Simon Butler, Newcastle & Amy McDonnell, Adelaide
In response to the desperate, month-long protests of the refugees imprisoned on the pacific island nation of Nauru, protesters marched, picketed and spoke out in three Australian cities in early January.
On January 10, 70 people marched through the Newcastle city centre to call upon the Australian government to end the suffering of the Nauru asylum seekers by letting them into Australia without delay.
Activists in Newcastle Action for Refugee Rights (NARR), who had called the emergency demonstration only six days before, considered the turnout to be a big success. During the past few years, the refugees' rights movement has built support networks that can be mobilised and drawn upon for future actions. NARR also organised a 24-hour refugee tent embassy in Civic Park on January 9.
The rally was addressed by a range of speakers including Michael Osborne from the Newcastle Greens, John Ward from Health Professionals for Global Responsibility and Carmel Hanson, a Catholic nun. Socialist Alliance member Peter Robson urged the demonstrators to be prepared to continue the campaign. "The terrible situation and conditions in Nauru are not going away", he said. "So its up to us to build a stronger refugee rights movement to end our government's racist and inhumane policy of persecuting refugees."
NARR will be meeting on Thursday, January 22 at the Octopod (cnr Auckland and King Sts) to plan the next stages of the campaign to free the refugees. Call (02) 4921 6006 or (02) 4957 1466 for more information.
In Adelaide, 40 people gathered outside immigration department offices on January 8 to protest continuing government indifference to the plight of the asylum seekers on hunger-strike in Nauru.
The area surrounding the offices was covered in chalked slogans as protesters chanted "Lock up Howard, free the refugees!".
Following the speakers, the protesters decided to hold another picket in the same place the following Thursday at 4pm. To get involved in the picket contact the Socialist Alliance (08) 8212 6706 or < adelaide@socialist-A HREF="mailto:alliance.org"><alliance.org>.
In Sydney, 40 protesters gathered on January 9 for an emergency speak-out organised by the Free the Refugees Campaign. The activists called for solidarity with refugees desperate not to be sent back to war-torn Afghanistan and Iraq.
From Green Left Weekly, January 14, 2004.
Visit the Green Left Weekly home page.