| Aboriginal leaders demand Rudd change refugee policy |
|
|
|
|
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". Aboriginal people throughout Australia would be laughing at Rudd’s hypocrisy, if we were not looking on aghast at the inhumane treatment being afforded to desperate refugees and asylum seekers — especially those Tamils from Sri Lanka who are fleeing years of racial conflict, internment and the genocidal oppression they face in their country of origin. Many have already spent years in detention camps in Indonesia and have already passed the United Nations High Commission for Refugees criteria which allows asylum seekers to move on and seek the status of genuine refugees. With this latest attempt to re-stoke the fires of racism and xenophobia around the issues of asylum seekers and refugees, Rudd seems to have forgotten two important facts:
But Rudd has completely failed this critical political challenge. As the shock-jocks try to whip the nation into a frenzy against "queue-jumpers" Rudd has trundled meekly alongside them, leaving their racist lies and distortions unanswered and encouraging them and the Coalition to even viler attacks.
As Aboriginal leaders and Australian citizens, we demand that the Rudd Government:
This approach is the only way to put the people smugglers out of business. It is also part of repaying the debt that Australia, whose wealth is partly built on the unbridled exploitation of the Third World, owes the countries who have been the victims of its economic and military operations. This is all the more true where Australia has a direct hand in generating the misery that produces refugees, as with its military intervention in Afghanistan. On the Oceanic Viking a mere 78 asylum-seekers seek humane treatment from Australia. They are an infinitesimal part of the 16 million refugees and 51 million displaced people in the world. A new, just refugee policy begins with welcoming them to Australian shores. Signatories and contacts: |
| < Previous | Next > |
|---|
