Bellingen Community Markets Saturday 21 June 2014

Our stall at the Bellingen Community Markets on Saturday 21 June 2014.

The market experience on Saturday was heartening in that a number of people visiting the stall were sympathetic to our views and very willing to sign the petitions . We had several visitors who work directly with refugees or who are teachers or social workers . During the morning we collected a  substantial sum in donations .

There were a few bystanders passing who may have taken messages away via the publicity materials on view and it is possible that some visitors to the stall had their support for asylum seekers reinforced by the message that there are others who feel the same way as them.

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Sydney Morning Herald Poll- 75% support closing of shore detention centres 17 June 2014

Poll: Would you support the closure of the Manus Island and Nauru detention centres?

Yes

75%

No

25%

Total votes: 9995.

Poll closed 17 Jun, 2014

Disclaimer:

These polls are not scientific and reflect the opinion only of visitors who have chosen to participate.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/labor-mps-fail-to-reverse-partys-asylum-processing-stance-20140617-3aalr.html#ixzz34wBRlQZx

Another worthwhile petition from Amnesty International

Another worthwhile petition from Amnesty International.

http://secretsandlives.com.au/?utm_medium=Facebook&utm_source=prompost&utm_campaign=secretsandlives

Demand the answers you deserve

The Australian Government’s offshore asylum seeker detention policy is kept secret from the people who pay for it: YOU.

SECRETS AND LIVES

Question - how to engage a wider audience to change attitudes on Asylum Seekers?

Lowy Institute survey on asylum seeker policy

Doug has made the following comment.

We heard the results of a survey recently of Australian's attitude to refugees and it was suggested that way more than half of us had no sympathy for these people and agreed with the governments policy. It appears we have a lot of work to do in the community to turn that attitude around. To my mind market stalls mostly only appeal to the converted minority and we need to find a way to engage with a wider audience.

John comments

If the questions had asked whether one supported the illegal detetion of people including children in substandard accommodation, after surviving torture and trauma in their own countries, fleeing with few possessions and legally appealing for Asylum one would hope the response might have been more sympathetic.

David Comments

This chart shows a bell curve which shows that attention to the middle ground could move attitudes from disagree to agree.

Steve Biddulph has said   "Don't fight your enemies ( there are no enemies) - grow your friends

..."Concentrate on the middle, the larger number of people who are merely less involved...When the middle moves everything changes. Aim for that"

Does anyone have any ideas to change opinions?  Please email bellingen.rar@gmail.com with your ideas

Send a poem to your politicians

Judy sent poems to 150 Members of Parliament.

One of these follows

Some Politicians                          by Judith Rodriguez

To have preached even for a moment

that money matters

more than the good it buys

to have proclaimed the end of caring;

to have unmothered the State

                     and left orphans to the wind;

to have waged phony battle

on the homeless and fugitive,

the needy come to our door;

to have danced on a tally of the drowned

to have pursued the desperate

for electoral triumph;

these are your names

on the sea-bed at our shore gate

behind razor wire

among the fatherless

the trapped and the destitute

and among the separated families.

Please use this poem to bring pressure on your politician 
to be more compassionate and stop the cruelty to asylum seekers.

However it was reported at the meeting held on 1 June 2014 that six handwritten letters are more powerful than templates and emails,and will be read by the recipient.   

Phone calls are also more likely to get the message to the intended recipient.

Click on the button above "Ideas for letters and emails sent  to"