Activists gathered at the Captain Cook statue in London to protest the celebration of 鈥淎ustralia Day鈥 and in solidarity with聽mass rallies and dawn services held in聽Australian cities聽on January 26.聽
2022聽marks the 50th anniversary of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra, one of the longest running protest sites in the world. It also marks 252 years since first contact between Captain Cook and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and the beginning of colonisation and dispossession of their land. The event was organised to show solidarity with the First Nations people who consider 鈥淎ustralia Day鈥 to be a day of mourning not celebration.
331 - London protest Invasion Day 2022 cr Angela Christophilou.jpeg
Activists displayed a signs such as 鈥淣o Pride in Britain's Indigenous Genocide鈥 and 鈥50 Years of Resisting and Still Fighting鈥, a reference to the theme of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy commemoration events that will honour and mourn the聽past, celebrate survival and strategise for the next 50 years.
Sam Taylor, a London-based Australian attending the protest, said: 鈥淎ustralians in London stand in solidarity with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The celebration of the genocide of聽Indigenous Australians is shameful and offensive.
鈥淐olonisation continues to this day, from the murder of Aboriginal people in custody to the destruction of native lands to feed聽capitalist greed.聽We live in the heart of the Empire here in London, so it is important to bring to light the real history of this day and to show people in Britain and Australia聽that today is not and will never be a day to celebrate.鈥
331 - London protest on Invasion Day2 cr Angela Christofilou.jpeg
Coral, a proud Aboriginal woman from Geraldton, Western Australia, said: 鈥淭he majority will celebrate arrival but we will celebrate survival of the original peoples of this great Southern land. Always was Aboriginal land, always will be. Proud to be an Aborigine. We are the traditional owners of this red earth, our mother.鈥
A London bus stop was also 鈥渉acked鈥 by activist artist Protest Stencil, to display the Aboriginal flag with the words 鈥淎bolish Australia Day鈥.聽
331 - Abolish Australia Day cr Project Stencil.png
