I know there's devastating news going over in the north of Honshu, but the news tonight that caught my attention is this story here about how there was a mass breakout from the detention centre on Christmas Island, with up to 50 people on the loose.
Refugee Action Coalition spokesman Ian Rintoul said tension and frustration had been building over delays with processing asylum claims and restrictions placed on movements between compounds on Friday.
"The delays in processing are unforgivable," Mr Rintoul said.
"There are refugees waiting for over 18 months for security clearances after they have been found to be refugees.
"The breakout is reminiscent of the breakouts from Woomera and Port Hedland in the early 2000s as detention conditions became unbearable."
Well, actually if I may be a bit more historical about it, they're also reminiscent of the Cowra breakout during World War II. The POWs in Cowra were also kept in isolation for an extended period of time with virtually no news coming in. The population grew desperate and restless in the information vacuum, and eventually they decided to take drastic action probably because they felt they couldn't endure the incarceration any more. The next day most of the escapees were rounded up without a problem.
So, Woomera and Port Hedland may be the immediate predecessors, but in my mind it raises the question of how and why this pattern of events keeps recurring in Australia; and perhaps there is something pathological about the polity of this nation. It's a question that has to be asked. Is there something in our politics that necessitates this kind of detention-and-breakout motif over and over again?
This section here is just as troubling as the above:
"These reports are very disturbing," Senator Hanson-Young said.
"Unfortunately, this isn't a one-off event, it's symptomatic of the desperation these people feel."
Tensions were increasing on Christmas Island, she said.
"It's like a pressure cooker," Hanson-Young said.
It's this kind of report that preceded the breakout in Cowra that went unheeded as well. I think we really should be asking ourselves and our politicians just what in the world we think we're doing with these detention centres. Because right now, they're functioning more like some sadistic state apparatus designed to inflict as much emotional damage to the people inside, while maintaining a Kafka-esque bureaucratic facade to make it more palatable to the public. It's one thing to be putting captured enemy combatants in a war into these places. Asylum seekers on boats is another thing entirely.
If they're going to the bother of shoving these people on Christmas Island, the least they ca do is let them walk free on the Island. This is really, really, really pathetic.
No comments:
Post a Comment