Lighting the Dark part II

It was over a year and a half ago that Biz and I attended the first Light the Dark in Sydney and I blogged about it Lighting the Dark part I.

Here we are again, just beyond sunset at the feet of skyscrapers in Hyde Park under a sparse canopy of fig trees lit from below by the glow of 10,000 people holding candles. We are here this time in response to the death of little Aylan (the picture of the boy on that beach in Turkey). I am here because I don't know where else to be or what else to do.

The first time I came across the image of Aylan, the agency reporting it had a disclaimer under the heading warning of pictures of a graphic nature. I skipped past the image. Five minutes later it was all over social media and I saw it again and again though I did not wish to. I wasn't sure if I should be resentful towards those shoving the image in my face. Was it an invasion of a very private moment – what should be more private than one's death? Or was it a good thing because as that picture swept around the world it became harder to ignore the devastating loss of innocence and the plight of his people.

We seem to need a human story to rally around. The story of Aylan is just such – a visceral one as it reaches beyond our desensitisation and haunts us. The speakers here at Light the Dark refer to his story. Father Rod Bower speaks eloquently to his story and how it speaks to us in our shame. He asks us to look into the flickering flames of light that we hold and he shares a poem written by Ken Morris.

Father Rod Bower

sometimes a life goes out
marked in the dust of memory by
pale sad trembling lovers
and old men who weep
for loss and the passing of things
setting an unfilled place
at the table each night
this tiny red bud
of life went out
alone
in dark water


I stare into the flame and imagine it snuffed out. I stare into the flame and let the words of the poem wash through me. The poem goes on, beautiful and sad...go here for the Full poem of 'Aylan' and a reading of it by Father Rod Bower And in the stillness we listen and reflect together as the final stanzas echo out.

the hands that picked him up
were warm
and all the earth sobbed
for the loss of him
that we felt
to the burning magma heart
of our shame
we will remember aylan
tiny bright sad perfect
alone
forever sleeping
on a beach
at the shores of us 

But his story is one of many. And while our government talks about taking in Syrian refugees, which I welcome. And yet there is a hollowness to the gesture when refugees, children included, sit in detention centres just off our shores and are cruelly and routinely dehumanised. Aylan took a boat, had he survived, would he be welcome here? If stopping the boats is so vital then as the Premier Mike Baird said "stopping the boats can't be where this ends, it is surely where humanitarianism begins."

I didn't vote for him – but yes even Mike Baird gets a round of applause here at Light the Dark and I join in. He is right and I wish he'd go further in stating very loudly that unless we provide a process and a place for refugees to find safety and dignity then we have done nothing bar let them die elsewhere – out of sight, out of mind. Well the story of Aylan is in the sight and in the mind of many, not just those that are here tonight. Us 10,000 here are but a small representation of those of us who care. There are more at home unable to come, there are more in other cities holding their own Light the Dark. As many of us as there are I fear that there are just as many who do not support welcoming refugees.

How does this all sit with those that want the borders closed I wonder? They need a story to rally around as well. But their story is built on the demonising and dehumanising of the other. That is how we discuss the response to asylum seekers in this country. They spout the rhetoric that labels such people as 'illegals' and a threat to their vision of what our society should look like. There has to be an enemy. If they were ever to totally vanquish this enemy they have created how awkward would it be for them to then look around at a society that still didn't meet their ideological vision? Their ideology would be naked without their enemy – sickly pasty white, gluttonous and covered in sores. This is why I am uncomfortable with more bombing, more warmongering and offshore detention with no end in sight.
 

Imagine a world without borders

I am here tonight because I don't where else to be or what else to do. I am overwhelmed and angry and sad. I don't want to hate on my fellow Australians that I don't agree with. I don't want an outdated tribalism leading our Nation to pour funds into Border Force or Border Patrol or whatever they're calling it this week.

Father Rod's finishes speaking by saying, “May your God bless you and if you don't have a god may you bless one another”. Soon after It finishes. We stay with many though, friendly looking people, gentle people, seated on damp grass near a makeshift shrine to Aylan.

thanks to Biz for the pictures

I ponder Father Rod's words and his quoting of Richard Rohr that “We don't think ourselves into a new way of living; we live ourselves into a new way of thinking”. How do we live ourselves into this new way in this divided Nation? How do we heal the brokeness of Australia's heart and soul? How can we hope to see the scenes like those in Germany and Austria who have learnt their lessons from a fascist history where the people welcome refugees with flowers and stuffed toys and smiles? That is what I long for.

Inside the March in March

Having taken to riding the train sitting backwards now (see recent post on lighting the dark) as symbolic that I'm living in a country which is not moving forward, I had an interesting ride the other day. Found myself the only person on a nearly full carriage facing backwards. Could see everyone's face, and the only face the rest of them could see was mine. I watched them succumbing subconciously to the social norm of facing the way everyone else was when they entered and found their way to a seat. I wondered if they were subconciously annoyed at me for giving their mind an alternate choice or for ruining the symmetry. 

It was interesting when the automated message system went awry, playing every message in its system one after the other for five minutes. The 'Spitting is an offence' one elicited a few laughs and I laughed along with a few people who caught my eye and shared the joke. We shared the moment, but no one in that carriage made a human connection with anyone else but me – they were all looking at the back of someone elses head – how could they?

Obligatory picture of me in thought

Today's train ride seems less eventful bar the ever darkening skies outside and flashes of lightning which do not bode well for the purpose of our journey which is to meet up with friends and attend the 'March in March' protest. As we disembark to a thunderclap which reverberates through the station stopping people momentraily in their tracks I wonder whether I should just hop back on a train going the other way, return to my cozy abode for the afternoon.

But Biz leads the way to Belmore Park and we make our way through the throng with their protest signs and under a sea of umbrellas. With people packed tight and umbrellas touching - it's like there is an unbroken chain of colour connecting everyone present. I don't have an umbrella nor a sign but I am wearing my fan-boy Billy Bragg t-shirt. Billy is not first to take the stage, but I want to hear what the invited speakers have to say so that's fine, I can wait.

We are welcomed by a traditional owner of the land. She welcomes the presence of a diverse range of people there for just as diverse a range of reasons but united in solidarity against a government that does not welcome people or diversity. In saying who is welcome and who is not she carries herself with more authority than any elected official with sycophantic nodding heads standing behind him at a meeting with the press.

Kaveh Akbari The Unlikely Poet

A refugee and now contributing citizen addresses the crowd with a stirring address. His 'Dear Mr Not So Honourable Abbott Sir' address climaxes in him not asking for sympathy but asking why he and refugees like him are labelled a threat? The only threat he says he brings is a threat to Abbott's indecency. And the mass of people roar and shake their umbrellas, embracing him as he embraces his new life and his right to participate in his democracy.

The not cynical Billy Bragg

Each speaker is embraced by the crowd in turn but it is one of my heroes in Billy Bragg that challenges me the most. Always on form, he captures and engages the audience. He leads us in a sing a long including actions. It is his challenge however that it is not so much capitalism or conservatism that we are fighting. The fight is against cynicism. Sure, the right wing agenda breeds cynicism. But it is cynicism, and our own cynicism that endangers the future. He prompts me to ponder that being Generation X, cynicism is in my DNA.

Still in thought, we embark on the march as the rain and clouds begin to clear. A cacophony of drums, whistles and chants lead the way out of the park and into the streets. There are older folks, children, babies in prams, hippies, hipsters, punks, young people with political slogans painted onto shirts and someone in a shark suit. There is a common denominator and you can see it in that even the dogs on leads are smiling. The people we pass that show their support by clapping or tooting their horns are reciprocated with cheers and high fives.

The walk down broadway in the shadow of sheer steel and concrete highrises affords a perspective of the city that feels different. Maybe it is just the atmosphere that being among 10-20 thousand people brings, but walking down the middle of the road towards our destination feels very natural. People reclaiming the streets. We are sharing a moment, we are acknowledging eachother and eachothers causes that are written on the signs around us.

So on the train ride home I find myself lost in thought. How do I fight my cynicism? How do I connect with my fellow Australians who conciously or subconciously find themselves facing the other way? I retain doubt that today will have any influence on our Government. I have hope though that in today's rain and in its fiery passion a seed was nurtured and will grow. It will grow and bring new life and shade to all who seek such things.

Photos provided courtesy of the lovely Biz, follow the link to see more fantastic photos of the day like this one...Biz's March in March album on facebook 

Lighting the Dark

"This is what going to Church should feel like," Biz says to me as we walk our suburban streets hand in hand. We cross the road to the train station on our way to the 'Light the Dark' candlelight vigil.

 

Normally I face forward in the train to see where I'm going and Biz likes to sit backwards. I choose to shake things up and join her in sitting backwards to watch the scenery fall behind, like I'm acknowledging where we've been over where we are going.

Sydney teems with people, each with their own identity, their own thoughts. They are all going somewhere. I catch the eyes of a few people going in the opposite direction but on the whole to most I am but a momentary blur in the corner of their eye. Some are moving in the same direction as us and we filter into the town hall square with them under the shadow of the ornate stone masonry Church that stands to one side. There is already a gathering of people waiting in anticipation for the nights event. They are mostly older folk with bright eyes and smiles etched into their faces.

Their presence surprises me. I recall one of the defining moments in the development of my identity when I was a teenager. In the movie 'The Breakfast Club' I identified with the 'freak' as they were discussing not turning into their parents (not that my parents were an issue). She said “it's unavoidable, it just happens, when you grow up, your heart just dies.” Judd's character interjects with “who cares!” and through tears she replies “I care.”

Well I'm all grown up now and the young who now swarm into the square probably see me as a bit of an oldie but that's ok. I've gotten this far in avoiding the death of my soul and around me I see hope in my fellow bleeding hearts that I will not turn into what I hated the idea of becoming. And shouldn't our hearts bleed for the refugees we deny hope and for Reza Berati the gentle giant who came to us for protection and a new life and instead was brutally killed?

The dark envelopes the few thousand gathered here and we stave it off with the lighting of our candles. The candle I brought with me was the candle that the Church community of Deloraine gave me when I was commissioned as a Chaplain back in 2007. It has a now faded cross painted on it above the Deloraine High School emblem and written beneath are the words 'Here is my servant, whom I have chosen.' This candle of symbolic and sentimental value hasn't held a flame for seven years but tonight I light it because while I may not be a Chaplain anymore, I still feel called to serve the beliefs and values that I held and that I hold.

We find a vantage point near the rear of the crowd overlooking a sea of flickering flames to the town hall steps where the organisers have set up their cameras and microphones. With hot wax already periodically dripping onto my hand that holds the candle we are encouraged to vocalise or whistle rather than clap in response to the activists and religious leaders that are to address the crowd. Chris Taylor of the Chaser is up first acknowledging that he is not one of the religious leaders, “there's still time!” some wacko yells. From that light moment Chris builds to something heavy and the response is a clamouring of whistles, woohoo's and a few thousand raised candles. I'm glad we've left applause behind, it doesn't suit the atmosphere.

We listen to refugees and activists and people representing different faiths. I appreciate the different faiths and denominations expressing solidarity with each other, and with those of no spiritual belief, in standing together with those that we have neglected. The Jewish leader expressing that his people still remember the trauma of fleeing from persecution and so stand with all asylum seekers receives one heck of a 'hell yeah.' And the Christian leader who addressed Tony Abbott's quote that 'we will not succumb to moral blackmail' as meaning that Tony is choosing to take us on a course to moral bankruptcy elicits a chorus of “Shame, Shame Tony Shame!”

Sydney has often felt like a place without a soul to me in my short time living here. As tonights events end and as people mill around the square and I see their faces lit by the candles they hold, I sense a heart here connecting me to these others. There is a pulse here despite where forces of selfishness and fear and bigotry want to take us.

Biz and I move toward the memorial for Reza at the foot of the steps leading into the town hall. An Iranian flag is flown for him and mourners gather round flowers, pictures and messages to Reza that people are encouraged to write. We deliver our message. We walk away from that scene, a scene that is usually reserved for viewing on our tv screens of pain half a world away. But this is not half a world away, this I see with my own eyes, this that has happened in our name. This is not the Australia that I want.

Perhaps I should be facing forward as I ride home on the train but I don't know if we've turned a corner yet so I find myself facing backwards again. And it falls away behind me as I plug some Billy Bragg 'waiting for the great leap forward,' into my ears. That sacred moment of fellowship where people of different ages and shapes and sizes and cultures and beliefs can come together as one to stand for something bigger than themselves. If I was more poetically inclined I'd turn to Biz and say “yes, that is what going to Church should feel like.”

Graphic Novel, Not Graphic Enough!

Graphic novels are cool and have a long tradition of being a subversive tool in storytelling and shaping people's worldview. Let's dissect the graphic novel that was commissioned by Australia in an attempt to dissuade those who might consider seeking asylum in Australia. 

The novel depicts a young Afghan man who works hard in his job as a mechanic but is very poor and probably always will be. The parents dream of a bettere future for their son where he can shake off the grime of his present life and enter a clean and civilised society. So they sacrifice everything and send him on the treacherous, life threatening trip to the promised land – Australia.

Firstly, is this an accurate depiction of the asylum seekers that Australia receives by boat? This story of an economic migrant does happen yet when someone is found to be an economic migrant they do not receive refugee status, we are not expected to help these people, they were never granted asylum in the first place. The numbers suggest that this is not the typical story of a refugee where well over 90% of asylum seekers that arrive by sea are given refugee status which means that they are fleeing persecution. Human rights dictate that it is not illegal for them to seek asylum in Australia by whatever means they choose and as a signatory to the UNHCR refugee convention we must protect them.

Bob Carr was one who claimed last year that most asylum seekers where just economic migrants, every fact checker out there shot him down in flames.

brisbane times factcheck are asylum seekers really economic refugees 

politifact truth-o-meter are boat people economic migrants 

theconversation factcheck are asylum seekers really economic migrants 

factsfightback are asylum seeker claims genuine

So if we were to have a more accurate depiction of an asylum seeker that arrives by boat then this graphic novel is hardly graphic enough. I ask, where are the depictions of war, oppression, violence, slavery, abuse, threats and famine? To depict this Afghan man as representative of asylum seekers or even representative of Afghan men seeking asylum is a gross and insensitive injustice to those fleeing such persecution. Maybe the opening panels should look more like this:

we took in Vietnamese refugees back in the day

The story goes on to depict the journey from his homeland and through dodgy people smugglers to where he finally boards a rickety and overcrowded boat bound for Australian waters. They travel through rough seas before gratefully being picked up by an Australian Customs or NAVY boat. Oh how I wish the typical story would end with the refugee being welcomed...however...

The graphic novel concludes with the asylum seeker being processed and then flown to an isolated island to remain indefinitely in detention surrounded by disease spreading mosquitoes, no privacy and his own despair and dark thoughts. They could've gone further but I guess that they didn't really want to depict self harm or suicide attempts. The picture that I find most galling at the end though is the man regretfully daydreaming about home. It paints home as a rosy picture, so in place of mosquitoes and despair he is surrounded by a loving community and is celebrating, perhaps celebrating his own wedding as he prepares for a better future which will never be.

I would imagine for the typical refugee that their dreams of home would be contaminated with nightmares and fear of the things they have seen and never want to see or experience again. Is that depicted in the novel? - of course not.

Essentially if the graphic novel was more graphic it would depict an Australia that takes those that are fleeing nightmarish realities and then coldly returns them in an orange lifeboat to a remote Indonesian shoreline, washing their hands of any responsibility to what may happen next. Or cruelly dumps them in concentration camps where it dehumanises them further till they mentally break into tiny pieces. We don't even bother to send seasoned professionals to cater for their mental health anymore. Essentially we are saying to the typical refugee that is fleeing for their lives, 'don't bother coming here, we will not help you, we may even send you back.'

newmatilda truth behind governments refugee comic 

offensive in its generalisation but makes a valid point

And the release of this grahic novel for Australian dissemination continues the long line of recent propaganda from the Coalition of the children overboard lies, alarmist billboards and the broken record reptitious use of the term 'illegals.' To Labours advertising in national media that refugees 'Won't be settled in Australia,' now reconfigured by the new Government to 'No Way – They will not make Australia home.'

As a critic I would rate the Government's graphic novel 5 stars for its ability to provoke an emotional response in me but I'll have to take a star away for each of the following factors. Not graphic enough, not realistic enough, not batting for the home team by portraying Australia as a nation of bastards, offensive to those fleeing for their lives and the dialogue left a lot to be desired. 0 stars. Perhaps the sequel will redeem the series but I fear it will not. How do you rate this novel?

It can be found in full here: Storyboard Afghanistan

Great Scott! Morrison's at it again...

Would dehumanising the dehumanisers be a useful practice? Cos I really want to point out just how far of a failed human being that Scott Morrison is. I want to say that if I bumped into him in person I'd likely vomit at his feet involuntarily from being in the presence of the stench filled meatbag. But the cliches our parents imprinted us with that 'two wrongs don't make a right' squeezes it's way through the seething anger in my mind and I have to check myself. This man has thoughts and feelings, he has a family, maybe a dog or a cat or a hamster called little johnny. He has dreams and desires. He has needs. Like the need's of safety, of belonging, of being seen, of contributing and being productive, even of being loved. He has a right to that - but apparently not all people are created equal.

Today it was revealed that Scott Morrison has issued a directive to his party and to those in the field that work with asylum seekers that they are to be referred to as illegal arrivals from now on and that no longer will asylum seekers being moved to or kept in detention centres be referred to as clients, they are transferees and detainees. 

Scott Morrison's leaked directive from the Sydney Morning Herald 

As is pointed out in the article by a psychiatrist it is important what language we use and this directive from Scott Morrison dehumanises these people. I would go so far as to say that it is a deliberate act on his part to do so and is reprehensible. Why would any decent human being want other human beings dehumanised? Well, it serves his political purpose that we as the voting public come to see these people as less than human so we will not care what happens to them. There was even a report recently that one detention centre was referring to it's clients by numbers rather than names and that included children.

What happens to a person who is being systematically dehumanised? Psychiatrists say that dehumanisation ignores the person's individuality, their ability to be creative and make choices and ignores them as being part of a network of people who care for eachother – a community. A person denied their individuality and sense of belonging to a community often reults in them no longer showing compassion and other normal moral responses which can then lead them on a road to becoming violent or accepting violence upon themselves. Are we trying to mentally injure people towards responding with violence so we can dehumanise them even more?

And Scott Morrison is not only wanting to dehumanise asylum seekers but he wants everything that we do to them to be done in secret. He doesn't want the government to have to tell the public when asylum seekers are arriving on our shores, he doesn't want to tell us what happens to them after they do and he doesn't want to tell us of problems arising in the camps. 

Scott Morrison on secrecy from The Guardian Australia 

He doesn't want to tell us because he says it fuels the people smugglers and asylum seekers with information they can use to their advantage. Yet whilst in opposition he was the man announcing from the rooftops through his righteous spittle every day to anyone who would listen whenever an asylum seeker issue raised its head.

So I can't trust the hypocritical bugger because every decision he makes with these people's lives in his hands seems to be to exploit the issue for political gain. Today's news just imprints in concrete for me like little doggie footprints that this is his pattern. If truth is beauty then the works of Scott Morrison are filthy rags.

I don't want to be alarmist and I hate slippery slope arguments but dehumanising others puts in place an atmosphere where further human rights abuses can take place.

I wont make the absurdist leap to Hitler or Nazi's that others do when the idealism of a group conflicts with their own (The Daily Telegraph for one) but I do want to stress that the UNHCR was set up in the first place after what Hitler did to the Jews because the world decided that never again would we let people be so dehumanised and turned away from borders when fleeing persecution and death. Rightly we ratified that treaty. Have we forgotten what happened in the past? Have we forgotten what we agreed to do?

Our last report card from the UN gave us an F for our treatment of refugees and asylum seekers. As the richest nation in the world per capita we should be deeply ashamed. But this is what happens when we dehumanise others and become insular and selfish...it just breeds more selfishness and insular thinking till we can't see the forest for the trees. What did we fight for all those years ago? freedom for just the entitled or freedom and human rights for all? Lest we forget. 

I am a Christian but I never thought I'd be rocked and swayed by the way a Catholic Pope dealt with the same issues on the same day in another part of the world. It was a fantastic speech and I urge you to read it The Pope in Lampedusa on the globalisation of indifference To summarise it though he felt he needed to hold a Mass on Lampedusa, a small island in Italy that a boatload of refugees was attempting to reach because it has an immigrant reception centre (note the difference in terminology) but the boat was lost at sea and over 300 asylum seekers perished. 

The Pope spoke out about the globalisation of indifference to the plight of these people that has been spread in part by those that wish to dehumanise them. He said (and whether you believe in the story or not it is still a powerful metaphor) that at the dawn of humanity God asks Cain regarding Abel “Where is your brother? The voice of his blood cries even to me.” And he goes on to say that this question is being asked of all of us even now. “Where is your brother?”

The Pope went on to pray at the conclusion "we ask forgiveness for the indifference towards so many brothers and sisters, we ask for forgiveness for those who are pleased with themselves, who are closed in their own well-being in a way that leads to the anaesthesia of the heart, we ask you, Father, for forgiveness for those who with their decisions at the global level have created situations that lead to these tragedies. Forgive us, Lord!

I would've thought that any response akin to 'Am I my brother's keeper?' should be for the Christian at least answered with a resounding YES! Yet it seems like many Christians want to wash their hands of the problem like a Judean Prefect. It doesn't mark them as evil but for the Christian it is not what God calls you to do. I'm encouraged that this new Pope is not one of those Christians.

When we dehumanise others, others ultimately will begin to dehumanise us. It is like there is a natural law at work, like a law of social physics. I once heard a quote from a historian (I cannot find the source unforunately) “Nations rise and fall depending on how they reflect the Kingdom of God” (I am sorry if I am delving too much into God stuff, for the non believer you may read God or the Kingdom of God as the Kindom of the values that we share in justice, mercy and compassion).

That quote has the ring of truth to me – a seed of truth rooted in the earth and growing to a towering tree with branches that reach out and shade all that reside under it. Call it karma or call it Isaiah 60:12 “For the nation that will not serve you shall perish; those nations shall be utterly laid waste” And I don't see that as an interventionist God reaching in and exacting revenge. I see that through the perspective of that if you live by the sword, so you die by the sword. The social law at work – if your nation is defined by greed in that greed gives it it's power then greed is what will kill it one bleeding cut at a time. Hate begets hate, greed begets greed, sefishness begets selfishness, violence begets violence and dehumanisation will lead to more and more dehumanisation. The reaping of the environment will see the environment turn on us. I'm not personifying the environment for example and this isn't some weirdo new age idea, this is basically the science of cause and effect. For every action there is a consequence be it a social action or a physical one.

The sins of the father are visited upon the son is not a curse, it is a consequence. When you beat or neglect your son that will leave scars that carry over into the next generation. When we dehumanise others on any basis be it wealth, race, religion, culture or sexuality then we are all poorer as a result going forward. We need to acknowledge what we have done and do all that is in our power to treat others how we would wish to be treated if we want a better world and a better future.

Because genorosity begets generosity and love begets love. It is in our interest to have the others interest at heart. Should we not, by turning our backs on others in need we will find that they have turned their backs on us in our need.

So to my brother Scott Morrison I ask 'where are you? And what are you doing?' Are you attending another wedding on the public purse and escaping scrutiny for it though your party has brought down others in parliament for similar infringements? Are you reliving your private boy's school days in Abbott's boy's club of a cabinate and looking down with contempt on the kids from the public school around the corner? Are you continuing to send heavily pregnant women and children to offshore detention centres where whole generations will be dehumanised before they've had a chance to form an identity? Are you telling asylum seekers they should join an ordely queue (that the UNHCR says is 117 years long at current resttlement rates-how patient are you?)

Will you please make a decision that pulls the brakes on this spiral into dehumanisation and systematically begin to humanise people for the benefit of all. Will you please afford people the same human rights that you feel entitled to. Or when asked 'where is your brother?' will you just smugly shrug and say 'you'll need to fight tooth and nail for a freedom of information clause to get my answer'?

Profiteering from people smuggling

Kevin Rudd announced today that any asylum seekers arriving in Australia without a visa will be sent to Papua New Guinea for assessment and resettlement from abc news. This is a huge coup for Kevin and Labor and will likely go a long way to preventing the people smuggling business going on in the waters to the north of our nation. This is good news for a political party and a prime minister wanting to be re-elected in the coming months. So, who now is it that will be profiteering from people smuggling? Kevin perhaps? the ALP?

Am I being too cynical?

I don't like us abdicating our responsibility to refugees and sending them elsewhere and I don't like us disempowering vulnerable people and telling them where we think they should live. But I also actually don't mind the whole concept as an attempt to prevent further drownings from happening at sea but it has to coincide with other announcements. The further financial assistance to PNG, that's fine. The proposed increase to our intake of immigrants, that's fine too. What concerns me, no, what leaves me feeling ashamed and angry is who we have turned our back on.

What if you are fleeing a country, a country that wont say 'sure, here's your visa'? How does a person who has had to flee their country without being able to get a visa reasonably apply for asylum in Australia? Our policy as it is now says that you cannot come here and we will ship you off to somewhere else. Can they apply somewhere? And if they can, will they be allowed to resettle sometime in their lifetime? If there was a place refugees could go to, even without a visa, that would see them assessed and resettled within a very reasonable ammount of time then I would consider perhaps supporting our new deal with PNG. As it is there is no such place, no wonder people get so desperate as to risk their lives. I am not happy.

Where is the Kevin Rudd that pleaded with the government when he was ousted as PM that they should continue to be compassionate towards refugees and not sell out their humanity to satisfy the selfish bigotry of way too many fellow Australians (I might be indulging a bit in what he actually said). This political football of vulnerable people who are hardly capable of invading us to take over, hence are not a border control issue has just gone on and on in absurdity for too long. And now Kevin Rudd and Bob Carr can add their names to the list of those who should have restless nights.

I prefer what Julian Burnside had to say the other day, he had facts, he had truth and he had the guts to say it as it is from the age. And I wonder where our leaders are that will take on xenophobic Australia and will deliver us a new vision worth belonging to?

A Strange Day

Is there something in the air? It was a strange day for me today due to emotions evoked from conversations and news stories etc. So much so that I thought it warranted a blog. 

It was great today to witness the whole school where I work get together and rally around a student who was shaving off his much loved hair for charity. I always find it interesting how much the atmosphere of a place and the people in it changes for the better when someone is doing something for others. There were other stories today but in my line of work most of those are confidential. I can talk about some of the other stuff, like the public headlines that I encountered today in the news.

Our National Treasure, mining magnate Mr Clive Palmer has accused today the CIA of funding the greens in a conspiracy to destroy Australia's coal industry. The CIA? usually when someone thinks the CIA is out to get them we wrap them up in a straightjacket and put them in a padded room. Maybe the mining tax legislation going through took it's toll on him? And how the mining tax was passed was weird because the ex opposition Speaker of the House stepped in to break a voting deadlock,  siding with the government. Immigration Minister Chris Bowen nearly blew it for the government by missing the vote. I'd be inclined to whack him on the backside for that except that another piece of legislation was also passed, one that I'd like to shake his hand for.

Refugees arriving by boat are now to have the same rights as those that arrive by plane in how their application for asylum is processed. There is still a long way to go to stop the deliberate dehumanisation of those arriving by boat as a detterant to others who might come. I get why they do that but it doesn't make it right. The courts have stated over and over that government and opposition strategies for dealing with refugees are illegal. If Australia is so intent on stopping the boats and branding refugees as illegal immigrants then we should remove ourselves from the treaty that says we will honour the human rights of refugees. I for one see no honour in dehumanising and turning away those in need so while there is still a way to go, this legislation is a step in the right direction and I applaud it.

And then all of this was overshadowed by the passing of Jim Stynes. He's the real national treasure here, loved by many because he lived his life with dignity, humility and generosity. Jim was a man with a big heart, big enough to care for others and help young people in need. He was a giver, not a taker and he loved life and will continue to be an inspiration for generations. I actually cried at the news of his passing, maybe cos he reminded me so much of my dad. I find someone we admire passing away can really help to focus us on what is really important in our lives. I wonder how fondly our whinging mining magnates will be remembered in comparison...

A definition of Insanity - Australia's reponse to boat people

I consider the values of the Christian faith to be Justice, Mercy and Compassion. In the light of those core values I ask myself how anyone who calls themselves a Christian can support the major parties stance on boat people?

In the eyes of the law over 90% of boat people are found to be legitimate refugees and not illegal immigrants. We signed a treaty that says that a person fleeing persecution can enter a country without permission and claim asylum. We signed that treaty because we agreed with many other nations that it was necessary to do so to prevent evils like the holocaust from ever happening again. Justice dictates that these people have done nothing wrong and should not be incarcerated indefinitely. We are flying in the face of international law.

the man who jumped

Mercy and Compassion is also missing in our response to boat people. (check out the documentary that got me all riled up again-something everyone should see but it having been shown on SBS means that it will evade the masses) http://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/video/2189706100/The-Man-Who-Jumped-Full-Ep

Instead we utilise brutality and a regime of tormenting dehumanisation in an attempt to deter others, yet still they come. Benjamin Franklin said that 'the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.' I think Australia is going insane over this issue.

$90,000 per detainee per year to keep them in detention and subject them to months and months of mental anguish. This is supposed to protect us yet all it does is breed resentment and retaliation and riots. Insane.

What do we have to fear? Is it that they won't assimilate? that they don't speak english? Or is it just xenophobia being whipped up by some of the most irresponsible leaders of our time. We have been lied to for the sake of gaining power. Anyone who can get beneath the spin and see the truth like that conveyed in the 'the man who jumped' doco, if they still support the dehumanisation then somewhere along the way they may have allowed themselves to become dehumanised.

Here are some facts worth getting your head around:   http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/bn/sp/AsylumFacts.pdf

 

a child's perspective of detention in Australia

If it's so important that they speak english then why isn't a detention centre more like a school? If it is so important that a refugee/immigrant is assimilated then why do we put them through hell? If I was mistreated so I would be resentful of, not thankful toward the nation that did that to me. Why would I want to assimilate? Why would I want to be like them? So we want them to assimilate and contribute to our society but our treatment of them ends with such a devastating ammount of mental illness that they become dependant on health and welfare and are a drain on our society. Again, insane.

Wouldn't it make sense to welcome them on arrival and treat them with such dignity and generosity that they would be so thankful as to want to belong to such a society and to contribute to it as a way of giving back what has been given to them? Ever seen the movie 'Pay It Forward? Well if you are giving and generous and compassionate that often results in more giving and generosity etc. It's how the world works as God made it. If we pay forward with mistrust and carelessness and brutality, where does that lead us?

Jesus said that what we do to the least of those in need we do to him. It is said that some have welcomed those in need into their homes and have welcomed angels in doing so. Our fear has become contagious and spread to our brains and in our insanity we want to turn the angels away. After loving God we are meant to love our neighbour. What is being done in Australia's name is not loving.

If you find this blog offensive then I'd like to talk with you about why (you should've seen the initial draft – much more scathing and dripping with sarcasm). I just can't see Jesus turning people in need away and I can't see him standing by in the face of racism, oppression and the spin and lies and abuse of those in power. I am trying to follow his way, trying to find a sane place.