BY PATRICIA CORCORAN
Refugees are demanding to be freed from their imprisonment in immigration detention centres around the country and from the fear of being deported back to persecution. They are demanding protection and sanctuary. Here are 10 reasons why you should support them.
1. Refugees are not criminals.
They have fled situations of war and persecution where they were not able to apply for refugee status through "formal channels". A large number of people arriving by boat in the past few years have come from Iraq and Afghanistan. That they have no travel documents is understandable — they would have had to apply to the governments of Saddam Hussein or the Taliban to get them.
There has been a concerted campaign by mainstream politicians and media outlets to demonise "boat people", calling them "illegals" and "queue jumpers". They aim to give the impression that asylum seekers have done something wrong, so as to justify locking them up and treating them like criminals. But they have done nothing wrong and have jumped no queue.
2. Corporate globalisation allows freedom for capital but not for people.
The campaign for refugee rights should be a central aspect of the campaign against corporate globalisation. The international economic and political situation is causing increasing instability around the world, forcing people to seek refuge outside of their home countries.
Economically, corporate globalisation has driven down wages in the Third World, forcing people into dire poverty. Political instability has been made worse by the actions of imperialist countries, particularly the US. For example, the US war on Iraq has created chronic instability, resulting in huge numbers of Iraqis being forced to leave and seek protection elsewhere.
As long as masses of people are displaced by global inequality, we should fight to allow them into the fortresses of privilege in the First World.
3. Australia has the world's harshest refugee laws.
Only Australia imposes mandatory detention with no right to obtain bail or other temporary release. Even unauthorised arrivals who formally request asylum are locked up while awaiting the outcome of their application. In the event of a negative ruling, they remain locked up during the (often lengthy) appeal process.
Other wealthy countries that detain unauthorised arrivals seeking asylum do so only in particular circumstances, and the detainees have rights to judicial review and temporary release. In Portugal, those who request asylum within 48 hours of arriving cannot be detained at all.
The Australian government's position is thoroughly racist and is akin to the reactionary stance it has taken on Aboriginal issues.
The Australian government is developing an international reputation for breaking United Nations treaties on issues of race and the environment. Australian people need to take a stand against what the Howard government is doing.
4. Immigration minister Philip Ruddock is unperturbed in the face of human suffering.
While refugees have been protesting their abhorrent situation, rather than listening to their problems and trying to make improvements, Philip Ruddock's solution is harsher penalties, like allowing security staff to sedate protesters.
There appears to be no end to this man's arrogance and deception — his most recent statements have claimed that conditions in detention centres are better than in many Australian homes and he has defended the use of tear gas at the Curtin detention centre.
5. The conditions in the camps are appalling.
Suicides, self-harm, debilitating hunger-strikes, stress and depression are direct results of the inhumane policy of locking up refugees, who have already faced trauma in their countries of origin.
6. Isolating refugees, particularly in the middle of the desert, is unacceptable.
Isolation in urban detention centres is bad enough — it is much worse for those stuck in the middle of the desert. Not only are refugees isolated from the outside community, but when they first arrive they are kept in solitary confinement with no access to newspapers, television, post or phone.
The government wants to isolate refugees from communities that can support their rights.
7. Allowing women and children to live in the community is no solution.
The government's recent offer to house women and children in nearby towns rather than in the detention centres is an admission the conditions are intolerable.
If the detention centres are not appropriate for women and children, then why are they appropriate for men who have committed no crime? Male asylum seekers have escaped persecution only to face another round of it in Australia.
It is unlikely that families would want to be separated. How easy would it be to visit a male partner at Woomera?
8. There should be funding for re-settlement, not detention.
Refugees should be able to live in the community while waiting for their applications to be processed. Urban detention centres could be converted into hostels — they should be renovated to acceptable standards, the fences and razor wire should be torn down and accommodation should be for asylum seekers.
Over time they could find work and their own accommodation. Refugees want to work, be part of society, have access to education and lead a normal life.
9. Refugees are protesting conditions inside the camps — they need and deserve our support.
From hunger strikes, to protests, to breakouts, the desperate refugees have heroically stood up to oppression. But they need those of us lucky enough to be free to build community support and strengthen their campaign on the outside, so the government has no alternative but to close the camps.
The major parties won't free the refugees. The Liberals have been atrocious but the ALP has also supported the repressive policies, and even tried to compete to be the hardest on "illegals". It was the ALP, when in government, which introduced the mandatory detention policy.
The only way these parties will change their policy is through mass campaigning, building community support and forcing them to adopt a humanitarian approach, as they were forced to on the issue of East Timor in 1999.
The newly formed Socialist Alliance is one of the very few political groups which calls for the detention centres to be closed, for full rights for asylum seekers, and for funding to settlement services. Not only this, but Socialist Alliance actively campaigns to build grassroots movements for justice.
10. Detention centres are making money by imprisoning refugees.
To rub insult into injury, detention centres are managed by Australasian Correctional Management, which is in the business of making money out of prisons.
ACM is a subsidiary of Wakenhut, the self-proclaimed "global leader in privatised corrections". Wakenhut is facing lawsuits in the US which charge that the corporation has abused prisoners in some of the 42 correctional facilities it runs there. The abuses include failing to prevent sexual assault and the use of tear gas. Meanwhile they are reporting huge increases in their earnings.
Much abuse has been uncovered in Australian detention centres, including the use of tear gas at Curtin detention centre and the beating of a man who attempted suicide.