Asylum seekers issue and class interests

Vanguard September 2012 p. 2
Jim H.

(Above: Asylum seekers in Malaysia)

As the two most unpopular leaders in Australia’s history position themselves for the next round of parliamentary elections, Julia Gillard and her Labor government can’t run fast enough to finally kill off the more humane policy that had been applied following the defeat of the former Howard government.

There is nothing that won’t be cast aside – Australian treaty obligations, Labor Party policy – as Gillard tries to capture some of the reactionary vote that has coalesced around Tony Abbott.

The Rudd government had been influenced by the demands of the rank-and-file party members, who in turn, sided with public opinion. The Tampa scandal encouraged many people to support the refugees and put an end to mandatory detention. On the other side stood a cabal of reactionaries, cynically seeking to manipulate the issue to whip up chauvinism, racist division and diversion from the attacks on working people made by Howard for the powerful rulers of Australia.

Position of ruling class

The asylum seeker question is a class issue. From this viewpoint a number of matters stand out…

• Refugee numbers coming to Australia are only a small fraction of the global refugee population. Australia is far from being overwhelmed. Suggestions that it is otherwise are a lie, calculated to criminalise people and make them vulnerable targets.
• The treatment of refugees is a testing ground for measures that can be applied to others who may in the future be labelled as a threat. We have already seen a connection with so-called anti-terrorism laws that have been used to demonise a section of the population, strengthen police powers and expand the anti-people activities of ASIO.
• The Australian government’s immigration policies have always been driven by the economic needs of capital’s labour markets. In the global capitalist economic crisis, there is over-supply of cheap labour moving around the world. It is far cheaper for the capitalist class to employ this mobile and temporary labour (‘guest workers’) without having to meet the obligations to provide entitlements for citizens and permanent residents.
• Migrants and refugees have always stood at the centre of Australia’s working class struggles and activism, playing leading roles in many struggles back to the days of Eureka Stockade. Today many are involved in the current wave of workplace struggles for job security, wages and conditions, and union rights. Migrant and refugee workers predominate in the unskilled and semi-skilled jobs with harsh conditions and low wages, such as meat processing and storage, warehousing, and cleaning.
• The bulk of today’s refugees come from war zones that are mostly fed by US led aggression. As long as this aggression keeps up, victims of imperialism and war will continue to seek asylum outside their own countries. Australian governments aligning us with imperialist aggression are therefore part of the problem.

Oppose ruling class agenda

Demonising asylum seekers is contemptible. Any person concerned with basic decency and the wellbeing of others will reject it

 Champions of the present policy attack opponents for demanding an open door policy. Few do this. From a class point of view, demanding an open door policy is wrong. However, those who seek asylum in Australia have the right to be treated humanely. They must not be vilified as “boat people”, and deserve speedy processing of their applications in Australian reception centres, and to be welcomed as citizens if they meet the criteria for asylum. 

The problem is that Labor and the Coalition are locked into the present course. There is very little difference of substance between them. Both parties posture and do nothing that will make a real difference. Putting an end to involvement in unjust wars overseas would be a good start. Assisting developing nations to reduce poverty and address climate change issues will reduce future factors in the involuntary movement of people.

There is no real solution to the global plight of refugees while the world and its people continue to be plundered and exploited by capitalism and imperialism.  The only solution is to work towards getting rid of this barbaric system. For us in Australia today, it means working to unite the great majority of Australian people from all cultural and racial backgrounds in the struggle against multinational corporations’ domination of Australia and for anti-imperialist independence and socialism.