BY LISA MACDONALD
SYDNEY — Those are "the real queues", Julie McCrossin told the capacity crowd inside Sydney Town Hall on April 21, referring to the hundreds of refugee-rights supporters outside who'd been unable to get tickets for the three-hour gala "Show Mercy: Voices from behind and in front of the razor wire".
The event was organised by the Rights Campaign for Asylum Seekers and Australians for Just Refugee Programs, and featured a veritable list of "who's who" in the performing arts. It was directed by Nigel Jamieson, producer of the Tin Symphony for the 2000 Olympics opening night, and was addressed by Jack Thompson, Margaret Pomeranz, Rachel Ward, Max Gillies, John Clarke, Bryan Dawe, Jenny Morris, Kate Grenville and Phillip Adams among others.
Sister Susan Connelly from the Mary McKillop Institute, Justice John Dowd and lawyer Nicholas Cowdery also spoke. South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu sent a video message to the event, pleading for Australia "to show mercy" to asylum seekers and refugees.
Adams spoke of the tens of thousands of supportive letters he received after calling for ordinary people to risk a 10-year jail term by harbouring asylum seekers. Australian Greens Senator Bob Brown received huge applause when called on the ALP to take a stand against the Coalition's refugee policies.
The audience was silenced only by the horror stories told by asylum seekers themselves, including a 12-year-old boy released from detention just one week ago.
Show Mercy was powerful proof of the growing momentum among broader and broader 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ of the population to take a public stand against the politicians' brutality and racism, and to take action to free the refugees.
For further pro-refuge actions, check out the activist calendar on page 23.
From 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly, May 1, 2002.
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