Bruce

You're clearly more compassionate than most of us OLO typers. You also lived in a genuine Police State and did something about it.

There is info about the al Jenabi case here http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/people-smuggler-takes-bid-to-court/2007/09/14/1189276987656.html but I still don't really know what he and his family were seeking refuge from. I can imagine though that Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan, Gaza and Lebanon may all be seen as places for refugees to flee from because they all suffer mass violence, tribal, religious and ethnic clashes - as they have throughout history.

I reckon there should be no blanket exemptions for people smugglers. They should be judged on their motivations, treatment of the refugees they smuggled and according to other transparent legal criteria.

Its interesting that the al Jenabi case may not be resolved until after the Election. It seems that formal Kev's notoriety doesn't need any more exposure.

Pete

Fascinating - coincidentally, I'm listening to Bruce on ABC Local Radio right now, on the 'Conversation Hour'.

You're a legend, Bruce :) A pity that our current government apparently isn't being advised by people of your calibre and decency any more. Or if they are, the advice is falling on deaf ears.

This is the problem with societies all over the world which do not have to deal with an imminent danger affecting our families. Let's face it what would we do nor not do if confronted with the same problems. A family in peril and an offer to take them to safety. Would we just do nothing because we would not do anything to rock the boat? or would we try to get our family out of danger? I think it is not so simple as politicians would have us believe, namely to just wait in line like so many others because it is the 'right','correct' way to do things....Well this is why so many Jews and a lot of their helpers perished during WWII. Who are we to stand judgment over our fellow human beings when the only thing they want is a better life for their families and themselves? No it is not easy at all. And all of those who can foresee without any doubt how they would react if confronted with the same problems, I say they will not know until they are confronted with the situation. Who knows maybe a great number of Australians will be in a similar situation soon if the drought does not break.

Bruce

What you did in South Africa was highly commendable.
Hopwever there is at least two major differences between what you did and what Ali Al Jenebi did.

You didn't transverse other countries in getting your refugees to safety. That complied with international laws and agreements. How many safe haven countries did the the smugglers transverse in getting their refugees from Iraq to Australia?

Ali Al Jenabi took money for his people smuggling activities.

Apparently our independant courts found he did in fact do far more than you.

Torpe

There is more a peril of people arriving from China than an exodus of Australians for the chances are China will in this decade suffer a massive shortage of water and consquently grain. Chances are it will rain again in Australia soon but even rain is unlikely to restore China's dwindling and overused underground water supply.

Thanks for the positive comments.
The intention is to get the brave and enterprising Ali out of Villawood.
Some of the people who left South Africa at that time stayed in neighbouring countries to be closer to family, political activity, etc.,but it was dangerous because the SAP could get at them such as the murder of Ruth First and Jenny Curtis and her baby. Raids across the border into Maseru the capital of Lesotho by the SAP in 1982 killed 42 members of the ANC.

Many people who left SA only stayed a short while in neighbouring countries before moving to third and fouth countries. Most often this was in order to gain a good education or to better uitilise the skills they had.

If refugees are to be convinced to stay at home address the cause of the problem, such as the TNI, Mugabe, the war lords in Sudan and Afghanistan. Australians are pretty lucky if they don't like John Howard and they save some money they can get a passport and job and leave. That option is not available to most of the victims of terror and famine which have the same cause, military and/or financial oppression.
Bruce Haigh

While the author's motives are good, his actions are those of the vigilante.

Taking the law into your own hands while it has popular support, will eventually run foul of the authorities, who are commissioned to apply the law and not interpret it.

While author might have committed his actions on a pro bono basis I doubt al Jenabi did so.

Most laws are unfair to someone somewhere (as I can attest after a similar discussion with a policeman over the definition of stopping at a stop sign). Leaving the interpretation of the law up to all is the slippery slope to anarchy.

Al Jenabi has only himself to blame for his predicament. Don't do the crime if you can't do the time.

HISTORY:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xhosa

The Xhosa are part of the southern Nguni migration which slowly moved south from the region around the Great Lakes. Xhosa peoples were well established by the time of the Dutch arrival in the mid-1600s,

I wonder what meaning can be attributed to 'moved slowly south'?

or

[and 'occupied' much of eastern South Africa from the Fish River to land inhabited by Zulu-speakers south of the modern city of Durban.]

Hmm..so we have Xhosa 'occupying' Zulu land ?

Then

The Xhosa and white settlers first encountered one another around Somerset East in the early 1700s. In the late 1700s Afrikaner trekboers migrating outwards from Cape Town came into conflict with Xhosa pastoralists around the Great Fish River region of the Eastern Cape.

Soooo..we have 'black' African Xhosa's 'moving south' and 'white' settlers 'moving outward'.... and.. golly gosh... of course the 'noble blacks' were just ambling along peacefully' but the EVIL whites were 'viciously and greedily talking land' :)

Then..

In the years following, many Xhosa-speaking clans were pushed west by expansion of the Zulus, as the northern Nguni put pressure on the southern Nguni as part of the historical process known as the mfecane, or "scattering".

BUT WAIT... they were 'pushed west'.... by.. ZULU's ? NO..this cannot possibly be.. because Zulu's are......BLACK.. its just not possible that 'black' people could be mean to black people.. that work is totally reserved for the 'evil' whites.

CONCLUSION...... it seems to me that Bruce has naively stepped into history at one point where it seemed to him to be 'unfair'... but that he did not take the trouble to look 'beyond' the immediate situation to it's historical roots. He has endedup helping one group of racists under pressure from another... or did he just pick sides ?

Why was it wrong for 'white settlers to expand out'...but not wrong for 'black' Xhosa's to 'move south' ? Or.. was it wrong for 'black' Zulu's to push the Xhosa's around ?

Is the ANC in reality a 'Xhosa' party (how many Zulu's are in it?)

Boazy: "BUT WAIT... they were 'pushed west'.... by.. ZULU's ? NO..this cannot possibly be.. because Zulu's are......BLACK.. its just not possible that 'black' people could be mean to black people.. that work is totally reserved for the 'evil' whites."

Sometimes Boazy's usually well-hidden ignorant racism just bubbles to the surface, doesn't it? He reads a wikipedia article and.. Bingo! He's an expert on South African history, to the extent that he - unlike Bruce Haigh - can see the big picture. Note that he doesn't mention at all the brutal apartheid state that was the actual context of Haigh's activities.

Such a goose, and a nasty, racist one at that.

Boaz, by the precise same logic, you can apply history to any group.

By the same token, we shouldn't help Christians because there were involved in colonial oppression and the crusades.

It's bulldust - all you can do is look at the situation as it stands.

Shadow Minister, some laws should never have been enacted. Try Germany between 1933 and 1945,the Soviet Union from 1917 to 1992 and Howard's labour and refuge laws. But if you want to talk law sit down and detail the number of International Conventions and domestic laws which Howard has ignored, i.e broken.
Vigilant: keenly attentive to detect danger, ever awake and alert; sleeplessly watchful. Vigilante: a member of a vigilance committee.
SM you seem unsure of what to believe or trust. In my experience people have an equal capacity for good and bad, try appealing to the better side of people.
Boaz, who wrote the history to which you refer? The victors or the vanquished? Also see my piece in OLO on Steve Biko and note the references to Thabo Mbeki.
Well said CJMorgan and TRTL.
Bruce Haigh

Bruce

I smiled when you used that comparison.

It was just such a whopper.

There is absolutely no comparison between John Howards' Refugee and Labour Laws and the laws of the murderous regimes of Hitler or the Bolshevics.

I prefered your life-experiences. They were hearthfelt and real.

Good on you Bruce. I remember Donald Woods. An outstanding journalist and I had the pleasure of learning much about reporting and newspapers from him.

You're an example of what the Australian diplomatic core should be about. Proactive and willing to speak out. Brave stuff.