Politics

Non Indigenous People Miss The Point Of Changing The Date

Changing the date comes after changing the country, not before.

by Merryana Salem  26 January 2021
change-the-date

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I am a 26-year-old Wonnarua Lebanese-Australian so believe me when I tell you I am intimately familiar with both settler and Indigenous feelings around the 26th of January and change the date.

But this isn’t going to be a piece where I write the whole “I am conflicted, born of two worlds” spiel. No, I am going to explain to you exactly why non-Indigenous opinions on January 26th and change the date, while often well-meaning, can be unhelpful.

In a piece he recently penned for the Sydney Morning Herald, former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd used his voice to advocate for so-called “Australia’s” national celebration to be moved to June 3rd. June 3rd is the anniversary of High Court’s 1992 decision to legally recognised the pre-existing Native title to the land we now call Australia and is commonly referred to as the Mabo Decision.

It’s referred to as the Mabo Decision because June 3rd was not the will of politicians or the Australian people. The Mabo Decision was the result of years of Blak advocacy and activism from Uncle Eddie Mabo as well as others.

The Mabo Decision was the first time the highest lawmaking power in this country nationally recognised Indigenous sovereignty. However, Mr Rudd’s proposal to make it’s the anniversary the new National holiday feeds into one of the most common myth’s associated with the Mabo Decision.

As Dr Irene Watson, a member of the Tanganekald and Meintangk peoples, puts the myth perfectly, “…before Mabo, most people knew justice had been denied to our peoples, now post-Mabo most people believe we have gained justice. We are still working for the same goal, land rights and self-determination, but we are also working harder than ever before, for now we are also working on unmasking the illusion; the illusion that ‘the blacks have got it all.’”

The Indigenous peoples of this land have not achieved justice. We do not have equity. We are still fighting for the return of our stolen land, families and wages. We are still fighting against a justice system created to colonise us. A system that locks away our children and has killed over 500 of us that we know of. Almost 30 years on from the Mabo case and we are still fighting the same battles, only now under the legal illusion that the biggest battle has been won.

Until justice and equity progress for Blakfellas in this country,  changing the date is a purely symbolic gesture. Contrary to popular belief, symbols of progress do not equal real and tangible progress, as the aftermath of Mabo’s case unfortunately proves.

Non-Indigenous people, whether they’re talk-show hosts, or politicians, telling Indigenous peoples however indirectly that a date change will pacify us as if there is a date in this country not marred by Blak grief is exhausting. As Meriki Onus writes in this article, decades before Australia even had what we now know as “Australia day” Indigenous peoples were excluded from and protested against national celebrations of this country. The only time we “celebrated” was when we were forced to against our will under threat of death in 1938.

The idea that changing the date will change the holiday’s cultural roots in colonialism and genocide also has no historical grounding. Prior to being celebrated on January 26th, “Foundation Day” as it was colloquially known as was celebrated in July, February, December, and many other dates before the 26th of January was announced as a national holiday.

So, pointing out that we have changed the date before so we can change it again as a way of advocating for a less racist holiday fails to acknowledge that it’s not the date that’s the issue.

This lack of acknowledgment is the ironic heart of Mr Rudd’s article. He says, “We should listen carefully to Indigenous leaders on their views on January 26 and whether any such repurposing is still possible.”

But had he actually listened and learned from our culture and histories, Mr Rudd might have known already that there is no date that fits this description so long as justice, rights, autonomy and sovereignty are denied from Aboriginal peoples.

Mr Rudd perfectly demonstrates how many non-Indigenous people have co-opted and adopted the change the date movement, not out of a genuine desire to respect First Nations peoples, but because changing a date is much easier than adjusting the governing laws of our country to restore Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander sovereignty and autonomy over our bodies, and communities.

There is no date that will “unite all Australians,” as Mr Rudd puts it, so long as so many Australians deny our First Nations peoples equity.  Indigenous peoples’ calls to abolish Australia Day are calls to abolish a false celebration of unity, not to move it to a different day.

If non-Indigenous people truly want a date change, then they need to understand that a date change should not happen until systemic change that grants Indigenous peoples our owed justice, reparations and autonomy have taken place. Only then will we all be able to celebrate this country.

This is not a call for non-Indigenous people to stop using your voices to advocate, but it is a reminder that a different date is not the goal. A change of the date is a symbol of progress, a gesture deeply disrespectful to make without the actual progress to show for it.

It’s progress that only happens if we keep showing up. Keep showing up to your local rallies, sign petitions, support Blak business, donate resources where you can, and above all else, listen to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices. Go beyond the change the date issue. Don’t just tell people to listen in an article talking over us.

As public attention to change the date grows, so does the possibility of it changing. As a proud Indigenous woman, I can only hope that when the date change comes, it is in the aftermath of systemic change that has ensured the changed date is a day worth celebrating.

Merryana Salem is a proud Wonnarua and Lebanese–Australian critic, teacher, researcher and podcaster on most social media as @akajustmerry. If you want, check out her podcast, GayV Club where she gushes about LGBT rep in media with her best friend. Either way, she hopes you ate something nice today.