Asylum seekers threaten hunger strike
BY DANIEL OOI
SYDNEY — Infuriated by the conditions under which they're held and new repressive measures imposed by the department of immigration, asylum seekers at the Villawood Detention Centre here have threatened to go on hunger strike from July 24 if their demands are not met.
They have issued a statement in which they call for support from the public. "We ask you, on behalf of human kindness, to recognise our crisis and muster support for our difficulties in dealing with this department of immigration. We hope that you can put some kind of pressure on this government body, to release our souls from the torture and torment of these razor- and barbed-wire fences that menace our children and families, which soak life out of our bodies", the statement begins.
"We escaped dictatorships, near death experiences and wars, looking for a safe haven, a country to raise our children. But honour and freedom elude us ... How long must we endure these conditions that already play havoc with our families' health?"
"In distress to speed the process that brings us so much misery we will conduct a hunger strike so that our suffering won't go unnoticed."
The threatened hunger strike is in part provoked by immigration officials' imposition of a 6pm curfew in the centre, as well as continual harassment and bureaucratic delays by officials.
The asylum seekers' plea has already had some resonance outside the centre. On July 21, 40 protesters staged a sit-in at the offices of the Refugee Review Tribunal here, in protest at what they say is the tribunal's role in a bureaucratic process set up by successive Coalition and Labor governments with the express intent of intimidating asylum seekers.
Cyrus Sarang, from the Iranian Refugees Association Centre, told of the conditions inside Villawood, in which he himself was once detained. Many detainees lacked adequate bedding, he said, and had little contact with the outside world, including restricted telephone use.
The Democratic Socialist Party's Paul Benedek condemned a "policy of racism" deliberately carried out by the federal government but spoke enthusiastically of the chances of mobilising the different migrant communities against it.
The sit-in was organised by the newly formed Refugee Action Collective, which brings together student, refugee, trade union and political groups. The collective has called a major rally for noon on August 26 at the Sydney Town Hall, the same day as a similar mobilisation is planned in Melbourne.
The rally will call for greater funding for settlement, full citizenship rights for asylum seekers, an end to racist scapegoating, and the release of all refugees held in detention camps.