Petitioners, Protestors or Protectors? A Short History of Indigenous People and Protest

This chapter discusses the exercise of the right to protest by Indigenous peoples. Specifically, it seeks to address the legacy of colonialism and the way in which it has shaped the act of protest by Indigenous peoples. The chapter focuses on historical examples from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the United States and Norway. Protests by Indigenous peoples have taken many forms, including petitions, lobbying, using the coloniser’s law, sit-ins and fish-ins, as well as strikes and demonstrations. Importantly, the chapter notes that protests by Indigenous peoples have included assertions of Indigenous law or sovereignty and expressions of relationship to and connectedness with land. It makes a contribution to existing literature by questioning the definition of ‘protest’ under international human rights law and its applicability to Indigenous peoples. That is, whether ‘protest’ as an international human rights concept provides an adequate reflection of the historical and structural effects of colonialism on the ability of Indigenous people to protest. Against this context, the chapter presents a case for conceptualising an Indigenous understanding of ‘protest’ to more adequately reflect those important historical and structural factors.