Activists going for gold

Indigenous protesters ‘gearing up for this for years’

SOCIAL media is expected to swell the ranks of young indigenous people heading to the Gold Coast to protest during the Commonwealth Games.

Retired counsellor Arthur Bell, 69, said groups such as WAR saw the Games as a once in a lifetime opportunity “to make some sort of statement, no matter how meaningless”.

The Stolenwealth Games Protest is being organised by a national committee that includes members of the Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance (WAR) and the Brisbane Aboriginal-Sovereign Embassy.

Brisbane Aboriginal-Sovereign Embassy leader Wayne Wharton told the Bulletin the exact location of the protest camp would be made public closer to the date. He said up to 5000 to 6000 people were expected to converge on the Coast to protest. Mr Wharton has said he cannot promise the protests will remain peaceful.

Mr Bell said indigenous protesters had been “gearing up for this for years”.

He said the protesters were mostly “disgruntled and disaffected young people”.

“Identifying as an ‘activist’ or ‘protester’ is appealing to them,” he said. “It is very fashionable and they are out of control.”

Mr Bell said he had written to local councillors and Mayor Tom Tate to warn them but fears they are “burying their heads in the sand” and claiming it is a “security issue”.

“Clashing with the police and other security is exactly what these people want,” he said.

Aboriginal leader Warren Mundine has blasted former colleague Mr Wharton’s claims Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull was pushing young indigenous activists towards terrorism and that activists were “not far” from taking up guns.

Mr Mundine, a former head of the Prime Minister’s indigenous Advisory Council, said the comments were “foolish”.

“I know Wayne Wharton ... we both protested the 1982 Commonwealth Games together and we shared a police cell,” he said. “But times have changed ... I’ve left the police cell behind and Wayne needs to as well.”

Yugambeh elder Ted Williams, who sits on the Games’ Yugambeh Elders Advisory Group and indigenous Workers Group, said he’s only heard positive feedback from local indigenous people.

“GOLDOC (the Games’ organising committee) have done their darnedest to include indigenous people in these Games,” he said.