul court after a judge extended the impeached leader’s detention over his ill-fated attempt to impose martial law. Tens of thousands of people had gathered outside the Seoul Western District Court on Saturday in a show of support for Yoon, who became South Korea’s first sitting head of state to be arrested in a dawn raid last week. After the court extended his detention on Saturday, the president’s supporters smashed windows and doors as they rushed inside the building. Hundreds of police officers charged into the court, arresting dozens and denouncing an
CYBERSCAM: Anne, an interior decorator with mental health problems, spent a year and a half believing she was communicating with Brad Pitt and lost US$855,259 A French woman who revealed on TV how she had lost her life savings to scammers posing as Brad Pitt has faced a wave of online harassment and mockery, leading the interview to be withdrawn on Tuesday. The woman, named as Anne, told the Seven to Eight program on the TF1 channel how she had believed she was in a romantic relationship with the Hollywood star, leading her to divorce her husband and transfer 830,000 euros (US$855,259). The scammers used fake social media and WhatsApp accounts, as well as artificial intelligence image-creating technology to send Anne selfies and other messages
RSS