A few months ago a group of friends at Fort Street High School were painting a banner and talking, they decided to convince their fellow students of the injustice of government policy towards refugees and to mobilise them to change it. Year 12 student at the school Karol Florek, who is an activist in Resistance and in Fortians for Refugees, spoke to Green Left Weekly's Leigh Hughes about campaigning for refugees on high school.
What is Fortians for Refugees?
It's an independent student-run organisation of around 30 students at Fort Street High School. We campaign for an end to mandatory detention and for refugees to be treated with the dignity and humanity that they deserve.
Right now, refugees are locked up just for seeking asylum, for wanting to escape persecution, for wanting a better life. They are sent to hell-holes in the middle of the desert far from where anyone can visit them. The government scapegoats the powerless in our society so as to divide the population.
We are trying to build awareness. We are trying to organise people who already support refugees and, in doing so, are trying to convince others of the argument that refugees should be free. We're doing that through direct campaigning, through protests, trying to get people to visit Villawood and to get involved in the campaign and screening videos and holding forums at school.
We do not claim to speak on behalf of all students at our school or on behalf of the school itself but we've certainly attracted a lot of support from students. Fortians for Refugees has a lot of support from the school community as well, from parents and teachers. We don't represent everyone yet, but we will one day, hopefully.
Have you ever been to a detention centre?
Yes I have. I've been to Villawood detention centre twice now and have met quite a few people there, including several young detainees. I have spoken to them about their experiences some of the stories are truly horrific. The way that they're treated is terrible.
Why is this a problem high school students should worry about?
School students are really the conscience of the country we can see right from wrong unlike many politicians. It's an injustice that young people who could be studying beside us are instead trying to kill themselves in refugee prisons.
I think that high school students are mature enough to be able to make up their own minds on political, social and ethical issues. And really, that's what education is for. It's not just about getting a degree or a job, or going to university, it's also about becoming an independent thinker and a conscious citizen.
High school campaigning is part of a broader refugees' rights movement of course, but when young people mobilise, it's usually over something which is quite important. Young people have to be fairly angry to actually mobilise, and that has moral weight and an impact on broader society that's my experience.
So what's the Fortians' call to action about?
Fortians for Refugees has called for other high school students to take action around refugees, to form their own groups and also to mobilise for a weekend of protest on June 22-23.
We are trying to reach out to high school students to get them to organise for the protests to paint banners, make placards or whatever. Distributing the call helps to build awareness at schools because it gets people talking about it it stirs things up. We are also looking for people or groups to contact us if they want to campaign on their school against mandatory detention. Ultimately we want to build a high school network for refugees.
Do you think the Liberal and Labor parties will have something to fear from this network?
I hope the Liberals do. We've been trying to approach Labor for Refugees to support us but we're yet to see if this succeeds. I hope at least that those who want to maintain Labor's current support for mandatory detention fear it.
We've put out a press release strongly supporting Woollahra High School for banning immigration minister Philip Ruddock from their school grounds. We are now campaigning to make our school a Ruddock-free zone too, because while we would gladly welcome refugees, Philip Ruddock or anyone who violates human rights certainly isn't welcome at Fort Street High.
From Green Left Weekly, June 5, 2002.
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