We, the undersigned, are dismayed at your statement capitulating to the Daily Telegraph’s attack on the Greens members who make up Left Renewal. The Telegraph’s article: ‘Australia Day: Anarchist Greens call for the flag to be burned in sick anti-Oz campaign’ is a transparent beat-up to have a go at The Greens and the idea of protesting on Australia Day.

The call for action on Invasion Day was originally made by a collective of young Aboriginal people, Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance and shared on Facebook by Left Renewal.

But rather than stand up to the Murdoch press, you have attacked fellow Greens members in Left Renewal and equated flag-burning with violence.

Aboriginal people face mass incarceration at rates higher than apartheid South Africa, forced child removal in numbers far greater than the Stolen Generation, ongoing theft and destruction of traditional lands, a ‘national day’ that celebrates invasion, just to name a few continuing injustices. Meanwhile refugees languish in detention camps - the Australian flag is a symbol of the racist heart of Australian nationalism.

Life-spans that are ten years less than the Australian average and continued deaths in custody are a real measure of the violence that Aboriginal people face in Australia.

Many Greens members and supporters will be marching at Invasion Day rallies on 26 January.

There is nothing violent about the burning of the flag. It is an act of protest.

Please don’t let the Murdoch press set the Greens agenda, stand up for Aboriginal rights and the right to protest.