Thursday, November 20, 2008

Damn, I found out about this one day too late

Following links from this post at Blogger on the Cast Iron Balcony I discovered that last night I missed watching the Australian TV premiere of the documentary A Well Founded Fear.

From the film's web-site:
The Australian Government sends back asylum seekers it doesn't think are refugees. International law says people shouldn't be sent to unsafe locations. But the Australian Government never finds out what happens to the asylum seekers they don't want. So a determined Australian with a passion for justice has made it his mission.

A Well-Founded Fear is a moving documentary film about Phil Glendenning's search for the asylum seekers Australia rejected. The film follows him as he travels through Afghanistan, Syria, Turkey, Iran and Canada.
I really wish I'd known it was on, I must make sure I keep an eye out for other opportunities to watch it.

Back when my kids were little some of my mum's friends, and when she could my mum too, were involved with visiting refugees who were being detained. Hearing the stories of those people and knowing how completely and horrifically wrong the Howard government's treatment of asylum seekers was, would leave me consumed with anger and sorrow for our failings as a nation. When we finally got rid of Howard, a change in Australia's treatment of refugees was very high on my list of things to be hopeful for.

5 comments:

Megan said...

me too

Eternal Lizdom said...

Sounds like an intense film...

Anonymous said...

We taped it Mim!

mimbles said...

Oh good!

I wonder if our VCR still works...

Ariane said...

Reading the stories was enough for me. I just can't comprehend how anyone can sit in an office and decide who gets sent back to risk torture and death (possibly to a country they have no connection to) and who gets to live. Perhaps we should send the anyone who makes the decisions to escort each person "home".