- In short: Aboriginal elder Jim Everett-puralia meenamatta was arrested in March for protesting against native logging in Tasmania. He says he won’t recognise the “colonial” courts.
- He bailed to appear on June 3, but a warrant was issued for his arrest on Monday after he failed to appear in the Hobart Magistrates Court.
- What’s next? Mr Everett says he expects to be arrested again, but he’ll have to be “pushed” into the court — where he intends to question its sovereignty over Aboriginal people.
You’d enjoy the yidingi nation in Cairns then.
They have their own governer general, police, taxation department and more.
They have an immigration department, and you can even apply to be a citizen.
They are a nation, and are recognised as such by a fair chunk of overseas countries.
They literally were dual policing, in public, with the Queensland police, side by side, on nadoc week, and have their own vehicles, officers and more.
When you see that, and you see this guy from Tasmania, his claim doesn’t feel so far fetched anymore.
If he’s from the nation that traditionally owns the land being logged, and he protests on his own land, then from a human perspective I feel for him. From a legal perspective though, situations like the yidingi of the north will probably need to be tested first.
and are recognised as such by a fair chunk of overseas countries
Which? Wikipedia says they’re “reaching out to countries like Russia and Venezuela to establish diplomatic relations”, but there’s nothing in there or on the cited article suggesting they received any response. Searching Google restricted to their official website for the words “recognise”, “acknowledge”, “embassy”, “relation”, and a few conjugations of those words all turned up zero results. They do seem to have had friendly discussions with federal ministers, but no formal recognition, and they don’t seem to be using their own vehicle registrations any more. (Side note: that last article is a particularly good one for getting a full broad picture of what it is they really want and the situations that lead to them being as they are today.)
Note: I am not attempting to make any kind of “ought” argument here. Merely an “is” one. And it does not seem true to claim that the Yidingi Nation “is” recognised in any official way, as far as I could find.
Sir facts and logic have no place in a lemmy comment thread
I remember the arrente patrols when I was in the Alice. It’s seemed bazaar at first but after a bit you understand it’s better for all parties involved. The day/night patrol didn’t make sense though
