Australia has detained and stripped the rights of all those who arrived by boat including hundreds of refugees seeking protection from gendered violence. A Significant number of them are Afghan Refugees. Thousands of Afghan refugees are languishing inside and outside Australia’s detention centres, without basic rights. We also cannot forget Kevin Rudd, a former Australian Labor party Prime Minister and proposed Candidate for UN secretary General, implementing a cruel and discriminatory act in 2010, by freezing the Refugee VISA process for all Afghan asylum seekers who came to Australia by boat.
The racist Mandatory detention centre policy against refugees was created three decades ago, when some of the current players on the national team were not even born at this time. Yet so far, not a single cricketer or member of the Australian cricket board has condemned this.
The Australian cricket board and its players are a sample of white supremacy in Australia which thrives without question. Furthermore, public figures and institutions in Australia, conveniently call out and condemn other countries while turning a blind eye to Australia – a Disneyland for white supremacy and refugee torture. Of course, we should not be surprised by this, given that the entire board of Cricket Australia, selectors, and as well as the top coaching team is white. This is how white Australia reigns supreme in the silence regarding torture and rape occurring in detention centres in their backyard.
Shame on you cricketers and Cricket Australia.
We are also wondering when Australian sports organisations will for example boycott France given it has deprived Muslim women/children of their rights by banning the hijab in schools since 2004. We are further waiting for Australian sport teams to boycott and withdraw from every sporting event connected to countries like Israel, Sri Lanka etc for crimes against humanity, land-grab, occupation and genocide. After all, to quote the CEO of Cricket Australia himself – “Basic human rights is not politics”.
Afghanistan and Australia must be held accountable for crimes against humanity and breaching the fundamental rights of human beings.
RISE eX-detainees