ORIGINAL TEXT
Early this morning a convoy of 100 cars and buses drove to Pine Gap and 500 people from across the country gathered outside the gates of the military facility.
A delegation featuring the Hayes family (Traditional Owners for the site), Barb Shaw, David Shoebridge, and Nour Salman negotiated their way through police lines to present a letter to a Pine Gap representative stating the Hayes family’s demands:
- Return of Kuyunba (the land where Pine Gap sits)
- The closure of Pine Gap
- Compensation for the years Kuyunba has been occupied
- Compensation to the families in Gaza for the lives lost there due to the activities at Pine Gap
The delegation returned and addressed the rally. Felicity Hayes said, “We want our Apmere (land) back… My country is a sacred place… for me and my families and for everybody in Australia so today I wanted to tell them that we don’t want Pine Gap to ever exist on our land. Shut it down. Close it down and give our land back.”
Shoebridge, who will table the letter at Parliament, noted that the AFP representatives “didn’t know what to do with the culture and the strength and the history of the Hayes Family… you could see in that moment, that moment of exchange, who was going to resist and win this struggle. It’ll be First Nations People, it’ll be Arrernte People.”
Nour Salman, a Palestinian woman, said: “The reason we are here today with First Nations communities is to know that their land is theirs, but also that there is data being transferred directly from this base to the US and…filtered over to Israel for genocidal purposes.”
Remah Naji, a Palestinian activist, vowed to the Hayes family that “until your land is back, we will stand with you, behind you, led and guided by the First Nations people of this country… because I would also like my land back. Fully. I would like my land back as well and I would also like freedom for the Palestinian people, from the river to the sea.”
Felicity Hayes finished with “Shame on Australia and shame on America. Shut it down. It’s causing a lot of sadness. Give our land back.”
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