A-Infos (en) Australia, AC Meanjin: The Oppressed Will Find No Voice in Parliament (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

The coming months will see continued debate around the proposed referendum for an 
Indigenous "Voice to Parliament." According to the website of From the Heart, the 
Voice would be a constitutionally recognised advisory body to the Federal 
parliament designed to "enable Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to 
give advice to the Federal Parliament about laws and policies that impact them 
through a simplified policy-making process and structural change. This would then 
ensure that "Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are included in the 
law-making process, rather than having bureaucrats and politicians deciding what 
is best for them."
While on paper, this proposal appears to be a significant step forward in the 
struggle for First Nations self-determination, prominent grassroots First Nations 
activists have continued to criticise the Voice. Black Peoples Union president 
Kieran Stewart-Assheton has stated that "we believe that the Voice will not only 
achieve no progress for us, but it will actually set us back". While in an 
Invasion Day speech, Gary Foley reiterated not just the emptiness of the promises 
surrounding the Voice, but the danger that it poses to the struggle for 
self-determination going forward. Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne Invasion Day 
rallies this year were dominated by activists arguing against the media and 
government-driven notion of the Voice as having full support amongst 
First-Nations People or being to their benefit.

At the current juncture, it is necessary to remember that no political decision 
exists in a vacuum, and politicians rarely act out of moral or ethical fortitude. 
Under capitalism, politics and reforms develop in an interplay between class 
interests, material conditions and the social force of the classes and movements 
across society. This is to say that the current push for the Voice needs to be 
understood within the context of Australian capitalism.

The fact that the Voice has a lot of support from the Australian ruling class is 
a significant factor that we can't ignore. It is strongly backed by the 
Australian Labour Party, and while the Liberal-Nationals remain divided on the 
issue, there remains significant support within the party. Most strikingly, 
significant support exists across the mining sector, and the proposal maintains 
the backing of the Australian Business Council and Newscorp. History has shown 
that these entities do not have a modicum of care for the conditions or 
self-determination of First Nations people.

We should ask ourselves then, what is to be gained by the ruling class through a 
referendum for the Voice, and why are they acting now? For us, these two 
questions are connected, and the answers to them originate in the steadily 
growing movement, centred around but not limited to the yearly Invasion Day 
rallies and struggles to defend sacred sites and land rights. Invasion Day 
rallies have grown massively over the past ten years, but their impact has been 
felt beyond the events themselves. It is clear that the nationalistic fervour 
that once surrounded Australia Day has dimmed significantly over the past years 
and public sentiment has continued to grow in favour of First Nations' 
self-determination. At the same time, the State has been forced to contend with 
potent and effective struggles to defend sacred sites, which have provided 
significant roadblocks to the desires of capitalist development. Importantly, the 
same activists that have been at the forefront of efforts to build Invasion Day 
as a rallying cry and the defence of sacred sites are also those who have most 
frequently expressed opposition to the Voice.

No capitalist government will act voluntarily against the self-serving interests 
of the ruling class. But the exploited and oppressed have always been able to 
force their interests upon the ruling class through the building of mass 
movements and the flexing of their collective strength. While the current 
movement is not yet truly capable of forcing major concessions from the 
government, the government can see the growing risk that it may be possible in 
the future. Rather than allowing the movement to continue to develop and risk the 
prospect of being forced to concede genuine structural change, the government is 
instead seeking to divert energy towards the Voice.

Therein lies the reality of the Voice. As a reform, it is a poisoned chalice. 
While it may sound progressive on paper, or at worst a harmless and symbolic 
gesture, within it resides a genuine threat to the movement's continued growth 
and real reform in the future. By passing the Voice, the ruling class hopes to 
achieve two things. Firstly, it will allow for the further development of a 
ruling stratum amongst First Nations people, tied to the capitalist State and 
with significant pull, which can then be used to control any grassroots movement 
that exists or may develop (suchas the struggle to defend sacred sites).   Such 
is the path of all state collaboration. The Voice would allow for the spreading 
of the notion that the real fight is now done, a Voice has been won, and through 
that voice, a small segment of First Nations people can achieve change through 
the parliamentary process. This leads to the second aim of the Voice, dissipating 
the momentum built up so far through the diversion of efforts from collective 
struggle towards elite politicking.

In Australia, all socialists and revolutionaries should hold First Nations 
self-determination as a centre point of their platform. Fighting for genuine 
material improvements in the lives of First Nations people, for an end to deaths 
in custody and more, remain essential political tasks in this country. However, 
the Voice offers little help in completing these tasks.

The oppressed have always had a voice. But that voice is not found in parliament. 
While From the Heart may argue that the Voice would allow for "Aboriginal and 
Torres Strait Islanders" to be "included in the law-making process, rather than 
having bureaucrats and politicians deciding what is best for them" this ignores 
the reality of the State. Parliament and the State are institutions designed for 
minority rule to facilitate the control of all the oppressed and exploited 
classes. Our entry into parliament does not give voice to the masses; it silences 
the masses to elevate the voice of a select few.

The increasing support from the ruling class for the Voice should tell us that 
genuine reform is becoming increasingly possible. But that possibility has only 
developed through developing mass struggle on the ground. Accepting the ruling 
class's poisoned chalice now would simply be playing directly into their hands.

There is a final point worth acknowledging. There is an understandable reluctance 
on the left to come out in opposition to the Voice due to the fear of lining up 
alongside One Nation and other far-right ghouls who have expressed their own 
opposition to the Voice. The opposition of these parties stems solely from racism 
and from wanting to further stoke the culture wars to their advantage. These 
parties should continue to be resisted and their ideas opposed. But we should not 
mistake criticism of the Voice from the left for siding with the far-right. 
Whereas the far-right opportunistically oppose even symbolic notions of First 
Nations self-determination, we disagree with the Voice because in it we see the 
germ of an institution that can strangle the building of self-determination in 
the future.

Self-determination will not be found inside parliament. It can only be built 
through the struggle on the streets. Let's resist the ruling classes' poisoned 
chalice and maintain the demands that have been long fought for and that the 
Voice would be incapable of achieving.

End deaths in custody. End the mass incarceration of First Nations People. End 
the systematic oppression and disadvantage. End the destruction of sacred sites. 
Self-determination now.

These are essential demands. But they can only be won through the building of 
power from below, on the streets, and in our workplaces and communities. The task 
today isn't to win a collaborationist Voice to Parliament but to continue to 
build a fighting movement on the ground, to strengthen and increase ties of 
solidarity between the First Nations struggle and all other struggles of the 
exploited and oppressed. Change is possible; it may even be on the horizon, but 
only if we continue to fight for it.

https://www.acmeanjin.org/article/the-oppressed-will-find-no-voice-in-parliament
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