Fusion Festival report
The open letter to the Labor party
Roadside demonstration: Thursday 6th
September
This week’s Pacific Islands Forum
A date for your diary: Sunday 14th
October from 11.00 am
Quote of the week
Fusion Festival report
Last week’s Fusion Festival in
Coffs Harbour was a most enjoyable occasion and a great success. It really was
multicultural Coffs Harbour at its best, with music, dancing, food and
traditional dress from around the world. Our stall attracted lots of interest,
particularly from the many young people present. We handed out leaflets,
collected about a hundred signatures on our open letter and sold a number of
bags, tea towels and T shirts. A big thank you to our RAR supporters who came
to lend a hand.
The open letter to the Labor party
We have now posted the open letter
to Wayne Swan, the president of the Labor party, in which we call on the party
to commit, at its upcoming national conference, to ending offshore detention if
it wins the federal election. There were 2,067 signatures on the letter, which
is a great result. We have also posted the same letter, together with a
covering letter, to the 90 federal Labor MPs and senators. You can find both
letters on our blog, which you can access by clicking on the link below.
Roadside demonstration: Thursday 6th
September
Our next roadside demonstration is
this Thursday from 2.30 to 4.00 pm in Bellingen. You will find us in our usual
spot on Waterfall Way, adjacent to the Yellow Shed, opposite the entrance to
the golf club. Please come and join us if you can, as these demonstrations are
an excellent means of drawing the public’s attention to the ongoing cruelty of
indefinite offshore detention, which continues to destroy so many lives.
This week’s Pacific Islands Forum
Our new Prime Minister is not
attending the Pacific Islands Forum, which is currently under way on Nauru. He
is represented instead by his new foreign minister. In any event, it now seems
that delegates such as the NZ prime minister Jacinda Ahern won’t get their wish
to visit the detention centre where more than 100 detainees were living in
mouldy tents until last week. It was reported in the Guardian in recent days
that the detainees have been moved out of the centre and that the tents have
been dismantled. Island sources and advocates say the move is to ensure there
are no children living in tents behind the camp fences when foreign leaders and
visitors arrive.
More than 50 of the 114 children
held on the island have been formally recommended by doctors to be moved off
Nauru. Self-harm and suicide attempts are almost daily occurrences in children
as young as ten. But during the forum, these terrible realities will be hidden
from view.
It is surely time for us, the
Australian people, to tell our representatives on both sides of parliament that
this obscene cruelty has to end.
A date for your diary: Sunday 14th
October from 11.00 am
Supporters are regularly asking us
about when we might next organise a meeting and a fundraising event, so please
put the above date in your diaries. The tentative plan is to hold a meeting for
an hour from 11.00 am until midday, followed by lunch and finally an auction.
We have held two auctions in the past which have been very successful – and a
lot of fun!
Could you please start looking for
items for the auction? It could be pottery, jewelry, antiques, wine, works of
art; in fact any item in good condition which you feel confident will attract
bids of at least $10.
Further details in the weeks ahead.
Quote of the week
“Dutton has fought tooth and nail
to keep sick and dying children locked up on Nauru, but can’t act quickly
enough when the well-connected come asking for help.”
Check out the index of subjects on
our blog http://bellorar.blogspot.com.au
It includes articles from many
sources and letters to politicians and newspapers.
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Email address bellingen.rar@gmail.com
The National RAR web site is at www.ruralaustraliansforrefugees.org.au
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