Australians hit gov't racism aimed at refugees
By Malcolm Cummins
Sydney, Australia
Opposition is mounting in Australia to the imprisonment of
refugees. Successive Australian governments have had a policy
of mandatory detention for any refugee who arrives in that
country seeking political asylum. The current administration of
Prime Minister John Howard won re-election last November by
whipping up a racist campaign against refugees. Prior to the
racist frenzy, Howard had been expected to lose.
Howard claimed that a group of Iraqi refugees had thrown
their children into the ocean from a boat stopped by an
Australian warship. The claim was later revealed to be false,
but the government used the incident to demonize all refugees
seeking entry to Australia. Ironically, that same warship is
now enforcing U.S. sanctions against Iraq in the Persian
Gulf.
Refugees who arrive in Australia are imprisoned for long
periods in detention centers, where conditions are often
brutal. Many Iraqi and Afghan refugees have been sent to
Woomera, a camp in the desert of central Australia where
temperatures can reach 120 degrees. Under these desperate
conditions, some have tried to commit suicide by throwing
themselves onto razor-wire fences.
Security at the Woomera camp is provided by an Australian
subsidiary of Wackenhut. Wackenhut runs private prisons in the
U.S. and has been accused by the Justice Department of
violating U.S. inmates' rights "by habitually using excessive
force and allowing brutal fights over such basic items as food,
clothing and shoes," according to the Associated Press.
Husain, an Iraqi refugee who spent seven months and 12 days
at Woomera, described conditions there as being "very
terrible." He said the guards had a "bad mentality. They insult
us and swear at us." The Howard government is hoping that by
treating refugees in the most barbaric manner possible, it will
deter others who might be thinking about trying to make it to
Australia.
It is a continuation of a racist immigration policy
practiced by both major capitalist parties since World War
II--called the "white Australia policy"--that sought to keep
people of color from immigrating.
The refugees, unions and progressive movement are fighting
back. Support groups are springing up all over the country,
even in rural areas. Many groups are planning to go to Woomera
for a "Protest and Festival of Freedom" from March 28 to April
1.
One of the organizers, Damien Lawson of "No One is Illegal,"
called for dismantling the camps entirely. Lawson told Workers
World, "The people aren't illegal; the camps are." He added
that protesters at Woomera would engage in peaceful civil
disobedience to "use their bodies to enforce international
law."
Under the 1951 Geneva Convention on the Status of Refugees,
Australia is obliged to provide sanctuary. At least 120
refugees are on a hunger strike at Woomera. Some have sewn
their lips together in protest at being held incommunicado,
while others have dug symbolic graves for themselves in the
sand and are sleeping in them.
The teachers' federation in the state of New South Wales has
called for the children in detention centers to be allowed to
attend public schools. The federation condemns the denial of
education for refugee children as "a violation of Article 28 of
the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child."
Australia is also being condemned internationally. So
seriously does Amnesty International take the situation that
the current president, Irene Khan, felt compelled to
investigate personally. It's the first time an Amnesty
president has come to Australia. Khan's accusation that the
Howard government is trying "to create a climate of suspicion,
mistrust, xenophobia and racism" was quoted by the British
Broadcasting Company.
The Howard government, however, feels emboldened by the Bush
administration's racist and xenophobic campaign that is
providing a cover for U.S. aggression in Asia and the Arab
world.
Reprinted from the April 4, 2002, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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