Right now, Murrawah is in Munich, calling on the CEO of Siemens to respect our right to protect our lands and waters.
When our rights are denied, Country suffers. So we have challenged international German tech company Siemens AG to suspend its contract with Adani and meet with our representatives.
Without Siemens, Adani doesn’t have a working rail line. So far, they’ve refused to cancel their contract with Adani in the face of overwhelming community concern – amplified by the cataclysmic, climate-change-fuelled bushfires that have decimated large parts of the country.
We are calling on Siemens to put some First Nations justice into the climate equation!
Murrawah will address Siemens shareholders at their annual meeting this Wednesday. You can help by pressing the CEO of Siemens to meet with her beforehand.
PLEASE TAKE ACTION:
You can help by emailing joe.kaeser@siemens.com and press upon him the importance of meeting with us before Siemens shareholders’ annual meeting. Cc us at info@wanganjagalingou.com.au
In 2020 we must rise to the challenges and work together to defend the country we all depend on.
For our people, we protect our lands and waters through practicing our laws and customs.
Sadly, we are forced to pick up this year where we left off the last – facing a hostile State Government trying to defeat our native title claim; dealing with the collusion and unrelenting pressure of corporations and Governments pushing Adani’s coal mine on us; and Standing Our Ground as the threat to our lands and waters, our culture, and our rights as First Nation people, continue unabated.
For years Wangan and Jagalingou Traditional Owners have been fighting for our land rights. The Queensland Government has now forced W&J into the Federal Court to defend our native title claim. Why?
“This is our ancestral country. These are our laws and customs. We are the people from that land”.
Our latest video tells the story.
Always sitting behind the injustices to our people, and threats to our lands and waters, is the enabling power of Governments. Not content with overriding our rights, backing Adani out of political cowardice, and making us trespassers on our own land, late last year the Queensland State Government went after our native title claim. They want us out of the way altogether.
Over fifteen years have passed since we lodged our native title claim, and there are mountains of evidence proving our connection to our Country, yet the State is now opposing it.
If the State succeeds in denying us our native title, it would take away one of the important legal means by which our people can assert our rights, protect our country, and practice our culture and law. It would say to our people that our consent is not required for the future use of our lands by anyone, laying the ground for an open slather invasion of mining and fracking in the Galilee Basin.
We have been fighting for our rights ever since the colonists first came to our lands, and our people were systematically attacked, removed and oppressed. Today we are denied by more sophisticated means than massacre, dispossession and enslavement. But these insidious forces are still at work trying to take our land and our dignity as a First Nation.
Our continued effort and determination need ongoing support and resources, if we are to stand our ground. Please stay in this with us for the long haul.Our future is inextricably joined to the destiny of this country. If our laws and culture are denied, we are all the poorer for it.
We also stand together with our Indigneous countrymen and women. In December our people joined in solidarity with First Nations people all around Australia in “Nation Dance” – the first time in history that First Nations right across the continent have danced as one at the same time, to bring spiritual healing for people and Country.
We came together in spirit, in song, in dance, to pay respect to our ancestors and to the law that is in the land since time immemorial. This is our Mulgadi Nation Dance.
Nation Dance’ – one of the largest coordinated expressions of culture. Hundreds of Indigenous people across the nation danced on their Countries as one in a sign of solidarity.
Please donate generously to help us stay ahead of the fight and meet the next wave of State and corporate attacks.
With your support, we stand stronger. Stand strong with us.
PLEASE DONATE TO OUR “DEFENCE OF COUNTRY” FUND.
And please ask your friends to pledge to stand with us too.
Adrian Burragubba and Murrawah Johnson
for the Wangan and Jagalingou Traditional Owners Family Council
Remember, you can purchase our “Adani, No Means No” or “Water Protector” T-shirts to support us. And you can share these links to encourage others who care about land justice to donate to our Defence of Country fund, and to join the 130,000 people who have signed our petition.
