Tag: Refugees

Australian Politics

Actuarial Justice: Released Refugees and Secondary Punishment – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Isn’t this a case of the dog wagging the tail the only political strategy the LNP pursues whether in Opposition or in Government which has been a total disservice to this nation for the whole of this century. The ALP in the meantime does what is required of responsible management to carry out its promises without media support. How on earth can we believe the likes of Dutton and Cash they need to go the way of Price and Mundine so heavily promoted in the media before the referendum but gone like smoke immediately after.

While the government has included the judiciary in the process of seeking re-detention, the process has a distinctly punitive flavor, constituting a form of secondary punishment. It is also especially discriminatory, applying to non-Australian citizens. Yet again, the non-citizen is being treated as a non-person. As Michelle Peterie and Amy Nethery pertinently observe, “Australians with the same criminal histories and risk profiles will not be subject to the preventative detention regime under this legislation.” A potential legal challenge, for precisely that reason, maybe in the offing.

Source: Actuarial Justice: Released Refugees and Secondary Punishment – » The Australian Independent Media Network

ALP Government,

Refugees in ‘limbo’ eligible for permanent residency – Michael West

Almost 20,000 refugees living in “limbo” in Australia will now be eligible to apply for permanent residency.

Source: Refugees in ‘limbo’ eligible for permanent residency – Michael West

Russia -Ukraine

Ukraine war: why Russians fleeing conscription should be treated as refugees

So how should the west respond to young Russian men fleeing to avoid military service? Politically and legally, according to international law, they must be given protection.

Source: Ukraine war: why Russians fleeing conscription should be treated as refugees

LNP, LNP Government, LNP Tactics

They were trapped in immigration detention for nine years. Here’s what life after the Park Hotel looks like – ABC News

Two men stand next to each other.

Morrison simply can’t speak to the truth because to the truth of the matter would condemn and reveal him to be what he is on a larger and more intense scale than currently publicly seen. It’s why he’s currently being condemned by so many members within the Liberal Party and why so many are abandoning the Party in numbers and droves never seen before. The Party has shifted to no longer be  a diversity of individual opinions to become one of strategists tactitionsand liars to achieve one mans goal and win at any cost.

Should Morrison win this election the cycle of shattered promises and increased repression will be felt in the first year revealing truth and fakery. But shortly after Morrison’s campaign of lies and illusion will begin again with media aid forging a path to the election in 2025. Dealing in the lies is now the norm, to win the goal, ignore democracy, serve oneself and  a select group supporters and have those least likely to vote for you pay. Groups, organizations and Institutions like ABC, Universities, the Arts, were critical thought might flourish will be dismantled or neutered. Systems that maintain power and enable reward to trickle, no flow up not down strengthened. As a consequence decisions that serve the Nation merely secondary in intent. This has been the increasing autocratic nature of the LNP this century and their ever increasing move to the extreme and religious right.

Since arriving in Minnesota, local support groups have found the cousins a two-bedroom rental property, helped pay the bills and provided medical assistance. “As soon as we came here, they treated us with dignity,” Mehdi says. “Australia has never done that.” Former immigration minister in the Fraser government, Ian Macphee, says the Coalition’s track record with refugees makes him ashamed to be Australian. “People like Mehdi have committed no crime and yet have been locked up with no idea of when they’ll ever get out,” Macphee says. “The inhumanity of it is appalling, it’s racist and it’s hidden from most of us.” On March 24, Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews announced Australia had agreed to New Zealand’s offer to take some of the boat arrivals, an offer made nine years ago. Mehdi welcomed the news but was sceptical: “I think they’re just trying to say before the election, ‘Look, we made a deal’.”

Source: They were trapped in immigration detention for nine years. Here’s what life after the Park Hotel looks like – ABC News

Scott Morrison

‘Sorry’ Lambie speaks out on secret refugee deal

jacqui lambie nz refugees

Morrison’s ART of the DEAL. Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap

Senator Lambie wept in late 2019 as she voted in favour of repealing the laws. Prime Minister Scott Morrison refused to reveal at the time if there was a “secret deal” to allow the refugees to eventually resettle in NZ. He has repeatedly denied any plans to accept the offer – including while standing with NZ PM Jacinda Ardern in early 2019. “When it comes to the New Zealand arrangement … the Australian government has no plans to take up that arrangement whatsoever,” he said. On Thursday, Senator Lambie confirmed that a deal did exist – claiming that Mr Morrison had even told her she could go to jail if she revealed it.

Source: ‘Sorry’ Lambie speaks out on secret refugee deal

Informed Comment

The River of Refugees becomes a Flood as 84 Million flee War, Violence and Tyranny

Our arbitrary borders, miserly aid, and cruel policies ensure that those most victimized by conflict will remain adrift, wandering the planet in search of safety, discarded by the rest of us as marginal people on the margins of an unforgiving world.

Source: The River of Refugees becomes a Flood as 84 Million flee War, Violence and Tyranny

Fight against Fake News, Fighting Fake News

Old Dog Thought- Morrison tried to blind himself, got Covid and isolated to prove Aussies really like him, oops!!

Fighting Fake News with REAL 5/3/22; 56.5%/43.5% ; Broken Promises; News Corp is in Damage Control; Good/Bad/Refugees; Abbott’s Back Rep for the “Cooling Planet”

Scott Morrison

Clean Our Mess: Release Guantánamo Detainees in the U.S., Close the Camp | The Smirking Chimp

Australia’s Shame is the worst it has been as we still treat Asylum Seekers in much the same way as America treats those in Guantanamo while our media pundits like Chris Kenny call it a holiday and Morrison denies they are even refugees. Humans who have been detained without trial for 20 years in the uS and here for a decade. Children have grown up in our detention camps. Meanwhile Commandant Morrison publicly lies and says said there are “no refugees” being detained at the Park Hotel.

Notice, I did say over three dozen. That’s because all 39 Guantánamo victims are legally innocent under American law, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. None of them have ever faced trial in an actual civilian courtroom and never will because their testimony was extracted under duress. KSM, for example, was infamously waterboarded 182 times. If the rule of law and due process mean anything, all 39 prisoners — not just those who have been cleared to leave — should not be transferred to maximum-security prisons on the American mainland, as liberals generally suggest. They should all be released in the United States and given every possible resource to live out their lives peacefully and successfully.

Source: Clean Our Mess: Release Guantánamo Detainees in the U.S., Close the Camp | The Smirking Chimp

Australia's Shame

Time to end the ‘criminality with impunity’ of Australia’s immigration detention regime – » The Australian Independent Media Network

The unfitness for office of Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his coalition government now stands comprehensively exposed. Yet the apparent criminality of Liberal-National cruelty to immigration detainees has somehow remained largely unexposed, unprevented, and unpunished for nearly a decade.

Source: Time to end the ‘criminality with impunity’ of Australia’s immigration detention regime – » The Australian Independent Media Network

Australia's pride, Australia's Shame

Migrants Are Increasingly Crossing the English Channel—and Dying Along the Way | Washington Monthly

Migrants' Boat

Howard,Abbott, and Morrison’s legacy lowered the bar on how refugees and asylum seekers should be treated globally. They inspired Trump’s wall and Australia has never been seen in the same light ever since. It’s certainly not the place of a “fair go”. Abbott was still promoting his inhumane policies in the UK even recently while in the guise of a ” unpaid trade advisor”. These national leaders raised the bar on Australia’s shame, and lowered the one on our our pride, and international image in the worst of all possible ways.

At the end of September, nearly 700 migrants and refugees were rescued from an overloaded 50-foot boat limping in off the coast of Lampedusa. And just three weeks ago, 75 people drowned in those blinding turquoise waters. As long as wars continue to displace people and repressive governments deny them basic rights like freedom of thought, protection from torture, and an education, they will continue to risk everything for a chance at a better life.

Source: Migrants Are Increasingly Crossing the English Channel—and Dying Along the Way | Washington Monthly

Australia's Shame

The pattern is clear: Australia’s next election will be a competition on cruelty | Behrouz Boochani | The Guardian

Kurdish-Iranian born journalist Behrouz Boochani, spent spent six years in Australian-run detention on Manus Island before seeking asylum in New Zealand.

In 2021, the refugees who are still exiled to PNG are again abandoned and remain without any future. They are the only side of this story that is continually damaged – it is their lives that have been destroyed and it is their dreams that have been extinguished. This policy of exile has been exposed as an abject failure in a myriad of ways and it is the Australian public’s choice as to whether they want to be manipulated again or not.

Source: The pattern is clear: Australia’s next election will be a competition on cruelty | Behrouz Boochani | The Guardian

Uncategorized

Twenty Years After the Tampa Affair, Australia’s Left Must Keep Standing Up for Refugees

In 2001, conservative prime minister John Howard demonized 433 refugees who had been rescued at sea. It inaugurated an era of racist, abusive policies toward asylum seekers in Australia — and a movement that fights in solidarity with refugees.

Source: Twenty Years After the Tampa Affair, Australia’s Left Must Keep Standing Up for Refugees

Fight against Fake News, Fighting Fake News

Old Dog Thought-Murdoch changing is just a sleight of hand the equivalent of doing a repeat of his Alan Bond chamelion oscar performance for the benefit of his advertisers.
News Corp’s shift, if it sticks, could pave the way for both main political parties to support a more aggressive approach to reducing carbon emissions.

Fighting Fake News with REAL 10/9/21; Tampa, Refugees, Morrison, Republican LNP; News Corp Chamelion ploy;

Scott Morrison

Scott Morrison has destroyed Australia’s humanity

Under Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Australia no longer displays compassion and humanity towards those in need, writes Rosalind Fuller. MANY ARTICLES have been written over the last few weeks about the current refugee crisis in Afghanistan as well as the 20 year anniversary of the Tampa debacle, both now inextricably linked. What has also been featured in the commentary is that previous prime ministers, including two Liberal PMs, responded to previous humanitarian crises by offering refuge to people fleeing violence, persecution and in the aftermath of wars. The acceptance of refugees was not always supported by the populace or the political party’s base. These figures are worth restating. Malcolm Fraser, between 1976 and 1982, accepted almost 70,000 Vietnamese refugees (so-called “boat people” — because how you flee apparently matters). A tearful Bob Hawke was so incensed at the Tiananmen Square massacre he made a ‘unilateral decision in 1989 to let the 27,000 Chinese students [that were]present in Australia stay’ and ultimately ‘grant a total of 42,000 permanent visas for Chinese students’. Tony Abbott (not known as a beacon of tolerant politics) in 2015 offered 12,000 Syria

Source: Scott Morrison has destroyed Australia’s humanity

Australia's Shame

We should be better than this – » The Australian Independent Media Network

In a world where developed democracies such as Canada, the US and Europe are opening their arms and creating paths to citizenship for hundreds of thousands of Afghan refugees (after all we all helped to create the current situation) – Australia says ‘not our problem’ apart from a token airlift. It beggars belief. We can and should be doing much better than this. What do you think?

Source: We should be better than this – » The Australian Independent Media Network

LNP, LNP Corruption, LNP Government, LNP Tactics

The debt Australia owes the people of Afghanistan

Morrison and his Coalition Government have announced 3,000 humanitarian visas for Afghan refugees but that is within the already allocated 13,750 refugee annual intake. He also pointedly mentioned that he would not tolerate refugees arriving “illegally” and would not create a “product” for people smugglers returning to his reductive narrative of framing Afghan refugees as potential threats to Australian security.

Source: The debt Australia owes the people of Afghanistan

Fight against Fake News, Fighting Fake News

Old Dog Thought- Opportunity Knocked Morrison wasn’t home

Fighting Fake News with REAL 23/1/20; America without Trump hasn’t really changed; Trying their best to Shut Carlton up; Morrison by nature says and does nothing; Opportunity lost

Fight against Fake News, Fighting Fake News

Old Dog Thoughts- The Americanization of Australia. Step1 Get rid of the ABC
Why the ABC is too important to lose

Fighting Fake News with REAL 7/11/20 ABC, Sky News, The Election Reality Show; The Real World Nightmare;

Australia's Shame, Uncategorized

It has never stopped. McCarthyism is used in Australia daily. It’s called Right-Wing Fearmongering used by Murdoch Media
Politics of Hate, Uncategorized

Pittsburgh synagogue shooting leaves several dead, official says

When the President of the United States Donald Trump is the greatest danger to National Security.  A proud Nationalist, Pro guns, anti- refugees, enabler of violence whose rallies are broadcast by Murdoch media across America a resounding call to Trumpsters to arm hate and show themselves. (ODT)

A social media post by Bowers said a Jewish refugee organisation, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, “likes to bring invaders in that kill our people. I can’t sit by and watch my people get slaughtered. Screw your optics, I’m going in.”

Trump told reporters later that the killings might have been prevented if there had been an armed guard in the building.

“If they had some kind of a protection inside the temple maybe it could have been a much more different situation, they didn’t,” he said when asked about a possible link to US gun laws.

In the United States that year, a white supremacist murdered nine African Americans during a prayer service in Charleston, South Carolina.

In 2012, a neo-Nazi gunman with white supremacist ties walked into a Sikh gurdwara – or house of worship – in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, and murdered six Sikh Americans.

 Pittsburgh synagogue shooting leaves several dead, official says

and

What we know about suspect in Pittsburgh synagogue shooting

 

Colonialism

Indian Country Remembers the Trauma of Children Taken from Their Parents

“The act of ripping children away from their parents is nothing new for the United States. Separating children and their families to ‘kill the Indian to save the man’ by sending Native children to boarding schools, and doing it in the name of religion, is one generation removed from my family,” wrote Peggy Flanagan on Twitter. Flanagan, White Earth, is a candidate for lieutenant governor in Minnesota. “Trump’s ‘zero tolerance policy’ is nothing more than a clear violation of human rights. We must learn from history. We must stand with immigrants and refugees.”

via Indian Country Remembers the Trauma of Children Taken from Their Parents

Myanmar

Rohingya refugees weigh people smuggler offers rather than return to Myanmar – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Rohingya refugees are seen at Thaingkhali makeshift refugee camp in Bangladesh.

 

Rohingya refugees say they would rather “drown at sea” than be sent back to Myanmar.

Rohingya refugees weigh people smuggler offers rather than return to Myanmar – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Australia's Shame

US hits refugee intake cap as Manus Island, Nauru refugees assessed – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Refugees in detention centres on Manus Island and Nauru could be delayed entry to the United States after the country hit its annual refugee intake cap yesterday.

Source: US hits refugee intake cap as Manus Island, Nauru refugees assessed – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Australia's Shame

Australia must end ‘fiction’ it does not control Nauru and Manus centres, Senate inquiry finds | Australia news | The Guardian

Government has duty of care to asylum seekers and refugees held in offshore processing, senators say, after investigation sparked by the Nauru files

Source: Australia must end ‘fiction’ it does not control Nauru and Manus centres, Senate inquiry finds | Australia news | The Guardian

Media Madness

Study Finds Right-Wing Media Routinely Criminalize Immigrants In Coverage

Image result for Images of Right wing media

The nonprofit Community Initiatives for Visiting Immigrants in Confinement (CIVIC) surveyed coverage of immigration detention — or stories about immigrants detained by the U.S. government — in “a variety of media outlets” from 2009 to 2016 and found evidence that right-wing outlets routinely criminalize immigrants in their coverage. The study

Source: Study Finds Right-Wing Media Routinely Criminalize Immigrants In Coverage

Facts

A Reminder to Trump: 72% of Muslim Refugees, are Women and Children

By Salil Shetty | (Inter Press Service) | – – LONDON (IPS) – The gloves are off. With today’s Executive …

Source: A Reminder to Trump: 72% of Refugees, Muslim & Otherwise, are Women and Children

Australia's Shame

Australian Government Allows Severe Mistreatment Of Refugees, Report Says | Huffington Post

Amnesty International found that they face unspeakable horrors on Nauru island.

Source: Australian Government Allows Severe Mistreatment Of Refugees, Report Says | Huffington Post

Syria

Calling Syrian refugees like me Skittles would be funny if it weren’t so cruel | Shadi Martini | Opinion | The Guardian

People who’ve fled war and terror were likened to poisoned candy in a Trump campaign ad. It’s a bizarre image, and carries a message unworthy of America

Source: Calling Syrian refugees like me Skittles would be funny if it weren’t so cruel | Shadi Martini | Opinion | The Guardian

UK, Uncategorized

Compare this to what Abbott, Dutton and Bolt are saying
Donald Trump

Trump says Syrian refugees aren’t just a terrorist threat, they’d hurt quality of life | US news | The Guardian

Comments marked new escalation in rhetoric warning of the danger of admitting refugees into US as he addressed issue of terrorism following bombing attacks

Source: Trump says Syrian refugees aren’t just a terrorist threat, they’d hurt quality of life | US news | The Guardian

Australia's Shame

Australia’s forgotten detention centre: the peculiar torture of Christmas Island’s asylum seekers locked up with hardened criminals

Amir never had a birth certificate, or a passport, or anything else that provided proof of who he was until he received his P-plate driver’s licence after being released from immigration detention on a bridging visa while his claim for refugee status was assessed.

Source: Australia’s forgotten detention centre: the peculiar torture of Christmas Island’s asylum seekers locked up with hardened criminals

Conservative Media

The Chinese Are Coming! The Chinese Are Coming! Really, Really Slowly – New Matilda

They come over here. They buy up all the farmland that we stole. And they don’t assimilate. I am, of course, referring to the impossibly clever Chinese. And we’ll get to the perennially screwed over First Australians in a minute. Reports out today cast some doubt on the never-ending xenophobia of Australians when it comesMore

Source: The Chinese Are Coming! The Chinese Are Coming! Really, Really Slowly – New Matilda

Germany

Merkel: Migrants did not bring Radical Terrorism to Germany | Informed Comment

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – German Chancellor Angela Merkel said at a campaign event on Wednesday …

Source: Merkel: Migrants did not bring Radical Terrorism to Germany | Informed Comment

Australia's Shame

Australia’s asylum seeker policies criticised again in New York Times | SBS News

The New York Times has run a full-length op-ed in its Monday edition which labels Australia’s offshore refugee detention policy as cruel and dehumanising. Regular columnist Roger Cohen wrote that Australia’s treatment of refugees “follows textbook rules for the administering of cruelty”.

Source: Australia’s asylum seeker policies criticised again in New York Times | SBS News

Peter Dutton

Peter Dutton’s refugee claims are out of touch with the evidence

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Wednesday defended Peter Dutton as an “outstanding immigration minister” after a storm erupted following Dutton’s earlier comments on refugees.

Source: Peter Dutton’s refugee claims are out of touch with the evidence

WAR

Wars displace record 40.8 million people in the world, report shows – Your Middle East

“This is the highest figure ever recorded and twice the number of refugees worldwide,” said Jan Egeland, head of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), co-authors of

Source: Wars displace record 40.8 million people in the world, report shows – Your Middle East

Africa

Eritrean refugees in Ethiopia – Al Jazeera English

Ethiopia hosts the highest number of refugees in Africa, a large number of whom are fleeing neighbouring Eritrea.

Source: Eritrean refugees in Ethiopia – Al Jazeera English

Syria

Who are the Syrian Refugees, really, and where are they? Hint: Mainly women and children, & not in the West

https://62e528761d0685343e1c-f3d1b99a743ffa4142d9d7f1978d9686.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com/files/118989/area14mp/image-20160416-11185-uk6wv9.jpg

By Jeffrey H. Cohen | (The Conversation) | – – Editor’s note: This article is part of our collaboration with …

Source: Who are the Syrian Refugees, really, and where are they? Hint: Mainly women and children, & not in the West

Syria

Thousands of refugees flee for Turkish border after surprise Isis attack | World news | The Guardian

Syrian refugees flee after camps are overrun by Isis but find themselves being shot at by Turkish border troops

Source: Thousands of refugees flee for Turkish border after surprise Isis attack | World news | The Guardian

Australia

Review: Klaus Neumann’s ‘Across the Seas: Australia’s Response to Refugees  – A History’

Source: Review: Klaus Neumann’s ‘Across the Seas: Australia’s Response to Refugees  – A History’

Canada

Canada has rescued 800 times more Syrian refugees than Australia, figures show

Canada has resettled 800 times more Syrian refugees in three months than Australia has in almost twice the time, fuelling concern the delay is pushing desperate families in the Middle East into a perilous crossing to Europe.

Source: Canada has rescued 800 times more Syrian refugees than Australia, figures show

Citizenship

Even Once They Win It, Citizenship Is Used Against Refugees – New Matilda

Our research suggests refugees are being punished by having their applications for citizenship delayed. It’s cruel and unnecessary.

Source: Even Once They Win It, Citizenship Is Used Against Refugees – New Matilda

Syria

Seeking asylum in the US: Syrian refugees in America concerned about anti-Muslim sentiment – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Syrian refugees in the US are concerned about anti-Muslim sentiment, but at least one city is welcoming refugees with open arms.

Source: Seeking asylum in the US: Syrian refugees in America concerned about anti-Muslim sentiment – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Gender Equality

The refugee crisis: Why we need to protect single men – Your Middle East

I remember heading on a trip down to the local mall during my university days in the quaint town of Saint John in New Brunswick, Canada. Two male friends, who like m

Source: The refugee crisis: Why we need to protect single men – Your Middle East

Syria

Government set to focus Syrian refugee program on Christians in wake of Paris attacks: Scott Morrison – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Treasurer Scott Morrison says he expects Christians will be the focus of the government’s Syrian refugee program..

Source: Government set to focus Syrian refugee program on Christians in wake of Paris attacks: Scott Morrison – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Asylum Seekers

In Prague You Get Beaten for Defending Refugees, Andrew Bolt wishes Australians were more Czech

When respected philosophers get attacked in the middle of the street, you know that something is going terribly wrong with the nation. The Czech Republic (and before, Czechoslovakia) was always a t…

Source: In Prague You Get Beaten for Defending Refugees

Syria

US Launches Crowdfunding Effort for Syria Refugees | Al Jazeera America

A White House-coordinated campaign on Kickstarter has raised $800k on premise that governments alone can’t do enough

Source: US Launches Crowdfunding Effort for Syria Refugees | Al Jazeera America

Iraq

No way out for the refugees – Your Middle East

The first thing he did upon arrival at Arlanda (Stockholm’s main airport) was google search “Syriac Orthodox Church.” He then phoned the church, asking if anyone cou

Source: No way out for the refugees – Your Middle East

Syria

Stretching Facts on Syrian Refugees

Source: Stretching Facts on Syrian Refugees

Syria

The dark side of Australia’s refugee policies

In all, Australia is engaged in a shameful, degrading and illegitimate method of determining the fates of asylum seekers. It cannot hold its head high in regards to one intake of refugees while many others languish in prisons of the government’s making.

Australia remains the only country sending Security personnel to vet choices made by the UN on who are the most in need. Will there any transparency in this process or will it become another secretive operational matter?

Source: The dark side of Australia’s refugee policies