BY BRONWYN JENNINGS
Since its formation in October, Rural Australians for Refugees (RAR) has organised hundreds of people to campaign in defence of refugees. With 16 RAR groups having been formed, the network has boosted the fight to close refugee detention centres and provide a humane resettlement program. Green Left Weekly spoke to RAR national co-convener Susan Varga.
"RAR has the value of being unexpected, because of the myth of rural conservatism", Varga explained. "We see enormous potential in the loose network that is beginning to cover Australia."
RAR's web site outlines the organisation's 10-point platform, with four "main focus" points: that Australia abide by the 1954 United Nations convention on refugees; the abolition of temporary protection visas; the closure of detention centres "in their present form"; and doubling the refugee quota.
RAR supports the "Swedish model" of detention, under which asylum seekers may be detained for a short period for health tests and criminal record checks. Children cannot be detained for longer than six days.
RAR's first public meeting, held in Bowral in NSW last November, was attended by more than 400 people. Not counting the February 2 mobilisations in Sydney and Melbourne, it was one of the biggest refugees' rights meetings held in Australia.
"We worked on the assumption that rural populations are not homogenous and that there are as many compassionate, thinking people in the country as in the city", Varga said. "When we leafleted the streets of the NSW southern highlands, we had a varied response — from intense sympathy to intense antipathy. But in the last few weeks, the response on the streets has been much more positive. We feel the mood is changing."
The group has initiated a range of activities, including the highly successful "welcome books", in which people can write messages of welcome to refugees. They are modelled on the "sorry books" initiated to further reconciliation with indigenous Australians. RAR is also planning to tour the Tiger 11s, a Brisbane soccer team composed of young asylum seekers.
Another RAR initiative is the "welcome towns" project, a network of towns willing to provide material and emotional support to refugee families while their claims are being processed.
RAR has also been central to organising the February 12 protest at the opening of Parliament House in Canberra, Varga explained. "February 12 is a chance to show parliamentarians the strength, unity and determination of pro-refugee groups. A good turn out has the potential to change the mood of the country. We see it [could have] an equivalent effect, over time, as the moratorium marches that turned around public opinion on the Vietnam War."
"Small cracks have appeared in the government's facade, which can be worked on", Varga said. "But it is perhaps even more important at the moment for people to put pressure on the [Labor] opposition. Because if the Labor Party was to change its position, that would put pressure on the government."
RAR members come from a range of political traditions, including the National Party, the Greens and the Socialist Alliance.
"It's becoming quite hard to keep track of all the RAR groups as they are springing up constantly", Varga told GLW. While the network is concentrated in NSW and Victoria, more than 20 RAR groups exist across the country, including in Whyalla, Port Hedland, Bundaberg, Goondawindi, Deniliquin and Warragul.
"We leave it up to each local group to work out how organised it wants to be", Varga explained. "But we encourage them to back common initiatives. We also take on their ideas — the welcome books idea came from Bellingen."
"The idea behind RAR is to change the hearts and minds of middle Australia", Varga concluded. "If every second town has a RAR group, the politicians will begin to listen."
[Visit <http://www.ruralaustraliansforrefugees.org>.]
From Green Left Weekly, February 13, 2002.
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