I call upon my brethren and Jewish Australians and Israelis who have made their permanent home here and are eligible to vote in the upcoming referendum, to consider writing the word ‘Yes’ in the ballot paper.
Why? Because on the night of 9 November 1938 the Nazi authorities and civilians ransacked and destroyed Jewish homes, shops, and synagogues across Germany and Austria. These events became known as Kristalnacht (night of broken glass) and were the commencement of a crusade to exterminate the Jewish race by Christian European society on the grounds of being superior.
On 6 December 1938, here in Australia, the Australian Aborigines League’s secretary, Ngapa William Cooper, a Yorta Yorta activist, led a march from Footscray to the centre of Melbourne into the site of the Nazi German consulate to deliver a formal petition condemning the persecution of Jews and calling for it to end.
The First Nations people, although themselves dispossessed and denied citizenship in their own country Australia, were the only ones who in protest did raise their voices for solidarity with the Jewish people. In contrast, the editorial of the Argus newspaper had meekly stated: ‘… what will become of the wandering
Read the letter by Mario Linders in the Echo.