Summary

Banner with the slogan 'Free the Bakhtiari Family' it was made by the Refugee Action Collective in 2002. The Refugee Action Collective has grown out of a national grassroots protest movement in response to the treatment of refugees and mandatory detention. First established in 2000, it gained momentum during the Tampa crisis in August 2001. Banners such as this one were designed and painted at Trades Hall and all go through several approval processes.

In 2002 the case of the Bakhtiari family highlighted the issue of children in Australian detention centres. The two young Bakhtiari boys, Alamdar and Montazar, escaped from the Woomera Detention facility and resurfaced at the British consulate in Melbourne, asking for asylum in England. Ultimately their bids for asylum in both Australia and Britain failed and the family was deported to Pakistan early in 2005, despite their protests that they were, in fact, Afghani.

Physical Description

Soft white linen banner with red and blue painted slogan 'FREE THE BAKHTIARI FAMILY'. Both sides sewn sleeve for threading through carry poles.

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