Today on Let’s Talk – Black Power, Ruby brings you a powerful recording from an incredible event hosted by 350.org, Our Islands Our Home, Gudanji for Country & Conscious Mic, Weaving Our Stories. In this rich and beautiful episode, Ruby shares the words of Kulkalgal man, artist, father, craftsman and Torres Strait 8 claimant, Yessie Mosby, who spoke at the event about his community’s fight against the devastating impacts of climate change on the Torres Strait Islands. Yessie talks about the deep relationship between his people and the islands that are their homelands, their kin, and their inheritance. He talks a bit about the significance of the Torres Strait 8 case in making legal history when the United Nations Human Rights Committee found that the Australian government is violating its human rights obligations to Torres Strait Islanders by failing to act on climate change. Yessie shares his own story, and what it means to watch on as his children and grandchildren face the permanent loss of their homelands.
After sharing his story, Yessie is joined by Gudanji and Wakaya woman Rikki Dank, who introduces us to her family’s fight against the damaging effects of mining, overgrazing, and most recently, coal seam gas fracking. Ricki talks about the long-term impacts of fracking on water systems, and the danger these practices pose to her family and community. And she talks a bit about the recent success of the decades of resistance and campaigning to introduce much stronger water protections in the Beetaloo basin, a win that will make it harder for coal seam gas companies to open new projects in this region.
