Asylum seekers

[Griffin]

I live in australia and one of the main ongoing issues is about people travelling here illegally and how theyre treated. At the moment they're being put in detention centres(basically prisons) until they're processed.
i would like to know what you think should be done.

[Kez]

The cause of most immigrants is they are economic migrants, if the west wants to stop the migrants entering the nations, then it should pay the countries to improve society, instead of bombing them.

comrade kamo

[El Commandante]

I think that if our governments bomb the hell out of the their asylum seekers home country then we have a right to accept them. Our governments have caused the problems, they should solve it. If the people are in real danger then of course they should be allowed into the country.

[revolutionary spirit]

being made scape goats for the nation's problems by the media and such

[El Commandante]

It is wrong how the government try to blame every problem that the country has on asylum seekers. They are blamed for lack of money for education and also every other problem in the country. They are the governments equivilant of rail track's leaves on the line!

[Moskitto]

In our business studies group someone thought taxes were where the governmenr steals money from you to let immigrants live in mansions.

Yeah, £32 a week (the average Brit thinks it's about £150 btw) being spent on 0.05% of the population really justifies 23% income tax, 17.5% VAT, £150 pa road tax etc. Doesn't it?

[Kez]

Having said the above, i reckon that the brits are relatively tolerant about immigrants either because:
a) they are ignorant of what goes on in their country
B) they are genuinly tolerant of nationalities they themselves rules during british imperialism

comrade kamo

[celticsocialist]

The situation in Glasgow with asylum seekers has been big news especially in the Sighthill housing scheme.
One asylum seeker has been murdered and the BNP have attempted to win support by protesting about them being allowed in the country.
On the whole Glaswegians are quite positive about asylum seekers and i think the worst mistake was to house them in Sighthill as it already has enough problems with poverty,drugs and crime. Some people there have seen these newcomers come in and feel that any money spent on them should be spent helping the locals. Unfortunately the media have been slow in pointing out that the money is not Glasgow City Councils money and would not be available for anything else. Thanks to the Daily Record once again for clouding the issue and helping to spread racial distrust.

[Reuben]

Good posts.
With regard to Moskitto's post about the thoughts of somebody in his business study group I am amazed at the way in which people scapegoat aylum seekers because of the small amount of money spent on their upkeep (that is in the six month period that the government bans them from working) when the govern is wasting 3 million pounds every day developing nuclear weapons.

My family came to Britain as part thye mass immigration of Jewish refugees/migrants from the Russian pogroms earlier part of the twentieth century. It was this mass mass immigration that caused the first, very much racially motivated, immigration act which followed Tory M.P.s making explicitly anti-semitic comments. Unfortunately the British government policy on immigration has carried on in this vein.

[Freiheit]

there is always good and bad ppl.

there are good asylants (the have problems and need asylum) and there are bad ones (they just wanna have a better life).

[Kez]

talking of idiots in britain,
1/4 of the population dont know were in the EU, thats from the right wing press.

comrade kamo

[Naive]

The way refugees are treated in Australia is disgusting. Sticking them in detention centres like they're criminals, I can’t understand it.
I used to live in Hong Kong and that’s exactly how that government treated Vietnamese boat people as well and I can't believe a country like Australia would choose that kind of a model to follow. It just feels like a new version of the “white Australia policy”.
I used to be part of a program in Hong Kong where you went to the detention centres and talked to refugees your age and it was really upsetting. Just going to the camps, which looked like prisons with their barbed wire fences and watchtowers and the security controls you had to go through to get in. The living conditions were terrible and I was amazed how people could live there for years and not completely give up hope completely. One girl I visited often came to the camp when she was 8 and at 16 she was still there. Her families story and how she ended up in the camp really made me aware of how lucky I was to have been born in “the right place”. There was also quite a profitable business for the people working at the detention centres. If the refugees could come up with enough money, they’d find a local man or woman to marry them and so they’d have an actual chance of being able to stay in Hong Kong and getting out of the camp, rather than the government shipping them back to Vietnam.

[Naive]

There was a letter to the editor in the Sun Herald yesterday that I thought made a really good point.


Terror Talk

Before the election, Prime Minister John Howard, Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock, Parliamentary Secretary Peter Slipper and former Defence Minister Peter Reith linked asylum seekers with terrorists. The link was based on assumptions yet without evidence.
Now we have evidence that an Australian, David Hicks, 26, from Adelaide, is involved either with the Al Qaeda group or the Taliban, would our politicians now link all (white) Australians with terrorists?

[Gestra]

Living in the UK. It is a real shame to see some peoples views of Asylum seekers. Just hate for no real reason. People not wanting to help others because they are 'different' from an another place. They seem to fail to see they are people just like them. Also the way the government often treats them as second class human beings.

Allowing Asylum seekers into a country is not only good. It is the right thing to do. Much better to help people than not to. It would be good for governments to practice an open policy of letting people in. Wont happen though.

It is also terrible too see Asylum seekers being used as scapegoats. That is just a terrible thing to happen. Victimising those people who are in no place to defend themselves.

[Griffin]

im just goin to play devils advocate here so these arnt what i really think......
a) australia(and britain for that matter) arent dropping bombs, why should the government waste any time or money on them?
b)these boatpeople on the way to australia pass a few suitable places for them, such as papua new guinie, why dont they stop there??
c) they pay so much money for the trip sometimes, why dont they just apply???

these are the questions the government ask us and expect to be supported!!

[MJM]

It's a shame about the happenings in Australia.
The election was fought on policies around this issues wasn't it?
And as for Pauline Hanson she gave the place a bad name too.

[Griffin]

actually pauline hanson didnt even win her seat...
i dont mind pauline hanson because she wants to limit the amount of immigrants to almost zero, and because she wants to do that, the major parties are against it. So whatever she tries to do, the gov't do the opposite. So by her trying to get immigrants reduced she is actually encouraging the government to accept more!

[Freiheit]

in switzerland a absolute right wing party (swiss people's party), which is unfortunately one of the most powerfull parties, made an initiative that only 18% of the population can be foreigners - racists.

[CommieBastard]

Last year when i was still doing sociology my teacher said that he thought there should be a sign at dover directing asylum seekers straight onto a boat back home..
i said that was fine by me if they were each handed some weapons to use to sort out their problems back home..

[Nickademus]

it happens here in canada too. especially if refugees try to come into canada through the coast of British Columbia. And frankly most people here also hate refugees/asylum speakers.

and camo i think you make an oversimplification when you said that most are seeking asylum because of economics. that is not true. there are thousands of others who come to other countries because they are being persecuted for their religion, their politics, their sexuality etc.

the problem is that we can't accept everyone who is seeking asylum without going broke (and through that i mean resources other than money as well). thus, there needs to be some time while the government and immigration officials determine who can stay in the country. once the refugees are allowed to roam free it is difficult to track them down again. there has to be a better way, however, to solve this problem other than detention centres.

but part of the question is really where else would the refugees go? most of them come without knowing anyone or anything about the country and with no money. by keeping them in a detention centre (i would prefer one where they can go out and do things, i.e. look for jobs etc,) they are probably being fed better then they would be without it etc.

i don't kjnow. very difficult question.

[CommieBastard]

Well, i stick by what i said, if there truly arent enough resources for people, then don't let them in. Instead there should be a funding for them to gain their freedom in their own countries by means of revolution.
Sadly, i think we first have to deal with our own country's revolutionary deficit first...

[Capitalist]

I think the CIA and the American Government needs to do a better job of overthrowing ALL Corrupt (Non-Democratic, Totalarian) Governments.

People will continue to swarm to the United States, Britain, and other great free nations for asylum - has long has these nations are the only free and capitalistic nations to live in.

Freedom Everywhere!

[libereco]

Quote: from Capitalist on 10:51 pm on Dec. 18, 2001
I think the CIA and the American Government needs to do a better job of overthrowing ALL Corrupt (Non-Democratic, Totalarian) Governments.

People will continue to swarm to the United States, Britain, and other great free nations for asylum - has long has these nations are the only free and capitalistic nations to live in.

Freedom Everywhere!

maybe it would be a start if the US would stop setting up totalitarian, un-democratic governments and supplying them with the military needs to hold their power?

open your eyes, the ideals that the american flag stand for are not what the government strives for. Far from it.

[Moskitto]

Britain is not a democracy. When will people realise.

The police take photos of people who go in protests.

The Party does what it likes without consulting anyone and deselects members who disagree. The opposition can't do anything.

Tony Blair always hides the truth.

A party member is the chief executive of the main broadcasting station.

They took away our right to vote for our own candidates for the European Parliament elections.

They wasted a load of money on building a stupid tent and got us to spend money visiting it.

If you walked down Downing Street singing "Labour Sucks, Labour Sucks, Labour Sucks" to the tune of "Vindaloo" you'd probably be arrested for disturbing the peace.

[CommieBastard]

And then there's the fact that people only come to those countries because they TELL everyone that they're free and democratic and that capitalism is all nice...
well, the east european bloc changed to capitalism for that same reason, and found to their horror that capitalism isn't all nice things, flash cars, and coca cola...