We are refugees, not criminals
The Guardian October 3 | 09.10.2001 10:06
"We are refugees. We are not criminals". Those words from a refugee being hauled off the troop ship "HMAS Manoora" by SAS commandos last Monday were like a cry for help from a drowning man. It was a call also to all Australians who hold fast to a belief in democracy and human rights, to a "fair go". It has emerged that those who came ashore were tricked into leaving the ship and that five men and a woman who resisted were attacked and beaten by the SAS.
The Iraqi and Palestinian asylum seekers had banded together in their refusal to disembark on to Nauru, where it was intended they would be locked behind the razor wire of an Australian-sponsored prison camp and "processed". Labelled "illegals" by the Howard Government, they knew the outcome was already decided against their being given resident status.
That they were hoodwinked by lies and then removed by force by the military demonstrates the lengths the Government is willing to go in order to ride its refugee-bashing ticket all the way to the federal election.
The Government also showed its paternalistic and pompous attitude toward the people of Nauru who have welcomed the refugees with a warmth and humanity that highlights even more the jackbooted arrogance of Prime Minister Howard and his Defence Minister Reith and Immigration Minister Ruddock. They stand condemned before the world community.
The Guardian October 3
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