Education Action Collective is the social and activist meeting base within UMSU. Come along to meet new people and get involved in some staunch campus based activism! Held on Zoom between 2pm and 3pm each Thursday of semester.
Register for collective here (please use your student email to register): https://unimelb.zoom.us/meeting/register/upQtd-6srjMqrkOdjsqMJ1LLsEyQAEIWxQ
![UMSU will be closed today, but we won't be celebrating anything.
Statement from @umsuindigenous:
TW/CW: mentions of Indigenous Death, Stolen Generations, Racism and Australia Day
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"Leading up to January 26, we see the stores start to fill with all sorts of unnecessarily branded Australian merchandise. Thongs, bikinis, plastic flags, cups, BBQ accessories are all things we frantically try to avert our eyes from, while in our local shopping centres.
It’s a cruel reminder that the day is almost here.
Invasion Day marks a pain that will never really leave us, it is a reminder of the slaughters that have been deliberately left out of the pages of history books. It is a reminder to the people that will never know where they came from because their grandparents and ancestors were stolen from the arms of their parents. It is a reminder that the nation that we are now citizens of refuses to acknowledge or repent for the racialised actions of its past and present.
In a nation that insists it is built upon ideals of mateship and diversity, it becomes increasingly clear that those notions are only bestowed upon the ‘good Australian’. The one that believes in the stories of the underdog and plight of the convict. Those that celebrate their ancestors coming to a strange new land in search of wealth and opportunity.
I am not a ‘good Australian’, nor do I strive to be one. In order to fulfil this stereotype, you must turn a blind eye to violence and injustice and hold an unquestionable belief in the goodwill of the government. You are an active participant in ‘fun-loving Aussie racism’..."
Read the full statement on our Facebook page.
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[Image Description: Black background with bold white text that reads 'Always was, always will be Aboriginal land'.]](https://umsu.unimelb.edu.au/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed/img/placeholder.png)