Refugee Action Coalition Sydney RAC statement:
Why we still need to demand #BringThemHere
The demand to “Bring Them Here”, for the refugees and asylum seekers on Nauru and Manus Island to be brought to Australia, has been a central demand of the refugee rights movement.
In recent weeks, there has been discussion about using the demand “Bring Them Here” in regard to the asylum seekers and refugees on Manus and Nauru.. Partly that stems from the fact that Manus refugees in particular (including Behrouz Boochani) raised the slogan “Let Them Go” during the Manus siege, both because understandably some people do not want to come to Australia, but mostly because for some of them “Let Them Go” was seen to be a more achievable demand.
But “Let them Go”, contrasted to “Bring Them Here”, would mean that the movement actually accepts the injustice of the expulsion of asylum seekers offshore and would accept an outcome that does not require Australia to recognise its responsibility to protect asylum seekers, as long as they get safety somewhere else.
