Towards a Blak Australia Policy: A Manifesto for Decolonial Socialism
I don’t remember a time when I lived on my own Country. The soil beneath my feet has always held stories that are not my own, and yet there is something that connects the experiences of First Nations people across so-called Australia. Settler-colonialism has impacted all of us.
Marx once wrote that capitalism is a system in which "all that is solid melts into air." For First Nations peoples, this insight captures a deeper reality: under settler-colonialism, even the air is stolen from us. The Australian state, with its liberal democratic facade, sustains itself on the violent dispossession and exploitation of Indigenous peoples. This foundational contradiction exposes the limits of classical Marxism in theorising liberation in settler-colonial contexts. To truly address the intertwined oppressions of colonialism and capitalism, a Blak socialist revolution must weave decolonial principles into the fabric of its praxis, transcending the Eurocentrism of traditional Marxist thought.
The Colonial-Capitalist Nexus
Colonialism and capitalism are not disparate systems, but deeply intertwined processes of accumulation and domination. Marx's concept of primitive accumulation — the expropriation of land and resources to fuel capitalist development — eloquently describes the dispossession experienced by First Nations peoples. This relationship also reflects the dynamics of imperial core and periphery theory, where the extraction of land and resources from Indigenous peoples not only sustains settler states like Australia but also flows outward, enriching the coffers of imperial core countries. However, Marx's analysis focused predominantly on Europe and failed to fully account for the enduring structures of colonial violence and their global ramifications.
The Australian state perpetuates this nexus through institutions that enforce both capitalist and colonial logics. Mining corporations desecrate sacred sites under the guise of economic growth, funneling the resulting profits into both domestic and international markets. The destruction of Juukan Gorge by Rio Tinto in 2020 highlights how these practices erase cultural heritage while serving economic interests. These actions epitomise the settler state’s exploitation of Indigenous lands for profit and its reinforcement of global inequality by ensuring resource wealth flows disproportionately to the Global North. At the same time, welfare policies criminalise and dehumanise First Nations communities, enforcing dependency on the oppressor while stripping communities’ autonomy. The carceral system, functioning as both a tool of labor discipline and racial control, incarcerates Indigenous people at rates unparalleled globally. Together, these institutions interlock to sustain the ongoing dispossession of Indigenous peoples, embedding colonialism within the broader structures of capitalist accumulation.
Attempts at reform within this system — be it symbolic land acknowledgments or advisory bodies like the Voice to Parliament — fail to disrupt these foundational structures. These gestures placate settler guilt while leaving intact the mechanisms of dispossession. They also serve as a means to stabilise the capitalist state by redirecting resistance into bureaucratic channels, forestalling meaningful change. True transformation demands more than reconciliation; it requires the assertion of sovereignty and a radical reimagining of the state.
Decolonising Marxism
Traditional Marxism often positions the industrial proletariat as the central agent of revolution, sidelining Indigenous struggles. This reductive framework overlooks how sovereignty and class are deeply intertwined in settler-colonial contexts. For First Nations peoples, land is not merely a means of production but a source and cornerstone of identity, spirituality, and governance.
The writings of Frantz Fanon offer a vital corrective to these Eurocentric blind spots. Fanon argues that colonial liberation involves not only economic transformation but also the reassertion of cultural and spiritual autonomy. In A Dying Colonialism, Fanon writes that “[in] the colonial context, the coloniser only sees in the native an instrument for production. When the colonised resists [sic], they seek to affirm their existence in defiance of the coloniser, turning to their history, myths, and spiritual practices for strength.” A Blak socialist revolution must therefore centre land restitution and cultural revival as inseparable from its broader project.
This approach requires rejecting the economism of orthodox Marxism in favor of a holistic vision of liberation. Colonialism is not merely an economic system; it is a totalising structure that invades every facet of life. It reshapes social relations, enforcing hierarchies of race, labor, and land ownership that sustain global systems of exploitation. To dismantle it, revolutionary praxis must address the spiritual, cultural, and material dimensions of Indigenous oppression.
Toward a Blak Socialist Framework
A Blak socialist revolution envisions the dismantling of the settler-colonial state and the creation of a society rooted in Indigenous sovereignty and socialist principles. Achieving this vision necessitates a dual focus: decolonisation to dismantle colonial structures and socialism to replace capitalist exploitation with collective ownership and care.
Land Back as a Foundational Demand
Land is central to both colonial exploitation and Indigenous liberation. A Blak socialist framework begins with the restitution of land to First Nations custodians. This demand must also advocate for an alternative political economy where land is treated as a living entity rather than an asset. This is not merely a redistribution of property but a profound reimagining of governance, where decisions are guided by Indigenous legal systems and ecological knowledge.
Economic Transformation
The capitalist mode of production prioritises profit over people and land, perpetuating inequality. In a Blak socialist future, extractive industries would be dismantled, and resources managed collectively in community-controlled structures. Additionally, the reinvestment of resource wealth into reparative economic programs for Indigenous communities can ensure these transformations address historical inequalities.
Abolition of Colonial Institutions
The settler-colonial state relies on institutions like police, prisons, and welfare systems to criminalise and control Indigenous lives. These structures must be abolished and replaced with systems of care rooted in mutual aid, communal accountability, and restorative justice.
Cultural and Spiritual Revival
Colonialism attacks not only the material conditions of Indigenous life but also its cultural and spiritual foundations. A Blak socialist revolution would prioritise the revival of languages, ceremonies, and knowledge systems, integrating these into education, governance, and daily life. This is not merely an act of preservation but a reclamation of identity and agency. This revival can serve as the ideological backbone of a decolonised economy, reframing productivity and value through Indigenous epistemologies.
Revolutionary Praxis
The journey toward a Blak socialist future is neither linear nor inevitable. I’ve stood on the frontlines of protests and organised with the grassroots. It’s in these spaces that I’ve seen the seeds of a Blak socialist revolution: the courage to block mining trucks, the solidarity of sharing resources and providing mutual aid, and the resilience of standing against a state designed to crush us. These moments remind me that revolution is not just necessary—it’s possible.
But it demands organised struggle, driven by the dialectic of crisis and resistance. Across Australia, this resistance is already visible: land defenders blocking mining projects, communities mobilising against Black deaths in custody, and grassroots networks providing mutual aid. These movements exemplify the spirit of a Blak socialist revolution, but they must coalesce into a coherent revolutionary strategy.
Building such a strategy requires alliances across oppressed groups. Solidarity between Indigenous sovereignty movements and the broader working class is crucial. This means confronting the reformist tendencies within Australian politics that seek to neutralise radical demands. It also requires fostering spaces – such as grassroots community assemblies, Indigenous-led environmental campaigns, or union actions that incorporate anti-colonial principles – where diverse struggles against racism, capitalism, and environmental destruction can intersect and strengthen one another.
ConclusiOn
This is both a vision and a call to action. It urges us to confront the colonial-capitalist system not as reformists seeking to soften its edges but as revolutionaries committed to its dismantling, rejecting the false dichotomy between socialism and sovereignty, asserting that they are inseparable in the fight for liberation.
For Australia to become truly free, it must cease to exist in its current form. A Blak socialist future envisions a society where land and people are no longer commodities but kin, where power flows from the wisdom of Elders and the collective strength of communities. In this society, political economy would not prioritise extraction, but stewardship, care, and collective well-being. Such a vision challenges us to imagine beyond the confines of the present and to organise for a world where liberation is not just possible but inevitable. The question is not whether this revolution can happen, but whether we have the courage to make it so.