[Nettime-bold] FW: solidarity & freedom @ woomera2002

["rcam" <rcollins@netlink.com.au>]

-----Original Message-----
From: woomera-announce@lists.southspace.net

- please circulate -

Call for global solidarity
Freedom @ Woomera2002
http://woomera2002.com/


What is Woomera?

Woomera is located 500 kms from the nearest city of Adelaide, in South
Australia.  It is best known as the location of Australia's largest onshore
internment camp, and the scene of the most determined resistance to
Australian Government policies of automatically and extrajudicially
interning people who arrive in Australia by boat and without papers.

Thousands of people are detained in prison camps around Australia for months
and sometimes years - and since the establishment of a military blockade of
Fortress Australia some months ago, on Pacific Islands and in Indonesia, in
camps funded by the Australian Government.  This policy has been met with
ongoing and protests by those who have been interned, generating a growing
movement of opposition outside the camps.

The town of Woomera was built by UK and Australian military forces on land
seized from indigenous peoples, who have since waged a struggle against
nuclear weapons testing, uranium mining, and (more recently) the proposed
toxic waste dump.  Woomera is situated in a vast military prohibited zone,
under the control of the Department of Defence.  Close by to Woomera are
also three uranium mines, and the US-CIA/Australian Spy Base, Pine Gap,
pivotal to the proposed US's 'Missile Defence Shield'.

: woomera2002 : festival of freedoms : autonomadic caravan : direct actions
:
28 March - 2 April, 2002

This Easter hundreds, possibly thousands, of people from around Australia
will make the journey to Woomera to make the connections between the
enclosures, colonialism and war.  We hope you can join with us in your own
way, no matter where you live in the world.

"We are making the journey to refuse the death, pain and confinements that
are manufactured in the name of The Economy.  We refuse the caging behind
razor wire and the new world borders fashioned so that capital, by reserving
for itself the 'right' to move around the world, can better enforce
austerity, misery, the earth's destruction and the 'race-to-the-bottom'."

To read the rest of the call to action, and for more information on the
issues, go to http://woomera2002.com/

Solidarity

We have been heartened by the many messages of support from around the
world, and from those unable to make the trip.  Many have asked how they can
help.  Below you will find a few suggestions.

We would also like to note that while no other Government practices
mandatory and extrajudicial internment of sans papier, and while the
struggles of the invisible here are amongst the most determined, we hope
that not only will people support woomera2002, but they also take the
opportunity to draw the connections with their own struggles, the struggles
of sans papier, and against the terror of the enclosures and dispossessions.

March 30th

Of course you can show your solidarity at any time; but we envisage that as
the protests in Woomera gather by the 29th, the authorities might well
respond severely to protesters, including those inside the internment camp -
as they have done time and again when those behind the razor-wire have
called for freedom - including with tear-gas, water-cannon and beatings.
Above all, we would ask you to respond to this.  Here are some suggestions
of things you can do:

- Send faxes to the Australian Government and Opposition - the policy of
mandatory and extrajudicial internment is a bi-partisan one.  See below for
fax and emails.

- Make a noise in front of the Australian embassy or consulate near you.

- Organise protest at one of the other detention centres in Australia:
Maribyrnong, Villawood, Port Hedland, Curtin and Perth.  Or create some
direct action at a detainment centre, department office or estate near you.

- Protests for the rights and freedom of sans papier everywhere.  The
Australian Government has established offshore internment camps in the
Asia-Pacific, and there are also a number of detention centres in Europe and
the USA.

- Participate online in woomera2002 - details on how to do this will be up
shortly on http://www.woomera2002.com/

- Get involved in noborder actions near you, or get them going.  See
http:noborder.org/ and http://antimedia.net/xborder/ for links to numerous
noborder groups and events around the world.

- Help us out with funds and/or skills.  See the woomera2002 website.  There
are specific actions and events listed at the woomera2002 website which you
might also like to support.

http://woomera2002.com
email: infodesk@woomera2002.com

===================
Fax numbers and email addresses:

Prime Minister, John Howard
Fax: +61 26273 4100
Or submit an email at:
http://www.pm.gov.au/your_feedback/feedback.htm

Leader of the Opposition, Simon Crean
Fax: +61 26277 2307
Email:  mailto:s.crean.mp@aph.gov.au

Minister for Immigration, Philip Ruddock
Fax: +61 26273 4144
Or, submit an email at:
http://www.minister.immi.gov.au/general/contents.htm

Shadow Minister for Immigration, Julia Gillard
Fax: +61 26277 8457
Email: mailto:julia.gillard.mp@aph.gov.au

Regular mail address for all politicians:
Parliament House,
Canberra 2006
Australia

=======================
:: woomera2002 ::
----infodesk-----

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