Assylum seeker action (1 Viewer)

[Liza-LaBoheme]

I just saw a play "Through The Wire" which took the true stories of legitimate refugees in Australian detention to the stage. The stories were shocking admissions of persecution, desperation, fear and abuse both in Australia and their native countries, mostly Iran and Afghanistan. One of which was the true story of Shahin, an Iranian playwright who fled persecution, and Gaby, a guard at Curtin detention centre who remarkably found love amid the harsh conditions of the centre. the couple also shared their story with the nation on Enough Rope with Andrew Denton.
the stories told were of freedom fighters, whistle blowers and campaigners who had "kissed the noose of Australian democracy" and felt its sting. the treatment they suffered under philip ruddock's imigration system was a human rights abuse. there is a human rights attrocity happening two hours from my home (Villawood) and i have done nothing to stop it. as the youth of Australia we are the ones to bring about change. WE MUST DO SOMETHING TO HELP ASSYLUM SEEKERS.

This thread isn't for the debate about whether or not these policies are just or not, this thread is for those who agree that the Australian Government's current detention system is a human rights abuse and want to take action to change it.

THIS THREAD ISN'T TO DEBATE THE JUSTICE OR INJUSTICE OF THE RUFUGEE POLICIES BUT FOR THOSE WHO AGREE THAT THE AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT'S SYSTEM OF DETENTION IS A HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSE AND WANT TO TAKE ACTION TO CHANGE IT.

"In Iran there are no ques."
"is this going to be compared to a concentration camp?" (gaby, guard at Curtin & Woomera)

 

[Not-That-Bright]

omfg....
Miss Liza-LaBoheme, i suggest you seek out some right-wing blogs and perhaps hear the other side of the story before you come on here with this sort of crap that we've all heard before.

- What would you propose? an open border?
- How would you propose we get through the cases faster?
- A concentration camp is something created FOR the purpose of detaining legitimate refugee's, people of a certain race, or a religion. The Detention centres are created for the purpose of detaining illegal immigrants, once it is discovered that they are legitimate refugee's they are released. People of any race/religion/colour can be locked up.

 

[Not-That-Bright]

The majority of Australia is is quite apathetic and dispassionate about the refugees regardless of how sad their plight is. The current rehtoric of the current government hardly goes towards fostering understanding and a level of compassion for the difficult and often faultless position of the detainees. Rather it often has a gentle wink towards racism and the isolationist white Australia policy of the past. This encourgaes a hateful attitude which can be demostrated on this forum with attitudes which show a genuine hate of these humans in detention.

The other gripe is the length of detention which occurs. Holding people in detention for years on end without trail is a human rights abuse in some way or another and really is not acceptable.

They camps can be construed as concentration camps because their actual result is the dentetion of people who happen to be of a certain minority or racial group.

The aim of my egg policy is to ensure the high quality of eggs. However the actual result of the policy is to control egg workers wages. Geddit? So what is the aim or purpose of my policy?

However much would be done to make people like me happy if the Liberal party would push some kind of compassionate line whereby they made it clear that there people are in difficult positions but that it is neccessary to hold them for some time. However I don't think this will happen.

I think I'm misguided, just like paul keating, in trying to convert the redneck racist.

I understand that Asquithian. But I still feel that as long as it isn't the governments agenda to lock up people of a racial minority (wether hidden or otherwise), then it isn't really a concentration camp. But of course, we don't REALLY know what the governments agenda is.

As for this hatred, sure it might exist in some instances... but I think it's just a matter of some people looking at it as. "We need border security... We don't know who they are.... We have to lock them up untill we know who they are". However there is some sympathy towards the idea that the process should be faster.

If anything i think some hatred is created because of people on the left making you out to be a heartless racist asshole whenever you don't agree with them.

 

[Invalid]

doesnt this topic pop up every 2nd week

 

[braindrainedAsh]

I was one of the protestors at Villawood today (see http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,12811227%5E1702,00.html for a brief story on it), it was such an eye opening experience.... so many Australians are apathetic, they don't take the time to listen to the stories coming out of detention centres, as well as schools, from mental health professionals, etc. If they truly listened then they too would be desperately searching for a better solution along with refugee activists. We were flying red balloons and the refugees were waving items of clothing out of their windows to acknowledge us and were cheering. They were so far off in the distance though. Faceless... just the way the Howard government wants to keep them.

I have heard so many horrible stories, I can't be bothered to repeat them here but I am writing a feature article on the issue at the moment. Today was very surreal.

Anyone who wants to see what a detention centre is like, take a trip to villawood and have a look. I only wish we could have seen the inside.

 

[Liza-LaBoheme]

I was one of the protestors at Villawood today (see http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,12811227%5E1702,00.html for a brief story on it), it was such an eye opening experience.... so many Australians are apathetic, they don't take the time to listen to the stories coming out of detention centres, as well as schools, from mental health professionals, etc. If they truly listened then they too would be desperately searching for a better solution along with refugee activists. We were flying red balloons and the refugees were waving items of clothing out of their windows to acknowledge us and were cheering. They were so far off in the distance though. Faceless... just the way the Howard government wants to keep them.

how do you find out about these protests? is there a website? how can you organise one?

 

[Liza-LaBoheme]

doesnt this topic pop up every 2nd week

if you're sick of this topic don't contribute to it. and instead you can go back to your work and leave us to our extreme lefty freedom fighting in peace.

 

[Not-That-Bright]

I still do wish people would address my questions...
When you're protesting... you're complaining about things, but not providing any solutions?

I think Asquithian has mentioned one possible and plausable solution which would be to hire more judges or whatever to look over these cases (i guess that might be possible?).

That's a constructive comment.

 

[Liza-LaBoheme]

it's not just for compassion. basically you are shit stirring- getting your passion across hoping that it will cause change. if its big enough it might just work. although many of our leaders have forgotten we are still a democracy and we do have a voice outside the ballot box

 

[Liza-LaBoheme]

omfg....
Miss Liza-LaBoheme, i suggest you seek out some right-wing blogs and perhaps hear the other side of the story before you come on here with this sort of crap that we've all heard before.

don't patronize me. trust me, my opinions are well informed.

 

[Liza-LaBoheme]

the major issue is the treatment of detainees while they're there. the lack of dignity, the inferiority and helplessness they feel. that is the human rights atrocity we must first address

 

[neo o]

don't patronize me. trust me, my opinions are well informed.

The Green Left doesn't count.

 

[Liza-LaBoheme]

oh ha dee ha.
i am also, coincidentally apposed to a lot of the journalism presented in Green Left Weekly but i'll save that rant for another thread shall i?

 

[Not-That-Bright]

the major issue is the treatment of detainees while they're there. the lack of dignity, the inferiority and helplessness they feel. that is the human rights atrocity we must first address

Ok... How?
What exactly do you propose.... You're PM, what do you do?

 

[dimzi]

I think the immigration policies are just fine, except as someone said earlier, that the period of which some people stay in detention is just too long. I remember hearing about how some people can never return to their previous country, but they also cannot enter Australia, so they just leave them in detention. They changed this recently to allow people in this situation to be released.

Now i dont fully agree with this, but i suppose it is the best thing that can be done, but sometimes i wonder why they cannot return to their previous country.

 

[braindrainedAsh]

People who are protesting often have ideas for solutions. They aren't just ranting.

Today the speakers were highly educated. The main speaker was a Doctor, a psychiatrist. There were also speakers from the teacher's federation. They aren't just ranting propaganda, but citing research etc.

You can't judge until you have been to something like this really. Quite frankly I never would have gone unless I was writing something on it, however I learnt a lot and it was an interesting experience.

 

[Not-That-Bright]

People who are protesting often have ideas for solutions. They aren't just ranting.

Today the speakers were highly educated. The main speaker was a Doctor, a psychiatrist. There were also speakers from the teacher's federation. They aren't just ranting propaganda, but citing research etc.

You can't judge until you have been to something like this really. Quite frankly I never would have gone unless I was writing something on it, however I learnt a lot and it was an interesting experience.

umm Ok, and what exactly were they saying should be done?
Can you please tell me? Because i've looked into this and all I can find that.. makes some sort of logical coherant sense is "process them faster" (somehow?) and "open border!!! WOOO HOOO!!!".

BraindrainedAsh, You must realise that there are doctors, psychiatrists on the other side...

 

[braindrainedAsh]

The solutions can be found by looking at how other countries (often these other countries have a higher influx of refugees/"illegals" to deal with... Australia is geographically isolated so European countries recieve much larger amounts of people) deal with refugees and asylum seekers... they have policies which fall in line with international human rights treaties and don't involve imprisoning children.

Also, even within the current system of detention there are many improvements that should be made. The neglect of mental health issues, lack of stimulation for detained children etc could all be solved quite easily.

Interestingly, the government paid a psychiatrist to find objections to research on the negetive psychiatric effects of detention... they paid him $30000 dollars simply to create arguments against the commonly accepted research.... when he published his report, it was quickly dispelled as nonsense by the majority of psychiatrists and was a total waste of taxpayers money.

 

[Not-That-Bright]

Oh... so when they get children... where do they put them? into some sort of community? separated from their parents? (yes?)
If so... then isn't that sorta discriminating against the people who don't have kids? thats not very fair.

Sure there are negative psychiatric effects, i think it's stupid to think there aren't..

 

[Generator]

Not-That-Bright, I'm sure that you know that protests are held in order to protest a certain practice/decision, yet why is it that they are only of value if they propose a coherent alternative (an alternative to a policy formed by a well-resourced department, in this case)? Surely you can see that merely speaking out against the 'supposed' injustice is a worthy act in that in that it draws attention to something that would otherwise be out of the public eye?

I do agree that brainless protests along the lines of 'free da refugeez' are of little value and should be derided, but that isn't to say that informed criticism in the form of a more sedate protest should be ignored merely because it is light on what you see as being credible alternatives.