BY
LISA MACDONALD
& OWEN RICHARDS
Osama Yousif, 35, arrived in Australia as a political refugee from
Sudan in June 2000. Today, he is an upper house candidate for the Socialist
Alliance in the March 22 NSW election.
Yousif first became a political activist in his native Sudan in 1985
as a student organiser for the Sudanese Communist Party. In 1995, he was
arrested by the Islamic fundamentalist government of Sudan.
“We spent a week in the security building without food, or showers or
anything”, he told Green Left Weekly. “It was very, very hard. They
tortured us in a lot of different ways, like beating us with hands and
sticks, and making us stand on cement in the hot sun for more than 12 hours.
Sometimes they terrified us by pretending they were about to kill us.”
Yousif and his comrades were interrogated and tortured for another week,
before being sent to prison.
“More than 200 more students were arrested. Some were held and tortured
for a day, some for a week or more.”
After being transferred to prison, the student activists were separated.
“They would take one of us away and torture us for two or three days, then
bring us back and take another one away.
“For me it was very hard because me and my father were both in prison,
but they separated us. They put me with the ordinary criminals.
“I spent four and half months in jail that time. When they released
me I had to sign a statement that I would not criticise the government
again.
“Of course, I continued doing my political work at the university and
was arrested again on February 2, 1997.
“In January, the Sudanese People's Liberation Army took control of two
major cities in southern Sudan and the government started arresting a lot
of activists in the capital city. I was on their `student activist list'.
“I spent three days being tortured in the security building. They interrogated
me about my family's political background, about my activities for the
last 10 years, which party I voted for in the general election, and lots
of other details. Then they sent me to jail for three and a half months.”
On May 18, 1998, in response to increasing pressure from the United
Nations and human rights organisations, the regime released all political
prisoners. “They do this sometimes to appear democratic and humane”, Yousif
says.
After Yousif's release, he continued to be harassed by the security
forces. “Three or four times I was called in”, he said.
“Sometimes I was interrogated, tortured a little. Other times I just
sat in their building, from morning to evening, just waiting. It was intimidation.
I couldn't feel secure in Sudan. We activists could be arrested any time.”
In November 1998, Yousif left Sudan for Egypt where he applied for UN
protection. “I had relatives there I could stay with, but in general it
is very hard for refugees there.
“You have to wait for one year just to get a form to apply for an interview
with the UN. Then it may be three months before you get a hearing and can
apply for re-settlement in another country.
“You can't get a work visa while you are waiting, but you have to work
to survive, so people work illegally, which means they can be deported
at any time. Rent is very expensive so people live 10 to a flat. Some women
become prostitutes and some people get involved in crime. People get very
exploited.”
Yousif was accepted by the Australian embassy as a refugee because he
had documents from a recognised human rights organisation stating that
he was a political activist being persecuted in his country. But “a lot
of my comrades and other activists, such as those who are not in the major
cities in Sudan, do not have such documents because human rights organisations
cannot gather all the information about all the activists in such a big
country. These people cannot get UN protection.”
Once in Australia, life became hard in a different way, Yousif says.
“I had to live in one room with another man for three months. I was supposed
to receive the $1200 settlement grant from Centrelink, but never got it.
“We had 500 hours of English-language classes, but 500 hours is not
enough to learn a new language and not having English makes it very hard
here.”
Getting qualifications and jobs is also a problem, says Yousif. “The
education system makes it hard for refugees to study. You have to pay very
high fees and we can't get any financial help to upgrade our qualifications.”
As well, when Sudanese refugees have applied to study in professional areas,
like engineering, “they have been told they have no chance of passing and
aren't accepted.
“I know one Sudanese refugee who has a PhD from Britain and was a teacher
at universities in Sudan and Libya, but is now selling vegetables in Kings
Cross. All the Sudanese here who have qualifications work as cleaners or
the like.”
At the end of last year Yousif was granted Australian citizenship. He
is presently studying accountancy.
Yousif sees his membership of the Socialist Alliance as a logical continuation
of his socialist activity in Sudan. “Since the collapse of the Soviet bloc,
the US has gained unparalleled dominance of the world”, he told GLW.
“The US rulers seek to further this dominance. We see this with their war
on Iraq, just a year after they destroyed Afghanistan. The world now desperately
needs a humane, democratic opposition to this warmongering superpower.
“In Australia, I believe that alternative can be provided by the Socialist
Alliance, which can provide the basis for the building of a much stronger
socialist party."
He is particularly worried about NSW Labor Premier Bob Carr's “anti-terrorism"
laws, the harshest in Australia. While some doubt the seriousness of these
laws, Yousif foresees the possible beginnings of a much more serious restriction
of human rights and political freedoms — a legacy of his political experience
in Sudan.
“In NSW the Labor government has applied a racist agenda by using racist
criminalisation of the Lebanese community. This targeting of the Muslim
and Arabic community in the wake of Sept 11 is an attempt to divide the
working class amongst itself. It can only create fear. And in a climate
of fear the rich and privileged can get away with suppressing the basic
rights of ordinary people."
What does Yousif think a small party like the Socialist Alliance can
hope to achieve by contesting the NSW election? “The Socialist Alliance
needs to participate in these elections. By doing so we can reorganise
people and build the movements to take an alternative solution to the main
issues faced by ordinary people. We can give hope to people.
“However, the Socialist Alliance's aims go much beyond the elections.
Our primary task is involving ordinary people themselves in political activity.
We can't do it for them.
“The kind of deep-going social change we need today can only be achieved
by millions of ordinary people, ordinary Australians, running society themselves.
Politicians can't do it for them. Only this would be true democracy — people
deciding things for themselves.”
From Green Left Weekly, February 26, 2003.
Visit the Green Left Weekly
home page.
