A web of solidarity with refugees

BY SARAH STEPHEN

There is a huge range of refugee solidarity web sites popping up
every day, reflecting the broadening of support and sympathy for the plight
of people trying to find a safe haven in Australia.

Children out of Detention (ChilOut) is campaigning to get children,
along with their primary carers or families, out of detention. ChilOut
has an impressive web site with a lot of useful resources, including reports
from lawyers and psychologists about the effect of detention on children,
fact sheets, drawings from children in detention and a regular list of
activities. Visit <http://www.chilout.org>.

Australia Cares is a web site that was set up to support the
Woomera detainees' hunger strike. It includes a discussion forum, details
on how to get “Say Yes to Refugees” stickers and a report from the Adelaide
university lecturer arrested while taking part in a hunger strike at Woomera
detention centre. Visit <http://www.australiacares.org>.

Australians Against Racism was set up in October. The group's web site
opens with the statement: “There comes a time and point in history when
silence is betrayal. That time is now. We want to use the mainstream media
to speak up and say we do not support what is being done to refugees, asylum
seekers and detainees in this country.” The group has produced a television
advertisement involving many artists and actors. It can be viewed at <http://www.australiansagainstracism.org>.

Another recent addition to cyberspace is an innovative campaign calling
itself Spare Rooms for Refugees, a Victorian-based project to help asylum
seekers enter the community, support refugees and promote alternatives
to detention. The site includes the names and addresses of refugees in
detention, with an appeal for people to write letters to them. It also
contains handy “barbecue facts” for use in discussions. Go to <http://www.spareroomsforrefugees.com>.

Rural Australians for Refugees is a national network of groups in rural
and regional areas. It began in NSW in October and has snowballed, with
many other RAR groups forming around the country. The web site contains
a thought-provoking plan for small towns to contribute to resettling refugees.
Visit <http://us.geocities.com/rar1953>.

“We are all boat people” is the theme of a web site of “an expanding
group of media activists, artists, videographers, webheads, writers and
designers”. Together, the site says “we have the power to challenge the
border panic encouraged by the rhetoric of fear. We are making media and
cultural actions to remind the government and people everywhere that all
(non-indigenous) Australians are in fact 'Boat People'. From the First
Fleet in 1788, through two centuries of migration, to the most recent arrivals,
we share a common past and a current obligation to our fellow human beings.”

The group launched itself with a huge banner-drop off the side of the
Sydney Opera House, an image of a First Fleet ship and the words “Boat
People”. The group encourages a thousand small actions, and provide some
tools for how to participate, including a tactical media kit. Visit <http://www.boat-people.org>.

The campaign for a royal commission into the treatment of refugees now
has an online petition, which also allows you to make a comment. Visit
the royal commission site at <http://www.refugee-royal-commission.org>
and visit <http://www.PetitionOnline.com/ausrefug/petition.html>
to sign the petition.

From Green Left Weekly, February 6, 2002.

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From GLW issue 479