Sarah Stephen
On November 16, Lorna Bennie, Lyn Rafferty and Judy Gaskin will be among half a dozen people from the Blue Mountains Refugee Support Group hopping onto a minibus to go to Canberra to protest against the Howard government's refugee policy.
Bennie told Green Left Weekly: "It's important from the word go to publicly continue to let people know that we didn't vote for this government's agenda; as far as we're concerned they don't have a mandate."
Rafferty agreed, adding: "This was another Tampa, but this time they played on people's fear about interest rates. It's more important now than ever that we are outspoken in as many ways as we can be, because it's going to get worse. I read something recently which said that tyrants can only continue in their repressive role as long as the people let them."
Bennie reflected: "One good thing about getting old is you've got time to put into these events." Rafferty feels it is important that more young people, especially university students, get involved.
The Blue Mountains Refugee Support Group began soon after the Tampa crisis, and now has around 300 members. Bennie recalled why she first got involved: "Labor's stance galvanised me. I thought it was the pits. I told Labor I would never vote for them again, that they didn't deserve to be in government. I started writing letters, but I thought, 'I've got to do something practical'. I went to the all the marches. I met with the Afghan community to see if they wanted help. I'm not happy with the way this country is going."
Gaskin said: "I'm not very political, but I felt a lot of righteous anger about all these things. It was the other two who got me involved."
For over a year, the three women have been visiting the Villawood detention centre every fortnight. Bennie explained: "I wanted to see for myself what it was really like to visit Villawood, to go to their court hearings so I could know the real story and tell people I talked to." Bennie recounted how she had talked to her hairdresser the week before, a young woman who held many common prejudices about migrants and refugees, but through the process of discussion she offered to come out to Villawood and do some people's hair for free.
"Going to Villawood for me is the most beautiful thing I can imagine doing", Gaskin told GLW, "but at the same time it's the most heartbreaking. I'm filled with love and compassion, but I also want to bawl my head off. "
Bennie described her fury at the "relentless effort to wear people down, demonise them, take away their humanity" through the process of detention. Rafferty said she was always struck by the "courage of the people we see; their dignity. Despite everything they go through, they can still laugh with us."
The women despaired at the government's lack of reaction to the enormous anti-war protests in February 2003, but Bennie recalled a passage in a book by Peter Singer where he wrote: "You've got to keep it up. There's no point in only doing it once."
It's with that spirit that these three women will join many hundreds of other protesters from around Australia in Canberra on November 16. On that day there will be a lunchtime rally in front of Parliament House to coincide with the first sitting day of parliament. Details are still being finalised, but visit <http://www.ruralaustraliansforrefugees.org> for information about buses from other cities and to download posters.
From Green Left Weekly, October 27, 2004.
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