These groups can be contacted on the following cell phone numbers.
Mark Goudkamp 0422 078 376 or Nick Riemer 0435 533 027
www.refugeeaction.org.au
[RACNSW] Press Release_Refugee groups plan show of support for Villawood Detainees
22/04/2011
Mark Goudkamp Add to contacts
To racnsw@yahoogroups.com, rac_national@yahoogroups.com, crossbordercollective@googlegroups.com, solinational,
Sydney List, atn@yahoogroups.com
Please find below and attached the media release that Nick (mainly) and I wrote, that just went out. Legal support is
being organised for the 22-25 mainly Kurdish (Iranian and Iraqi) and Iranians who have been sent to Silverwater prison.
Please spread the word about Monday...and don't forget to vote on the Daily Telegraph's online poll, which this release
makes reference to.
tory-e6freuzi-1226043096793
Cheers and solidarity, Mark
Refugee Action Coalition Press Release Friday 22 April 2011
Refugee Groups Plan Show of Support for Villawood Detainees on Easter Monday
Following this week’s unrest at the Villawood detention centre, refugee rights advocates will stage a mass show of
support for Villawood detainees on Easter Monday, 25 April. Refugee supporters will meet at Chester Hill station at 12
noon, before marching to the Gurney Rd side of the detention centre for a rally in support of the detainees. Called by the
Refugee Action Coalition (RAC), the action is part of a nationwide series of protests outside detention centres planned
over the Easter weekend, including at the remote Curtin facility in Western Australia.
The rally will hear from refugees who were formerly detained: Najeeba Wazefadost (Afghanistan); Iraj Moghodam (Iran);
and Mohammed Ali Muttari (Iraq). Melina Adlparvar, an Iranian refugee separated from her husband who is inside
Villawood, will also speak. They will be joined by: Annie Neilson, Greens candidate for Fairfield in the NSW election; NSW
Teachers' Federation General-Secretary Jenny Diamond; and Mark Goudkamp, a long-term Refugee Action Coalition
spokesperson.
“The recent unrest in Villawood makes it extremely urgent to show community support for refugees”, said Nick Riemer
from RAC. “It’s an extraordinary irony that both Labor and Coalition politicians talk of refugees having committed
crimes. The damage to property on Wednesday night is nothing compared to the brutalisation of innocent lives caused by
mandatory detention itself. Asylum seekers haven’t committed any crime and shouldn’t be imprisoned. It’s not illegal to
arrive by boat and ask Australia for protection. When you lock people up and treat them like animals, it’s entirely
predictable that they will be driven to desperate acts. There have been five suicides in detention since September, three
in Villawood, and countless cases of self-harm. Hunger strikes happen all the time. If the government had acted on the
advice of leading psychiatrists, this week’s events could have been prevented. As one of the banners of the rooftop
protesters emphasises, they are human and deserve to be treated that way. If we’re talking about crimes being
committed, it’s the government who are the wrongdoers by sticking to their failed and discredited policy of mandatory
detention.”
“The rally will show solidarity with the refugees locked up in Villawood”, said Mark Goudkamp, also from RAC. “All
asylum seekers want is to escape the war and persecution that have driven them from their home countries. But instead
of treating them with decency, and allowing them to contribute to Australian society, the government locks them up.
Australia is the only Western country that does this. Monday’s protest can show that the Daily Telegraph’s politically
driven online polls by do not represent all Australians. 22 asylum seekers were forcibly removed from their beds on
Thursday night and transferred to Silverwater jail. On Christmas Island, police used tear gas and beanbag rounds on
asylum seekers. This is no way to treat refugees. Mr Bowen says he shares the anger of Australians about damage to
government property. Instead, Australians should direct their rage at the pointless violence and brutality inflicted on
asylum seekers. While Mr Bowen should be congratulated for supporting the idea of multiculturalism in Australia and
ending the Howard government’s disparagement of it, if he really means it, the policy of mandatory detention policy
must be immediately abandoned.”
“The government keeps refugees out of the public eye and detains them in inaccessible places”, said Riemer. “The
Gurney Rd entrance to Villawood is the only place from which we can make visual contact with them. Refugee Action
Coalition members are regular visitors to the detention centre. Our friends inside are looking forward to seeing a vocal
and colourful demonstration of support.”
“There’s significant support for refugees among Villawood locals, who remember what their suburb was like before the
barbed wire went up in the early 1990s,” Goudkamp added. “We expect that many residents will join us in showing
solidarity with the refugees.”
For more information, contact Mark Goudkamp 0422 078 376 or Nick Riemer 0435 533 027
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