Razor-wire racists

As the tragicomedy that is John Howard's "border protection" policy 
continues to unfold, the government now attempts to exclude 3000 off-shore 
islands from "Australia" as defined by immigration purposes. The 
legislation will include islands you can actually walk to at low tide. This 
would surely be a complete joke were the wider implications of this move 
not so deadly serious.

Australia, under John Howard, has sunk to a new historic low.

Within the past six years almost every shameful racist and reactionary 
policy of Australia's past has been dragged out of the closet, dusted off 
and put back in use.

The "White Australia" immigration policy, the "Asian Invasion" and "Reds 
Under the Beds" scare campaigns, combined with the "Brisbane Line" defence 
strategy have been rehashed as an excuse to introduce a raft of xenophobic 
and fascistic legislation designed to deprive people of their civil rights 
and human dignity.

John Howard's policies have placed Australia at the forefront of the 
industrialised world's battle against both the impoverished "undesirable" 
outsiders and dissenting "subversive elements" within.

He is paraded as the wonderchild of the world Right — governments in 
Europe are apparently scrambling to follow our lead.

Ultimately, it is an escalation in the struggle of the bourgeoisie against 
the working people of the world.

On World Refugee Day 2002, let us acknowledge:

Australia locks up orphaned children behind razor-wire in desert 
concentration camps;

Australia is attempting to charge genuine refugees $200,000 for their 
detention in those desert concentration camps;

Australia uses its first-world wealth to bribe third-world nations to act 
as holding bins for our "undesirable" asylum seekers;

Australia repatriates asylum seekers to countries where they will be 
without livelihoods, homes, food or running water, schools, medical 
facilities or other infrastructure simply on the grounds that "the war is 
over now".

Most shamefully of all, Australia let 350 people on a rickety boat drown as 
"it sank in Indonesian waters — it had nothing to do with the actions of 
the Australian government".

And yet, as a nation of immigrants, we also live in an Australia where the 
Indigenous people are: more than four times likely to be unemployed; six 
times more likely to have their children removed; tens times more likely to 
be jailed; less than half as likely to finish school; and likely to die on 
average 20 years earlier of curable diseases than the non-Indigenous 
people.

Immediate action needed

All Australians of good conscience must unite against the racist and 
inhumane policies being forwarded by our Federal Government.

Yet we must be aware there is also legislation before Parliament which, if 
passed, would allow the Government to swiftly label as "terrorist" any 
individual or organisation that protests and fights against such 
injustices.

The Labor Party has finally renounced its pre-election position on "border 
protection", with Simon Crean announcing they will vote with the Greens and 
Democrats to block the new legislation.

Labor must now hold to that position.

Labor must now be pressured to:

* fully reverse all its previous anti-refugee policies, including the 
excision of the Indian Ocean territories, mandatory detention and the 
temporary protection visas; and allow all asylum seekers access to judicial 
process and social services;

* fully reject the new "Terror Laws" that will allow the Government of the 
day unfettered authority to crush dissent of any kind by outlawing 
organisations and detaining individuals indefinitely without arrest or 
trial.

This week from the June 20 r 23 there will be actions and events all 
around Australia to protest for human rights and in solidarity with the 
refugees.

For further information on what is happening in your area, phone the office 
of the Refugee Council of Australia or Amnesty International in your State.