January 26 marks the colonisation of Australia and the grief, heartache and pain that this has inflicted on First Nations people for generations. It is also a moment to recognise the ongoing survival of the oldest existing culture in the world today.
On January 26, 1788, Captain Arthur Phillip raised the British flag at Warrane, marking the beginning of British colonial rule on Gadigal land. This date, originally commemorated as Foundation Day, has evolved into Australia Day. However, this day also represents the start of the invasion, suffering, and dispossession for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The true history of these lands spans over 60,000 years, far preceding colonial times.
When British settlers began colonizing Australia in 1788, between 750,000 and 1.25 Aboriginal Australians are estimated to have lived there. Soon, epidemics ravaged the island’s indigenous people, and British settlers seized Aboriginal lands.
Though some Aboriginal Australians did resist—up to 20,000 indigenous people died in violent conflict on the colony’s frontiers—most were subjugated by massacres and the impoverishment of their communities as British settlers seized their lands.
Between 1910 and 1970, government policies of assimilation led to between 10 and 33 percent of Aboriginal Australian children being forcibly removed from their homes. These “Stolen Generations” were put in adoptive families and institutions and forbidden from speaking their native languages. Their names were often changed.
For many Aboriginal and Torres Trait Islanders, January 26 is a day of mourning, symbolising the loss of their ancestors, their land, and their rights. It recalls the devastating impact of the Frontier Wars, the ongoing trauma, and the systemic injustices that continue to this day, including disproportionate rates of Black deaths in custody, health inequities, and the desecration of sacred sites. Celebrating on this day overlooks these painful realities and the resilience of First Nations peoples in the face of ongoing colonisation.
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The truth about white Australia: The genocide few talk about
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The killing times: the massacres of Aboriginal people Australia must confront
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Indigenous kids are still being removed from their families, more than ever before
Megathreads and spaces to hang out:
- 📀 Come listen to music and Watch movies with your fellow Hexbears nerd, in Cy.tube
- 💖 Come talk in the New Weekly Queer thread
- 🔥 Read and talk about a current topics in the News Megathread
- 🐱👤 Come talk in the New Weekly PoC thread
reminders:
- 💚 You nerds can join specific comms to see posts about all sorts of topics
- 💙 Hexbear’s algorithm prioritizes comments over upbears
- 💜 Sorting by new you nerd
- 🌈 If you ever want to make your own megathread, you can reserve a spot here nerd
- 🐶 Join the unofficial Hexbear-adjacent Mastodon instance toots.matapacos.dog
Links To Resources (Aid and Theory):
Aid:
Theory:
It is weird that everyone is loanly nowadays. It out to be a self limiting problem.
on its face youd think so…but late capitalism has destroyed the types of spaces people used to meet away from work and the home. plus the longer people spend in loneliness, the more distrustful and ill-socialized they become, so even if you want to make connections you lack the skillset or feeling of safety to do so. and also everyones overworked and only has so much time and energy for their friends. and also we’re all encouraged culturally to see people as means to an end rather than an end in themselves (b/c again, capitalism). and also…(yeah its a multifaceted problem, and being able to correctly diagnose it unfortunately doesn’t help to alleviate it immediately)
This shit has to be leading to some kind of actual no-longer-ignorable social crisis.
It should. But capitalist society is so fucked up that it isn’t.
It really is. There is a meetup in my area for a type of thing I am interested in. I checked out the people who were going and they all seemed loanly so I felt hesitant to engage. But like, of course they are. They are going to a meetup. They are doing the work to be not loanly. I am thinking about it for the same reason. Why am I feeling judge about it? This is all ridiculous.
yeah, I’m worried that I’ll come off as depressed and lonely (which I am) if I ever went to a meetup thing and it would be a waste of time 'cause I’d put everyone off.
That’s the gimmick. Everyone there is in more or less the exact same situation