Why are we so mean to refugees?

Just what the hell do we get out of turning away desperate refugees? What do we get from locking them up on sinking islands or sending them back to countries they have already had to flee in terror of their lives? Just what do we get out of the dozens of sick people suffering indefinite immigration detention in our very own concentration camps?

There must be a lot of votes in it, as the opposition is hardly opposed to the proposed forceful and possibly fatal return of the Sri Lanka asylum seekers.

What do we votes get out of this then, when Australia easily (and necessarily) absorbs tens of thousands of immigrants every year? Why do we persecute the few who have overstayed a visa or worked one hour too many while on student visa? They are such a tiny proportion, less than one percent, of our annual immigration. What the hell do we get out of torturing a token few, wrecking the lives of them and their families, with the taxpayer paying about a hundred and fifty dollars a day per detainee to the private company with the rather Orwellian name, Global Security Limited?

Wouldn’t you want your children to believe in the values of hospitality and offering help to those who need it? Wouldn’t you want your children to believe in and value the mutual support and friendship of the whole family of humanity?

Next time you’re polled, or casting a vote, or giving your opinion to your MP, think about whether you want to be one of those who supported this horrible rejection of refuge to the wounded stranger, or one of those who demanded a humane society.

(Submitted to smh for the first word feature)

iqueer web tv show

Hey, check out http://www.iqueer.com.au/iq/default.asp#

I'm on the panel again, discussing everything from the Anglican schism to Paris Hilton, yeah.

New Refugees Blog

The conditions of immigration detention are dehumanizing, depriving people of their liberty and common human dignity, on the basis that some bureaucrat is not sure whether they’re allowed to breath our air or not. They are held prisoner behind razor wire for the profit of the private companies running the concentration camps, and to ensure MPs get votes from frightened white people.

These people are just people like you, trying to survive, but caught up in this brutal system that deports Australians and separates families and destroys lives.

Read their stories in their own words.

The real life stories from people in Villawood Immigration Detention Centre are being posted on a new blog, “Villawood Refugees”.

http://villawood-refugees.blogspot.com/

And if you’re of a mind to help, why not contact your local refugee action group? A few people travel out with me every fortnight; details on the right and on the refugees blog.

We are all part of humanity, all interconnected, and how we treat others and how we allow them to be treated has a direct impact on how we are treated. This is not just karma or religious twaddle, it’s Einstein’s Law of Cause and Effect.

There is no human that I am not related to. There is nothing human that is alien to me.

There is no justification for using violence on people just because of some outrageous vanity about which fleas own which part of the dog. And there is no excuse for my silence or complicity when people are being tortured in the name of us, the voting and taxpaying public.

http://villawood-refugees.blogspot.com/

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PS on an not unrelated topic, What would you do if you or your son or close friend or relative was held captive and tortured by a foreign power for five years, and you found out that your Prime Minister could have stopped it at any time?