Michael Anderson (Aboriginal activist)

Michael Ghillar Anderson , aka Michael Eckford , (born October 29, 1951 in Brewarrina , New South Wales , Australia ) is an Aboriginal political activist from the Euhaliya and Kamilaroi tribe . He was a prosecutor, diplomat, university lecturer, freelance artist and has held advisory positions in Aboriginal politics in Australia. He is NGO representative for the Sovereign Union of Australia at the United Nations Human Rights Commission . Today (2015) he is independently lobbying for Aboriginal rights from his family's farm in the New South Wales outback . He has been politically active since 1969; his political career began in 1972 when he and three other Aborigines founded the so-called tent embassy on the lawn in front of the Old Parliament House in Canberra to demand land rights and human rights for Aborigines. Anderson is the last living founder of this tent embassy.

Politically, Anderson pursues the recognition of land rights and political sovereignty of the Australian Aborigines.

Early years

Michael Anderson grew up as the eldest son of Mavis Eckford mainly in Walgett , a small Australian town in the outback of New South Wales, and in the nearby small village of Goodooga. He spent much time with both his maternal and paternal grandparents who served as servants and farm workers on various farms in the area. Michael spent all his youth in the tribal areas of the Euhaliya (his mother's tribe) and Kamilaroi (his father's tribe). He learned both traditional languages ​​and received the traditional Aboriginal education called Lore (knowledge of the land, totems) and religion from both tribes. Michael was chosen by his family to also learn the wise law in order to defeat the whites in their own words , according to a statement by the grandmother. The family worked closely to introduce young Michael to both Western and traditional education. Michael Anderson describes these years as tough today, he spent weeks in the bush and had to make up for what he had missed at school. He quickly held a special position within the Aboriginal community of Walgett, becoming the first high school captain of Walgett, where he organized a school strike against the racism of the teachers. In 1965 he met Charles Perkins , the first Aboriginal to earn a degree in Australia. This happened during the Freedom Ride in Walgett. The local Aboriginal activist Harry Hall looked after the teenager Michael in the early days of the Black Power movement in Australia, which had its political climax in 1972 with the establishment of the tent embassy.

Surname

Michael Anderson's name in the Kamilaroi language is Nyoongar Gurrajong Murri Ghillar . Ghillar (the pink cockatoo ) is the bird in Aboriginal dream time who taught people how to carve a boomerang that returns to the thrower.

job

Anderson studied Politics and Law at the University of Sydney .

Gough Whitlam , who became President of Australia in 1972, gave the young Michael Anderson a position in the ministerial office and then sent him to the US and the United Nations to collect suggestions for solutions and comparisons of how other countries deal with their indigenous peoples. Michael Anderson accompanied Whitlam on political trips abroad. Anderson then worked as a prosecutor, played football professionally, lived off his painting for a while, then taught political science and Aboriginal cross-culture training at the University of New England at Armidale . In 1999, Anderson resigned his teaching post to focus full-time - but on a volunteer basis - on representing the Australian Aborigines at the United Nations. In 2002 he took over the management of a 33,000 acre extensive sheep and cattle farm in Brewarrina Shire , which is owned by his Euhaliyaclans. In addition to sheep breeding, Anderson offers courses in Aboriginal culture and history .

Political position

In January 1973, he led the cotton fields strike of 1,000 Aborigines and 200 whites, which was recognized after the judgment of the Arbitration Court of New South Wales after three weeks of strike and led to a wage increase.

In the Australian election in 2004 he ran for the Australian Greens in the electoral district of Gwydir and was defeated by the then Deputy Prime Minister, whose name is also Michael Anderson.

Michael Anderson advocates that the Aborigines be recognized as a nation of their own. He justified this with the fact that the Aborigines would never have given up their sovereignty as an independent nation, that they would not have been defeated in any declared war and that they would not have ceded their land. Furthermore, the British Crown never claimed that it had proclaimed sovereignty over the Aborigines.

Anderson also rejects the legal jurisdiction of the Australian state over the Aborigines and wants to achieve the unity of all Aborigines. He plans to recognize the Aborigines as non-self-governing peoples before the United Nations . He also calls for a writ of Mandamus (recognition under international law). He wants to sue Great Britain and the European Union for genocide and achieve compensation and restitution of the original land of the Aborigines while respecting their raw material rights.

According to his knowledge, there are already 40 united Aboriginal nations in eastern Australia .

He does not expect any support from the Australian Labor Party , the Australian Greens or liberal government coalitions in recognizing an Aboriginal nation. To enforce this, he demands trade sanctions and a trade boycott against Australia from the international community, as this led to the end of apartheid in South Africa .

Anderson describes himself as Convenor and Joint Spokesperson of Sovereign Union of First Nations and Peoples in Australia and Head of State of the Euahlayi Peoples Republic .

Tent message

The tent embassy was erected on January 26, 1972 to draw attention to the rejection of the McMahon government's Native Title . The founders of the Tent Embassy in 1972 with the support of the Communist Party of Australia were Michael Anderson, Billy Craigie , Bertie Williams and Tony Koorie from Redfern , who had gathered to protest under a parasol in front of the lawn of the Old Parliament House in Canberra.

Michael Anderson reported in 2012 on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the tent embassy that he and his family had been exposed to multiple threats and attacks against them for years after he had been actively involved in the establishment of the embassy. He assessed this as an attack on himself and on the Aboriginal sovereignty movement as a nation .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Michael Anderson at portrait.gov.au, accessed on March 24, 2015 (English).
2. ↑ Telephone interview with Michael Anderson on May 23, 2015
3. ↑ ^{a b} What I do - Michael Eckford . In: deadlyvibe.com.au, February 20, 2011. Accessed March 20, 2015.
4. ↑ Black Power: Aboriginal People will choose their own Pathway into the Future , on Coober Pedy Regronal Times, January 21, 2010 (English).
5. ↑ Kamala Emanuel: Aboriginal sovereignty must be on the agenda, says Michael Anderson of March 7, 2012. Retrieved on March 19, 2015 (English).
6. ↑ Aboriginal leader calls for trade sanctions & boycotts against Australia ( Memento of the original from December 8, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved March 20, 2015. 
7. ^ Australia Day under a beach umbrella . In: National Museum Australia. Retrieved March 17, 2015.
8. ↑ Five Fast Facts - The Aboriginal Tent Embassy ( Memento of the original from April 11, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . In: Reconcillation Australia . Retrieved March 15, 2015. 
9. ↑ Michael Anderson alleges threats on his life . In: Threaty Republic of January 22, 2012, accessed March 19, 2015.