Tonight at Camp Sovereignty, I was welcomed by an Elder and placed gum leaves onto the sacred fire. For the first time, I feel like I have asked permission to be in this land and been welcomed by its people rather than being here by default, progeny of an immigration that continued invasion.
I sat down with a man named John as the rains started again and we talked. He was musing about why the Greens had not come down to the camp and I mentioned this idea of feeling I’d finally been given permission to be here. I mentioned I’d prefer to pay rent out of my income to the indigenous people rather than tax to the government, or at least an option to nominate rent payments rather than military investment with my tax. We talked a little about brainwashing and how insidious it can be. I asked him where the treaty process was at and he said with 500 different nations, he thinks there needs to be a federation of nations first. He said that was one of the only ways the divide and conquer strategy that was currently in play could be defeated. He talked about joining forces with the Republican movement because there cannot be a Republic in Australia without first having reconciliation and a treaty as its first step. I started thinking that would be an interesting role, helping liaise on that stuff.