Protesters are told to bring cash to give money to Aboriginal groups during Australia Day protest

Protesters are told to bring cash and cards to give money to Aboriginal groups when they march to protest against Australia Day this weekend

  • Australia Day protesters have been urged to bring cash for ‘Invasion Day’ march  
  • Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance (WAR) have organised protest for Sunday 
  • ‘Bring cash and cards on the day to #PayTheRent,’ WAR solidarity guideline says 

Australia Day protesters have been urged to bring cash and cards to ‘pay the rent’ for the country during an ‘Invasion Day’ march.

Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance (WAR) want the public holiday to be abolished, labelling January 26 as ‘an annual day of protest’. 

In Melbourne, the collective are asking members of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community and supporters to meet at Parliament House for the protest on Sunday.

‘We will stand together and march together as our Elders have for the last 82 years this January 26 to protest the ongoing colonial violence on our people,’ WAR said.

Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance (WAR) have urged Australia Day protesters to bring cash and cards to ‘pay the rent’ for the country during an ‘Invasion Day’ march

Pictured: WAR posters for Sunday's 'Invasion Day' March in Melbourne. The group want Australia Day abolished

Pictured: WAR posters for Sunday’s ‘Invasion Day’ March in Melbourne. The group want Australia Day abolished 

The group have also created a guideline on ‘how to act in solidarity for Invasion day’, which includes bringing money to the demonstration. 

‘Bring cash and cards on the day to #PayTheRent,’ the guideline says.

‘This will go to a funeral fund for families.’

The list also encourages protesters to print flyers and display posters, as well as using #PayTheRent and #AbolishAustraliaDay to spread the word on social media. 

Former Greens MP and Aboriginal activist Lidia Thorpe said ‘pay the rent’ was not a new concept, explaining it is a way Aboriginal people can self-determine their own ‘destiny’. 

‘It’s about reparations. If we look at South Africa, for example, they’ve had a reparation system with $100 million in their funds. If you look at the Canadian government: $600 million to survivors of the stolen generation,’ she told 3AW’s Neil Mitchell. 

Pictured: Activists march on Australia Day. One poster reads: "Change the date, we still won't celebrate"

Pictured: Activists march on Australia Day. One poster reads: “Change the date, we still won’t celebrate”

WAR's event description says they 'will not celebrate Australia'. 'We call for the abolishment of 'Australia Day' - we will not celebrate so-called Australia, which is built on the stealing of our lands and the massacres of our people,' the event reads

WAR’s event description says they ‘will not celebrate Australia’. ‘We call for the abolishment of ‘Australia Day’ – we will not celebrate so-called Australia, which is built on the stealing of our lands and the massacres of our people,’ the event reads

‘Then we go over to New Zealand where they’ve paid close to $1.5 billion in reparations to Maori.’

‘Australia has not paid any reparations at all, and because we don’t have a treaty with our first peoples, then this is a way where ordinary Australians can contribute and reparate the first people who have endured mass incarceration and mass genocide since invasion.’ 

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Should Australia Day be moved from January 26?

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Mr Mitchell said WAR was not the most credible organisation and questioned where the money would end up. 

But Ms Thorpe said there was an accountability process and a partnership with Bank Australia. There are also universities and private businesses on board. 

She said the money raised would go to a fund where Aboriginal people will self-determine the ‘needs of the time’. 

The cash would likely go towards the costs related to mass incarceration, the removal of children, funerals for community members and deaths in custody. 

WAR’s event description says they ‘will not celebrate Australia’.

‘We call for the abolishment of ‘Australia Day’ – we will not celebrate so-called Australia, which is built on the stealing of our lands and the massacres of our people,’ the event reads.

‘Please join us this Invasion Day and condemn the ongoing violence, ongoing theft, and ongoing discrimination that we as Indigenous people across so-called Australia face.’  

The Facebook event has 4,000 attendees and more than 5,000 people have listed themselves as ‘interested’. 

In recent years, the weeks before Australia Day have been fraught with debate about whether its is wrong to celebrate the day the First Fleet arrived to colonise Australia in 1788. 

Some argue the date should be changed, while others think it should be scratched altogether.  

Australians flock to the beach to celebrate Australia Day, a public holiday on January 26

Australians flock to the beach to celebrate Australia Day, a public holiday on January 26

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