This article was updated 3/27 with new info from the author

-Uncle Fluffy

Help Australians Organize Migration Politics Protest

Join the Global Fax Jam by "Boat People" March 29, 2002

ACT GLOCALLY

A government-sponsored xenophobia disaster is
enveloping Australia and WE NEED YOUR HELP.

In contravention of UN conventions on refugees,
Australia incarcerates asylum seekers in detention
camps around the country, run for profit by American
private prison corporations. The suffering of the
imprisoned refugees, many of whom are children, is a
matter of record. Our government seems to believe that
we are so far away from everyone else that they can
ignore UN obligations without censure from the rest of
the world.

We call upon artists/activists everywhere to help us
agitate for change. Let the Australian government know
that the world IS watching.

On March 29, 2002 we are mobilizing across Australia and
your solidarity is requested. We ask you to send the
fax available for download at
www.boat-people.org to your closest Australian embassy,
and ask your friends and colleagues to do the same. If
you have other things to add, please write them on the
sheet.

Fax numbers for many embassies are at the end of this
post.

BACKGROUND

The past 18 months in Australia have been
characterised by government fear-mongering about
refugees approaching our shores. Assisted by talk-back
radio hosts, racist rhetoric around "illegal
migrants", "boat people" and "migration queue jumpers"
has taken hold of the national imagination. The 'race
issue' was a deciding factor in our November 2001
national elections, when the ruling right wing party
was returned with an increased majority.



Australia's 1st centenary of nationhood in 2001 has
iconised the 18th century tall ships which first
invaded Australia. But they avoid the truth of the
people they brought here: poor, diseased British and
Irish criminals and refugees- from whom much of the
white population is descended. Since then, Australia
has been host to millions of migrants from every
nation, most recently over 250,000 Vietnamese refugees
1978-1985. Recent official authorisation of racism has
exposed non-Anglo Australians to attack and
denigration.



Boat-people.org formed to intervene in the malevolent
rhetoric that has hardened australians to the humanity
of refugees. We use the BOAT PEOPLE phrase with the
image of a tall ship to remind the non-indigenous
population WHO WE ARE and HOW WE GOT HERE.



We seek to counter the demonisation of asylum seekers
which fills our media and poisons our hearts.



Some of our spectacles of dissent can be seen at
boat-people



Thanks very much for doing this.

boat-people.org

FAX NUMBERS FOR AUSTRALIAN EMBASSIES

Argentina Fax: 54 114 777 6577

Austria Fax: 43 1 513 2908

Canada Fax: 1 613 236 0026 or 1 613 236-4376

Chile Fax: 56 2 206 4261 or 56 2 208 1707

France Fax: 33 1 40 59 33 10

Germany Fax: 49 30 2248 9294

Frankfurt Fax 49 69 905 58-109

Greece Fax: 30 10 644 3633 or 30 10 646 6595

India (New Delhi) Fax: 91 11 688 7536

(Mumbai) Fax: 91 22 218 8228 or 91 22 216 2649

Indonesia (Jakarta) Fax: 62 21 2550 5695

(Bali) Fax: 62 361 231 990

Iran Fax: 98 21 871 6223 or 98 21 872 0484

Ireland Fax: 353 1 661 3576

Israel Fax: 972 3 691 5223

Italy Fax: 39 06 8527 2400 or 39 06 8527 2300

Japan Fax: 81 3 5232 4173

Lebanon Fax: 961 1 374716

Malaysia Fax: 60 3 241 4495

Malta Fax: 356 34 4059

Mexico Fax: 52 55 5531 9552

Netherlands Fax: 31 70 310 8241

New Caledonia Fax: 687 278 001 (ACG)

New Zealand (Auckland) Fax: 64 9 303 2431 or 64 9
377 0798

(Wellington) Fax 64 4 498 7135

Russia Fax: 7 095 956 6162 or 7 095 956 6170

Singapore Fax: 65 7351 242

South Africa Fax: 27 12 342 4222

Spain Fax: 34 91 442 50 53

Sri Lanka Fax: 94 1 682 311

Taiwan Fax: 886 2 2757 6040 (AVS)

Thailand Fax: 66 2 213 1177

United Kingdom Fax: 44 20 7465 8218

United States of America

(Washington) Fax: 1 202 797 3100 or 1 202 797 3040

(New York) Fax 1 212 351 6501

Australian Mission to the United Nations, NY Fax
(1-212 or 1-646) 351 6610

(Los Angeles) Fax 1 310 277 5620 or 1 310 277 2258

Boston Fax 1-617 426 9236

San Francisco Fax 1 415 536 1982

Atlanta Fax (+1 404) 760 3401