Black Lives Matter - Statement

1 June

The Australian Communist Party stands in solidarity with the demonstrations that are being carried out in the USA that were sparked by the murder of George Floyd at the hands of police. We understand that these demonstrations come as a result of the institutionalised racism within the United States government, and the disproportionate targeting of African-Americans and First Nations people by police and the judicial system, targeting that all too often contains unwarranted brutality and ends in the unjustified murder of civilians at the hands of police and corrective services personnel.

“Rates of imprisonment for Indigenous Australians is higher than any other race or country in the world”

This issue however is not one that is constrained to the United States, and is one that is all too prevalent in Capitalist countries all around the world. From Canada to Chile, throughout the Pacific and Atlantic, spread across the continents of Asia and the Middle East, and from South Africa right upto the United Kingdom and beyond, everywhere we look we see the same struggle of Indigenous people and displaced minorities being subjected to this abuse at the hands of law enforcement.

“Our own mainstream media will comment on the atrociousness of the racial discrimination happening overseas, yet will turn a blind eye to what happens in our own backyards”

Here in Australia, our police and corrective services personnel are responsible for the murder of Indigenous Australians at statistically higher rates than what we see in the United States, and our rates of imprisonment for Indigenous Australians is higher than any other race or country in the world. Unfortunately though, the cries from the families of those who have lost a loved one to police brutality in our own communities are seldom heard. Our own mainstream media will comment on the atrociousness of the racial discrimination happening overseas, yet will turn a blind eye to what happens in our own backyards.

The Australian Communist Party condemns in the strongest possible terms all police brutality and the mistreatment of civilians by law enforcement. We stand in earnest solidarity with all those who have lost their lives or their loved ones at the hands of brutal police, and put out a call for a unity of action.