tent embassy

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Noun

tent embassy (plural tent embassies)

1. (Australia) A semipermanent encampment set up as the focal point of a protest, particularly with regard to the rights of indigenous people.
   • 1985, Jens Brøsted, Jens Dahl (editors), Native Power: The Quest for Autonomy and Nationhood of Indigenous Peoples, Scandinavian University Press, page 55,

     Outstanding examples of this genre of moral opposition are the tent embassies erected at different times in Washington, Canberra, Ottawa, Oslo and other capital cities.

   • 2003, Janine Hayward, Local Government and the Treaty of Waitangi, Oxford University Press, page 25:

     Māori started to demand that the Treaty be honoured. The rise of Nga TamaToa (the young warriors), tent embassies in Parliament grounds, and other forms of protest pushed the agenda.

   • 2005, Jeffrey Sissons, First Peoples: Indigenous Cultures and Their Futures, UK: Reaktion Books, page 72:

     In Australia and New Zealand tent embassies were set up inside the grounds of their respective Parliaments; in Hawai′i, the island of Kaho′olawe was occupied by activists protesting against its use by the us Navy for bombing practice.

   • 2011, P. G. McHugh, Aboriginal Title: The Modern Jurisprudence of Tribal Land Rights, Oxford University Press, page 61:

     It took many attention-grabbing forms: freedom rides, land marches, tent embassies, blockades, sieges, stand-offs, demonstrations, lobbying, denunciations, and funereal silences, even filibustering.