Australia: Aboriginal town camp residents organise first-ever rally

The rally followed several months of sensationalised media coverage of the desperate social problems that plague the town camps. In April, an Aboriginal teenager died after being sexually abused and then abandoned. Soon after, Alice Springs Crown Prosecutor Nanette Rogers went on national television to claim that violence and sexual abuse were rampant in Aboriginal communities and that strong action had to be taken. In response, politicians and the media alike have proposed a series of repressive measures, centred on more policing, along with a revival of the paternalistic policies of the past.

In the lead up to the rally Eileen Hoosan, one of the organisers and a resident of the Mount Nancy town camp, attacked both state and federal governments for ignoring numerous reports recommending action to deal with the problems of abuse and violence that had existed for decades. Hoosan, a former women’s officer with the Aboriginal-controlled Tangentyere council, said, “Our women don’t want domestic violence and sexual abuse in our communities. We have been fighting for over 25 years to change things. The communities need money for housing and programs against domestic violence.”

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http://wsws.org/articles/2006/jul2006/abor-j14.shtml