Anti racist reports from Australia
10th April 2002.
For your information, find below articles on the Easter protests at the Woomera refugee camps, from the special issue of the Australian Socialist Party's paper,
the Voice.
The SP comrades made a brilliant intervention. They brought a contingent of 70 (out of the total figure of 700 protesters), played a key role in organising protests, received a great deal of media coverage, and recruited a lot of people over the weekend to the SP.
Comrades,
The latest issue of the Socialist Party paper, the 'Voice', is dedicated to a pictorial and editorial review of the Woomera events over Easter. Here are the key articles:
Easter 2002 at Woomera will be remembered as one of the most significant demonstrations in the history of modern Australia. Hundreds of mainly young people travelled hundreds of kilometres deep into the South Australian desert to show solidarity with the 478 detainees at Australia's biggest detention centre.
During the course of the event over 40 detainees liberated themselves and as we go to press the Government claims 10 are still at large. This special issue of Voice is dedicated to all Australia's refugees, who are detained without trial as a deliberate policy by the Federal government. It is also dedicated to the protestors at Woomera.
WOOMERA: The facts you won't be told by the mass media
* Children under 12 at Woomera get 2 hours education a day
* There is regular torture of detainees taking place
* The facility is privatised, making $100 million a year for a US company
* The refugees are escaping the Taliban and Saddam and many have witnessed their loved ones being raped, beaten and killed. Real terrorists would come first class by plane, not on a leaky boat. In Afghanistan most of the Talibans repressive legislation has been kept in place by the Northern Alliance
* The Federal government is spending millions on the 'Pacific solution' and detention inside Australia while schools and hospitals face cuts
* It costs $140 a day to keep a detainee at Woomera, compared to $25 a day on the dole, or a positive economic and cultural contribution if they were given a chance to work and study
* Australia is only country so far in the advanced capitalist world that has mandatory detention for refugees (but not of course those 58,674 people who overstayed their visas last year!)
* Australia had 4,450 'boat people' last year compared to 97,900 refugees fleeing to Britain or over 400,000 to Italy
* The detention system is a profit-making exercise for big business and is an expensive political exercise by the Federal government to divert attention away from the crisis in the health and education sectors etc. They would prefer a frenzy against the refugees instead of anger towards their system. It's the divide and rule of White Australia revisited. Racism Divides the working class and is an often-used tool of the capitalists.
* The ALP first introduced mandatory detention in the early 1990s
5 days that shook Australia
Thursday March 28th
70 protestors arrive early to establish the base camp, including 15-odd Red Bus people. The Federal police and the APS attempt to move the campsite away from the Detention Centre, to a footy oval several kilometres away. If the police had been successful, the whole protest could have been defused before it started. On two separate occasions the 70 brave protestors repel police attacks. Congratulations to the advance party!
Saturday 30th March
The question of escaped detainees dominates the day, as it does for the rest of the protest. A rally is held by protesters, breaking down the main gate of the Centre, but pulling back from a repeat of the previous day's events.
On Saturday night, Rebecca, a female elder of the local Aboriginal Community addresses protesters and expresses concern at the aggression of the previous day. After long discussions, she asks for support for the issues her people have been fighting for over many years and gives permission for the protest to continue (in consultation with her people).
Sunday 31st March
A midday rally to the main gate is held to present toys to the detainees. A Second rally breaks through to the inner fence and protesters are visibly moved by the women, children and men inside who plead for help and rescue.
Police attack the protestors and refugees. At night many protesters begin to leave, with the SP contingent leaving at 4pm and more at 7pm. They are stopped twice by police roadblocks.
All who attend believe it is the most important political event of their lives and has had practical results. The whole debate over refugee policy is at a higher level. Thousands have been radicalised.
Monday 1st April
South Australian police accuse protestors of planning the breakout. All the usual lies about urine in balloons, weapons etc are trotted out. Why a breakout would be organised at Woomera and not at a city-based detention centre is not explained. Why, if police claims are true, no one was arrested for any violent behaviour despite a massive police and media presence is also not explained. SP contingent arrives at Melbourne's Trades Hall at 2pm to awaiting family, friends and media.
State repression stepped up on refugees and protestors
The escape by refugees from Woomera Detention Centre is a severe blow to the prestige of the Federal Government and the state machine as a whole. The Federal Police chose not to liase with protestors prior to the event, and of course the detention centres were handed over to the private sector - ACM sends $100 million a year profit back to their US parent company every year. These two decisions backfired on the government.
The Federal Police and the Australian Protective Services personnel proved incapable of doing their job for the authorities and were then forced to ask for help from the South Australian police.
The State Labor government had been miffed a week earlier by the Federal Government over GST money kept by Canberra instead of being handed over to them. They were angry at attacks made by Ruddock on the SA police.
These tensions were played out over the weekend as a rift developed between Canberra and the state government. Now the Federal government is baying for blood. They want to recapture the refugees still at large and they want to arrest any Australians deemed to be helping them. Charges being prepared carry jail sentences of up to 10 years. The mass media has been hysterical in their attacks on the protestors at Woomera.
They are using the events at Woomera as an excuse to clamp down on trade Unionists, socialists, and all activists. Already one leftwing bookshop and 12 private houses have been raided by Federal police in Sydney and Melbourne. Surveillance of activists has been stepped up.
As more and more young people become radicalised by the refugee issue and the general situation they face in society, the state is shifting to anti-democratic methods to deal with dissent. This is also seen in the over-the-top charges laid against AMWU members in Melbourne, the Royal Commission into the building industry, and the new 'anti-terror' legislation being prepared by the government.
As long as this system remains, freedom of movement of people will never be guaranteed and dissent will never be accepted.
Socialist Party at Woomera
Over 70 members and supporters travelled to Woomera with the Socialist Party Red Buses contingent. They played a key role in all the main events. Our campsite was on the southern end of the tent city. A significant number of new members joined during this intervention.
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