Aboriginal senator challenges King Charles in Australia: “give us back our lands”

(ANSA) – CANBERRA, OCTOBER 21 – Aboriginal senator Lidia Thorpe challenged King Charles III during her visit to the Australian Parliament, shouting anti-colonial slogans. “Give us back our lands, give us back what you stole from us!”, shouted the parliamentarian, after a speech by the 75-year-old king to the country’s elected representatives and officials. The independent senator, wearing a fur cape, denounced what she called the genocide of indigenous Australians during the era of European colonization of Australia. Australia was a British colony for more than a century, during which time thousands of Aboriginal Australians were killed and entire communities displaced. The country gained de facto independence in 1901, but never became a full-fledged republic. King Charles remains head of state. Charles III is on a nine-day visit to Australia and Samoa, in his first major overseas tour since being diagnosed with cancer earlier this year. Thorpe is known for her political stunts and fierce opposition to the monarchy. When he was sworn in in 2022, he raised his right fist as he reluctantly vowed to serve Queen Elizabeth II, Australia’s then head of state. “I solemnly and sincerely swear that I will be faithful to the colonizer, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II,” she said before being reprimanded. “Senator Thorpe, you must recite the oath as it is printed,” House Speaker Sue Lines noted at the time. Australia rejected in a referendum in 1999 an amendment to the Constitution aimed at transforming it into a Republic. No reform in this sense is anymore on the agenda. In 2023, Australians rejected, in another referendum, measures to recognize Indigenous Australians in the Constitution and create an Indigenous Consultative Assembly. (HANDLE).