Steve Georgopoulos
During the 2001 Tampa crisis, the unwritten law of the sea to help those in need was denigrated and broken by Prime Minister John Howard. Some asylum seekers were accepted as refugees by New Zealand and the rest have been sent to an island gulag on Nauru.
From that moment, the shameful message was sent out to the world that Australia has created a new category of humanity: the imprisoned non-citizen, the global untouchable.
There are Australians who are communicating with the innocent people imprisoned on Nauru, and have made deep friendships with the refugees. We hear from their letters what it is like to be caged for seeking freedom and hope on the high seas.
We have heard their calls and are responding by going to Nauru to greet our friends as boat people ourselves. We will be leaving Sydney on May 15 and will meet with other boats in Brisbane, before leaving as a flotilla for Nauru on May 22. We will converge with other boats at Nauru on World Refugee Day, June 20.
We intend to bring gifts for both the refugees and the Nauruans. Our intentions are peaceful and we wish to bring the spotlight of the global media onto the plight of our friends caged on Nauru, the island of Australian shame.
A call to action was sent out on November 18. Since then, we have three boats committed, fully crewed and a number of boats "bubbling to the surface" from places as diverse as New Zealand, Hawaii, the US mainland and Colombia.
We have more than 50 people keen to be crews, but we need more boats. We are also negotiating to charter a couple of tall ships. We are hoping that Greenpeace's Tribal Warrior will join our flotilla.
The Flotillas of Hope project has been endorsed by many organisations, including Rural Australians for Refugees, the NSW and Qld Greens, the Socialist Alliance, the NSW Teachers Federation and the National Tertiary Education Union (NSW).
Please visit the web site and register your support for this project. Visit <http://www.flotilla2004.com>.
From Green Left Weekly, February 25, 2004.
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