Comrades,
this article appeared in the Sun Herald yesterday April 30 and highlights the
hypocrisy of the Howard government's stance on refugees.
The govt has moved quickly to say it will consider allowing white Zimbabwean
farmers refuge (something that only happened for Kosova's or East Timorese
after a huge outcry from the public - originally it did not want to take any
Kosova's or East Timorese).
The article also implies that the Zimbabwe refugees would not have to put up
with the detention centres that the refugees from Kosova and East Timore had to
put up with and would have the chance to apply for permit residence. The
government has just deported all the Kosova refugees after a week or so of
hunger strikes etc from refugees who did not want to return to Kosova etc. All
East Timorese refugees have also been recently deported.
comradely,
Kim B
___________________________
SAFE HAVEN HYPOCRITES MOVE IN FOR THE SKILL
By Frank Walker.
Far more black farm workers have been beaten and killed in Zimbabwe than white
farm owners. Some accounts put the black death toll at more than a dozen,
while two white farmers have been killed.
But the focus of the Australian political leaders has been to roll out the red
carpet for besieged white Zimbabwean farmers. They have studiously ignored
what should happen to their black employees, who risked their lives to protect
the farms.
Western Australian Premier Richard Court was quick to urge the Federal
Government to provide refuge for the farmers as they would be a huge asset to
WA.
"What is happening to those farmers in Zimbabwe is quite tragic", Court said.
" We are not talking about a lot of people, but they have the skills….that we
need in this State".
Prime Minister John Howard jumped to express sympathy for the plight of
farmers. "There is, of course, a limit on how many people Australia can take,
but we are always ready to give a helping hand to people who face persecution
in their own country and the situation in Zimbabwe is despairing to say the
least", Howard said.
But the right wing maverick Western Australian Liberal Senator Ross Lightfoot
spelt out the subtext of the Government's stand. He said white farmers should
be given refuge in Australia or allowed to migrate here, but blacks should not
be given the same rights as they "don't qualify under my terms of
compatibility".
A spokeswoman for Immigration Minister Phillip Ruddock tried to distance the
Government from Senator Lightfoot's remarks, saying black people would be
considered along with whites, if a safe haven were to be set up in Australia.
But Mr Ruddock had already said the farmers might not be offered the same
temporary safe haven status as the refugees from Kosovo and East Timor. The
unspoken reason is that farmers would probably qualify anyway as skilled
migrants, a category that would rule out nearly all black farm workers.
The fact is whites have been getting out of Zimbabwe for some time and
Australia has welcomed them. About 250 migrate to Australia each year, mostly
skilled and most settle in WA. More than 10,000 people of Zimbabwean origin
live here.
The images from Zimbabwe are horrifying. But observers say it is not a racial
war but a desperate political gambit by President Robert Mugabe. Nearly 25% of
the 4,000 white owned farms have been invaded with his encouragement.
Mugabe promised to get land back from the whites after he won independence from
Britain, but he ran out of money.
In February, he lost a referendum that would have allowed him to force whites
off their land and he fears the rise of a new opposition political party, the
Movement for Democratic Change. All those attacked so far have been part of
the MDC. The MDC does not want the whites to leave as they are the economic
backbone of the country.
Some critics argue Australia's eager readiness to accept Zimbabwe's white
farmers might be the best way to support democracy in Zimbabwe. And if the
main concern is for the victims of violence, the red carpet must also be run
out for black farm
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