SHUT
DOWN ALL DETENTION CENTRES!
RELEASE THE REFUGEE PRISONERS!
29-04-2016 – Two recent events have once again shone the
spotlight on the Australian Government’s barbaric system of refugee and asylum
seeker incarceration.
Firstly, the Supreme Court of Papua New Guinea (PNG)
ruled last Tuesday that the detention of refugees in their country by the
Australian Government is illegal and unconstitutional. The case, initiated some
two years ago by elements of the PNG Opposition, maintained that the constitution
of PNG had been altered to benefit the government of a foreign country
(Australia). The ruling, a stunning victory for elementary justice, is an
example of ruling class law temporarily breaking from the control of Canberra,
the centre of the region’s imperialist power.
Secondly, a horrific incident of self-immolation took
place the very same day on Nauru. A 23 year old Iranian refugee set himself on
fire, in protest at inhuman conditions being endured by those detained on
Nauru. The incident appeared to coincide with the visit to the island by the
UNHCR (United Nations High Commission for Refugees). A spokesperson said that
the UNHCR was visiting the island to monitor the “seriously deteriorated mental
health” of refugees and asylum seekers.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) Executive Director Kenneth Roth
told Lateline, “What does it take to self-immolate? It takes complete despair,
it takes seeing a life before you which is no life.”[1] These words, while true in
themselves, drip with the type of breathtaking hypocrisy which only a
spokesperson for imperialism itself can utter. For at least five years Kenneth
Roth has been the foremost agitator for the US led war of regime change on
Syria. Over and over again, Roth repeatedly used his media platform to denounce
the Syrian government for use of chemical weapons and “barrel bombs” against
civilians – without providing a shred of evidence. These baseless lies were a
crucial part of the attempt to overthrow the Syrian Arab Republic. The other
main part was the arming of mercenaries and trucking them into Syria, where
they would carry out unspeakable atrocities, including summary executions of
innocent civilians. Roth’s role was that of a classical “psy-ops” operation. He
loudly demonized the enemy – in this case the popularly supported Syrian
government – to justify a genocidal war for regime change. This war, along with
NATO’s war on Libya, has created unprecedented numbers of refugees across
Europe and North Africa. Inevitably, some of those fleeing end up attempting dangerous
journeys with the aim of seeking asylum in Australia. Canberra has played no
small role in the US led war on Syria, deploying six Super Hornet fighting jets
and up to 1000 troops – most of whom are stationed in neighbouring Iraq. The
notion that these troops are fighting ISIS – primarily a US creation – is
absurd. The refugee rights movement must demand: Australian Troops: Out of the
Middle East!
The partial breakthrough the PNG government has offered
the refugee rights movement must be capitalised on, for the sake of those
refugees already incarcerated. But while this partial victory has been
delivered by a generally conservative government, it would be a mistake to rely
on further pleas to the Australian government to deliver justice for refugees. Not
the least reason is that the Australian government is the very body which
oversees the current detention travesty. Nor can we afford to rely on pleas to
alternative governmental parties such as the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and
the Greens. The last time these two parties sat on government benches, the
off-shore nightmare was reincarnated by the ALP, and the Greens kept this
government in power, albeit with a few verbal grumbles.
We should be clear – the appalling treatment of refugees
is ultimately a result of the capitalist system entering a period of sharp
decline. It is only the working class which has the unencumbered interest in
the termination of the profit system via its overthrow. Therefore the struggle
for refugee justice can only be definitively won by utilising the inherent
power of the working class, especially through its Unions. It is organised
labour which must lead the struggle to free the refugees, for Unions cannot effectively
function while racist ideas retain any currency amongst working people.
The main obstacle standing in the way of the mobilisation
of Unions is the conservative Union bureaucracy, who is tied by a thousand
threads to the capitalist state and its political parties. Despite this,
workers can position their officials so that they have little choice but to
mobilise their base. Union members, where possible, should approach their
officials in numbers.
The refugee rights movement can assist this effort by
appealing directly to the interest of workers, rather than amorphous appeals to
everyone to show compassion. While basic compassion is a pre-requisite for
creating a better world, anyone can claim they are compassionate, irrespective
of their class position. For example, human rights and welfare organisations,
such as GetUp! and Amnesty International, along with governmental political
parties such as the ALP and the Greens, all boast of their compassion, while in
practice defending and strengthening the very system which facilitates the
hideous abuse of refugees. Thus, in the same way in which the Union movement
can only defend workers if it breaks with the capitalist state and its parties,
the refugee rights movement can only free the refugees if it politically breaks
with all those individuals, organisations and parties who only seek what are
relatively minor reforms to the system – such as humane treatment for refugees,
as essential as that is. Both in the immediate sense as well as in the long
run, such reforms strengthen the system, rather than improve it.
It is worker unrest, or the threat of it, which has the
potential to reverse the bi-partisan policies of persecution of refugees, not
demonstrations of compassion, however well meaning. Similarly, the ultimate
expression of worker unrest – revolution - is the only guarantee of liberation.
It is socialism which corresponds to the interests of all working people,
including desperate refugees from neighbouring lands. Before reaching such a
goal, we must act according to the higher standards of socialist society –
beginning with a defence of those fleeing from the operation of the current
system of poverty, war and repression.
SHUT DOWN ALL DETENTION
CENTRES! RELEASE THE REFUGEE PRISONERS!
AUSTRALIAN TROOPS: OUT OF
THE MIDDLE EAST!
MARXIST-LENINIST GROUP (MLG)
PO
BOX 66 NUNDAH QLD
4012
www.ML-Group@blogspot.com.au
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