Aboriginal dancers carrying clap sticks and spears and with faces painted white with clay yesterday traveled from the Northern Territory to Parliament House in Canberra to draw attention to rampant domestic violence in Outback Aboriginal communities.
Scores of Rirratjingu people flew 2,900km from Yirrkala to dance a ceremony at the front door of parliament to urge national action against family violence in communities like theirs.
“We are seeing horrifying rates of family violence in indigenous communities and it is incumbent on all people — community leaders, political leaders and businesses — to act to drive it down,” Rirratjingu elder Bakamumu Marika said.
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull linked arms with lawmakers of various parties, including opposition leader Bill Shorten, as a sign of solidarity against domestic violence as they watched the ceremony.
Turnbull later moved a motion in parliament acknowledging that violence against women is a national issue that requires a response from the entire community. The Rirratjingu watched from the public gallery.
“Your dance is more powerful than the words we can speak here,” Turnbull said. “You’re using the strength of your culture to seek to stop this violence.”
“You’re using the power of your dance, your tradition, your culture, to communicate our need, our duty to respect women, and we thank you,” he said.
Aboriginal women were 34 times more likely to experience violence than other Australian women, Turnbull said.
Aborigines are hospitalized for domestic assault 30 times more often than other Australian women, he said.
“We can and we must do better,” Turnbull said.
Aboriginal communities around Yirrkala had reduced family violence by 29 percent in a single year through programs aimed at fostering respect for women, Turnbull said.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese