Human rights groups in Australia proclaimed Thursday, September 9, 2004 as a National Day of Shame. The following is a press release from Rural Australians for Refugees:

No crime but life imprisonment

Peter Qasim and Eidriess Abdulrahman Al Salih are two of 13 stateless asylum seekers who face indefinite detention in Australia. They are currently in Baxter Detention Centre.

Australia has refused their requests for asylum but the countries of their births will not take them back. Up to 80 other countries have also refused their pleas for a home.

On 6th August the High Court decided that the Migration Act allowed for the indefinite detention of asylum seekers. In response to media questions, Minister Vanstone said her discretionary power to grant visas served as a safety valve. However, on 31st August she told the 13 stateless asylum seekers that she had reviewed their cases and would not be giving them visas.

‘What is my crime?’ asks Peter Qasim. ‘I asked for asylum after my father was killed and I was tortured by the security forces in Kashmir. It was a mistake to ask people who didn’t want me, but I have already been punished for my ignorance longer than some murderers and my sentence has no end. Please give me freedom, send me anywhere. You can’t ask a human being to live the rest of his life locked up.’

Late last year Eidriess Abdulrahman Al Salih had his statelessness graphically demonstrated. Al Salih, who was born in Kuwait to Sudanese guest-worker parents, was subject to a bungled deportation attempt by the Department of Immigration. He spent 13 days in detention in South Africa and Tanzania while the Department of Immigration tried unsuccessfully to deport him to Sudan or Kuwait. Eventually he had to be returned to Australia.

‘After proving that he was stateless Al Salih wasn’t given asylum, but locked up again. Now the minister has thrown away the key,’ said RAR spokesperson Kris Latona. ‘Does she expect that he will die an old man in detention? Will he serve 60 years for being stateless?’

On September 9th Peter Qasim starts his 7th year of detention. Refugee supporters and human rights groups have declared it a National Day of Shame and will hold rallies across Australia.

See also the Peter Qasim Appeal, which includes downloadable petitions and flyers, also Sydney Indymedia’s coverage.

It was quite hilarious to hear John Winston Howard kick off the election campaign last Sunday week by saying that it was “all about trust”. Days after more evidence was coming to light that he knew about the “Children Overboard” fraud before the 2001 election, he takes the bold, aggressive step of asking for us trust this time around.

JWH’s press release on August 29, announcing the election, is comical for many reasons, but it is the third paragraph that has electioneering Sound Bite dripping all over it:

Who do you trust to keep the Australian economy strong and to protect family living standards? Who do you trust to keep interest rates low? Who do you trust to lead Australia in the fight against international terrorism? Who do you trust to keep the budget strong so we can afford to spend more on health and education?

And this brings us to the ABC’s brilliant Media Watch. It’s good to see that JWH was able to so many diverse, off-the-cuff interviews as the transcript of last Monday’s Media Watch shows. That’s at least six occasions documented by MW where Howard has repeated the same “Who do you trust” mantra.

But as the transcript shows, Mark Latham was little better. I hope it was appreciated by all those hard workers on 30, 40, 50 thousand a year…

On the subject of John Howard and trust, here are some links to sites all devoted in some way or another to the removal of JWH from power on October 9:

• Truth Overboard: the ALP’s 2002 website about the findings of the Children Overboard inquiry;
• 35 Lies and Counting: Another ALP website documenting JWH mistruths;
• John Howard Lies.com: this has quickly become one of the most popular indie political websites in Australia;
• Not Happy, John!: the companion website to Margo Kingston’s book;
• Just Not John.com: “We are not trying to tell you who to vote for, we are simply trying to bring to your attention all the reasons why it’s important not to vote for John. “;
• Defeat Howard.com
• Dear John.org: one of the funkier anti-Howard sites around (includes a toilet door poster to print out and stick up);
• Troy Rollo: Independent candidate for Bennelong;
• Andrew Wilkie: Greens candidate for Bennelong;
• The Not Happy, John Campaign: run by former Liberal Party president John Valder;
• resist.com.au: Not explicitly anti-Howard, but an Australian anti-neocon website;
• The Bennelong Institute: “Bringing the big issues to the people of Bennelong”;
• End The Lies.net: A series of rallies in each capital city on Sunday, October 3.
• Pants on Fire! Pathological Liars: from the World Peace Society. Who is the biggest liar out of Blair, Bush, Howard and Mugabe?
• Not In Our Name: An online register of Australians (more than 58,000 of us) who do not support this country’s attack on Iraq.
• Charge John Howard: with crimes against humanity.
• Rock Against Howard it’s a CD!
• Don’t Trust Howard: complete with downloadable sticker
• Howard’s End 04: “For matters of critical national importance, nothing says it like a fridge magnet.”

I’ll add more as they come to my attention.

August 29 was the 225th anniversary of the Battle of Newtown. That’s Newtown, New York, and this was part of the American War of Independence. The US beat Britain in this one (as they did eventually in the entire struggle.)

The real losers, however, were the people of the Iroquois confederacy of nations.

Some related links:
USWars.net Battle of Newtown page;
Wikipedia Battle of Newtown entry;
The local Star-Gazette’s special feature on the 225th anniversary re-enactment;
The-Roundup.com General John Sullivan’s campaign, which destroyed the Iroquois confederacy.

I’m sorry. I laughed my head off when I saw this report. I shouldn’t, I know.

In short, the Genesis space probe, with its cargo of space particles, crashed to Earth instead of being intercepted by Hollywood stunt choppers on its descent. You see, it’s parachute failed to open.

Check out the Associated Press report on the SMH website. Meanwhile, NASA has announced that they will establish a Mishap Review Board within 72 hours. The NASA report includes a Quicktime movie of the crashlanding.