BY PAUL BENEDEK
SYDNEY — "We are a mass movement, we need to look like one" is the idea behind a broadly supported initiative to hold a National People's Refugee Summit in early 2003.
The proposed summit, tentatively scheduled for February 1-2 in Sydney, is an opportunity for the many different refugees support groups to collaborate, and maximise the power of the refugees' rights movement.
A key aim of the summit is to co-ordinate mass, united actions which can demonstrate that there is a huge refugees' rights movement. The summit organisers recognise the need, and the potential, to build a movement in defence of refugees as powerful as that behind the successful 1970s moratoriam marches against the Vietnam War. A huge nationwide protest is being mooted for June 20, to coincide with World Refugee Day.
The summit coordinating committee currently comprises activists from Rural Australians for Refugees, Free the Refugees Campaign, the Refugee Action Coalition, ChilOut, Labor for Refugees and the Greens. The initiative is also supported by A Just Australia, the Edmund Rice Centre, Australian Refugee Rights Alliance and Australians Against Racism.
While recognising the varying perspectives and beliefs within the refugees' rights movement, the coordinating committee has put forward demands which it believes encapsulate the movement as a whole: No mandatory detention; End the Pacific Solution; Honour the convention; and Permanent protection.
More activists are need to help coordinate and publicise the summit. To get involved, or to add your group's endorsement, phone Anne Coombs on (02) 4883 6098, Mel Slee on (02) 9351 5630, or Paul Benedek on 0410 629 088.
From Green Left Weekly, November 27, 2002.
Visit the Green Left Weekly home page.