Tamil Sydney

300,000 Tamils need 30 seconds of your life Campaign Launched

The 300,000 Reasons campaign has been launched to draw attention to the plight of 300,000 Sri LankanTamil citizens - men, women and children who are being forcibly held in military camps in their own country for no reason other than their ethnicity. It is time for all of us to take a stand. We request the Australian Government take up this matter with the Government of Sri Lanka and the international community as a matter of urgency. Please fill out your details below and your views will be sent to the Prime Minister, Hon Kevin Rudd MP and your local Federal Member of Parliament. It will take just 30 seconds of your life but could help free 300,000 men, women and children.

The National Council of the Maritime Union of Australia moved the following resolution in Sydney on the 5th November;
“That the responsibility for the Sri Lankan refugees is in part Australia’s own doing. We are the second largest investor in Sri Lanka, yet we have brought no pressure to bear on the government of Sri Lanka to stop the persecution of Tamil people in that country. The Sri Lankan government still hold over 300,000 Tamil’s in a concentration camp and do not allow Red Cross or international observers to monitor the situation. People will always try to escape from persecution.

Statement by Socialist Alliance Indigenous rights activists | Wednesday, November 4, 2009
The loss of life in Monday’s tragic sinking of yet another boatload of asylum seekers must evoke disgust here and throughout the world at the Rudd government’s hypocritical and oppressive rejection of desperate people who are fighting for their very survival. While Kevin Rudd increasingly resembles John Howard—the arrogantly inflexible and hard-line political "leader" who could never admit to an error of judgment or say sorry — he forgets that 98% of Australians are boatpeople, the descendants of boatpeople or, more recently "plane people".

MEDIA RELEASE from Refugee Action Coalition
REFUGEE GROUPS REJECT SRI LANKAN GOVERNMENT ALLEGATIONS AGAINST “ALEX”
Refugee groups have condemned the statements from the Sri Lankan government alleging that Alex is a people smuggler. “It is the Sri Lankan government and the Australian government that is on trial not Alex,” said Ian Rintoul,spokesperson for the Refugee Action Coalition.“These statements make it even more imperative that the Australian government bring the Tamils to Australia. How many others on the boat have the Sri Lankan government attempted to identify with the risk that their families in Sri Lanka will face further persecution.

"..KEVIN Rudd's Indonesian solution has proved in short order to be no solution at all. It has done nothing to solve Australia's refugee problem and to the extent that it encourages people to bypass Indonesia and sail directly for Australia, it has made it worse, exemplified by the drowning this week of 12 Sri Lankans in the Indian Ocean. .."
"..Many asylum-seekers in Indonesia have relatives in Australia. If, for example, Australia set up a family reunion program that only accepted applications in Sri Lanka, fewer would try to make it to Australia or Indonesia as refugees..."

Sri Lankan accusations 'a joke' - Alex

Full Text from The Age:
The spokesman for almost 250 Tamil asylum seekers refusing to leave their rickety boat in Indonesia says Sri Lankan government allegations that he is a people smuggler are "a joke".The bearded 27-year-old who Australians know as Alex says the accusations are a desperate attempt by the Sri Lankan government to deflect attention from the Tamils' plight."That's a joke that the government is trying to play on me, to discredit me and make me look like a bad person," Alex told AAP."As far as I'm concerned the Sri Lankan government is trying to divert attention to me.

Full Text from The Australian:
"..TWO of Australia's most powerful unions - the Maritime Union of Australia and the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union - will donate $10,000 to the 78 asylum-seekers locked in a stand-off with crew aboard the Customs vessel Oceanic Viking. As Kevin Rudd continued to blitz the airwaves yesterday to defend his handling of the issue, the MUA and CFMEU announced they would make the donation when the 13 civilian crew members aboard the Oceanic Viking were next rotated..."

By Jake Lynch
Here in Australia, ‘Sri Lanka Week’ has shrunk to a long weekend. The trade and investment shindig in Melbourne’s Docklands was scheduled to take place back in June, but was called off amid outrage over the Sri Lankan army’s pounding of Tamil areas and UN estimates of 20,000 deaths. It was back on, from Friday to Sunday, promising visitors “the opportunity to feel and experience the taste of paradise”.

Source: http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,26298455-29277,00.html
SENIOR frontbencher Tony Abbott has blamed Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's border protection policies for the loss of life following the sinking of a suspected asylum-seeker boat off the Cocos Islands. At least one person had died while another 11 remained missing, feared drowned, after a boat carrying 39 suspected asylum-seekers sank 350 nautical miles north-west of the Cocos Islands on Sunday.

"..Primary Goal This project advocates human rights norms as Sri Lanka's post-conflict situation rapidly deteriorates. In doing so, the project seeks to raise awareness about the country's censored emergency and help work towards a peaceful and just solution for the multi-ethnic people of Sri Lanka.."
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“Pressure politics” at Sydney protest over asylum seekers - WSWS

By Mathew Benn
3 November 2009
A demonstration outside the Department of Immigration and Citizenship was held yesterday in Sydney to protest the Rudd Government’s callous treatment of Tamil asylum seekers, who have been refused entry to Australia.The rally was called by the Refugee Action Committee (RAC), backed by the protest group Solidarity and Labor Party members. Around 100 people participated, with Greens supporters in the majority, along with Socialist Alternative and Socialist Alliance members who held up placards against the Rudd government’s refugee policy. The event concluded with the handing over of a letter, addressed to the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship Chris Evans and Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, to an official.

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