| Last week I listened to Carmel Travers speaking at
the Adelaide UniFem breakfast. In the excerpt played on 5AN Adelaide,
she read her son's essay on his grandfather's trauma in Iran, all because his family were
Baha'i and not Muslim. The boy spoke of rapes and beatings, and how
Australia had been a place of rescue for his grandfather. Last year I worked with a man from Iran for a few weeks.
He is also Baha'i. I really liked this gentle man. From the
little he told me (his family is still in Iran) I get the impression that
in Iran, if one is not Muslim, the best one can hope for is to be left
alone at the bottom of the social pile without privilege or much hope of justice. The worst may be much worse.
Iran is known for its Anti-American rhetoric. It is known that
religious extremists have huge influence in the government of Iran.
And at this time in history, our Prime Minister has been doing his level
best to be seen as the most faithful ally the United States has. True,
Iraq has been an enemy of Iran, but it is still a Muslim nation, using its Muslim status as a rallying point against
the US. How at this time can
Australia be negotiating to send Iranian refuges back to Iran?
Could it be that the sending of these people back to Iran at such a time
will be come a death penalty for some of them? What hope of survival do they have having fled
Iran to the number one friend of the US, when they are being sent back in
the midst of a war against another Muslim state in which Australia is
likely to be one
of the prime aggressors?
I cannot believe the lack of compassion involved in this act of our
government. How can they do such a thing which almost guarantees the death of these people? Will you have blood on your hands by
complicity, or will you write to or email your member of parliament in
protest, calling them to come to their senses with a little human decency?
This is not about the war on Iraq, or whether it is justified. It
is about simple human decency.
You can find a full listing of the members of the senate and House of Representatives
that can be pasted into the address bar of an email client at these
places:
Senate House
of Representatives Cabinet
However, as my local MP points out it is easy for mail which is
obviously sent to all 146 members at once to be ignored. There is
currently a huge amount of traffic on this issue. I suggest you
enter the name of your electorate in your Subject line; e.g. "Elector
from Grey on Iran Issue." and mail your member, senators and the
members of cabinet.
The Prime Minister, and the Minister for Immigration do not have
publicly available email addresses, which is perhaps an tacit admission of
the unpopularity of their policies. You have to go the following links
to email them from a web form:
John
Howard: email service available through www.pm.gov.au
Phillip Ruddock email available
through the Department's website:
www.minister.immi.gov.au/contact/index.htm#email
Andrew Prior
|
