BY PETER ROBSON
NEWCASTLE "Today, I want to tell you what it is like to be a refugee in Australia. I want to tell you what it is like to flee war and repression and only find more oppression. I am no longer in a detention centre, but now it feels like I am in a bigger detention centre."
This was the statement made by Afghan refugee Riz Wakil, living on the uncertainty of a temporary protection visa (TPV), to a student general meeting of more than 150 people at Newcastle University on August 21. The meeting was organised to call for a referendum of the student population to vote on whether Newcastle University should become a "refugee sanctuary".
This would involve promising to harbour and financially support refugees who have escaped from Australian detention centres, even at the risk of legal penalty.
The students listened intently to Wakil for some 20 minutes, as he explained that the refugee crisis was exacerbated by the current war drive waged by leaders like US President George Bush and Australian Prime Minister John Howard. A nearby Australian Defence Force recruiting stall complete with rifles, a bazooka and an armored personnel carrier, comically highlighted Wakil's argument. "I thought they were all in Afghanistan", he quipped.
After Wakil's speech, the motion to hold the referendum was put to the meeting. An amendment calling on the university to provide legal, medical or educational aid, such as English classes, for refugees or people on TPVs was accepted and the motion was passed one person voting against, about 150 for.
For the referendum to be passed, two-thirds of voting students have to vote in favour of this proposal. "Part of what we want to do through this idea", said one activist at the meeting, "is to transform the university from a factory producing workers, into a social institution that plays the role of critically informing society. When we get involved in a campaign like this one, that's what we do." The remark was loudly applauded.
Wakil finished his speech by saying: "For people like me, we have no future, no security, unless we end mandatory detention of refugees; grant TPV holders full citizenship rights; say 'No' to the 'Pacific solution'; and stop the forced deportation of refugees to war-torn countries like Afghanistan." The referendum will be held within three or four weeks. To get involved, phone Peter or Vanessa on (02) 4968 1281.
From Green Left Weekly, August 28, 2002.
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