My partner is a West Papuan refugee. Half of our childrenâs family live in West Papua, terrified of Indonesian soldiers, ready to run when Kopassus troops roll into their villages. I was suddenly painfully aware that my father is paid by a company that sells weapons that may be used against his own grandchildrenâs family.
I had always suspected that my fatherâs employer and my partnerâs journey might be connected in some way but I had never imagined how horribly entangled their stories were.
Lober Wanggai and Izzy Brown protest outside the Indonesian consulate
Lober, my partner and father of three of my children, landed in Cape York, Australia on 17 January 2006 in an outrigger canoe with 42 other refugees from West Papua. All were detained on Christmas Island before being granted asylum. Indonesia took offence at Australiaâs acceptance of them and targeted their families. Loberâs mother was arrested in retribution. Friends and family members of thes
Geroge Zangalis (left) at a protest for pensioner rights in 2019. Photo: Joe Montero / The Pen
Communist, trade unionist and class-struggle fighter for migrant rights George Zangalis died on March 25. Radicalised during the Greek civil war at the end of World War II, Zangalis remained a fighter until the end.
Despite the Communist Party of Greece leading substantial sections of the anti-Nazi Resistance movement during World War II, after the Nazi occupation of Greece ended in 1944, the British and United States military forces, with the support of pro-Nazi elements in Greece, defeated the communist government and handed back power to the right-wing royalists.
Share on Twitter
The country’s largest-circulation tabloid called him the “scandal asylum-seeker” and accused him (falsely) of entering the country illegally. People hacked his social media accounts and broadcast his location and personal information.
A far-right political leader decried him as the “ringleader” of a violent protest, while another suggested that people like him would be a good reason to bring back the death penalty in Germany.
Alassa Mfouapon is hardly the first refugee to become sensationalist fodder for tabloids or a convenient scapegoat for far-right, anti-immigration politicians. In the five years since a major wave of refugees arrived in Germany, such portrayals have become commonplace.
Australia’s Federal Police are requesting new powers that would make possession of “propaganda” and “terrorist” manifestos illegal to possess and share, as intelligence agencies predict a terrorist attack within 12 months.