Ruth Halbert
artist, weaver
Paper boat Rud.jpg

Blog: Dear Prime Minister

On July 30 2016 I started writing letters to the Prime Minister of Australia to protest against the imprisonment and torture of the asylum seekers in the offshore detention centres of Manus Island and Nauru. I started with the intention of writing a letter a day for every person in detention until they are all freed. There are more than 1800 asylum seekers in off shore detention. These are those letters and any response from Mr Turnbull.

Australia's kyriarchal system on Manus and Nauru

Dear Prime Minister,

In Behrouz Boochani's article titled 'A Kyriarchal System: New Colonial Experiments / New Colonial Resistance' he describes Manus RPC as a Kyriarchal system of systematic oppression rooted in colonial ideology. To protest against this system, which we Australians use to detain and torture refugees on Manus Island and Nauru, he directs much of his efforts to producing documentation and protest in the form of works of art: a play ('Manus'), a film ('Chauka, please Tell us the Time') and soon a book (to be published by Picador).

Prime Minister, Behrouz Boochani, Abdul Aziz Muhamat, Imran Mohammad, Mohammad Ali Maleki, Mr Eaten Fish and other refugees who have been imprisoned and tortured by Australia have created a legacy of documents which will ensure that Australia's illegality and cruelty will never be forgotten. Will it be your cowardice and inaction that is recorded in these documents? Or will you bring all refugees on Manus island and Nauru to Australia and end the nightmare of indefinite offshore detention?

art, activismRuth HalbertManus Island, Behrouz Boochani, torture, colonialism, illegal detention, discriminationComment