Fwd: Secret network behind 'refugees'

["Alan Bradley" <abradley1@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

The following little bit of nonsense turned up in the Sunday Mail, the local
weekly Murdoch tabloid. It's full of distortions, but the only one that
needs comment is that it exaggerates the role of Resistance (the youth
organisation allied to the Democratic Socialist Party) and omits the role of
the International Socialist Organisation.

Apart from that, it's quite amusing.

Alan Bradley
abradley1@xxxxxxxxxxx
---------------------------------------------
http://www.thesundaymail.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,4742372%255E90
3,00.html

Secret network behind 'refugees'
CHRIS TAYLOR
21jul02
WHEN two boys wandered into central Melbourne 20 days after escaping from
South Australia's remote Woomera detention centre and surviving in
inhospitable terrain, the question most asked was: How did they manage it?

The answer, in all probability, lies with a widespread, factional,
fundamentally subversive, highly organised network of radicals and idealists
which compares itself to wartime resistance movements.

It is called the Refugee Action Collective -- and while the long series of
protests and rallies it has organised over two years have been very public,
it has an underground element that has the Federal Government very worried.

Factions of the RAC claim to have access to a network of hundreds of
families across Australia ready and willing to break the law.

They are prepared to take in, shelter and help hide escapees like brothers
Alamdar and Mantazir Bakhteyarea, who arrived at the British Consulate in
Melbourne on Thursday demanding asylum from the Australian Government.

It is believed this network was instrumental in helping the brothers, aged
14 and 12, make their 1000km-plus trek from Woomera after they broke out of
the detention centre with a group of others.

Although RAC members decline to reveal who directed the brothers to the
consulate and organised their legal representation, it was clear the
children had been rehearsed and the RAC took the credit for contacting media
outlets to alert them to the unfolding events.

RAC membership is claimed to number in the thousands. Its funds, while
limited, are directed toward helping detention centre fugitives with basics
and legal advice.

Support for the group is swelling -- a fact reflected in recent opinion
polls which show support for the mandatory detention of asylum applicants is
down to 50 per cent.

While the group has its base membership in actual asylum seekers and former
inmates of detention centres, active recruiting, mainly on university
campuses, has seen its ranks skyrocket.

NSW RAC convenor Ian Rintoul admits that while the group's major aim is to
focus public attention on the detention issue, incidents are often carried
out "less than publicly".

"There are people, as far as the collectives are concerned, who are very
well connected within the refugee community," Mr Rintoul, 48, said.

"As far as the two boys are concerned, I can't say that we orchestrated it .
. . but we are closely contacted in terms of specific incidents like that."

The reasons behind declining to outline its role in individual cases,
according to Federal Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock's office, is that
groups like the RAC need to avoid the potential for criminal prosecution.

"They will not make admissions in relation to those incidents because that
would be tantamount to making a confession to police," Mr Ruddock's
spokesman said.

"They make claims to know things but are also suitably vague about them.

"They are linked to anarchist groups, socialist workers' movements. They
claim to have involvements with some of those people released from
detention, people with a vested interest."

Back at Woomera yesterday, Alamdar said he and his brother had received help
from "many" people during their trek across the country, moving house every
two days.

"I was taken from the detention centre and put in a car and I felt safe and
happy. We were given food and, if we needed to move, we only moved at
night," he said.

"People were nice to us, people brought us food and treated us well."

Nuns in the Brigidine Sisters order revealed they had also helped the boys.
A nun was the mystery woman who ushered the brothers into the consulate
office.

Sister Brigid Arthur said nuns had been contacted by anonymous people caring
for the boys and asked to escort them to their bid for asylum.

The spread of the RAC has its genesis in the socialist network known as
Resistance, which boasts a national membership of thousands of mostly high
school and university students.

It relies on donations, many originating in the Afghan and Pakistani
communities, and collections at public rallies.

As part of a push to support the underground RAC network, student union
offices plan to offer campus facilities as safe houses for escaped
detainees, in a series of announcements to be made this semester.

Those institutions planning to take part include the University of
Queensland, Sydney University and Latrobe and Melbourne universities.

Resistance national co-ordinator Simon Butler said: "The secret underground
network plays an important role in helping escapees, but the main focus will
always be public because you have to get that public attention.

"There are a lot of people who obviously have to be secret because they are
prepared to give sanctuary, but I think this planned move by students is an
indication of how successful RAC has been."

Queensland RAC spokesman Mike Byrne said proof of the organisation's growing
influence was shown by the number of people who turned up for a rally at
Brisbane's City Hall last month. The venue was filled to 75 per cent
capacity.

"The contact list is large and it ranges from high school students to aged
pensioners," Mr Byrne, 39, said.

He said the incident involving the boys had "spelt an embarrassment for
Ruddock and we shouldn't forget that it shines the spotlight on his inhumane
practice of keeping children behind razor wire".

The Government has said the boys are from Pakistan, not Afghanistan, and do
not qualify for asylum.


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