Irresponsible politicking fever pitch with scare-mongering must cease. Describing humanity as ‘people-smugglers’ and ‘illegal’ Asylum Seekers must end – it is racism and discrimination to describe people as such.
It is disappointing to witness reputable news media fuel the racism by portraying those who assist our Asylum Seekers in their passage as ‘people smugglers’ and describing them as ‘cynical’, ‘sinister’ and ‘criminalised’.
It is the ‘migration walls’ that are criminally inhumane.
“Let us build humanity rather than destroy it, our negative sense of self must be replaced with a positive concern for others,” Human Rights Alliance spokesperson, Gerry Georgatos
A majority of our parliamentarians and some journalists within the news media portray everyone who assists human beings necessitated in pursuing Asylum as bent by sinister criminality when in fact many of those who assist Asylum Seekers do so for reasons no less different to those which guided Oskar Schindler and Nancy Wake in what they did for so many.
“In any human endeavour and in any sphere of influence, in every occupation and in every government there is always an element who circumvent their calling and propriety – there are always those who will ransom from any predicament an excessive self-interest or benefit.”
“Let us not tarnish the reputations and deeds of people who indeed assist others from persecution and from abject and dangerous predicaments. In addition let us not destroy the right of people to pursue Asylum - and in terms of their natural and prescribed rights there has been much damage already damned into the Australian psyche and consciousness, our moral compass skewed.”
The Australian Government’s migration walls are the major contributor for the manifest of those who will risk their own right to liberty in order to assist others in the seeking of Asylum.
The Australian Government’s conduct and its influence upon the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation needs further inquiry in response to what has thus far has been uncovered by various inquiry.
Australia owns significant responsibility for lives lost at sea, and for the desperate measures manifest for people to lawfully reach our shores.
Asylum Seekers should be able to work lawfully with agencies in their right to reach our shores. Those who assist them should not be criminalised. The People Smugglers Act and its damaging racism and horrific mandates must be rescinded.
Australia’s legal and moral obligations should be geared to assisting Asylum Seekers and not in the rise of peril, suffering, harm and death.
Many Asylum Seekers who we have spoken to have said they could not have made their journey without the assistance provided by those others much maligned by the Australian Government and some within the news media. Many regard them as heroes.
Asylum Seekers seek out those who can assist them and everything is consensual.
If there are people who have settled in Australia who seek similar assistance from others as they required in order to bring their family from peril and to our shores then these are their natural rights and instincts and these people should not be demonised for what you and I would likewise do to protect our families, extended families, friends and others because this is humanity. You cannot cast aspersions upon people for having to seek assistance from whomever when they have in full view unfettered ignorance and the debacles of discrimination, prejudices and racism of our Government and its departments, agencies and institutions.
Those who are slandered as ‘people smugglers’ often were themselves Asylum Seekers and Refugees. Iraqi Ali Jenabi’s brother was killed by Saddam Hussein’s forces. He arrived in Indonesia penniless and to earn passage for his family to Australia, and which included his mother, sisters, brothers and an uncle he worked for others coordinating the passage of Asylum Seekers. His family finally arrived in three boats.
Ali Jenabi’s humanity continued and he has helped many in their passage, including those with no money. He is a hero to the Iraqi communities of Australia however he is a ‘people smuggler’ according to Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Leader of the Coalition, Tony Abbott.
Do not cast a pall of aspersions on everyone who sacrifices much to help people seek Asylum – would parliamentarians want a swathe of aspersions cast upon them all by the Australian people in response for the misdeeds and improprieties of several of their own?
Media contacts:
Gerry Georgatos
PhD Law researcher Australian Custodial Systems, Australian Deaths in Custody
gerry_georgatos@yahoo.com.au
0430 657 309
Natalie Flower
HRA coordinator
info@humanrightsalliance.org
0412 833 733
Comments
Greens also fuel the racism - what a disappointment they are
Gerry always makes the most sense, why is it so hard for others, especially those in parliament to see it as he does with a morality? This morning I just heard the Greens Sarah Hanson-Young be not much different to Tony Abbott. The Greens are such a disappointment, she came out and said that the government has failed to catch the big fish and has concentrated on the little fish and in turn validated in the minds of Oz that there is such thing as people smugglers and that they are all the same. Abbott was a little more restrained waiting for the accuracy of the report to be proven but what a disappointment the Greens are in light of us having no one else. They fuel the racism too.
We need the likes of Gerry in parliament.
Deceiving outstrips the discovery of the truth
MEDIA RELEASE
ABDUL KHADEM AND PEOPLE SMUGGLING – THE REAL STORY - THE GOVERNMENT IS
TO BLAME – AGAIN!
Contrary to media reports, and the picture painted by the Four Corners
program, Abu Ali Al Kuwaiti (also known as Abdul Khadem) and his
family were victims of Howard and Ruddock’s shameful mistreatment of
asylum seekers.
“It is impossible to understand the real story of Abdul Khadem unless
you understand the shocking story of the abuse and victimisation of
Abdul and his family at the hands of the Howard government,” said Ian
Rintoul, spokesperson for the Refugee Action Coalition.
Four Corners and the ABC have portrayed Abdul as a people smuggler who
arrived in 1999. But that is far from the truth. Abdul was only
charged with people smuggling a year after his arrival and only after
he was considered to be a trouble-maker by the immigration department.
He was coerced to plead guilty to people smuggling and was never
considered to be an organizer of the boat that he came on.
Abdul came to the attention of the Immigration Department and the
notorious manager of Curtin Detention Centre, Greg Wallis, after he
acted as spokesperson for striking protesters at the detention centre.
Addul spent two weeks in Derby prison but was never charged.
Released from prison, Abdul was sent to Juliet Block, the brutal
punishment compound in Port Hedland. From there, the family was sent
to Maribynong in Melbourne.
Suspiciously, Abdul was only charged with people smuggling in
Melbourne, a year after his arrival even though he had revealed
everything to the Immigration Department on arrival. He was moved to
Perth, while the family remained in Melbourne. Splitting his family
was something for which, Abdul never forgave the Immigration
department.
Eventually, the family was released on bridging visas, but Adbul
remained in detention. After three years – three years – his refugee
claim was rejected by the Immigration department. He never got the
opportunity to appeal to the Refugee Review Tribunal.
The family applied to 20 countries for assistance after the
Immigration department threatened to arrest and deport one of Abdul’s
sons. The Immigration Department unsuccessfully tried to deport the
family to Iran in 2003 and then to Vietnam.
“The real story of Abdul tells a very different story. The Australian
government owes Abdul and his family an apology,” said Ian Rintoul.
“His story is the shocking story of so many asylum seekers victimized
by the Australian government.
“If Abdul has organized boats from Indonesia, they are boats of asylum
seekers like himself, cruelly treated by mandatory detention. The
people smuggling laws first introduced by the Howard government
allowed Abdul to be victimized by the government.
"The people smuggling laws are doing the same thing today. Assisting
asylum seekers to get to safety in Australia should not be a crime.
"It is a pity that Four Corners didn't tell the real story of Abdul Khadem."
For more information contact Ian Rintoul 0417 275 713
Answer this Gerry
Gerry I have a seventy five foot fishing boat and I am going to Indonesia, I will charge people $10,000 for a trip to Australia I don't care about the people only the money does that make me a people smuggler?