BY JODY BETZEIN
MELBOURNE — More than 350 people gathered at the state library on January 11 in a resolute display of support for refugees, following the series of fires in Australia's detention centres.
Speakers addressed what became the theme of the rally: the right of refugees to protest and the necessity of refugee-rights supporters to follow their lead and escalate the campaign to free the refugees into 2003.
Bridget Arthur of the Brigidine nuns made a plea for the government to "stop treating refugees as political footballs and treat them as individuals". Arthur rejected the myths about refugees fostered by the government, stating that from her experience in working with refugees, "refugees are as diverse a group as is the Australian population generally".
Arthur concluded by conveying the response of one detainee at Melbourne's Maribyrnong detention centre to the question "What should we do" — "Don't give up".
Chris Chaplin, speaking for the Victorian Greens, declared the rally a "back to business" meeting for refugee supporters following the holiday season. Chaplin addressing the question of the alleged "criminal" acts of detainees over the past weeks by asking the questions: "Is it wrong to break unjust laws? What would we have said of Jewish prisoners in Nazi Germany burning their concentration camp to the ground?"
Jacob Gretch of the Victorian Peace Network indicated the hypocrisy of the government talking about the cost of the detention centre fires, by pointing to the $39 million per day spent on maintaining the Australian military during peace time. Gretch went on to explain that despite no official declaration of war, the war against Iraq is already underway: the US has bombed Iraq on all but one day of the new year.
Jerome Small, speaking for the Refugee Action Collective, announced that thousands of people will converge on the South Australian Baxter detention centre over the Easter weekend. Small declared the intention to "ring the detention centre and to get as close as possible to tearing Baxter down".
The rally concluded with a march to the Bourke Street mall.
From Green Left Weekly, January 15, 2003.
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