BOAT PEOPLE, REFUGEES AND A BIT OF GOOD OLD AUSSIE PREJUDICE

First posted 9 May 2013

I hesitated when deciding on a title for this particular blog. A lot of Australians would turn off immediately when the accusation of prejudice hangs in the air particularly where boat people are concerned. A warning; some of what I write here is hard to comprehend. Some of it will disgust you.

Several days ago, a very dear and respected friend of mine became quite emotional when the subject of boat people was raised at a luncheon. Her passion was obvious but her emotion was perhaps more surprising. Not so however when you consider what she has heard from the people she has dealt with for the past few years. Her field includes managing the issues many refugees bring with them to this country from war torn backgrounds with attendant tales of rape, murder and all out tragedy.

A few years ago I came into contact with a young man from Somalia. Charlie was his English name. His black face observed mine without emotion; his eyes were dead; he looked through me as if I didn’t exist. I admit to feeling slightly intimidated that this young man barely out of his teens, despite working on a site where I was clearly the ranking official, could look right through me without a trace of fear or respect. His story was much worse.

As a child he had been forced to witness the murder of his entire family. As is often customary before they bled to death, the arms and legs of his parents were severed by their machete wielding killers and repositioned in opposing locations; arms where legs should have been etc etc. His sisters were raped repeatedly; beaten mercilessly; penetrated by steel pipes and rifle barrels until they lapsed gratefully into an unconscious state before finally being shot dead and rearranged as their parents had before them. Before being rescued by French aid workers, Charlie had spent almost ten years a fully-fledged child soldier of Somalia. Although he refused to go into any detail, I don’t suppose any vile act he performed as a child soldier compared to the hideousness he had already witnessed carried out to those he had once loved before the ability to love or feel any true emotion had been stolen from him.

This is the tragic world my good friend visits regularly if not literally then through the eyes of those who have witnessed the true horror of genocide. It must be difficult not to carry the psychological burden of others when exposed so consistently to their world.

Charlie’s story was enough for me. I had not the stomach to hear any more then nor have I since. Yet Charlie was a refugee, a refugee in many ways similar to the boat people who arrive on our shores with monotonous regularity today. It is true of course that many, maybe even the vast majority of boat people today have not experienced Charlie’s world. Yet these people do come from godforsaken third world nations where ethnic cleansing, genocidal retribution and religious persecution is standard fare. Countries where political freedom is conditional and the ruling party rules supreme, often at the point of a gun.

It would take a callous soul indeed not to feel Charlie’s pain. But all the hand wringing in the world will not stop the type of bastardry that typified his former world. We will not stop the murder by importing the victims. Victory over that type of oppression can only come from within.

It is our inalienable entitlement, as Australians, to pick and choose whom we allow into our country. Another friend of mine, slightly religious (yes, I do have some of those as well), admits to praying each night and thanking God for being born Australian and having the good fortune to live in such a free country. I couldn’t agree more. It is a privilege to have been born into this great nation of ours, and it is equally a privilege to be invited to come here and live.

Furthermore, for every boat person arriving here without the bona fides of Charlie’s world, there is one less Charlie who gets the chance to escape from a truly brutal existence. Make no mistake, people smuggling is a highly profitable trade and priority is given to those who can pay the most. By that method a significant portion of arrivals today are economic refugees who have paid handsomely, by their standards, for the chance to live a better life.

I encourage my good friend to maintain her passion but I caution her against becoming a victim herself. If emotion becomes the driving force the passion will soon dissipate. No one can survive that without becoming wooden like Charlie.

At the same time Australians need to exercise caution against becoming immune to the tragedy that often brings foreigners to our shores. It is our good fortune to be a part of this great nation and we should take advantage of that and embrace that good fortune at every opportunity. On the other hand, it is ill-mannered and discourteous to flaunt it.

J Raymond Long