Remember Reza Barati - Welcome Refugees

February 17th marks four years since Reza Barati was murdered in detention. Reza was a 23-year-old Iranian refugee seeking asylum but Australian border policy meant he was detained on Manus Island in an Australian run detention centre. On February 17, 2014, he was murdered.

For several weeks in early 2014, asylum seekers detained in the Manus Island Regional Processing Centre had been protesting against their treatment. They said that physical and verbal abuse by security guards (from Australian company G4S) was common place. Tensions rose when on 14 February, the refugees were told of Australia’s new policy to not allow anyone who had arrived by boat to settle in Australia.

On 17 February the camp was attacked and Reza Barati was murdered. An inquiry found he was hit with a piece of timber with a nail sticking out, before he was bashed with a large rock on his head. G4S security guards (who were there to guard the camp) participated in the attack.

On Manus and Nauru, another Australian off-shore detention centre, other asylum seekers have died, and people will continue to die and suffer until refugees are welcomed rather than detained.

The Freedom Shop does have some zines and leaflets about Manus, Nauru and Australia's border policy. We also have books about borders, asylum seekers and refugees and their struggles to seek asylum, including:

Aminullah

More Tales of Migration

Undocumented

The Architecture of Migrant Detention

Violent Borders

Refugees and the Right to Move

Undoing Border Imperialism

     


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Class War in the 21st Century New Zealand: A Combined Rant and Political Suicide Note by Sam Buchanan

  “ The oppressor would not be so strong if he did not have accomplices among the oppressed” – Simone de Beauvoir   Introduction The last 40 years have seen the incremental, but steady, shift of political power away from the working class. Much of this power has moved into the hands of the managers, bureaucrats and other functionaries that make up the Professional-Managerial Class (PMC). This is a problem, firstly because no particular sector of society should have an unfair share of power, secondly because these are people who have never liked democracy very much. Increasing inequality, in other words the continuing class war waged on the working class, also creates resentment (even if the losers are only vaguely aware of what is going on), crime, increased health and mental health costs and demands for increased repression and control. At this point, the Professional-Managerial Class are the main reason we aren ’ t getting anywhere. In the class war, they ’ ve chos...
Read more

Submissions against the Treaty Principles Bill due by 7 Jan 11:59pm!

Image
Get your submissions against David Seymour's darned Treaty Principles Bill in! The deadline is 7 Jan 11:59pm - that's this coming Tuesday! Post your submissions here . For reference, below is the Freedom Shop's own submission: THE Freedom Shop Collective is a small, Poneke-based collective, now approaching its 30th year of existence, so has outlived seven New Zealand governments. Our primary project has been the successful operation of a non-profit political bookshop which encourages the disestablishment of capitalism and the state. Often dubbed ‘OG activists’ by youngsters, the collective is well-known and respected amongst Poneke’s alternative political and countercultural milieus. We oppose the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill, considering the introduction of this bill to be solely based on the need of the author to fulfil an adolescent ideological obsession, and recommend the entire thing be dumped ASAP While we see this bill as dead in the water, it has the un...
Read more

Plan B 2024 is here! Your Diary Planner for 2024

Image
Finally it's here: Plan B 2024 is out! It's taken a while, it got held up at the printers - but at last it's here! Plan B's a functional weekly planner. Each week includes dates and facts about resistance and events that have occurred since the early settlers and colonisers arrived in this country. And each month is introduced by a stunning image created by one of twelve local creatives.  The images commemorate some of those often ignored, overlooked, deliberately forgotten events that have happened in this country. We've got artwork highlighting protest and community action around housing and homes, deep sea oil exploration, colonialism, imperialism, racism, climate change, surveillance and more.  Many of the events and dates are from stories and histories that are usually overlooked in 'official' versions - so with Plan B, as you plot and plan your way though 2024, you know that you are not alone. You can be reminded of what has come before and that opposi...
Read more