rc-am on 6 Apr 2001 15:57:42 -0000 |
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[Nettime-bold] Re: <nettime> Ruddock unveils law to strip-search detainees |
> ((I don't know if anyone not in Australia has seen images of these detention > camps, but they are basically concentration camps in the desert. Australia has > an extraordinarily racist past -- from settlers hunting aboriginies, through > the white australia policy and detaining italian immigrants during WWII, and > now this. Ben)) Um, detainees have been strip-searched for some time, as they have been subject to the use of chemical restraints, etc. These proposed legislative changes are a way to ensure that camp guards are not charged with abuse since the issue of abuse became a matter for lyrical and rather limited indignation -- ie., it is a measure to protect guards from sexual assault charges and to specify the limits of those searches (ie., no cavity searches). Legislation in this area has as a rule been a response to protests, especially protests by detainees, and an attempt to legalise ad hoc arrangements, limit state liability and exert increased control: the 1994 legislation that made detention of boat arrivals mandatory and non-reviewable was a last-hour response to an application for freedom before the High Court; the High Court rules that the Human Rights Commission has the power to send detainees sealed letters informing them of their rights and the government changes the law to remove detainees from the coverage of the Human Rights Act, and so on. Also, not "basically concentration camps", but according to juridical definition and history of the concentration camp, they are concentration camps. And, as a matter of interest, Australia also interned German Jewish asylum seekers during WWII (see Cyril Pearl (1983) The Dunera Scandal); and -- in case Mr Wark is online -- it was the ALP who are responsible for the introduction of the current policy of mandatory and non-reviewable detention. The ALP's sole concern at present seems to be to complain about the working conditions of concentration camp staff, and they can only manage to show indignation insofar as detainees are infantile and infantilised. Well, how else does one hold onto a fear of foreigners _and_ present oneself as a concerned, compassionate politician all at once? There are many places to find details on this, including http://www.antimedia.net/xborder/ and the Australian Journal of Human Rights, which is also online. Angela _________ _______________________________________________ Nettime-bold mailing list Nettime-bold@nettime.org http://www.nettime.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nettime-bold