NAIDOC Week 2022 - Get Up! Show Up! Stand Up!

Whether it’s seeking proper environmental, cultural and heritage protections, Constitutional change, a comprehensive process of truth-telling, working towards treaties, or calling out racism—we must do it together….

We need to move beyond just acknowledgement, good intentions, empty words and promises, and hollow commitments. Enough is enough…..

The relationship between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and non?Indigenous Australians needs to be based on justice, equity, and the proper recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ rights.

(naidoc.org.au)

The theme for NAIDOC Week 2022 is a powerful call to action for all of us across Australia to step into action together. But what does that mean, what is it that we need to do?

Is it that we need to march in the streets, write to politicians, send a letter to an editor, sign a petition or is it something as simple as talking to a local Aboriginal person and getting to know what is happening locally or going to a local NAIDOC event? Well, of course it can be all of these things and less or more.

In our experience when there is a call to action such as this, the most powerful impacts are felt when:

·?????There is a belief that now is the time, so there is a readiness to ‘do something’.

·?????There is a belief that ‘we’ need to do something.

·?????‘I’ can see that I need to act and I have a sense of what I can do.

Why now?

For a call to action to succeed people need to believe that now is the time, this creates the readiness for people to act. So, how do we know that there is a readiness to do something? If we consider the Uluru Statement from the Heart (see here) for our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people there has been a journey for constitutional recognition since the Australian Constitution became law on January 1st, 1901. (For those interested in this you might want to read an ABC report here.) Along the way there have been key moments in time such as the commitment by the then Prime Minister Bob Hawke to the Barunga Statement which was a petition calling for a wide range of indigenous rights, including a negotiated treaty. ??In hindsight the readiness for this move was not in the parliament of the day nor was there a significant groundswell from the community. Currently however, there does seem to be readiness for parliament to endorse the Uluru Statement from the Heart. The people driving this have shifted in our communities beyond activists and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to a range of community members. Although not everyone may be convinced that this is a good idea, the conversation has shifted from ‘fear’ that our First Nations people want a parallel parliament, to one that, this is needed and overdue. Consequently we see political readiness reflecting community readiness, with the incoming Labor government committing to this as their first commitment on election night and the so called ‘teal candidates’ endorsing this in their campaigns.

This is our issue and we can act

Change happens when there is a sense that we need to do something?- not ‘the government’ not the person over there or ‘others’ but ‘us’. ?We see this when people start pulling others together to do something different. This energy is maximised when those involved believe that they have the authority and permission to act, when actions are welcomed and supported and encouraged. Sometimes we see that the readiness to act is stymied by those with formal power trying to control the actions - you can do this but you can’t do that or don’t act yet, we haven’t got the implementation plan endorsed.

The power of the current NAIDOC call to action is that there is a shared aspiration that is clear—one aspect of this is the First Nations voice to be enshrined in the constitution (Uluru Statement from the Heart, 2017). Although this has many targeted strategies behind the scenes, the NAIDOC theme - Get Up! Show Up! Stand Up! calls us to act but allows the freedom for us to act in our own way. This tension between having a clear aspiration and targeting strategy, yet allowing freedom for others to act as they see fit, is the hallmark of effective action for change.

What will I do?

So all of this is interesting but any call to action is only worthwhile if each of us sees ourselves in the action! So, what will I do to contribute to this call to action for NAIDOC Week?

I will Get Up: I will talk to local Dja Dja Wurrung elders about how I bring the NAIDOC messages into my practice and start by taking the local cultural tour.

I will Show Up: I will bring the Uluru Statement from the Heart into my local climate emergency work to look at how we bring this to life in our local actions.

I will Stand Up: I will call out racism when I see it.

I am also keen to know what you think about all of this, what do you see and what will you do?

by Sharon Fraser?|?Clarion Call, Founding Director

(image of Jack Beetson, Clarion Call, Founding Director - After studying at?Tranby Aboriginal College, Jack Beetson became a teacher there,?and was eventually appointed its Executive Director)