World Refugee Day on June 20 is an opportunity to reflect on how much progress the refugees' rights movement in Australia has made in a relatively short period. The last six months of organising, which includes the consolidation of a huge movement across rural Australia, marks an important turning point in the campaign against the Coalition government's racist policies.
When Prime Minister John Howard directed the navy and SAS troops to intercept the Norwegian freighter MV Tampa last August, he thought he'd hit on a winner. But since then, the polls show he has miscalculated.
A Ninemsn poll, taken on November 8 at the height of the government's fear-mongering, found that 16,216 answered "yes" when asked if they believed the claim that the boat people threw their children overboard, while 8438 said "no". By March 27, after the government's lies began to unravel, 13,665 said they thought the defence minister at the time of the Tampa affair, Peter Reith, should appear before the children overboard inquiry, while 4423 disagreed.
Last July 5, 10,404 people said they supported mandatory detention, while 2421 opposed it. By January 25, after the Woomera hunger strikers had started their campaign, the mood had shifted: 20,169 opposed mandatory detention, while 16,322 supported it.
Other polls confirm the trend. A Melbourne Age poll last August and September revealed 71% supported mandatory detention, while an Australian poll on February 9-10 found that support had dropped to 56%.
Of course, these polls are only indicative. However, the general trend is clear. There has been a significant shift in public opinion since the Tampa crisis, and it reflects the resurgence and broadening of the refugees' rights movement sparked by the brave protests by the detainees at Woomera and other detention centres.
The divisions in the ruling class over refugee policy have provided a unique opportunity to build a movement which, on the one hand is marked by its political diversity, but on the other is united around a set of very concrete demands directed at the government.
It's been some time since there's been a political movement in Australia that is prepared to break the law. While a small number of refugee advocates criticised the Easter protest outside the Woomera detention centre, many more agreed that "bad laws need to be broken". It marked another turning point.
While civil disobedience has its place in the campaign, as it did in the mass anti-Vietnam War movement and the mass blockade of the World Economic Forum in Melbourne in 2000, this movement is most visible and empowering when it takes to the streets in large numbers. Palm Sunday on March 24, in which some 50,000 people took part around Australia, was the biggest refugees' rights mobilisation to date.
The June 22-23 rallies to mark World Refugee Day — June 20 is the UN-designated day to remind signatories of the 1951 convention on refugees of their responsibilities — are another opportunity to make our voices heard and Green Left Weekly urges its readers to take part.
The movement needs to grow considerably bigger if we're to win. Some possible next steps could include events to mark the Tampa crisis around August 26, a proposal already being floated by Rural Australians for Refugees.
If we start organising now, a truly national convergence on Parliament House in Canberra early next year could be another powerful expression of opposition to detention of asylum seekers. An inclusive and representative national refugees' rights activists' conference could also help broaden and strengthen the movement and provide an opportunity to discuss future campaigns and actions.
From Green Left Weekly, June 19, 2002.
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