People have asked whether there is an “archive” of the various human rights actions which I’ve been involved in over the years. I have recorded some of these on this blog but I think one page which takes you to these stories may be useful.
I am aware that there are many people who have done some incredible work supporting social justice and human rights but no one knows about these. Many people across the world do think globally and act locally but we don’t hear about it. One reason is that mainstream media quite often does not tell or record these actions and we find these local actions don’t even make a footnote in a local history book, let alone in a “big” history book.
So, I’ve written about some of our local actions just so people do know about them.
2020 – what a time to be an activist! I can’t help but reimagine some of the stuff we did before Social Media, before Go Fund Me, drone photography. Maybe, the Flotillas of Hope could have raised so much money we could have chartered some boats? We wouldn’t have needed a giant Kite with a camera to film the refugees in Woomera. A drone would have done the job magnificently.
Anyway, there’s lots of opportunities and means to fight for social justice today with the technology available to all of us.
What’s our local area? Newcastle, in the Hunter Valley, NSW, Australia.
Newcastle, Australia
I am listing these local actions in chronological order with a short description.
The Cultural Stomp had its birth in 1997 when Pauline Hanson launched her One Nation Party in Newcastle. We decided that she wasn’t going to launch it without hearing what we in the Hunter felt about it. We formed a group we called Cultures in Action and every year since 1997 for ten years Newcastle celebrated its cultural diversity in Civic Park.
Refugees and Asylum Seekers held a hunger strike in this detention centre stuck in the South Australian desert. Some people in Melbourne decided to organise a Festival of Freedoms at the Woomera Detention Centre. Hunter Organisation for Peace & Equity joined them and we became a Caravan, a HOPE Caravan.
With all the racist crap pushed by the Liberal National Party we thought that Newcastle should become a Welcome Town for Refugees. For those not in Australia, the conservative right wing party which aligns itself more with the USA Republican Party & UK Tories is called the “Liberal” Party. Yes, one couldn’t get a more Orwellian name for a political party than that.
While we talked about the possibility of visiting the most isolated gulag in the world at Nauru most thought it was an impossible dream. But we visited the island.
Way back in 2002 I was part of two groups which had a focus on human rights and refugee issues.
The more “operational” and lobbying aspect had expression in the group Newcastle Action for Refugee Rights (NARR). My more “cultural jamming” and “Situationist – Anarchist” aspect had its expression in HOPE Caravan. It was through HOPE Caravan that I was involved in the Easter Actions at Woomera Detention Centre in 2002 and Baxter Detention Centre in 2003. It was also as part of HOPE Caravan that the Flotillas of Hope found expression.
Hope Caravan logo we used on our now absent website. The drawing was based on an original pencil drawing made by a prisoner at Woomera Detention Centre. He gave us permission to use it.
As part of NARR, I, along with others presented a proposal to Newcastle City Council to make Newcastle, Australia, an official Welcome Town for Refugees. Here’s the link to the whole proposal we presented at Newcastle City Council >> Welcome Town Presentation – thanks Jack for taking the time to make it available on your website.
Now that the dark years of the John Howard’s Decade is over in Australia, it is important that we are reminded that there were people in Australia (many, many of us) that were ashamed at the opportunistic tickling of the xenophobic underbelly of the Australian people that Howard’s genius did. People say that he was not a racist. Maybe he wasn’t in a way that Hitler was, but his myopic vision and policies that demonised innocent people who were seeking a new life were.
Anyway, I don’t want to go on about him here, suffice to say that there were Australians around during the Dark Howard Decade who stood against his crap.
My social conscience is clear and I’m proud to say that I was one of them.
NARR conducted a sympathy fast with the hunger strikers at Woomera Detention Centre in 2002. This is the tent we lived in at Civic Park, Newcastle. The head on the corner is a paper mache of Philip Ruddock, the Immigration Minister at the time.
After Easter at Woomera in 2002 the Government decided to move people to Baxter. The detention centre in Baxter had an extra deterrent for those seeking to break out – electric shock razor wire. So now we had an electric barrier as well as razor wire to keep innocent women and children and men incarcerated. At Woomera, in 2002, human rights activists could get close to the wire, at Baxter the protests were just symbolic as the Darth Varder clothed police with their shields and batons, their horses and their helicopters overhead kept us far away from the detention centre.
Darth Vader from the Star Wars movie saga. Look at the pictures at the end of the post. Can you see similarities?
The Baxter protest also witnessed for the first time, police in riot gear pointing machine guns at Australian citizens’ heads. This wasn’t reported in the corporate media. However, we have photos and videos to prove it. The freaky thing was that some of us had helium filled balloons. One accidental bursting of a balloon and we would have seen Sharpeville on Australian soil. Where was the outrage by the media? No where. Quiet as a mouse.
The Baxter @ Easter 2003 also witnessed for the first time a close connection with the local indigenous people who supported our Action. Closer connections were made by the various affinity groups which made it more possible for the Flotillas of Hope Action to Nauru happen the following year.
Anyway, read the following account as it appeared on the Baxter Watch website and in the ImaginePeace Update.
A Story from Baxter Detention Centre, Easter, 2003
The corporate media told people that we had broken through the first barrier, about 3 kilometres from the Concentration Camp after some confrontation with police. Then, according to the corporate media we raced down to the second barrier about 2 kms away from the Concentration Camp where the police had formed a line with mounted police ready to lend a hand in stopping us getting through. Even though we could see the massive presence of the riot squad we, in our enthusiasm for a battle with the police decided to breach the police line. This time our brave riot squad with all their gear stopped us. They stopped us by riding their horses into us and dismantling our tents. So, the heroes of the State warded off a few hundred of us refugee activists determined to fight the Empire. That’s their version and if you don’t believe me check out The Australian’s story. 500 refugee activists vs the 357 police and riot squad and a helicopter surveillance. One cop per protestor along with their weapons of mass intimidation.
Sacred Fire lit by the local indigenous Bungalla People.
Where to begin? In many ways for me the real beginning of the story is on Good Friday night, when we gathered around the Sacred Fire lit by the Elders of the Bungalla people – Harry and Noelene. This is a beginning the corporate media won’t tell you about and I believe that what happened around the Sacred Fire at the Baxter Protest Camp marks a new synergy with refugee and Aboriginal rights movements. The Baxter Convergence when seen in this light shows the deeper convergence that occurred at Easter. Hopecaravan yahoo group’s website logo says: “The denial of rights to anyone is the denial of humanity to all.” We were welcomed to the land that Baxter Concentration Camp is built on by the Aboriginal Elders – Noelene and Harry. As far as I was concerned my presence was legal within Aboriginal Law no matter what Howard and Ruddock say. But before I begin the story with this bigger beginning I will tell you what happened when we arrived at the Western road block.
Protectors of the Electric Fence
What really happened? The police allowed us to pass through the first barrier with all of our camping gear and to walk about a kilometre down the hill. As we walked down towards the Concentration Camp we saw police in riot gear making a line. We put down our gear and proceeded to set up camp. No one tried to stop us, so we thought that this was going to be our camp site. The commander of police, with headphone radio contact then made an announcement. He told us all to pack up our gear and return to the top of the hill in 10 minutes or we will be arrested. Many went and pleaded with him to be reasonable, including myself. He wouldn’t budge. The troops were ready to arrest us. Meanwhile from behind us in the hills, like a B grade western movie, there was the calvary of mounted police charging towards our camp site. When the ten minutes were up the riot squad charged into our site and along with the mounted police they took away tents and trampled on peoples’ property. Lucky no one was trampled. There some chafed shins and someone got arrested for carrying a kite. The cops then made us go back up to the hill. Meanwhile, above us, a helicopter choppered away. By the way, I have video footage of all this.
We walked back up to the hill and here we set up camp. That night (Good Friday) we had a spokes council meeting around the Sacred Fire which the Aboriginal Elders had lit especially for our protest. It was the only fire allowed on our camp and whenever we gathered for meetings we gathered around the Sacred Fire. Harry, Elder of the Bungalla people, the people of the local land we camped on, welcomed us as did Noelene. In silence we stood and sat around the Sacred Fire while Noelene and Harry told us their stories and why they supported refugees incarcerated in the Concentration Camps. “Simply because,” Harry said, “Our people experience the same incarceration as the refugees.” They not only felt for the refugees but also totally empathised with their plight because their own people have also suffered the same injustices.
Harry and Noelene told us, as we felt the warmth of the Sacred Fire, that the only way to affect change and help those inside the Concentration Camp was through peaceful and compassionate ways. They told us that to keep in the spirit of the land we had to manifest peacefully. They gave us the blessings of the Bungalla people and its land. I asked permission to record an image of the Sacred Fire, which they gave. HOPE Caravan told the spokes council of the FREEDOM banner, signed by Newcastle people and invited all of the Baxter Convergence people to sign it as well. Noelene and Harry offered to take the FREEDOM banner with all the signatures and well wishes of our protest camp and Newcastle to the refugees in Baxter. This banner was made from a queen sized sheet with the word FREEDOM sewn on in black material in the Farsi language – AZADI. The next day people in the camp signed it at the Sacred Fire and around the Caravan’s camp. On Sunday morning HOPE Caravan gave the banner to Noelene and Harry. I have footage of their words to all of us. They will take our gift of FREEDOM and HOPE to those behind the electric razor wire.
AZADI - Freedom in Farsi with signatures by well wishers from Newcastle and from the Baxter Action people. This was given to the detainees at Baxter by Noelene, a Bungalla Elder from the country on which the Baxter Detention Centre was built.
We decided at that night’s spokes council meeting around the Sacred Fire that some of us would go down later that night. We didn’t know how far the cops would let us get to the Concentration Camp but we were determined to get as close as possible so that we could make contact. To make sure that they could hear us some of us brought bongos and maracas, saxophones, drums along with kites and whistles and pots and pans. At around 9PM we met up on top of the hill and began our walk down to the centre. The moon was full and the desert night cool, silhouettes of hills contrasted with the glare of the Concentration Camp lights a couple of kilometres down the gas pipeline.
Throughout the day we noticed the helicopter that flew overhead in circles watching over us. At night the same thing became a one eyed alien creature scouring the night earth with a column of light descending on our tents, our shadows and the Sacred Fire. Like Apocalypse Now, this time in the desert, the chopper chopped the air as we walked down to the centre its cone of light going over and around us. To my right I noticed a young brother flying a kite while walking on the gas pipeline. The landscape and the images of the Darth Vader STAR cops we had already faced brought to mind Star Wars and here was Luke Skywalker flying his kite under the moonlight. He balanced his sprightly steps on the huge pipe line. The orange kite fluttered above him and occasionally I saw the kite’s bird profile against the round moon. This was one of 26 kites we brought with us from Newcastle. The kites were made from DIMIA plastic sheeting that promotes Harmony Day. Newcastle made the kites to fly at Baxter. We transformed DIMIA advertising into Kites of Peace. As Luke flew his kite, one hand holding the string and the other held out to his side for balance the helicopter made another swoop, its searchlight swept over us and the kite glistened in the air. When our moon shadows returned I looked at the hills around me – I could have been on another planet. The detainees at Baxter will never see these hills because they cannot look out. They are only allowed to look up at the sky. They see the same Southern Cross we do but their horizon ends with electric razor wired walls.
One of the Kites we made in Newcastle from Dept of Immigration's orange plastic Harmony Day promotional banner.
As we got closer to the Concentration Camp we started to chant and play our musical instruments. Our rhythmic chants together with the beats of the drums and the sounds of whistles and sax resonated through the night air – AZADI – FREEDOM – AZADI – FREEDOM – AZADI – FREEDOM and on it went. When we got to the main gates to the Concentration Camp many sat down on the ground and others shoulder to shoulder swayed to the songs we sang. The police stood still in their Darth Vader STAR wars get ups. A couple of us were arrested, one a young woman. Does it take a million dollar Star Wars riot squad to protect an electric razor fence? It seems it does in Australia today when people carrying musical instruments, kites and balloons, banners and flags, their passionate compassion in action voice a dissenting message.- FREE THE REFUGEES! END MANDATORY DETENTION! AZADI !
We went silent for a while to hear a response from those behind the electric wire. The first couple of silent moments between our songs and chants did not reveal anything. Then in one break between AZADI and FREEDOM we heard the faint reply AZADI from behind their walls. It was muffled by the barriers of ACM BUT we had made contact – they heard us and we heard them!
Heart Kite flying high.
On the way back we were pushed by a line of visar STAR war cops – on the road they drove a car with full beam lights in our direction slowly. This meant that your peripheral vision was stuffed and this way couldn’t see if a cop in dark is going to nab you. One of us got arrested with his back to the police. All he was doing was sitting on the gas pipe – away from others. On either side of the car the STAR cops were lined up moving in short robotic movements. About a third of the way back to our camp another group ran towards us through the desert from our left. They went to the other side of the Concentration Camp because they had information from inside the camp that the detainees had been moved there. Two fronts, two determined efforts to make contact with the refugees. The robocops chased them and they finally merged with our group uncaught. About half way up the hill we could just hear the Rock On Against Racism (ROAR) Concert. As we got closer the beats and the music got louder.
The next day we met back at the Sacred Fire where HOPE Caravan brought the FREEDOM / AZADI Gift for people to write their messages on. A decision was made to march back down to the Concentration Camp in the morning. Some members of the Caravan remained behind at the camp site. We came to Baxter to fly our kites and to fly our FREEDOM banner.
But that story’s for another time as are the many other stories that are going to be told by all of us who were at Baxter this Easter.
On Sunday we left about 10AM. There were many buses also leaving about 12PM so there would have been very few of the 500 left when the STAR cops raided the camp with their machine guns. I wasn’t there when that happened AND what I know is that we could have all been there. When they pointed their machine guns at the people left at our camp, they pointed it at my head as well. In fact the machine guns were pointed at every Australian’s head.
Kites against Uzi machine guns!
The act of dissent in Australia can now bring machine guns bearing at peoples’ heads for carrying camera tripods, arrest for placing yellow stars on rotting wooden fences and for flying a kite. Australia – where are we going? There were helium balloons at the camp when the STAR War cops raided it carrying machine guns. One tiny little mishap, like a balloon bursting at the most inopportune time, who knows how many of our children would have been massacred by machine gun fire. Would the government then argue “collateral damage done by friendly fire” on its own people! The lack of outrage at such an intemperate use of force speaks volumes about the Culture we are swimming in. It is crystallizing into a Police State and our right to dissent will be associated with terrorist activities. What else can explain the overkill at Baxter?
I want to say how proud I am to be associated with everyone of you who were at Baxter and those who supported us. Our passionate compassion carried musical instruments, kites, balloons, songs and chants of freedom as our messages of hope to the detainees. There were 500 of us with 357 of the STAR cops and when you include their helicopter and other weapons of mass intimidation you can see that the equation is not equal. Our protest was a complete success in that we made contact with the refugees imprisoned in the Concentration Camp and we have highlighted the draconian methods that are in place to stop frredom of speech and dissent in Australia. Think about it – a machinegun against a kite.
Then think about the message of peace given to us around the Sacred Fire by the Elders of the Land.
stavros
Stavros with Hope (in Farsi language) flag at the Baxter Camp.
This comes from an email newsletter I published between 2001 and 2004 called Imaginepeace Update. The newsletter was born due to the frustration and anger I felt towards the conservative Howard Government of Australia which was demonising asylum seekers and refugees. The climax came for me when John Howard, the Prime Minister, told the Australian people that the asylum seekers were throwing children overboard and the whole shameful Tampa boat incident. Just click on the links to get the historical picture.
Just after I started sending out the Imaginepeace Updates I heard from a friend that some people were organising to go to Woomera to support those behind the razor wire. I then organised a group of people in the Hunter region of NSW to go at Easter, 2002.
This was a social experiment as well because it was one of the first Actions in the world which was organised by using the Internet.
The Woomera Action to support the innocent refugees caged behind the razor wire in the desert was one of the world’s first social action protest to use the incredible organising facility of the Internet. Way back in 2002 when we were preparing the desert action the authorities did not think it was possible to organise a national protest action in the inhospitable Australian desert. The concept of a flat, non hierarchical matrix with networks which had no “leader”, no Central Control Commission (CCC) was a foreign concept to them. Ideas like “clusters” and “affinity groups” born in action by anarchists in the Spanish Civil War, yes the one that George Orwell went to fight in, were also foreign and did not compute in their strategic mindset. These early 20th Century ideas translated into the 21st Century Internet have proved incredibly powerful in the struggle by grass roots groups against authoritarianism.
The government thought the whole idea was crazy and doomed to failure. It is because they didn’t know the possibilities of organising using this new technology that the Woomera Action was so successful. Successful? Apart from the breakout of the refugees, the Woomera Detention Camp was closed down soon after the Action.
I believe that because the Festival of Freedoms was organised by the net, we took the authorities by surprise and this is why they weren’t prepared for us. The government did not think it was possible to organise a protest action out in the inhospitable desert. It had not factored in the logistical and organising matrix of the world wide web. Indeed, the concept of affinity groups and decentralised organic action with no centralised leaders also derailed their expectations. Another term for the organising principle we used is Segmented Polycentric Integrated Networks (SPINs). It was this experience which made the Flotillas of Hope Action to Nauru possible.
The Woomera2002 “logo”. The circles represent affinity groups, joined to the Spokes Council.
I remember talking with journalists, who just didn’t get it. They kept saying, “Take us to your Leader”. They didn’t comprehend a leaderless organising principle using a non – hierarchical web to facilitate Action. I kept humming to myself the song by Bob Dylan, “Ballad of a Thin Man” with its chorus “Something is going on and you don’t know what it is, do you Mr Jones?” whenever a journalist would try to work out who was the leader. We obviously had the “Megaphones” who were trying to take away the anarchic spirit manifesting in the moment and to channel it into a “Socialist” box, but the Action and the Freedom energy was too big for the “Megaphones” to control.
The events at Woomera Concentration Camp, Easter, 2002 where refugees escaped and we looked after the escapees in our tents meant that those present had to look deep into their conscience and act from their hearts. The Howard government threatened to put us all in gaol for 25 years and labelled us “terrorists”. Woomera was closed down soon after the Woomera Festival of Freedoms Action. I am proud of being there.
Anyway, go back in time and read an email I wrote in 2002.
stavros
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Hard copy flyer for the Festival of Freedoms. Very few of these were made because the Action was web based. Flyer displayed in sections here and below.
This is the original Woomera 2002 “logo” for the website which helped create the Festival of Freedoms Action. The Flotillas of Hope, 2004 can be seen as a child of Woomera 2002.
Good Friday at Woomera, 2002
Only now do I feel that I can write my account of what happened on Good Friday at Woomera. The last couple of weeks I’ve been in another mental and emotional state. It is only now that I can see it was due to the life transforming events at the razor wire of the Woomera Concentration Camp.
I and ten others from Newcastle and Sydney travelled together on the HOPE Caravan. The HOPE Caravaners – Jane, Ruth, Norman, Sabrina, Dave, Ross, Melanie, Margaret, Paul, Elizabeth and myself set off from Newcastle to go to Woomera at Easter. Woomera is a desert town in South Australia about 500 kms north west from Adelaide. It is a town in a huge, what the Times Atlas calls, Military Prohibited Area which covers about 200,000 square kilometers. Woomera is also near Maralinga, the only place in Australia which has had a nuclear bomb drop on it, wounding our country and releasing radiation which has killed many Aboriginal people and others.
Free the refugees!
Woomera is the place where Australia houses one of six concentration camps for innocent asylum seekers. Woomera,Curtin and Port Hedland because of their isolation can also be seen as gulags. So, the smiling hospitable face of Australia, with its beautiful fireworks and eternity on the Sydney Harbour Bridge during the Olympic Games, 2000 now in 2002, has razor wire braces with tear gas and capsicum spray replacing the fireworks. Eternity is now a leaking boat carrying desperate people seeking asylum…which we, as a country deter and deny. The open harbour is now a gulag in some inhospitable desert. Is this Australia? Which face is ours? Was the smiling, welcoming face shown to over 2 billion people across the globe during the Olympics just a public relations act? Whatever it was, our Prime Minister ensured that his smiling face would like wall paper blend into the Big Olympic Welcome Smile. In two years the self image of Australia and the image seen across the globe have undergone a transformation, like watching a movie – Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde – Dorian Gray and Time, where the prince is now a toad – transformation in reverse.
A local Broken Hill newspaper article about us “spreading the word” as to why we were going to Woomera. The night at the pub was an amzing experience of open discussion and almost fist fighting then concluding with hugs. Talking beats fighting ALWAYS!
Funny thing happened along the way with our name. Hunter Organisation for Peace and Equity took on new skin and became Hunter Organism for Peace and Equity. The transformation from an organisation to an organism became complete when we arrived at Woomera on Good Friday. There we saw and felt what it was like to be part of a living Organism. An organisation is too structured, it smells of committees and hierarchy, in fact, in the context of HOPE it can be nuanced as corporate. The cry of FREEDOM from the detainees at Woomera Concentration Camp, resonated with our empathic and sympathetic cry of FREEDOM on the other side of the razor wire. We cried with them as they cried with us – real tears, wet ones. The detainees freed themselves – we have footage to show this and will be available on the new hopecaravan website. We freed ourselves by our presence, actions and awareness. Whether it was a balls up by ACM and the State to allow the detainees to escape or whether it was a miracle, the fact is detainees now know that there are people, Australians, that care and don’t want innocent asylum seekers caged like animals.
Sign on our bus, on the way to Woomera.
The living reality of travelling together for days to participate in a festival of freedoms precluded an “organisation” but allowed the living practice of inclusion and a trust that whatever a member did or said as part of HOPE Caravan was speaking and acting on all of our behalfs. One for all and all for one! HOPE has many tongues, arms, legs, hearts and minds. I saw that we, ordinary people, together with a common intent can achieve wonders without hierarchy, without leaders. Working from a matrix of networks whose diversity reflects the diversity within each affinity group achieved more than we dreamed was possible.
Broken Hill supporters made kites to fly when we passed through their town.
The combined presence by all woomera2002 activists gave hope to those without papers behind the razor wire.
The first razor wire fence to fall on the way to supporting the refugees.
Two members of HOPE Caravan, are maintaining a presence at Woomera having established the Woomera Refugee Embassy. By their presence the detainees have some hope and a clearing house for their voices. Other members of HOPE will be visiting the Refugee Embassy at Woomera. If you are interested in visiting and supporting HOPE’s efforts in Woomera become a member of the hopecaravan email group hopecaravan-subscribe@yahoogroups.com and visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hopecaravan/
A hand painted message by local Newcastle people to the refugees.
Perhaps Woomera2002 at Easter will only be a short footnote in some Australian history text book in the years to come. Perhaps it won’t be recorded at all in any official version of history. As we all know, footnotes don’t tell the whole story. And, “History” as catalogued in the State’s book shelf has great need of revision to include herstory and ourstory to reflect the diversity of time bodies and experiences of all Australians….better still as Earthlings. One Earth under One Sky.
Stavros
One of several tennis balls we wrote AZADI – (FREEDOM in Farsi) on them and threw them to the refugees.
imaginepeace update April 2, 2002
hi everyone,
some desert dust must have gone into my laptop so the shift key don’t work. spoke to dave last night just after returning to morpeth. He told me everything he said on the email. so, yes dave and ross obviously have all our support. we must now consider ongoing support for both re money etc. julian burnside qc will be defending the arrested ones in may along with dave…this is great news.
yesterday i had an interview with sbs world news and this morning i’m waiting on a call from darwin abc. sbs was particularly interested in the stories about the viloent protest. i made it very clear that the whole event was peaceful and that none of us expected the detainees to escape. they wanted info on our weapons….weapons indeed…all we had were our sympathetic hearts, open arms to receive the freed ones. the only rock thrown was one by our fellow hope memebr, paul, who wrapped a 50 dollar note around it and a detainee caught it like a good cricketer.
———————————
i just finished the interview with darwin abc and the reporter said that it will more than likely be broadcast nationally on abc radio, probably lunch time today. all journos are interested in the so called violence and planned actions to free the detainees. i have made it clear to everyone who has spoken with me that there were no weapons, that we did not plan to liberate the detainees ..that we were thrilled with the outcome, that the freed detainees came to the woomera2002 camp where we gave support and hid them from the authorities, that as far as i knew thru telephone contact that the detainees freed had in some way been spirited away from woomera were safe and being looked after by fellow protesters, that i don’t know where they are, that yes, we realise that to support escaped detainees carries a jail sentence, that as far as i am concerned the detainees should be free because they are innocent asylum seekers who should never be incarcerated in a concentration camp, that the concentration camps are illegal from a global human rights perspective, that as far as i know, no escapees went wandering into the desert.
we have now entered the propaganda war phase. i told both sbs and abc that the whole thing could have been a set up to allow us to enter the area, to pull down the first fence with no resistance from police, that sand bags were left on the ground which we used to keep the razor wire covered so that our brothers and sisters could walk on the fallen fence without any fear of being cut. when the detainees wriggled and squeezed through the iron bars of the cage, no police tried to stop tyhem. i believe that the authorities who knew about the woomera2002 event beforehand moved a whole bunch of detainees before we arrived and had kept only 300 there, the detainees that could not be processed, “the ones who more than likely were criminals etc”, funny about that because there many children still in detention…criminal kids! So, I think that the authorities made it easy for us and the detainees whoescaped so that they could then orchestrate stories using one off pictures to “prove” their point that we are a bunch of “soccer hooligans”. In other words, the demonisation of asylum seekers is now being perpetrated on australian citizens, peaceful protesters. But, they will not get away with this…we have our own footage, we have our own voices, we have our own support and we are articulate – we speak english and we have our own alternative media thru the internet.
The propaganda wars have begun. Truth will prevail! thanks to all of you who have shown support in every conceivable way. We now have to write letters to newspapers, write articles, talk with the media. I will work on the HOPE Website today and see if i can upload images etc . i have hundreds and Paul has great video footage which I will pick up on saturday which I will transform into didgital images to be uploaded.
See you all soon. peace, love and joy steve g AKA stavros
“The darkest places in hell are reserved for those who remain neutral in times of moral crisis” – Dante
This picture was adapted from an original pencil drawing done by an inmate of Woomera. He gave us permission to use this image on our Hope Caravan Group Homepage.
We brought along a giant kite which flew the FREEDOM banner in the sky! Refugees who escaped told us in our tent that they could see it flying high in the sky above their razor wired prison.
We met, as affinity groups, to discuss and strategise during the Spokescouncils. Democracy – in – Action!
We had to bring our own water because we were in the desert. The water tank was organised by Melbourne groups and is here draped over by HOPE Caravan’s FREEDOM Banner.
Flyer distributed by No One Is Illegal group in Melbourne.
Woomera – Saturday Night is the loneliest night ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There is a buzz around the camp after a successfull 48 hours of direct action. People believe that we are now able to permantly close down the concentration camp. 2000 people at Easter, 10,000 at Christmas. Live gigs have started and the party is begining to rock. http://melbourne.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=24300&group=webca st
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A protester’s account of being arrested for being ‘suspected of being a detainee’ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It’s not easy being brown. But it can be a lot of fun. Late last night we found our campsite completely surrounded by cops and APS officers waiting to nab the friends that we had rescued from Woomera. I thought it would be both amusing and a good waste of their time and resources if they did catch a detainee — if that `detainee’ was me.
So I headed for the police roadblock where I was surrounded by seven or eight cops who grabbed me sneering “You’re one of those escaped detainees, aren’tcha?”
I denied this (in a very bad, stereotypically Middle-Eastern accent), and then started yelling that I wanted a lawyer, that I was a citizen, I had rights, etc. etc. These morons actually fell for what was becoming the most pathetic impersonation of a detainee ever performed and decided to search me, removing lethal weapons such as tic tacs, extra shoelaces and my toothbrush.
I was freaking out that such a ridiculous plan was actually working, so I dropped my silly accent and told the cops that I was in fact an Australian citizen with identification back at camp. Not good enough – this little darkie got arrested. They forced me into the back of their van, locked me in and drove me to the station.
When I was removed from the van I was photographed and then had all my stuff — beanie, shoes, necklaces — confiscated. A religious necklace that I couldn’t remove was cut from my neck. I colourfully told the cops how badly they had screwed up their arrest and about my rights, to which one of them responded that I was suspected of being a detainee AND HAD NO RIGHTS. Well, that’s just fucking dandy, isn’t it? If you happen to be brown and near a detention centre, some pigs in a van can rock up and do whatever they like to you because you happen to be the right colour. Never mind that I was a Bangladeshi immigrant speaking fluent English — I could just as easily have been one of those damn Afghani terrorists who escaped and are a threat to society at large.
So I was handcuffed and put in a cell with 12 detainees who told me about how they had been beaten when they were captured. Among them was a 12 year-old boy who we had seen bashed earlier as well as a 14 year-old and a man who had been savaged by APS pigs.
All the detainees had scars and bruising either from beatings or suicide attempts. They told me about how they would rather fight to stay in the jail cell — a bare concrete floor with an open ceiling — than be taken back to Woomera. The men told me about the `jobs’ they have (toilet cleaning, dishwashing and maintenance) which pay around a dollar an hour. The money they earn goes towards buying things like shoes and thongs from a `shop’ in the camp.
Finally, an APS official called `Mr Dan’ came in. I can’t think of anything about Woomera that made it seem like a concentration camp more than watching a group of men call out serial numbers instead of their own names.
When the police realised their mistake, I was driven back to camp. I don’t know what will happen to my friends who were in the cell with me. But being arrested for being brown reflects what is driving the entire refugee debate: ignorance. People too culturally ignorant to tell one kind of person from another, people too stupid to recognise diversity and people too stubborn to accept others. It scares me that we live in a country where you can be arrested for the colour of your skin. But it scares me more that you can be locked away indefinitely for it while a nation turns its back on you.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Desert Spectacle – there’s neither violence or non-violence out here — it’s pure spectacle ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Amid all the talk and text, and among all the hype and hyperbole surrounding the actions of the last two days, the poles of “violent” and “non-violent” have, as is typical, been the ends we are supposed to have swung between. But I beg to differ.
Pure SPECTACLE has been the master of our desert existence.
We all came here spurred by the image of spectacle, and from the moment we arrived we assumed lead roles in its temporary show.
It was neither violence or non-violence that saw us march across the dusty span between us and them. Nor did the circus music we marched to, or the pink PVC clad activo-expressionists have anything to do with violence or non-violence — it was pure spectacle.
It was the spectacle of the absurd — absurd tactics countering absurd politics and policy. We were all moving pictures, media sluts once removed. The whole action was captured on film at every angle — spectacular fodder for the spectacle machine. I saw a guy asked to start drumming again — by a channel 7 cameraman! — of course he obliged.
So if we think of the intensity and degree of spectacle involved here I think it’s clear that we’re not trapped in the dichotomy of violence or non-violence, but willing actors in the spectacle of the desert — and, may I say, it’s working.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Solidarity at Woomera Jail ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A small, peaceful support group spent today in front of Woomera police station, offering our support (and bail sureties) to the people inside as best we could. Protestors from inside and outside the detention centre fences were held there, and could often be heard singing between negotiations with the police. The police were friendly, letting us pass in cigarettes, food and legal contact numbers and treating those inside the jail with respect as negotiations around bail conditions went on.
In the afternoon, our crew walked closer to the fence and yelled ‘We’re still here’ to make sure they knew they had support. We realised we could see some of the people inside if we angled our heads around a few tarps, and waved and exchanged hellos with the people inside. After a few minutes an officer politely asked us to move away, and we did, happy to have seen our friends and comrades smiling back at us.
The town was quiet, but a few locals walked by, some offering words of support. One offered to get us some fresh water from his house if we needed it, and joked that the locals understood it had all been an accident and that the wind had knocked down the fence. His friends offered elaborate advice on how we could fold newspapers to channel that wind power at future protests. It was very encouraging to be reminded that some people in town are supportive of our presence and our actions. We are proud of the fact that we’ve maintained a nonviolent presence outside the prison all day, and we hope for the speedy release of all the incarcerated.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ comments to a post: “Summing up the Damage” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What has happened at Woomera is a huge morale boost for the refugees, who now know that there ARE many Australians who care about them. The secrecy around detention of refugees has finally been broken down in the last few months, and the refugees have finally been given a human face and voice and more truth is coming out.
Ruddock/Howard and co. will have a lot of brainstorming to do for their public image.
If anything… consider this. The detainees have consistently been told that no-one in australia cares about them, even been told they are there for their own protection from an australia that hates them… their plight. Well now they at least can sleep at night with hope. Hope knowing that they aren’t alone. Aren’t totally isolated. That there ARE people on the outside who care … and maybe just maybe those of us on the outside can see what a group of determined people can achieve. Shut em all down!!! Lets finish the job at Woomera and move on to the next one.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Another red-dust dawn ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was strange spending a night in a camp surrounded on all sides by a police line. Even at midnight, when the shifts changed and there were very few cops on the ground, it was an eerie feeling. It must have been worse for the detainees that were with us, surrounded by unfamiliar faces, by a line of cops that wanted to put them back in a cage, and finally by the desert. But this is not some white-urban activist grief session — they knew that any chance was better than no chance. And we had worked together to make the escapes happen (spontaneous as it was). They told us during the night of the beatings and the suffering inside the camp. They told us of the endless wait — 24 months, 26 months,… – just to know whether they could stay in Australia on a temporary visa or whether they would be deported back to face persecution, imprisonment or death.
All wanted to get out of the camp and to Adelaide or some major city. Some struck out on their own, others went with drivers from the camp to see how far they could get. We knew of the road block down at Pt Augusta, but some figured that there would be back ways around the town. The police say they have over 20 in custody, and 17 people who were helping them, but we also know that the detainees within the camp have been protesting all night so they couldn’t do a head count. Inside and out, we were doing what we could.
Dawn was quiet. The police sweep we expected didn’t happen. The police presence around the camp was light. The rumored truckloads of federal police didn’t appear. And we had all heard the talk of a fall out between the SA police and the APS. But the morning turned into afternoon, set-up continued, and (yet more) meetings happened. The direct action planned for the afternoon turned into a peaceful ‘colour and movement’ march through the prohibited area check point. And we are taking it slowly through the rest of the weekend, trying to keep clear and focused on why we are here.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A Personal Account ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I don’t know were to start except that I am still left with this strong feeling of responsibility out of my depth. Having people in my care, having no idea how to deal with it.
I never expected this to happen. Suddenly we have these people half way out, and what seems like a hopeless situation, theres only so much you can disguise someone, we’re trapped in the desert, everywhere to run, but no were to go.
We were so tired, the campsite surrounded by riot police, road blocks.
All you want to do with this big secret is divulge, tell everyone and share the burden, but you can’t. There were people more involved than me, people willing to drive out.
One of my friends was arrested with detainees, – today he’s on bail, apparently there is some tension between the south australian police who want to press charges, and the Federals who want to press on. It’s a serious offence, aiding and abetting, my friend faces 4 years in jail. It seems so unfair.
What would you do, if a refuge arrived on your doorstep? Suddenly we had people in our tents, and amongst the crowd. People with bruises and scars, with pleading eyes, and their own long stories. There is no choice, like the guys who helped the Jews in Germany said, – it was not a question of whether to help but how.
This guy was from Afghanistan; he has a sister my age and 3 brothers, he is hardly older than me, and hasn’t seen or heard from his family for a year and a half. He’s been in Woomera for a year. We wanted him to decide what he wanted to do.
His quiet unreadable face is suddenly tense, `Please, I don’t want to go back, I can’t go back inside.’ I asked what it is like – `it is like prison, we are not allowed to sleep at night, all we do is walk around [the room,] there is nothing to do, no work to fill up the time, all we do is eat and sleep, eat and sleep.’
He was there, sitting, expecting me to help, to know what to do, I have no idea, I try to be honest that his chances aren’t good, to find out what all the best options are, I want to go to bed and pretend it will all go away.
It seemed that for him this was just more of the same, the hiding, fleeing, the persecution and the fear…. I asked if he had to fight in Afghanistan, he said no, asked if I knew there had been 24 years of fighting in Afghanistan, that the Taliban were persecuting people. He said that there were many people who did not want to fight, but that they had ways of taking people and making them fight.
This morning he is gone, It is not clear that he’s been caught I don’t know what happened, perhaps he might get away.
No one expected this to happen, I don’t have very much in the way of analysis right now, all I have is a very strong sense of the real and human side of what is happening. But that there are some people amongst my friends and the people here who were much braver and selfless than I was, that there is a lot of suffering in the world, and when it landed on my doorstep, I didn’t know how to deal with it.
———————————- And someone posted this comment in response:
we all share the same anguish – the story of those who were asked to help the refugees escape is a mirror to the question each australian must ask themselves shall i allow others to suffer when i can prevent it. all the protesters did a great job fought for something a lot of australians strongly believe in ‘free the refugees’
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ STATEMENT BY 16 ARRESTED WOOMERA REFUGEES FROM FRIDAY 29th MARCH’S BREAKOUT. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“We have made the world hell with racism, colours, religionism, ethnics and so on. Businesses and wrong diplomacy. ACM is bad, Australian Government is bad, Australian people are good. Detention centre still continues day by day. You will see what is going on.”
This statement was given to my friend from the refugees on a piece of paper. They have told my friend who was locked up in the same cell today that “ACM are evil” and that they called them “the Mafia”. They all said that they are beaten every day and never get let outside. They also said that they are not fed properly. They say that if they escape 3 times they get deported, and they said that some of them will commit suicide before they get deported.
My friend talked to the police and saw the police books and said that 47 refugees escaped the compound of which 37 have been arrested. 10 refugees are still unaccounted for. 9 protesters have been charged with harbouring.
In jail my friends said the refugees danced and sang for them. In return my friend rapped a rhyme about refugees to them which they all danced to. They thank us for all our support.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ WOOMERA LEGAL SUPPORT GROUP PRESS RELEASE by Mick Lumsden & Sarah Nicholson 8:22pm Sat Mar 30 ’02 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Woomera Legal support group expresses its concern over the statements and actions of the Australian Protective Services and the South Australian Police over the last two days.
The legal support group is supporting the 16 protestors that have been charged with Harbouring Escapees under the Criminal Law Consolidation Act.
The Woomera Legal support group understands that the only violence perpetrated has been initiated by the police. The police have a lawful right to use reasonable force to arrest people, but they have to accept the moral responsibility for violence they initiate — they cannot shift that blame onto non-violent protestors. Again we are witnessing breaches of the fundamental right to protest.
We strongly dispute the police’s assertion that the behaviour of the protestors has caused injury to the Asylum Seekers and to themselves. Reports of what is occurring inside the detention centre describe gross injustices. The detainees themselves have stated that there are reprisal beatings for those taken back to the detention centre after escape. Not only is their detention a breach of international refugee and human rights law, but the conditions in which they are being detained are inhumane.
We are extremely concerned about the lack of legal and other support for the detainees, particularly those in police custody. The Woomera Lawyers have already been refused access to those inside the detention centre over the long weekend. The detainees being held by the South Australian Police have none of the usual rights accorded to Australian citizens on arrest.
The Legal Support Group believes that the actions of the nonviolent protestors during this demonstration at Woomera contribute to destroying the veil of secrecy and silence that surrounds the detention centre by publicising and making transparent the conditions inside the centre.
We believe the existence of the detention centre is a disruption to the peace and security of the community of Woomera and the rest of Australia and until it is closed this situation will continue.
When I saw him yesterday, he seemed so at peace with himself. He was sitting in a half lotus with his bare feet crossing over each other on his sofa. The mandala tattoo just above his ankle balanced with the diamond shaped crystal dangling from his neck. We shared some green tea and he smiled gently as he closed the book before him.
He was an old friend, someone I hadn’t seen for a long while and in that time our paths had diverged. He found spiritual bliss and I found more reasons to struggle for peace. He found inner peace, so he told me, whereas I found inner warfare, so I told him. His holy war had been won, mine had just started as it had done so continuously for a long time.
“You are caught up in a duality,” he said smiling with a humility that seemed calculated, “You think that you can change the world but all that you can change is yourself.”
He was referring to the fact that I had asked him to join me in action, an action to support those who cannot speak or act for themselves because of their current circumstances. I asked him to join me and others to act in support of the refugees imprisoned in the concentration camps of Australia. In particular, to join others in the Festival of Freedoms at Woomera in Easter, 2002.
I replied, “But what if my self is larger than that circumscribed by my skin? What if my self includes the whole planet? In that case when I see suffering and injustice outside of my body, then it is still within me.”
He laughed, “Well, in that case your ego is bigger than mine!”
He adjusted his posture by letting go of his half lotus and allowing his leg to fall straight down over the side of the sofa. He leant forward placing his elbows on his knees and his dangling crystal now swayed like a pendulum between us. Incense smoke spiralled upwards from the joss stick burning on the coffee table before us.
I could see his point but somehow it still didn’t feel right. I said, “Ego, big or small is always going to be here. Tell me what do you do if you see your neighbour’s house burning down? Do you say that your house is OK so why worry about your neighbour’s?”
“I would immediately help extinguish the fire. For me the plight of refugees and wars on the other side of the planet are things I can’t do anything about. I aim for inner peace through my meditation and this in itself will do far more for the refugees and war than anything your protests and actions will ever do. Why? Because I am changing myself, I recognise that all true change must start with my self. Your protests and actions add more ‘noise’ to the whole situation. Create an oasis of silence and peace within yourself. This will have far more impact than going out on the street or facing the razor wire of the camps. Change yourself – that’s all you need to do!”
He took another sip of his tea and stared me in the eyes…. or was he staring at the point between my eyes in my forehead, the so called third eye? I couldn’t tell except that I felt a certain intensity of effort from his gaze, that he was trying to change my perspective by using subliminal energies directed at me. Of course, he was kidding himself if he was trying to do this.
Yes, our paths had diverged. While I saw that it is important to work on one self and to recognise that what goes on inside, behind your eyes, affects what goes on outside oneself, I also felt that one could not just rest in one’s relaxed navel and allow others to suffer. Can one carry the “oasis of silence” found within to external places of sorrow and injustice, to share the peace? I asked myself.
Ouraboros resting on a relaxed navel.
I met his gaze and then wondered if it was within or without me as I walked away.
stavros
“The darkest places in hell are reserved for those who remain neutral in times of moral crisis.” – Dante
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Thank you for visiting Journeys and Star Gazing. Here there's stories of my various journeys, some inner but mostly outer; photos, song lyrics, poems, astrological readings and interpretations, I Ching speculations, quotes from people I admire and some cool graphics. There are reflections and archival material on various human rights campaigns I have been involved in over the years. With these, some have a "Star Gazing" interpretive filter.
Posts include my interests in alchemy, magic, kabbalah, consciousness studies, the Fourth Way and anything else that may enter my sphere of living. I hope you enjoy your visit. I'd love to hear from you in the comments.
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Thank you for visiting Journeys and Star Gazing. Here there's stories of my various journeys, some inner but mostly outer; photos, song lyrics, poems, astrological readings and interpretations, I Ching speculations, quotes from people I admire and some cool graphics. There are reflections and archival material on various human rights campaigns I have been involved in over the years. With these, some have a "Star Gazing" interpretive filter. 
Journeys and Star Gazing 