Introduction to Desert Storm

Letters From the Inside (1)

Economic Migrants

Desert Indymedia Snippets

In the Middle of Somewhere

Faces

Lucky Country

By Way of an Introduction

Global Solidarity - Actions Around the World

Border Crossing / Border Camping

Letters from the Inside (2)

Shape Shifting

Untitled

No, Really. South Australian Police Aren't Racist

The Intimate Space of Power

Actors For Refugee Readings

Borderhack

An Engagement With the Real - A Dialogue

Woomera 2001-2002

Melbourne Indymedia Woomera Archive Photos

Links, Contacts, Credits, Thanks

 

I am 1/16 Spanish.
No, not a gypsy, a maid.
I am 1/4 Electro-shock therapy. Valium, earl gray tea drinking, fine merino wool.
I am 1/16 coal dust, emphysema lunged. Good mining stock.
I am 1/4 civil servant, ribbon cutting, hand shaking. A Great white Raj,
I am 1/16 suicide.

I am one whole green fig hanging from a green fig tree. Birds peck at me, at my pink flesh. Their beaks dig deep. Deep amongst the seeds.

I will not yield.

***

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to our first 'Harmony Day'.
I'd like to unveil our new slogan, brought to you by the Federal Government.
You + me = us
On this special day I'd like you all to stop for a minute, pause is your busy lifestyles.
And think about our community's continuing success as a multi-cultural society. Re-commit to continuing tolerance, good will and understanding amongst all groups.
Say 'no' to racism.

***

You, what is your name?
I'm sorry I don't understand you.
What is your name?
I'M_SORRY_I_DON'T_UNDERSTAND_YOU
WHAT IS YOUR NAME?....
Because you have arrived illegally you will only be granted a TPV (stamp). You are not eligible for newstart, (stamp) sickness allowance, (stamp) parenting payment, (stamp) youth allowance, (stamp) austudy (stamp) and a range of other benefits (stamp). You are not eligible for english classes (stamp) you may seek work, but you are on a temporary visa (stamp) and you probably don't speak english (stamp) so you won't find any. (stamp) if you leave the country (stamp) you will note be guaranteed the right of return (stamp) if you wish to study at university (stamp) you will have to pay full fees (stamp) which you can't afford (stamp) because you can't get a job (stamp) because you can't speak english (stamp) and are not eligible for english classes (stamp)

Repeat after me
YOU + ME = US
you + me = us

***

As I ride my bike
I'm trailing a great big bucket of white paint.
It pours behind me
covering roads, ovals, fig trees and bones.
It shines under the moon
I try to outride it
I push down on the pedals
My tendons strain
My joints rotate and pop
It pours behind me.

***

I am 1/4 Electro-shock therapy, earl gray tea drinking, fine merino wool.
I am 1/16 suicide.

I am one whole green fig hanging from a green fig tree. Birds peck at me. I will not yield.

***

Self-harm is cutting your arms with a kitchen knife
Self-harm in drinking your Pantene Pro V
Self-harm is running into concrete walls
Self-harm is putting a string through your lips
and drawing the string tighter
and tighter
and tighter.

Harm is sending them back
Harm is never checking after you send them back
HARM is blood covered people on the tv and big brother in the papers.
HARM is a 3 year old boy in leg restraints, kept with his father in a suicide proof cell without windows, bed or a toilet, for thirteen days.

***
Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.
Universal declaration of human rights - article 14. (1)

***

THERE IS NO GRASS (stamp) THERE ARE NO TOYS (stamp) YOU WILL HAVE NO VISITORS. (stamp) THERE IS NOTHING TO DO (stamp) SOME CHILDREN INSIDE HAVE NEVER SEEN GRASS. (stamp) IF YOU APPEAL THIS DECISION (stamp) YOU WILL HAVE NO LEGAL REPRESENTATION. (stamp) YOU WILL HAVE TO LODGE THE APPEAL YOURSELF (stamp) WITH LITTLE OR NO ENGLISH. (stamp) SOME CHILDREN HAVE NEVER SEEN GRASS. (stamp) THERE IS NOTHING TO DO. (stamp)
(stamp)
You will go crazy
(stamp)
There is nothing to do
(stamp)
You will go crazy
(stamp)
there is nothing to do
(stamp)
You will go crazy
You will go crazy
You will go crazy

***

I ride along the main street.
the crazy old man stands at the greengrocer,
muttering.
he reaches for an artichoke
he wants to hold the globe
in his palm.
He wants to feel the weight.
The greengrocer's son,
6 feet four
blond tips and trackpants,
grabs his wrist

and twists it
he says, put it down
put it down
put it down
PUT IT DOWN YOU FUCKING WOG
and twists and twists
the old man is crying
but he won't put it down
no-one stops shopping
- he's crazy.

***

At Woomera I slept on a blanket that was used to keep them warm in the car
- the refugees
as they tried to escape.
A crocheted blanket that smelt of wool.
They got caught.
They said it was worth it
just for the chance of it.

***

When I ride my bike home at night
I lift my arms up and fly down the hills
As I ride home I pinch myself
I don't think razor wire
I think of skin
Their skin
My skin
I'm trying to get a feel for it.
Sometimes I cry at a traffic lights
and people in cars look out at me.

Don't think razor wire,
Don't think boats
Don't think security guards

Just think this
dub
dub dub
that's the sound of a woman's heartbeat
dub dub
dub dub

you're a child
it's your mother
dub dub
dub dub

and she's scared.
dub dub
dub dub

If someone came to you
dub dub
and she asked for refuge
dub dub

asked for protection
what would you do?
dub dub
dub dub

don't think razor wire
just think this.
dub dub
dub dub
dub dub.

***