JAMES GIUGNI made the front page of the December 21 Sydney Morning Herald after a creative writing response in his final English exam, dealing with the frustration of a detained refugee, almost resulted in him not gaining his Higher School Certificate. Resistance activist AMY PARISH spoke to Giugni about refugees and mandatory detention.
Asked to write a revenge tragedy, Giugni devised a passionate and politically driven story of a detained refugee, who having faced the trauma of Villawood detention centre, plots to assassinate Prime Minister John Howard.
The board of studies issued a letter to Giugni in early December, informing him that due to the offensive nature of his piece he was to receive zero for that exam. If not for the support of his teacher and his lawyer father, who were successful in having his exam reviewed, he would have been deemed ineligible for the award of a HSC.
Giugnis story illustrates not only the conservative and censored nature of the Australian education system, but just how passionately young people feel about the refugee issue.
Giugni explained that he believes mandatory detention is akin to the treatment of African-American slaves. He wondered if generations to come will look back on the treatment of asylum seekers as we now look back on US slavery.
The letter Guigni received accused him of making a non-serious attempt at the examination. He responded, explaining that his tale was influenced by a visit to Villawood and Cyril Tourneurs Revengers Tragedy.
The board told Guigni the action was being dropped, however, after receiving letters from father and his teacher, who wrote: Given the first-hand suffering that James has observed in Villawood, I dont doubt that his character would have been searingly passionate in his lust for revenge.
Guingi told the SMH: It seems like they listen more to an articulate English teacher or a well-educated father rather than the student in question. That is what makes me worry about a student with a dispassionate English teacher or without a parent with legal knowledge.
Giugni told Green Left Weekly that most of his friends had learnt to appreciate his stance, once they knew the facts. Anyone who is open minded to any degree should be able to see how primeval and inhumane this policy is, he said.
It is the lack of information in the mainstream press which Giugni believes is preventing most Australians from sympathising with, and getting active around, the refugees cause.
Howard is a genius at making rednecks, he argued. Australians get this conviction that they know everything, and Howard stirs this. The facts and figures need to be made public knowledge so people can really make up their minds.
The mainstream press has claimed that the new year fires in detention centres will dampen peoples sympathy for refugees.
From his knowledge of Villawood, Giugni pointed out that the section of the camp that the fire there started in is inaccessible to imprisoned asylum seekers. Several of the other fires at detention centres appear to have been started by electrical faults, combined with poor fire management and searingly hot conditions.
Giugni said he understood why, however, detainees would resort to desperate actions. As a regular visitor to Villawood, Giugni pointed out that intense anxiety and mental problems, reflecting the conditions in which detainees are kept, as well as uncertainty about their future, is responsible for refugees' frustration and anger.
Giugni is confident that as people become more educated about the issue, pro-refugee sentiment will build and we will be able to change Howard's policy.
From Green Left Weekly, January 22, 2003.
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