Australia: Hundreds rally for refugees outside detention centre gates

October 16, 2012 by

Demonstration in MelbourneBy Chris Peterson, Melbourne
First published in Green Left Weekly

About 200 people rallied at Melbourne’s Maribyrnong Detention Centre on September 22, against deporting refugees to danger and mandatory detention. Dayan Anthony, a Tamil refugee, was deported to Sri Lanka in July against his will from Maribyrnong.

Antony’s Lawyer Sanmati Verma said: “Each and every professional and all community members in contact with Dayan Anthony attested that he was a torture survivor. And yet he was put on a plane and yet he was sent back to Sri Lanka.

“He was interrogated there for 16 hours by the notorious Criminal Investigation Department in the presence of Australian personnel. This deportation is the talk of law over the spirit of justice. “Regimes that commit war crimes are not magically transformed thee years later. We live in an age where the language of care has been hijacked from us. We are either on the side of Nauru or the side of people dying in the sea. This false discourse created by the expert panel [on asylum seekers] needs to be changed abolished.” [Read more…]

Filed Under: Australia, Immigration & Open Borders

Taliban targeting NZ soldiers

September 2, 2012 by
Zabiullah Mujahid

“We are killing the New Zealanders because they are helping the Americans. They have come to kill and arrest our people.”

“We will find them and kill them, there’s no safety for them,” Those were the words of Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid, as stated to a Herald on Sunday correspondent. “Yes we knew our target was New Zealand forces, because they are with our enemy and the others who came to our country with guns and weapons. We are killing the New Zealanders because they are helping the Americans. They have come to kill and arrest our people.”

It really couldn’t be said much clearer than that. Regardless of what New Zealand soldiers are doing in Afghanistan they are seen by the Taliban, and likely by other Afghans as well, as part of an occupying force. ” but we do not have any other enmity towards the people of New Zealand,” Muhahid stated “The families of those killed should tell the Government of New Zealand not to send soldiers to kill Afghans, because this fight does not belong to New Zealand. This is an American fight and they have persuaded other countries to become involved.”

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Afghanistan Tagged With:

Barbara Sumner Burstyn and the war in Afghanistan

August 28, 2012 by

If you looked at the headlines last weekend you would have heard about an “outburst” that prompted a “fury” on social media. Terrible things had been said, apparently, and everyone was outraged.

These were the comments in question;

“Oh, so fallen soldier Jacinda Baker liked boxing and baking – did they forget she also liked invading countries we are not at war with, killing innocent people and had no moral compass”

“She 100 per cent does not deserve our respect for her flawed choices. We are not at war. We are helping America invade another country for their oil. No more than that.”

“Go to war, expect to be killed. You can’t have it both ways – oh nice little career with the military and shock horror when you get blown up.” [Read more…]

Filed Under: Afghanistan

Solidarity with Coles workers (Australia)

July 23, 2012 by

Resistance comrades in Adelaide support Melbourne Coles Workers.

More information on Coles dispute:

Filed Under: Australia, Workers in Struggle

Pacific migration: Climate change and the reserve army of labour

July 16, 2012 by

Ian Anderson

Climate change hits different regions in different ways. An area scattered with low-lying atolls, the Pacific is particularly vulnerable to sea-level rise. Environmental migration must be a key consideration for socialists in this region.

Nations such as Tuvalu and Kiribati are already affected. Coastal erosion in Tuvalu, a nation comprised of atolls and reef islands, has already forced huge resettlement. Tuvalu has the second-lowest maximum elevation of any country, and it’s estimated that a sea-level rise of 20-40 centimetres could make it uninhabitable. By 2007, 3,000 Tuvaluans had resettled, most of them settling in Auckland. Kiribati is also vulnerable to sea-level rise and extreme weather events; less than a week before the Kyoto Protocol was signed, a “king tide” devastated coastal communities.

Global warming: Responsibility and consequences
Radical labour organiser Utah Phillips is quoted as saying, “The Earth isn’t dying, it’s being killed, and those who are killing it have names and addresses.” In this case the responsibility lies with the big polluters of imperialist nations, including Australia and New Zealand. With the exception of Nauru, which is subject to heavy phosphate mining by Australia, smaller Pacific nations emit far less carbon per capita than Australia and New Zealand.

While imperialist nations produce the bulk of emissions, the smaller nations of the Pacific will bear the brunt of anthropogenic climate change. As seen in Tuvalu and Kiribati, low-lying islands will be hit particularly hard. Along with sea level rise, climate change means health conditions such as heat exhaustion; depletion of fish stocks; and crop failure, in a region where many still live off the land. Oxfam Australia predicts up to 8 million climate refugees from the Pacific Islands, and 75 million climate refugees in the wider Asia-Pacific, over the next 40 years. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Environment, Pacific
«Previous Page
Next Page»