<nettime> Adelaide rally & security

[Dave/Ross <fold@idl.net.au>]

Dear friends and supporters,

If you are coming to the rally in front of Parliament House on 
Friday, can you consider bringing some balloons, and/or flowers to be 
presented to the Premier.  We have invited both Mike Rann and 
Stephanie Keys to attend, although at such late notice we may have to 
settle for a representative from one or both.  Nevertheless, we have 
had some assurances that the media will be there, and we will try to 
use this occasion to draw further attention to the situation which 
exists at Woomera.

Many thanks to those who have written to encourage us in our work. 
Quite a few people have written to report that they believe their 
email and phones have been tampered with.  However, we all need to be 
careful about the flak we will receive if we make claims that cannot 
be substantiated.  I contacted my service provider, for example, and 
he denies having been coached by anyone else to send out a letter 
asking me where I had obtained names for my mailing list.  He did, 
however, admit that he has been approached by police in the past for 
information on subscribers to his internet service.

We have also received information from legal sources that say our 
allegations are probably true, but that there may be nothing illegal 
about the Commonwealth Government either tapping a phone or 
intercepting email "in the interest of national security".  Howard's 
repeated reference to protecting our "borders" is an attempt to make 
anything relating to refugees a matter of "national security".

Several people have reported that their mail to us is being blocked. 
There may be simple explanations for that.  (Although I don't have 
them just yet.)  Just keep trying, because some mail is getting 
through, although sometimes it is delayed for a few hours... and even 
that may have a simple explanation.  Most of us have probably had 
strange things happen to our email and have heard strange sounds on 
our phones from time to time.  It doesn't always mean that Big 
Brother is listening in.  So let's not panic.

Obviously, the so-called "anti-terrorist" legislation entitling the 
Government to arrest people "incommunicado" if the Government has 
reason to believe that they are a threat to national security is not 
being rushed through as a purely academic exercise.  John Howard 
wants it so that he can use it.  Simple as that.  But, without 
panicking, we must seek to utilise every form of communication that 
we can while we can.

In peace,

Dave McKay (and Ross Parry)
Refugee Embassy
Woomera 5720

Ph. 0407-238805

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