BY ANNE SIMPSON
The Bellingen Rural Australians for Refugees (BRAR) group formed in October 2001 following an exhibition of refugee art and a subsequent forum at the Bellingen 2001 Global Carnival.
A week later, 20 concerned locals met to express our concerns and to discuss what we could do to change what we overwhelmingly believed to be a moral problem driven by party politics and politicians.
We found it difficult to understand how this outrage to humanity could happen in our country. Australia, founded on the basic moral principle of a "fair go" and a willingness to stand up for the underdog, was suddenly willing to thumb its nose at international instruments designed to promote justice, peace and human dignity.
The Howard government may have won the approval of an unthinking electorate with its response to Tampa, but it forever sacrificed any claim to moral legitimacy.
Since the group's inception, we have met on a weekly basis and have adhered to a four-point strategy consisting of education, support/fundraising, networking and political lobbying as the foundation of all our activities.
Following a successful forum in November 2001, four Bellingen representatives decided to join the Freedom Bus on its first journey to Australia's detention centres (which at that time were in Villawood, Maribyrnong, Woomera, Perth, Port Hedland and Curtin), with the intention of visiting people in detention and raising public awareness in the towns we passed through by holding public meetings, networking with existing support groups, conducting promotional activities and establishing new action groups.
This highly emotional journey was a challenge to all its participants, who worked tirelessly under extreme circumstances to break the official silence surrounding the detention centres and bear witness to the truth.
This trip opened communication flow, and the letter-writing campaign was born.
Freedom Bus participants scribbled down names and identification numbers (the only means by which a letter could reach its destination), and faxed them off to one of our BRAR members.
Today, [Bellingen RAR member] Walter manages a database of over 1300 writers to about 2800 asylum seekers/refugees, who are either in detention, recently released into the community or deported. At present he is busy trying to respond to a surge in new letter writers as a direct result of a recent article in Girlfriend magazine.
The letter-writing campaign extends to the asylum seekers imprisoned on Nauru, as well as to families who have been resettled in New Zealand. The campaign has had a significant impact on the refugee movement, building an invaluable network of support for asylum seekers and refugees as well as establishing lasting friendships and exposing the daily injustices suffered by our imprisoned friends.
Refugee advocacy groups have matured, and remain united in their fight to achieve justice for asylum seekers and refugees. They are well informed, and their efforts have continued to grow in importance at the grassroots level, building bridges between refugees, church groups, non-government organisations and local communities.
The advocacy groups use the established networks, including the national RAR body formed at the recent "Mudgee Muster", to support each other in their efforts, and respond quickly and effectively to the many calls to action required to support individual cases.
We continue to work informally with numerous advocacy groups to promote understanding of refugee issues, drawing on the diverse range of skills and strengths of individual local memberships. We believe that the more local groups there are working in their own way to foster awareness of refugee issues, the more influence we will eventually have in bringing about change.
[Anne Simpson is a member of Bellingen RAR.]
From Green Left Weekly, August 27, 2003.
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