Scott Morrison narrows the meaning of 'refugee'

Jay Fletcher writes that Scott Morrison narrows the meaning of ‘refugee’.

It is these millions of people who suffer while Australia enforces a racist closed-borders policy. “Draining the pool” in Indonesia may force this suffering further from Australia’s shores, but it still exists and it is growing exponentially worse.

However, the fight at home is still urgent. A bill drafted by Morrison would make changes to the Migration Act and the Maritime Powers Act that, former PM Malcolm Fraser said, would “enshrine in law the mistreatment of asylum seekers and refugees who flee to our country to escape persecution, torture and death”.

The ASRC [(Asylum Seeker Resource Centre)] has made one of more than 5000 submissions to the Senate inquiry being held on the bill. The advocacy and support centre said the bill will, “see the Minister give himself an unprecedented level of power to make life or death decisions about individual asylum seeker cases, without court oversight”.

In a briefing explaining the big changes proposed in the bill, the ASRC said: “The Bill narrows the meaning of refugee, ignoring previous court decisions and stacking the odds against refugees.

This xenophobia of the Australian working class against refugees prevents them from developing their political consciousness on internationalism. Unfortunately, this is very entrenched in the psyche.

But this does not mean that the party should give up or minimise its stance on racism and acceptance of refugees. It is vital for a Communist society to be anti-racist and accepting of all who seek help and refuge. A Communist cannot operate otherwise.

What this does mean that each party member has to wage their own internal war against racism and xenophobia. By recognising such a struggle, we can help others on their journey to being ant-racist and anti-xenophobic.

It will be this journey that transforms us into workers ready for a Communist society because we will regain our humanity and practice seeing the long-term. This is in contradistinction to the rabid racism and alienation we are forced to consume to under Capitalism.