SOS BLAK AUSTRALIASupporting the Aboriginal Communities in Australia to remain in their homelands and on country.- This analysis will be covering the various platforms used in creating the campaign's past and continuing success including News Articles, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube as well as the various discourses and people involved in the campaign.
How Did #SOSBlakAustralia Begin?
- On March 13, 2015 Kimberley Aboriginal Communities declared a Global Call To Action to stop the forced closure of Aboriginal Communities in Western Australia due to the growing campaign by State and Federal governments to withdraw their support from Aboriginal communities and remove Aboriginal people from their traditional homelands.
- Aboriginal communities over Australia were put into a state of fear and doubt after former Prime Minister Tony Abbott stated that those who continued to live in these indigenous communities were making a lifestyle choice that could no longer be supported by the Australian government. His statement was in support of the declarations made by Premier of Western Australia, Colin Barnett suggesting that the state could no longer afford to support up to 150 Aboriginal Communities for essential services like electricity and water, planning their removal by the end of 2015.
- The Aboriginal Australian's who live in these remoter areas believed that it is not a lifestyle choice, but an intrinsic human right to live in their own communities and countries and fulfill their own cultural obligations. If the community closures were to take place over 10,000 people would have been removed from their remote communities and moved into larger regional towns.
- As a result of these decisions several indigenous Australian's began posting on Facebook including Nelson Bieundurry who wrote:
- “Hmmm, maybe the best question to ask is this, do we even give a shit about what’s happening to us now??? Because the truth is…if you’re a blackfulla and you live in the Kimberley…in one way or another…this is going to affect you. Stay tuned, coming to a town near you, you’re countrymen from that remote community.” - Nelson Bieundurry, Facebook post, 11/03/2015.
- Nelson's post began immediately resonating with others who began posting their own ideas and feelings towards the matter.
- At least 15 people from the Kimberley started coordinating what became the #SOSBlakAustralia movement. Ms Torres spoke to BuzzFeed news saying
- “I don’t think that people are going to say they’ll willingly move off their communities if you cut their services." “People are going to dig deep down to find other ways to stay on their homelands.”
- She also reached out to Sam Cook, a Nyikina woman living in Brisbane, who had set up the SOS Blak Australia website in 2014 and asked if their action group against forced closures could use the site and name as a platform to gain more support.
- The grassroots campaign suddenly and dramatically came to the nation's attention on or Close the Gap Day March 19 2015 when an estimated 25,000 people marched in a call to action around the country. The campaign and the hashtag #SOSBlakAustralia has since been used to draw attention to many issues facing the Indigenous Australian community and has unified several human rights groups, social movements and individuals across Australia and globally. Most of the content has been freely produced on the web and through social media, with massive amounts of supporters willingly protesting online and offline. The campaign has therefore gained high amounts of publicity without spending much on funds.
- The campaign was mostly successful as it came at a time when people already were seeking for help and seeking support. The campaign provided a platform to give people just that. The initial event and fear of the forced closure to these communities within the Aboriginal communities as well as outrage from other communities who did not agree with the government's decision is what caused the huge amounts of response. As the campaign has continued, protests, celebrity input, government decisions and events happening to the community are what have caused ongoing support and diffusion of discourse for the campaign.
Purpose of the Campaign
- The aim of the #SOSBlakAustralia campaign including the website and social media platforms were created to gain support and bring people together to rally against the decisions of the government. Even more, the campaign was created to gain respect for the Aboriginal community and create positive change in the way they are treated, especially from the Australian government.
Government and Indigenous Community Response
- Political leaders and members of the Aboriginal community have probably been the most effected and involved in the outcome of the forced closure of the remote communities. When the decision to close the communities down was initially made, there had been no consultation with the Aboriginal communities. This led to much fear and anger among the Aboriginal community. The Western Australian government, in particular the Premier, Colin Barnett, was faced with an uphill battle after the massive amounts of criticism and protests he received from Indigenous and non-indigenous Australian's.
- Mr. Barnett defended himself from critics using statistics of sexually transmitted disease and child abuse in remote communities to help justify his plan. This was also backed up by Western Australia's police commissioner who stated that the remote location of these communities make it more difficult to address these problems. However, most of the Aboriginal community and other critics saw through this as an excuse to justify themselves. Many in the Aboriginal community and several others believed Abbott and Barnett to be ignorant and believed they did not know anything about the community and their way of life.
- A few other political figures became involved in the process including Nationals leader and Minister for Regional Development Terry Redman, along with now former mental health and child protection minister Helen Morton who spent months with the Aboriginal community to search for solutions to the problems within the indigenous community. They had extensive consultations with Aboriginal elders, leaders and families which gave them insight about the difficult task of improving the community long-term. However, Terry Redman believed that shutting the communities down was not the solution even if there would be a lot of challenging issues that would need to be faced.
#SOSBlakAustralia
SOS Blak Australia is a non-government affiliated support organisation aiming to raise awareness of and support remote Indigenous communities. It began as a movement to stop the forced closure of Indigenous Australian communities and has since grown to cover a wide range of issues.
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Leonora Morey29 Views
Leonora Morey29 ViewsEmbed
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