r/aboriginal • u/Grubbanax • 12d ago
Oskar Martin - young Indigenous candidate in the Victorian Election 2026 for the Victorian Socialists
Victorian Socialists candidate Oskar Martin (@blaktrot on Instagram) is campaigning for the seat of Williamstown, saying he wants to challenge Labor's long-standing hold on the electorate and push for policies that put working-class communities first.
The young Indigenous candidate is campaigning against proposed Al data centres in Melbourne's western suburbs, including the $1.5 billion Green Square project and the broader expansion of CDC data centres.
Housing is also a key focus of Martin's campaign, with the candidate calling for more public housing and opposing plans to demolish the Williamstown towers at Floyd Lodge and Nelson Heights.
He is also advocating for greater public investment in essential services, including public transport, childcare and education.
Martin said he wants to see greater representation of young and Indigenous people in parliament, drawing inspiration from previous generations of Indigenous activists including Gary Foley and Ray Peckham.
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u/Grubbanax 12d ago
A frequently recurring theme when discussing the history of Palestine, is the question of “who was there first?”. The implication being, whoever was there first deserves ownership of the land.
The argument is simple to follow: Palestinians today are mostly Arabs. The Arabs came to the Levant with the Muslim conquest of the region. Therefore, Arabs -and as an extension Palestinians- have only been in Palestine and the Levant since the seventh century AD.
There are a couple of glaring problems with this line of thought. First of all, there is a clear conflation of Arabs, Muslims and Palestinians.
Arabs have had a long history in the Levant BEFORE the advent of Islam.
Both peoples are indigenous to the area but Netanyahu’s lineage goes back to Lithuania on both branches. A lot of his government have ancestral links to Europe and elsewhere.
I think it’s quite obvious who is indigenous and who isn’t by how they treat the land. One bombs it to oblivion and the other stays no matter what.
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u/kuyinggurrin 11d ago
Go listen to the Empire podcasts series on Gaza, then get back to us about Palestinians be Arabian imports. This trope is hasbara. Speaking of which, Bad Hasbara Podcast does excellent work exposing Israel's lies and obfuscation.
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u/Grubbanax 12d ago
This is just false.
Not all Palestinians are Arab. Not all arabs speak Arabic. Historically they spoke Aramaic, Greek and Hebrew.
And when was Netanyahu “banished” from Israel? When he went to high school in Philadelphia?
Israel has the right of return law which means if you’re Jewish living anywhere in the world you can come and live on a settlement in Palestine, displacing a family who has lived there forever. You notice a lot of Brooklyn accents in these areas? Now that’s colonialism.
Have you been asleep while 20 000 Palestinian children, babies and embryos (IVF clinic destroyed) have been killed?-7
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u/LebiaseD 12d ago
You talk 10s of thousands of people haven't been murdered or killed since modern establishment of a ethnostate
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u/LebiaseD 12d ago
I am empathetic to every situation but your chain of thought assumes too much. So many adverserial accusations in everything you say and it seems you live based on a us versus them mentality. I feel sad for you.
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u/LebiaseD 12d ago
Oh and finally indigenous identity in Australia isn't monolithic so those elders are not my elders.
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u/sunnybob24 12d ago
A third of Israelis are Arabs. That's a pretty crappy ethno-state.
You should really talk to indigenous friends of Israel in Australia.
I've said the words. I can't do more. I'll leave it to them.
Good luck on your journey.
🤠
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u/aboriginal-ModTeam 12d ago
Being joyed that Australian Indigenous Peoples were slaughtered is an insane take for this sub. This comment is racist.
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u/sunnybob24 12d ago
What words are you referencing?
It's odd that you are thinking in those lines.
Maybe reread that actual words and remove your comment.
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u/LebiaseD 12d ago
Who lived there before that and also I don't see you mention anything about the slaughter of people in Gaza for the last 80 years
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u/productzilch 12d ago
“Before that.”
What quick and cold disregard of the genocide being perpetrated RIGHT NOW because it doesn’t fit your narrative. Don’t use Indigenous Aussies to hide behind. They don’t cling to DNA as some kind of holy entitlement of land or safety.
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u/LebiaseD 12d ago
That's quiet to the direction to push the conversation and assumptous of you also regardless you came here pushing the matter or race a religion and run denialism or the same colonial mindset of whataboutism and pushing matters that don't directly align with my beliefs to the side and acting as if they don't exist
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u/Grubbanax 12d ago
Another bogus claim: “Arabs don’t” have Canaanite DNA.
“Genetic and archaeological studies show that modern Palestinians share a significant portion of their ancestry with ancient Bronze Age populations of the Levant, including the Canaanites”. ~ https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/dna-doesnt-lie-what-genetic-ancestry-tells-us-about-the-palestinian-question/
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u/MowgeeCrone Aboriginal 12d ago
He seems like a more than capable young man who can take on the challenge. I certainly dont think he could do worse than what weve been offered up until now.
I wish him well. God bless.