Mamdouh Habib speaks at UWS Bankstown forum

Maurice Farrell, Sydney

A lunchtime forum at the University of Western Sydney's Bankstown campus on August 17, featuring former Guantanamo Bay detainee Mamdouh Habib, attracted 200 people.

The open-air forum — on the issues of war, terrorism and civil liberties — was organised by the socialist youth organisation Resistance and the UWS Students Association.

Habib described his experiences of imprisonment and torture at the hands of the US military. He thanked all those who had acted to help him while he was imprisoned, and pointed out that under Australia's new anti-terror laws "anybody in the street can now be taken away for seven days. They can beat you, hurt you and you have to cooperate. You can't even go back and tell your wife, or your lawyer."

Paul White from Muslims for Peace and UWS associate professor Scott Poynting described how the Howard government was demonising Muslims.

White pointed out that the demonisation of Muslims as "terrorists" was aimed at terrifying people into accepting Western governments's imperialist wars against the Third World. "Today it's Muslims, tomorrow it's the pacifist, then the socialist, the trade unionist", White warned. "We must not succumb. We all need to fight this injustice."

The forum was also addressed by Iman Afroz Ali and refugee-rights activist Sarah Stephen.

From Green Left Weekly, August 24, 2005.

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From GLW issue 639