By Ian Escandor:
Aboriginal activist and writer Ken Canning will head the NSW Senate ticket titled ‘For a People’s Movement’ in the coming federal election. Ian Escandor caught up with Uncle Ken to find out more.
“I’ve joined this election campaign to build a people’s movement to free all our communities from the tyranny of the old big parties which have been bought out by the rich and the multinational corporations.
“I’ve been out in the streets fighting racism and for the rights for my people but also for a better future for all communities,” said Uncle Ken, who is from the Kunja Clan of the Bidjara People of south-west Queensland.
“My platform will always be based on the fight for my peoples, the First Nations Peoples. Having stated this, fighting for our peoples’ rights is a fight we must all take up and it is a fight against the stranglehold of the Liberal-National Party and Labor in the parliaments of this country. This is a fight that will benefit all disenfranchised peoples from all sectors of our community.
“Our future is grim if the big corporations and their parties continue to rule the world. Lots of people are beginning to realise this – just look at the Bernie Sanders campaign in the US.
“People have had enough of corporate greed and the endless war, oppression and environmental destruction this has inflicted on the world. We need real change and we need it real soon.
“We need to turn this sentiment for change into a powerful people’s movement for change and I believe we can do it and that now is the time.”
Ken will be speaking at Bankstown WSU in the Library on Monday May 9 from 1-2pm. Get in touch with Ian on 17878861@student.westernsydney.edu.au for details or like us on Resistance Club Western Sydney University to stay updated.
Ken Canning is a First Nations activist, poet and playwright from the Kunja Clan of the Bidjara Peoples of South West Queensland. His language name is Burraga Gutya. He has worked for many years in Aboriginal Education, and was a founder and former Academic and Cultural advisor at the Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning. Ken has played an instrumental leadership role in crucial Aboriginal struggles in Australia, such as the victory of the Redfern Aboriginal Tent Embassy.
