Building bridges for refugees

The second annual Building Bridges Festival will be held to highlight refugee rights, this Friday at The Standard in Surry Hills.

The festival aims to end what organisers call the draconian policies of mandatory detention for those seeking asylum in Australia, with money raised forwarded to refugee advocacy groups.

Festival Director Ben Eadie said the event served multiple ends beyond fundraising.

“This is a great social event for people working in refugee advocacy, but it’s also an event for those who sympathise with our cause to engage with refugee groups, as well as those who wish to financially contribute to fixing the plight of refugees,” he said.

The artistic event provides an opportunity to learn about the plight of refugees and share ideas.

“This event also allows the artistic community to support the refugee movement, and hear the opinion of a really big section of the music community that supports refugee rights,” said Mr Eadie.

This year’s festival coincides with the prelude to the September 7 Federal Election, with concerns the major parties have taken a bipartisan turn to the right on the issue of Australia’s border protection.

“The reason I’m doing this is to support the rights of refugees to come to Australia and get asylum,” said Mr Eadie.

“Both major parties, as well as the media, are treating refugees like statistics and they don’t discuss the realities of life for a refugee.

“The majority of asylum seekers who come here are people who have spent years in camps, who are then locked up by Australian authorities indefinitely in harsh conditions.”

Mark Goodcamp, one of the founders of the Refugee Action Coalition, agreed the event came at a crucial time.

“It’s been a busy couple of months for the two major parties trying to outdo each other in a race to the bottom on asylum seekers,” he said.

“This an opportunity to bring people together who are passionate about refugee rights. Last year’s festival raised $5,000 and this year the event organisers hope to do the same.”

Mr Goodcamp said the money was crucial to funding the cause of refugees.

“It helps with basic materials – it buys phone cards so refugees who have been detained can call their families. In some cases it has helped pay for legal costs for people in detention.”

Asked about a long-term solution for aiding the plight of refugees around the world, Mr Goodcamp said the level of discourse needed to be lifted and new ideas exchanged.

“If we had more funding we could make the processing time faster we could avoid a lot of smuggling because it’s the only way at the moment,” he said.

The festival starts at 8pm on August 30.