They are not alone!
@box text intr = WOLLONGONG — Drizzly rain couldn't stop more than 100 people acting in solidarity with refugees in the Wollongong mall on February 7. The candlelight vigil, organised by the Illawarra Refugee Action Collective heard a number of speakers call for the closure of all detention centres and an end to racist scapegoating.
subh = 100 picket Ruddock
@box text intr = HOBART — One hundred people participated in a "silent stand for the truth" outside an official function attended by immigration minister Philip Ruddock in Hobart on February 7. Organised by Tasmanians for Refugees, the protest was supported by the Australian Education Union, the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union, Resistance and Amnesty International.
Rural Australians for Refugees branch formed
@box text intr = GEELONG — A February 6 public meeting attended by 40 people decided to form a branch of Rural Australians for Refugees with the aim of defeating the government's policy of mandatory detention.
Robyn Hodge, former social justice convener from the Uniting Church, spoke about the Uniting Church's role in a political campaign to end mandatory detention. Sally Cook of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre in Footscray described the desperate situation for refugees on temporary protection visas.
The meeting was also addressed by Jeremy Smith, branch president of the National Tertiary Education Industry Union at Ballarat University, who described how the Coalition government had adopted and extended One Nation's policies.
Ruddock runs, but can't hide
@box text intr = ADELAIDE — Thirty activists gathered outside the Radison Playford Hotel on February 6, where immigration minister Philip Ruddock was scheduled to speak. The protest was organised by the Refugee Action Collective.
Protest came prepared with lots of banners, placards and chants. Many people took the opportunity of the open microphone to express their disgust with the government's policies.
Adelaide Socialist Alliance candidate Tom Bertuleit spoke to the crowd from inside a wire cage he had constructed to symbolise the detention centres. Bertuleit ridiculed government statements defending conditions within the camps.
Ruddock, looking a little less smug and a little more tired than he has at previous encounters, was eventually ushered through the chanting crowd.
Darebin picket
@box text intr = PRESTON — On February 7 outside the Darebin City Council office, 70 people rallied in support of refugees' rights. The action was called by the Darebin Legal Service, and attendees included members of the Darebin Refugee Action Collective, Darebin City Mayor Marlene Kairouz and Mohammed Aljanabi, who described his experiences in Woomera detention centre.
"[Australasian Correctional Management staff] abused us", he said. "Called us criminals who didn't deserve any of the basic human rights."
From Green Left Weekly, February 13, 2002.
Visit the Green Left Weekly home page.