Let Them Stay! Emergency Rally: Don’t Deport Priya Nades & Girls
September 01, 1 – 3 pm, State Library of Victoria
https://www.facebook.com/events/409315316385986/
Two nights before, on 29/08/19, Priya, Nades and their Australian born girls Kopica and Tharunicaa were dragged against their will by Border Force officials onto a Skytrader plane as part of a forced deportation attempt. Priya was separated from her girls. There is now a legal injunction preventing Kopica from being deported before 4 pm Wed.
Speakers include:
Tamil Refugee Council speaker
Home to Bilo Campaign speaker
Richard Di Natale, Greens Leader
Carina Garland, Assistant Secretary of Trades Hall Council more TBA
We must keep up the pressure to let this family stay – mass mobilisation from the refugee movement allowed baby Asha to stay after health workers refused to send her back to Nauru.
The Qld town of Biloela have mobilised to defend Priya, Nades and their girls, and over 200,000 people have signed a petition calling for the family to stay. The Coalition government must not ignore the groundswell of support for this family.
Damage has already been done to the health of the family’s two young girls by prolonged detention. Forced deportation risks greater harm. Priya and Nades are Tamil asylums from Sri Lanka. UN Special Rapporteur Ben Emmerson, found last year that use of torture in Sri Lanka was “systematic and routine”, and that “The Tamil community remains stigmatised and disenfranchised”
Call Chris on 0403 013 183 for more info
Rally: 6 Years Too Long – Close Manus & Nauru – Bring Them Here
July 20, 2pm, State Library of Victoria
https://www.facebook.com/events/598607583941444/
Speakers include
Behrouz Boochani – live via phone from Manus prison
Maddy Harradence – Acting Assistant Secretary Of the Australian Nurses and Midwifery Federation
Aran Mylvaganam – Tamil Refugee Council
More TBA
The re-election of the Morrison government is a setback for refugees, but Morrison has no mandate for anti-refugee racism, and we know that this government can and must be fought.
The Coalition has presided over almost 6 years of cruelty to refugees on Manus and Nauru, including 12 deaths offshore. July 19 marks the 6th anniversary of Kevin Rudd’s announcement that “any asylum-seeker who arrives in Australia by boat will have no chance of being settled in Australia as refugees”. Agreeing with the Liberals on refugee policy hurts refugees and it didn’t stop Labor being defeated then or now.
Morrison was forced against his wishes to get kids of Nauru. That was won together in solidarity with the struggles of refugees themselves, by refusing to be silent, by being active on the streets, and in our workplaces and campuses. We need to take to the streets, now more than ever. We can build a refugee movement that can get everyone off Manus and Nauru. Join us on July 20 to be part of it.
Close the Camps
Bring The Refugees Here
End Deportations to Danger
Endorsed by:
ALP Glen Waverley Branch
Asylum Seeker Resource Centre
Australian Greens Victorian
Australian Refugee Action Network
Combined Refugee Action Group Geelong
GetUp!
Grandmothers Against Detention of Refugee Children
Independent Education Union
Islamic Council of Victoria
Labor for Refugees
Melbourne Catholic Migrant & Refugee Office
Pax Christi
Refugee Advocacy Network
Riff Raff Radical Marching Band
Rural Australians for Refugees
Side Door Social Justice Hub
Stand Together Against Racism
Teachers For Refugees
The Refugee Council
United Voice
Victorian Allied Health Professionals Association
Message us on Facebook, or email refugeeactioncollective@gmail.com to endorse
Call Chris 0403 013 183 for more info
Refugee Action Collective Public Meeting: The Hidden Hell for Refugees in the Heart of Melbourne
- Let them Out, Let Them Stay
6.30 pm Monday August 5, at ANMF House, 535 Elizabeth St Melbourne Speaker include: Alison Battison – Huyen’s lawyer Niro Kandasamy – Tamil Refugee Council Pre-recorded videos by refugees imprisoned in MITA chair Lucy Honan, RAC
A prison for refugees, the Melbourne Immigration Transit Centre (MITA) is located in Broadmeadows, Melbourne. MITA is in crisis holding many long term detainees, some held indefinitely with no end in sight. A 23yr old Afghan man died there on Fri 12 July. He came to Australia 6 years ago as an unaccompanied minor. His death in detention is yet another at the hands of the Coalition government.
Priya, Nades, and their two Australian born children have been held in it for over a year and a half and face deportation to danger. Huyen and her baby Isobella have been held there for over a year. Huyen faces deportation to danger and permanent separation from her daughter and husband. Sivaguru a Tamil refugee has been held there ten years, he now has cancer and may die in this hell hole. Inside the walls, detainees are powerless and subject to abuse. Ali’s hand was broken by guards. Come and hear why both the onshore and offshore refugee prisons must be dismantled and how you can help.
Call Chris for more info on 0403 013 183
- Event poster designed by Kaaveh an asylum seeker imprisoned in PNG