BY SARAH STEPHEN
As international outrage and Australian protests grow, the federal Coalition government is increasingly defensive about the horrific impact of it's refugee policy. The more people who join protests now, the greater the possibility of a government retreat that can win freedom for the refugees.
On January 31, the government was forced to promise to resume processing Afghan detainees applications for asylum. The December decision to stop processing applications forced hundreds of Afghan asylum seekers at Woomera detention centre to start a hunger strike on January 17.
By January 26, Iraqi and Iranian asylum seekers in detention centres across Australia had joined the protests, bringing the total number of hunger strikers to 370. Numerous asylum seekers also attempted to kill themselves between January 17 and January 30 and several teenagers threatened suicide.
Tens of thousands of people were outraged by the government's use of repression against the protesters. On January 26, Australian Protective Services (APS) personnel were flown to Woomera. Their heavy-handed actions almost sparked a riot within hours of their arrival.
A group of detainees chanted "freedom" and held up signs saying "Freedom or death" and "Release us or send us back". An Afghan man hurled himself from a roof onto razor wire.
Just hours later, APS staff forced journalists behind a perimeter fence 200 metres from the compound, out of sight of the detainees. They were threatened with a summons if they did not leave the area. According to the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance, this is the first time in decades that trespass laws have been used as a means to restrict freedom of the media.
An ABC journalist, Natalie Larkins, was arrested and charged. She was released on the condition that she return to Adelaide immediately.
Even the six-member Independent Detention Advisory Group, set up by immigration minister Philip Ruddock, is now at odds with the government. The IDAG was given the task of negotiating with Woomera hunger strikers.
Following the departure of former group head John Hodges, a former federal immigration minister, the committee advised Ruddock on January 29 to close the Woomera detention centre.
"We've found them to be courteous, considerate, caring people who have just reached an absolute situation of despair and a sense of hopelessness", committee member Paris Aristotle told the ABC's Lateline on January 29.
As the crisis in the centres escalated, the government found itself under increasing attack. Condemnations of Australia's mandatory detention system have appeared in newspapers from Spain to Pakistan, from the New York Times to the British Guardian.
Pressure has also been mounting within Australia, with increasing disquiet among ordinary people confronted with the human consequences of a punitive system of processing delays and mandatory detention.
Criticism of the government has come from the normally apolitical Red Cross and arch-conservative Catholic Archbishop of Sydney Dr George Pell. Pell told the January 28 7.30 Report, "The policy of deterrence is imposing a disproportionate suffering on these people." He called for the press to be allowed into the Woomera detention centre, so that the "Australian people can judge for ourselves".
Even sections of the conservative corporate media have condemned the government. The January 29 Australian carried a damning editorial, "Let the people in on the truth of Woomera". The January 28 editorial of Sydney's Daily Telegraph, usually rabidly anti-refugee, was headed "Censorship an insult to the people".
Noting the swing in public opinion, Labor leader Simon Crean's Australia Day address called for the release of women and children from detention.
The January 30 Australian reported that some detainees would be relocated from the Woomera centre to a new detention centre at El Alamein barracks near Port Augusta within the next two months. This, combined with the decision to re-start processing Afghan asylum applications, indicates that the government is trying to reduce the pressure it is under, despite Prime Minister John Howard's argument that he is "standing firm".
However, Ruddock is still refusing to close Woomera detention centre.
Worse, on January 28, Ruddock announced moves to deport 67 asylum seekers the government has identified as "ringleaders" of the hunger strike. He would not reveal when or how this would happen.
The Afghan refugees at Woomera decided to end their hunger strike on January 30. According to spokesperson Hassan Varasi, while the detainees demands have not been met, they hope further negotiations will allow them to reach an agreement.
This may take some immediate pressure off the government, but it is likely to be a brief lull. Around 175 Iraqi, Iranian and Palestinian refugees held at Woomera remain on hunger strike.
One of the detainees' lawyers, Rob McDonald, said on January 31 that the remaining hunger strikers have decided that at 10pm every night they will march around their compound chanting "Freedom!". "I've never seen them this upset", he said.
"We are detained in this hell for nothing, we have lost our hope for life. We want our freedom!", Leila, an asylum-seeker at the Curtin detention centre in Western Australia, told ABC radio on February 1. More than 70 Iranians, Palestinians and Iraqis at Curtin are refusing food, some since January 27.
Small numbers of asylum seekers also remain on hunger strike at Port Hedland and Villawood detention centres.
Even for the Afghan refugees no longer on hunger strike, some grievances have not been resolved. Varasi told the February 1 Sydney Morning Herald: "We want to be released from this centre, because we have been a long time in the desert. If we do not receive fair and timely processing we will go back to hunger striking."
On January 31, Ruddock offered Afghan refugees who agreed to go back "voluntarily" money and a free ticket home. Members of the negotiating team, however, warned that asylum seekers they have spoken to are not convinced that Afghanistan is safe and secure.
Ruddock responded on February 1 by issuing an ultimatum — either take the money and go now or be sent back forcibly later.
The government remains on the back foot. The concessions made so far show what protest action — inside and outside the centres — can do. But the concessions are not enough to make a significant difference to the refugees.
An escalation in protests can force a much more significant backdown. The next step is a mass demonstration of opposition to the government's treatment of refugees planned for the first day of parliament on February 12.
"You can't 'patch-up' a system of mandatory detention", Roberto Jorquera from Sydney's Free the Refugees Campaign told Green Left Weekly.
"The hunger strikes and detention centre protests have made more people aware of this than ever. Right now, we have to be loudly arguing that the only just solution is freedom, and citizenship rights, for the refugees. February 12 offers an opportunity for this."
Pat Brewer, a representative of Canberra Refugee Action Committee (RAC) agrees. "The proposals put forward by the government are intended to manipulate the situation. There is movement, but it's just changing the deck chairs. The government is trying to dodge the central issues while appearing to do something", she told GLW.
The February 12 convergence is being supported by, among others, refugee-rights groups, the National Union of Students, the United Nations Association of Australia, Rural Australians for Refugees, Children Out of Detention (ChilOut), Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, Democratic Socialist Party, International Socialist Organisation, Victorian Greens, Socialist Alliance, Action in Solidarity with Asia and the Pacific and Resistance.
There will be a tent city on Parliament House lawns on the night of February 11, and Canberra's RAC will set up a freedom embassy from 8am on February 12, a focal point for information stalls and activities.
Groups are planning actions and media stunts throughout the day, while at lunchtime there will be a rally with a platform of speakers.
"The number of groups and individuals organising to come is fantastic", Jorquera told GLW. "This is a real chance for people to stand up and oppose what Howard and Ruddock are doing. We're discovering that people really want to do that."
"I think there's tremendous potential", Brewer agreed. "But the convergence on Canberra isn't going to be the end of the process. We need big protests outside CHOGM in March. We need to keep protesting until all the detention centres are closed".
From Green Left Weekly, February 6, 2002.
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