Free the refugees
End mandatory detention
No deportations
No offshore processing
...Over Easter 2011, refugee rights activists will converge on detention centres across Australia to protest the Federal government's appalling policy of detaining asylum seekers.
Australia's policy of mandatory detention, in place since 1992, means that anyone seeking asylum by boat is mandatorily detained inside detention centres around Australia, some of which exist in remote desert locations or islands such as Christmas Island away from easy medical access or legal services.
Men, women and children can be detained and there is no maximum limit of detention so the Australian government can legally detain people indefinitely, and even detain people after they have been given refugee status because ASIO hasn't cleared them of security checks. There are high rates of mental illness or trauma inside detention, which has led to many suicides, suicide attempts and instances of self-harm. This policy is a direct attack on people's human rights.
The main protest will be outside Curtin Detention Centre in Western Australia’s remote north-west but there will be protests at other centres as well. Melbourne activists will join the national day of action with a symbolic protest outside the Maribyrnong Detention Centre to show solidarity with refugees detained inside as well as create awareness about the plight of refugees.
Organised by Refugee Action Collective (Victoria) - http://www.rac-vic.org/
In conjunction with Converge 2011 - http://converge2011.net/
Comments
Re: Melbourne Rally: National Day of Action against ...
What a load of shit, these people come into our country illegally and you protesters except us to continue to fit the bill. I cant afford my own house anymore and it had to be sold before i lost it, i can barely afford to feed myself, I hunted for a job for a whole month and can barely catch up with all my bills.
Australia needs to look after the Australians, the worst I find out is these people get more on the dole than an australian can, wtf????
This country is the only people suffering and you all need to open your eyes!!!
Massive kick in the guts after making the ultimate sacrifice
I am an Australian soldier who has watched fellow soldiers die in the course of their duty overseas, and have watched countless others affected by war (WWI, WWII and the subsequent conflicts). The 25th April is and always will be a significant day for all AUSTRALIANS. It has and always will be a day to remember those who paid the ultimate sacrifice in order to make Australia the wonderful place it is today.
It is only because of these brave soldiers that you and I are here in a free democracy, and it is also why others from around the world wish to come here. Whether a foreignor comes here legally or illegally is not the issue at all with this. I am not alone in my thoughts that organising a rally to fight for the rights of non-Australians who illegally try to enter my country on one of Australia's most sacred days is abhorent.
Australia is a very multi-cultural and understanding nation and we have within our country a large variety of ethnic and religious groups. The one thing that does bond us all and make us Australians is not holidays such as Easter, Honika, Christmas or Rammadan, but days such as Anzac Day and Remembrance Day, where Australians of all regions and backgrounds are remembered for what they have done, and the sacrifices they made in order for us to live in such a free and just society.
For a rally to be held on Anzac Day is a massive kick in the guts and slap in the face of those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice for my country. I would not be here if it weren't for those many brave souls. There are 365 days in the year, which leaves you with 363 days in which to hold such a rally, which does not fall on a nation-wide day of significance. As an Australian, I find it an utter disgrace that you would even consider Anzac Day. It just goes to show how un-Australian the organisers are.
Regards
Australian Digger
Stop believing the bullshit we're fed
I grieve for the families who have lost loved ones. They should not have let them go to war. And I can only try to imagine your trauma from seeing fellow soldiers die. I can comprehend, but not share, your rage.
I suggest you inform yourself on what Gallipoli was really about, where diggers were led into slaughter “for King and country” by clueless, uncaring English officers. What did that have to do with the freedom of those who lived here then? Or yours and mine now?
What does Australia's military presence in Iraq have to do with your or my freedom? Iraq is about American control of oil and Australian access to it. I remind you: "Jul 5, 2007. (Liberal) Defence Minister Brendan Nelson says securing the world's oil supply is one of the Federal Government's considerations as it decides how long to keep troops in Iraq." Our freedom?
What do Australian soldiers’ deaths in Afghanistan have to do with your or my freedom? Afghanistan is about enormous mineral wealth the Americans want to control there and a strategically important gas/oil pipeline to be built. Criminal, drug-dealing Afghan politicians/warlords, probably killing our soldiers, are being coddled and bought. Is that our freedom our diggers are dying for?
As well as slaughtering thousands of innocent Afghan civilians, that conflict is causing people to flee Afghanistan, including to Australia, where they are put in concentration camps for years, traumatising them forever. "...a very multi-cultural and understanding nation..."? Never a better time to demonstrate than on such a "military" day!
Who were our soldiers fighting for in World War II? Mainly the British Empire.
In Australia's longest-ever war involvement, ten and a half years in Vietnam, we lost 520 killed and 2,400 wounded, while 5.4 million Vietnamese were killed, the vast majority civilians (as usual). This carnage because of the ludicrous American "domino theory" that one country going communist would infect others. Oh, that’s right, North Vietnam was about to invade us, wasn’t it? To protect our freedom?
Why are the Timorese having to beg Australia to withdraw our 400 troops from there? It wouldn’t have anything to do with the oil in the disputed area of sea, would it?
The only place Australia's freedom was ever really endangered was in New Guinea. All other times Australians fought for British or US imperial interests, not our freedom.
There are some so jingoistically deluded as to even include Australian participation in the 1899-1902 Boer War in South Africa in the Australian "honour roll". That, too, was about our freedom, was it?
What is it in the national psyche that makes Australians rush off to other people's wars?
Wars are fought over interests, not over principles. Stop believing the bullshit we’re fed.
others might like to support those flee-ing wars traumatised
Easter has long been a time when compassionate people have traveled to sites of refugee detention in Australia.
This year it just happens to fall at the same time as Anzac day.
While you honour people who served in wars, perhaps others might like to support those flee-ing wars who remain traumatised from their experience, and are unfairly locked up.
No one is illegal. Everyone has the right to seek asylum.
It is allegedly an Australian trait to stand up for a fair go. I support refugees being given a fair go.