Published: 12 Jul 2018
American actor and activist Danny Glover is in Australia and has spoken out in support of the Uluru Statement from the Heart.
At a forum, hosted by the Maritime Union of Australia, he spoke of the history of activism in the US including Paul Robeson and Harry Bridges - the inspirational US activists. Bridges was an Australian born union activist who moved to the US and was instrumental in setting up the ILWU.
“If we can’t tell ourselves the truth about our past we become trapped by it. How do we honour the past of the First Nations people? How does their voice become primary and central to the future of this nation?”
He asked for support of the Uluru Statement “We have to support the Uluru statement from the heart and we have to work to find the ways of justice. No justice no peace.”
On Unions Danny said “Unions have always been allies in our struggles for justice. We have to find our allies not only to build but to change and to bring our First Nations people into our struggle for justice.”
MUA NT Branch Secretary Thomas Mayor said “We have to fight for the Uluru statement, history tells us we need to fight for justice and to build a people’s movement for change,".
The ‘Uluru Statement from the Heart’ calls for the establishment of a ‘First Nations Voice’ in the Australian Constitution and a ‘Makarrata Commission’ to supervise a process of ‘agreement-making’ and ‘truth-telling’ between governments and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
