The Forum > Article Comments > Let's not forget the SIEV-X > Comments
Let's not forget the SIEV-X : Comments
By Susan Metcalfe, published 17/6/2008'Hope', a documentary by Steve Thomas and Sue Brooks, is Amal Hassan Basry’s story - a survivor of the ill-fated SIEV-X.
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The remarks of some posters made feel naseous, but then I remembered that they speak from the comfort and security of being Australian and living here without any personal experience whatsoever of war or political terror. Or indeed, the remotest possibility of ever experiencing this.
You have no idea, or the imagination, what it is like to live with relentless terror. If you did, you would know that what seems irrational to you here in Australia might appear to be the most logical thing to do when fleeing with your children away from a situation through a hostile 'host' country. The things that you see briefly on the news or in interesting exposes in current affair programmes is the daily reality year in and year out for some people.
We are not removed or can shield ourselves from the consequences, such as displaced people just because we want to. We are actively involved.
It is not logical to demand isolation politics in one area and yet expect to reap the economic rewards from a global world.
Australia, like other Western countries, are not like Iran, Indonesia, Sudan, Pakistan, or any of those third world countries that bear the brunt of the vast majority of refugees. There is hope for a future here, and peace.
Just to say that we are an open democratic society where our government is held accountable is not enough. It must be seen to be so. We meddle and exert pressure in other nations, that requires a certain moral authority.