Dear all...
You would probably know that the Refugee Freedom Bus has been at Port Hedland for the last few days. On Friday we arrived, applied for visiting approval at the Heldand Detention Center, and hung out. On Saturday, three of us visited people inside the detention center from 10 till 5 and were handed an eight page doccument by one of the people commencing a hunger strike that night- (I'll attempt to send an email about that in the next few days)- while the others braved the Invasion Day festival on the main street in the Port. Sunday we attempted to visit at 9am and were refused access by ACM. We saw a paddy wagon going around the back of the detention center and, thinking people that were detained might be being arrested, we followed it. What followed was one of the most traumatic and uplifting and emotionally devetating days of my life. We approaced the fences - still about 50 meters away from people who have been systematically hidden from human contact - and waved. The people behind the fences asked us, almost suspiciously, what we were there for, and when we said that we were friends they started to frantically try to communicate. They asked us to move further around the fence until we reached a section where they were only 2 meters from us. There was a mass of children and women in the courtyard and when they saw us the children ran to the fence and started chanting "Freedom! Freedom! Freedom!" and the women asked us why Australians hate them so much and we started to cry and say we are so sorry and they started to cry. People who spoke english approached the fence and started pouring out their stories. They kept saying please tell Australians we are human beings, we are not animals, we are not criminals. We want Freedom. We want Freedom. Then everyone started desperately shouting out their codes and names, so people on the outside would be allowed ot make contact with them. We got out pens and paper and for the next two hours it felt like we did nothing but record peoples details and requests for contact and numbers. Many people pleaded for contact with the outside world and told us they were good people, people would see that if they met them, or talked to them.They asked us if Australian people really thought what was said on talkback radio, and channel 9 news and if we thought people in Port hedland really thought they were monsters. And we told them that EVERY step of our long journey we have met good people; people who cared; people with compassion, and we were so sorry for the people who didn't. We exchanged names and then people started calling out our names to get us to move to a section of the fence to talk to them. We spoke to person after person recording details of their story and promising to pass them on to the media and other Australians. They called us brothers and sisters. I forget how it started now, but all of a sudden there was hundreds of bits of paper, stories, contact details, pictures, pleas, wrapped around bits of rock with ripped washing cloth, or stuffed inside tennis balls being thrown over the fence. We read each one and promised that we would pass their information on, that we wouldn't let them join the list of forgotten people. We told them what we'd been doing, and they said that when they'd heard we were coming they didn't believe it. The'd been told that people were coming from Sydney before and they had never come. We played Cat Stevens songs on the guitar at a detainee's request. We passed on mesages from people in perth, showed them banners and placards from groups in sydney and melbourne and perth and contacted the media. We tapped out rhythms on djimbe drums we'd brought, and coconut husks we found in the sand-dunes. We drummed and danced and talked and threw t-shirts over the fences. They threw gifts over the fences of fruit and iced water and then appologised at the meagerness of their offerings. The children threw over their toys. They spoke so eloquently of their survival and suffering and hope and loss of hope and we made jokes and sang we love you back to them when they sang it to us. And then we were asked to pack up. And then we were asked to leave. And then we were told we were being "disoredly" - that the songs been singing all day, the chants of "We love you! We thank you" were "inciting a riot". And then three of us - the same three that visited the detention center the day before - and one twelve year old activist from Bellingen were arrested. We spent the next day preparing for court and dividing up the messages, while the others from the bus went back to the detention center. The reason I'm telling you this is becaus we are about to leave Port Hedland, and these people behind. One of the letters from over the fence is a request for urgent help to prevent a deportation, and this needs to be acted on as soon as possible. But more generally I fear that the spurt of hope they recieved from our short contact will soon ferment back into depression if we dont do everything we possibly can to relieve the dehumanising monotony of their detention. We have three request for your action: 1/ to register for helping out with the prevention of the deportation - I will send more details when we have them 2/ to register for writing a letter to one of the people that sent us a message over the fence at Port Headland. Please only reply if you are actually able to follow through with this, it is important that no-one is left out by mistake or good intention. 3/ To send contacts for Iraqi, Iranian, Bangaladeshi, Kashmir, Syrian, Sudaneese, Palestinian, Shri Lankan and Angolan community organisations that would be interested in being involved in writing support. Please send all of this to <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> [EMAIL PROTECTED] We will attempt to send you scans of the letters so that you have an idea of where they are at... in action freedom bus people xoxoxo . -- -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Archived at http://www.cat.org.au/lists/leftlink/ Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink This email message and any accompanying attachments may contain confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient, do not read, use, disseminate, distribute or copy this message or attachments. If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete this message. 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