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World Refugee Day launched
CANBERRA — Banners supporting refugee rights and a field of 500 hearts surrounded speakers launching World Refugee Day on the ACT Legislative Assembly lawns on May 24.
The "Field of Hearts" installation for refugee rights is being built across the country as part of the annual United Nations June 20 World Refugee Day protests. The event has been endorsed by some 30 community leaders and groups in the ACT and southern NSW.
Andrew Hall from Public Servants for Refugees and the Socialist Alliance chaired the event, which heard from Labor MLA Wayne Berry; Greens MLA Kerrie Tucker; Democrats MLA Roslyn Dundas; Michel Gabaudan, representative in Australia for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees; Amnesty International's Valerie Thomas; Dr Sue Wareham from the Medical Association for the Prevention of War; and Bishop Pat Power.
A "heART exhibition" sponsored by Tucker, featuring some of the most beautifully decorated hearts and other creative expressions of support for refugees, was then opened in the Legislative Assembly.
The Canberra organising committee aims to display more than 10,000 hearts at a rally on the lawns of Parliament House. To get involved phone Claire Bruhns on 0401 325 943 or Andrew Hall on 0438 624 744, or visit .
Josephine Hunt
Downer lies about Guantanamo abuse
In a May 25 interview with Sky News, Australian foreign minister Alexander Downer dismissed claims by supporters of David Hicks and Mamdouh Habib (two Australians who have been imprisoned at a US naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for more than two-and-a-half years) that the two had been abused while in custody.
"We hadn't heard of claims of abuse of Hicks and Habib in Guantanamo Bay until the Abu Ghraib scandal emerged. This wasn't an argument being put. We have made consular visits to Hicks and Habib, who got into trouble because they've been involved with al Qaeda. I mean really, you'd have to be pretty foolish to get involved in an organisation like al Qaeda. We have made consular visits to these people and there is no sign that they have been abused in Guantanamo Bay."
However human rights organisations have repeatedly expressed concerns about the treatment of the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. On April 15, 2002, human rights group Amnesty International expressed concern that the US had "transferred and held people [at Guantanamo Bay] in conditions that may amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, and that violate other minimum standards relating to detention".
Several months earlier, pictures of "sensory deprivation" techniques being used on prisoners being transported and held at Guantanamo had emerged. Helen Bamber, a director of the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture, told the January 19, 2002, London Mirror: "Sensory deprivation can have the effect of breaking people down because you are actually attacking someone's identity and challenging the notion of who they are.
"They will probably have panic attacks, mood changes and terrible nightmares."
Rohan Pearce
Benefit night for 'Opera House Two'
NEWCASTLE — More than 70 people attended a benefit night in Newcastle on May 23 for the Opera House 'Two' — Will Saunders and Dave Burgess. The event raised $1,220 towards their costs of $151,000.
A range of organisations contributed to the success of the night, including Krishna's Caf‚, the Greens, the Socialist Alliance and the Newcastle University Students Association.
Dave Burgess recounted his experiences to the crowd, and two films were screened: Not in my Name II — the Human Shields, from Britain, and Human Shield from the US.
The night concluded with an open discussion about activism and the war on Iraq. Visit .
Niko Leka
Rally to save ridge
CANBERRA — Two hundred Save the Ridge activists and supporters rallied on May 22 against the ACT Labor government's attempt to ram through special legislation to restart work on the Gungahlin Drive extension through nature reserves. The rally called for public transport alternatives to the freeway.
Carrying an almost life-sized two-dimensional replica of a light-rail vehicle, protesters called for the construction of a light-rail track through north Canberra.
Paul Oboohov
From Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly, June 2, 2004.
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