RACISM has long been used by Australian capitalist political parties to win elections.
It started with the first colonial parliaments that followed European invasion and occupation until the end of bipartisan support for the "White Australia Policy" in the 1970s following the gains of the mass radicalisation of the 60s and 70s.
However, in the last 10 years racism has become once again a central part of bourgeois Australian politics in the form of a "debate" about immigration and border protection - sound familiar? It's no coincidence.
Tony Blair sought advice from top bureaucrats from the Australian Labor Party (ALP) on how social democracy can implement neo-liberalism -and still win elections. Now the Conservatives have imported ex-President of the Liberal Party in Australia (conservatives), Lynton Crosby, to advise them on how to defeat Blair's social April 2 Day of Solidarity Last October's European Social Forum meeting in London decided to make April 2, 2005 a day of solidarity with Europe's migrant workers and relugees.
The ESF declaration called for a second European day of action "Against Racism, For Freedom of Movement and For the Right to Stay as an Alternative to a Europe Based on Exclusion and Exploitation"
The resolution adopted by the ESF reads:
"We stand against racism and Fortress Europe and for the rights of migrants and asylum seekers; for freedom of movement; for citizenship of restdence and the closing of
The "debate" on
immigration and
border protection amounts to little more
than a bidding war
between the two capitalist parties over
who can be tougher
on immigrants. detention centres.
We oppose deportation of migrants. We propose a day of action on 2 April 2005, against racism, for freedom of movement and for the right to stay as an alternative to a Europe based on exclusion and exploitation."
Now a committee has been formed in London, and with the support of the Halkevi Turkish and Kurdish Community Centre is organising a march to give expression to solidarity with migrants and relugees in London.
For further information contact Greg Ryan for A2OC at [email protected]. or phone 07984 741062. democrats who, like the ALP did in 1983, have stolen the conservative agenda. Racism is the answer.
The "debate" on immigration and border protection amounts to little more than a bidding war between the two capitalist parties over who can be tougher on immigrants. In Australia, the Labor Party, having already introduced the points system and quotas for
brought in the policy of mandatory detention for all "illegal" arrivals in 1992.
Scapegoating the miniscule number of boat people arriving on Australian shores seemed the best way to win the election following Hawke and Keating's early 1990s recession.
John Howard made cutting immigration a central part of the Liberals (conservatives) 1996 defeat of Labor. Since 1996 all those granted refugee status in Australia do not have the right to permanent residency. They are granted Temporary Protection Visas
Per Protes HUMKN n their childhood (TVs) reviewed after three years.
The Liberals won again in 2001, despite their massively unpopular intensified neoliberal drive, on the back of the Tampa crisis and September Il. In October 2001, weeks before the election, Howard denied entry to the Norwegian freighter Tampa carrying refugees picked up from a sinking Indonesian fishing boat.
In breach of international maritime law the captain was instructed to return them to Indonesia. This action received the full support of the ALP.
Following the 2001 election John Howard excised Australian off shore possessions from Australian immigration law, denying refugees who land their legal rights, 80+ Children
stillin Fighting back against Howard's racist offensive: rally for refugee rights in Melbourne such as access to Australian courts and legal representation.
Refugees who are intercepted in Australian waters or who land on any of the excised territories are shipped to detention camps in Nauru and held there until their status is decided.
This is now the primary source of export income for Nauru - one of the starkest demonstrations of Australian neo-colonial/imperial power in the South Pacific.
All of these reforms were negotiated with, agreed to and voted for by the ALP.
There are still more than 3000 refugees held in detention camps within Australia, many of them children.
The Australian High Court ruled last August that the Federal government a deregulated labour market and the super-exploitation of migrant workers," the official said.
"The union movement has become increasingly alarmed by the growth of forced labour
TEMPORARY VISAS a Chai legally detain "failed" asylum seekers indefinitely.
Claire O'Connor, the senior barrister representing Kuwait born Ahmed al Kateb, a stateless Palestinian involved in the case, told ABC Radio on August 6 2004:
"The effect of this decision is that he will be locked up until the state of Palestine is created... Well, it's taken 51 years so far. I'm not holding my breath."
It is this government that is now advising the Conservatives in Britain.
And the Labour Party here, like their counterparts in Australia, are only too glad to shift the agenda away from the war and their failure to deliver improved public services and prove they can be just as racist, if not more so, as the Tories.