A Southern Crossings Collective Statement linking the unfolding politics in India and Australia
As the 26th of January comes upon us, urgent deliberations continue about the Invasion of this land that has been held in custodianship by Indigenous Elders and First Peoples for eons. At the start of this new decade, the questions have become even more pronounced as Australia burns, and we, with the world, watch the devastation of this land brought about by resource extrction through savage capitalism and colonisation. The fires raging across this land are a salutary reminder of the deeply knowledgeable and respectful processes by which Indigenous Peoples managed this land through ‘cool fires’ and mitigated the risk of such scorching summer infernos. At this time, questions also arise about the exclusionary lyrics of the Australian national anthem and what they signify for this modern nation-state.
Eight thousand kilometres away, on the other shores of the Indian Ocean, as another nation burns due to political reasons, we are witnessing the astonishing reclaiming of a national anthem, not for the nationalistic purposes of a resurgent nation-state, but by those seeking the essence of what a ‘nation’ means. This is the reconceptualising of the nation as ‘we the people’ as enshrined in the Constitution of India, and protesting against the divisive mechanisms sought to be brought in by the current ruling government, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in the Citizenship Amendment Act, and its proposed concomitant handmaiden, the National Register of Citizens (NRC). Continue reading