Activism Australia

January People Powered Bulletin

January 26 Invasion Day, how we keep moving when the world is heavy & news from across the movement

Important dates are at the top of each Bulletin to help keep you organised and informed. Keep an eye on our Events page for what’s happening near you or online.

23 Jan: Invasion Day Banner Painting Workshop Naarm
26 Jan: Invasion Day, Survival Day, Day of Mourning – Find an event near you
26 Jan: Solidarity Meet Up Before the Jan 26 Rally Naarm
26 Jan: Amnesty @ Invasion Day 2026 Magandjin
4 Feb: Anniversary of the Cummeragunja Walk Off
13 Feb: National Apology Day
15 Feb: Mardi Gras Fair Day – email queeramnestynsw@gmail.com to volunteer
13-26 Feb: Anniversary of the 1965 Freedom Ride
18 Feb: Indigenous Solidarity Forum (online)
28 Feb: Mardi Gras Parade – join the NSW LGBTQIA+ Network here

JANUARY BULLETIN

Invasion Day Banner Painting Workshop

On January 26, 1788, Sir Arthur Phillip raised the British flag at Warrane (Sydney Cove) to claim the land as a British Colony, marking the start of a brutal and ongoing colonisation of the First Peoples and their land.

On the 150th anniversary of this date, 26th Jan 1938, Yorta Yorta man William Cooper and other members of the Aboriginal Progressive Association held the Day of Mourning and Protest – and First Nations peoples have been calling for January 26 to be regarded as a Day of Mourning ever since.

As a non-Indigenous organisation operating on unceded land, it is important for everyone in the Amnesty movement to come together and stand in solidarity with First Nations communities. The Indigenous Rights team has put out a call to action to activists, volunteers and members to get involved by hosting an Invasion Day banner creation workshop, setting up a youth justice information stall at a local Invasion Day Rally or Survival Day event (where appropriate and in consultation with the local First Nations community), and organising an Amnesty contingent for Invasion Day and Survival Day rallies.

For more information: Invasion Day 2026 Toolkit.

With Jan 26 fast approaching, now is the time to reach out to the local First Nations Elders and community groups in your area and see how you can support their plans for this day and amplify Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander calls for truth-telling and justice. (Thank you to Common Ground for informing this article.)

INVASION DAY BANNER PAINTING WORKSHOP

If you’re based in or near Naarm, we’d love you to join Amnesty’s Indigenous Rights Team and our allies for an evening of creative activism 🎨 We’ll be painting banners to take to the Naarm Invasion/Survival Day rally on Jan 26. It starts soon but if you can’t go check out the other ways to get involved below.

What to expect: Pizza dinner 🍕 Lucky door prize from Clothing the Gaps 🎁 (bonus entry for you if you bring along friend). All material to create your own personal banner supplied (cardboard, paints, paint brushes, creative inspo, etc)

What to bring: you and a friend! We’ll provide all the material.

📅 Friday 23 January, 2026
⏰ 4:00pm – 7:00pm
📌 Amnesty Naarm Action Centre 7/134 Cambridge Street Collingwood, VIC 3066
✉️ Rachael McPhail at rachael.mcphail@amnesty.org.au

RSVP TO BANNER PAINTING

If you’re unable to make our Banner Painting Workshop, you’re welcome to join us on Monday 26 Jan 9:30am for a Solidarity Meet-Up before the Naarm Rally. Make sure to RSVP here so we can text you our location on the day.

And if you can’t make it on Jan 26, or live outside of Naarm, please save the date and RSVP to our Indigenous Solidarity Forum (online) on Wednesday 18 February 7-8:30pm AEDT Gadigal/Naarm/Lutriwita [6-7:30pm AEST Meanjin / 4-5:30pm AWST Boorloo].

When the world is heavy, how do we keep moving?

Written by Betty Desalegn, Mobilisation Coordinator, Amnesty International Australia.

Many of us are feeling stretched, anxious and overwhelmed right now. The world can feel like it’s unraveling in a hundred different places at once and for many communities, that has been the reality for a long time. In moments like this, it can help to pause and ground ourselves in a few shared truths about this work and how we carry it together.

A few things worth holding onto:

  • What can feel like countless separate crises are often rooted in the same forces of abuse of power, dehumanisation and systems failing to protect people.
  • There are far more people working for justice than it sometimes feels. Fear and division are amplified, and connection is a form of resistance.
  • Anxiety in this moment is not a personal failure it’s a rational response. The aim isn’t to suppress it, but to prevent it from turning into paralysis or infighting.
  • Policing each other’s activism (who is doing ‘enough’, who is saying things the ‘right’ way, who is too radical or not radical enough) drains movements faster than opposition does.
  • Strong movements make space for difference, disagreement, learning and growth.
  • This work is collective by design. We’re not meant to hold everything at once and we take turns carrying urgency, leadership, rest and care.
  • Staying relevant doesn’t mean doing everything. It means staying connected, intentional, and in motion, even in small ways.
  • Creating spaces for connection through conversation, community, shared understanding, matters as much as any action. Showing up in these spaces is solidarity.
  • History reminds us that periods of instability and fear are often when meaningful change becomes possible (not because suffering is good), but because people organise and refuse to accept injustice as normal.
  • Whether our roles sit in organising, research, advocacy, communications, fundraising, creativity or institutional work… we’re part of the same ecosystem. Change happens because all of these roles exist together.

“If you’re feeling overwhelmed, the ask isn’t to fix the world. It’s to keep showing up in the ways you can, and to trust that others are doing the same.”

If this work is feeling heavy, support is available. You can access confidential support through our Employee Assistance Program (EAP), and staff are also available to help talk through workload, capacity, or wellbeing concerns.

Townsville campaign for a criminal case review commission

Townsville’s Amnesty Action Group is petitioning the Queensland Government to set up an independent Criminal Case Review Commission, prompted by the case of Terry Irving, of Townsville — wrongfully convicted of armed robbery and jailed in 1993, exonerated in 1997 and yet to receive an apology and full compensation.

Sign and share our online petition at:

ONLINE PETITION

A commission would independently assess all circumstances contributing to unjust court outcomes and miscarriages of justice, and provide a statutory right to compensation for those wrongfully convicted, as prescribed by international law.

We also have postcards seeking support from Queensland Attorney-General Deb Frecklington. See contact below if your group can use a batch.

Last October, we invited Dr Robyn Blewer, director of the Griffith University Innocence Project, to speak on the theme “when our justice system fails”, at our annual human rights address at James Cook University. The project is part of the Innocence Network, an international coalition that fights wrongful imprisonments.

On Thursday, January 29, Griffith University’s Innocence Project in partnership with the Queensland Chapter of the International Commission of Jurists, will hold a seminar in Brisbane titled Designing a Criminal Cases Review Commission for Australia. Exonerated ex-prisoners Kathleen Folbigg and Terry Irving will join a panel discussion on the experience of being wrongly convicted in Australia and the ongoing difficulties they have experienced following their exonerations. The venue will be QDAC Lecture Theatre, Southbank.

Click here for more details.

Contact: Ian Frazer, Townsville Amnesty International Action Group (0438718470), amnesty.townsville@gmail.com

Adelaide: Power of Activism Volunteers call out

We are looking for volunteers for our upcoming event, Power of Activism, on 8 March 2026. This collaborative event brings together activist groups from across South Australia to celebrate and raise awareness of our actions in activism. We are seeking volunteers to assist in all areas of the day, from 11:00am to 10:00pm.

Lauren Jarvis Volunteer Coordinator – The Power of Activism
✉️ lauren.jarvis.lj@gmail.com

January Activism wrap-up

Our activist Amal Nasser and her children hosted a ‘Looms 4 Palestine’ at the St Peter’s Christmas Eve Street stalls.

Welcome back to a brand-new year of activism! We hope the holiday season was a peaceful time to refresh and recharge for 2026. January is always a quieter month as action groups start planning for the year ahead, with many groups preparing contingents and stalls for local Invasion Day events.

There have been some incredible activism highlights over the summer including W4R letter-writing events, Christmas stalls, film-screenings and speaker panels being hosted across the country. We hope these inspire your new year activism!

Our activist Paul Magarey organised a host of human rights speaker events across the country with the help of Regional ALCs. These events brought Australian human rights lawyer, Chris Sidoti and Professor Emily Crawford in conversation to discuss the current state of international law and the obligations of the Australia public. This was a huge achievement by Paul and the ALCs and is a great example of inter-state collaboration.

Our activist Amal Nasser and her children hosted a ‘Looms 4 Palestine’ at the St Peter’s Christmas Eve Street stalls. Amal’s kids have been working hard during the school holidays making bracelets to sell to raise money for Amnesty’s Gaza efforts. They raised $399 in one night which is incredible! The kids are so passionate and excitedly repped Amnesty merch and chatted to the local community about how they can help the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

The Manly Action Group annual W4R event brought together 40 community members who wrote 265 letters and cards in total, in one afternoon. That is a huge collective effort! Similarly, the Pennant Hills Action Group W4R event produced a total of 64 letters and garnered many petition signatures.

Amnesty’s ACRUX Collective held their first event at Lost Paradise on NYE, and it was a huge success! The event was a lino print making workshop where participants designed their own clothes using stencils designed by children in crisis areas (Gaza, Sudan, Pilbara Country, Ukraine). ACRUX formally collaborated with Teach Us Consent and Settlement Services International who lent artworks from their Beyond Borders exhibition. The event was a great example of how Amnesty can bring accessible and engaging human rights advocacy into the cultural spaces young people are already in.

The Rainbow Network hosted a lovely W4R event at the Qtopia Sydney which is known for being the largest centre for queer history and culture in the world! The event brought together rainbow network members and local Amnesty activists for a day of W4R letter-writing and a tour of the Qtopia museum. The event was a beautiful way to engage in the W4R campaign and close off the year.

Join Amnesty’s Online WhatsApp Community

Join our Online WhatsApp Community, if you haven’t already, to connect with the rest of our national movement, hear about upcoming events and opportunities, learn from shared experiences and challenges of other activists, and celebrate each other’s activism across the country!

Read the Community Guidelines here, and then simply click this link to join the Community!

We want to hear from you!

The People Powered Bulletin is all about the incredible work, energy and dedication of our movement.

We want to know more about your local actions, online initiatives, community engagement, or anything you’re working on that might inform or inspire fellow Amnesty supporters across Australia. The bulletin goes out on the third Friday of every month, with submissions due on the second Friday of every month.

SHARE YOUR ACTIVISM

Our values & behaviours

As a movement of people who stand for equality, justice, freedom and human dignity, we abide by this Values & Behaviours charter so that everyone belongs, is safe, and together achieves impact.

Activist support

The Amnesty team is here to support all activists. Here’s who you can contact:

Your Regional Activism Leadership Committee Presidents for regional support to members, activists and action groups –

Being a member of Amnesty International Australia is an effective way of getting involved with our work.

For a small, once-yearly fee of $22, you can stand for board positions, join committees and vote on important resolutions. Click here to learn more.

We want to hear from you! The People Powered Bulletin is all about the incredible work and dedication of our movement.
SHARE YOUR ACTIVISM

Amnesty International is a global movement of more than 10 million people who take injustice personally. We are campaigning for a world where human rights are enjoyed by all – and we can only do it with your support.

Act now or learn more about our human rights work.

Related Posts