Australia's own Gitmo

Australia's own Gitmo - and shame

Here is a country "run" by a PM who is an avowed Roman Catholic, and a Minister for Immigration who claims to be a man of faith, who are presiding over Australia's own Gitmo. Forget about Christian values or charity! - let alone complying with international law.

Jeff Sparrow, writing in The Guardian in "Australia's sick and proud message to the world: refugees are going to suffer" explains......

"Last week, we learned that the Australian government had funded a nasty little comic book intended to deter those seeking asylum from making the journey to Australia; the narrative culminates with images of asylum seekers languishing miserably in mosquito-plagued camps.

Perhaps an updated version can now depict them being shot or hacked at with machetes.

Why not? That’s the logic of deterrence, isn’t it? Continue to make refugees miserable until the oppression they face from Australians becomes worse than that which they’re fleeing.

Immigration minister Scott Morrison has, naturally, provided few details of the tragedy unfolding on Manus Island other than to confirm the death of one asylum seeker and injuries to 77 others during a riot in the Australian-sponsored detention centre, but description from refugee advocate Ian Rintoul sounds almost like a tsarist pogrom:

'Gangs of armed police and locals actually went from compound to compound, hunting down asylum seekers and inflicting very serious injuries on people that they got their hands on.'

Continue reading here.

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