Here’s What’s Happening On Manus Island, According To People Who Actually Know

Hey, did you read about how the asylum seekers we incarcerated indefinitely on Manus Island got savagely attacked, resulting in one person being killed and dozens being badly injured by a bunch of PNG locals wielding guns, machetes and metal pipes, while Australia’s detention centre staff evacuated themselves to the safety of a Navy boat? Yeah, neither did anyone who took a cursory glance at the newspapers or websites of Australia’s commercial mainstream media on Tuesday.

The scratching of tumbleweeds was almost audible as the nation and its eerily silent MSM washed their hands of a problem that was once plastered all over the front pages on a daily basis. But, of course, we all always knew that the media’s frothing over boat arrivals was never about saving people’s lives, didn’t we?

Chances are, you probably know to look beyond the front pages of News Limited sites to get your facts and analysis. You may have even heard about the Manus Island crisis on Tuesday (congratulations!). But amidst all the withholding of information, misinformation, propaganda, lies and euphemisms that the Australian government employs when it manages asylum-seeker related communication, it can be tough to locate the voices of truth, knowledge and reason, or even those who simply ask the important questions and refuse to take “no comment” for an answer.

Nobody knows the full truth (yet) about what has been going down on Manus Island over the past few days, not least because our government doesn’t want to tell us and most of the voices who claim to know something have competing stories and some sort of vested interest. But we’re edging closer. In the meantime, here’s a few things you can read, watch and listen to from people who know (and care) a bit more about what’s going on than, say, Mr Murdoch.

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Mark Davis talks to SBS’s Dateline: ‘Detainees ‘Terrified’ With Reports Of More Unrest On Manus‘ (February 18, 2014)

SBS video journalist Mark Davis reported for Dateline from Manus Island last year — he knows what it’s like there, and he has contacts who work at the detention centre who spent Tuesday calling him to tell him what was happening. He says “people may doubt the veracity of refugees”, but he spoke with staff who “have no barrow to push” — and he paints a terrifying and shameful picture of what actually went down, and how it was handled by staff and the Immigration Department.

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Michael Gordon and Sarah Whyte for The Sydney Morning Herald: ‘Manus Island Violence: Interpreter Claims Detainees Attacked By Locals, ‘There Was Blood Everywhere’‘ (February 20, 2014)

More terrifying, damning evidence from a person with “no barrow to push”, and who paints a picture of asylum seekers trying to defend themselves with plastic chairs from PNG locals who were attacking them with machetes, knives and rocks. We also get to hear more about the fucked up situation our asylum seekers were in before the violence actually broke out this week.

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Asylum Seeker Resource Centre: ‘Contact From Asylum Seekers On Manus Island As Attacks Occurred Last Night‘ (February 18, 2014)

If you don’t already follow ASRC, do it. They are the first point of contact with refugees in detention centres, as well as those on visas in the community. Here you can listen to the phone messages they received from two asylum seekers who called as the violence broke out on Monday night.

(Another resource worth keeping an eye on is the Refugee Action Coalition, although their website is mysteriously “suspended” today, probably as a consequence of thoughtcrime.)

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Kristian Lasslett for New Matilda: ‘Who’s Policing Manus Island?‘ (February 19, 2014)

Did you hear about the guy who got shot in the butt? Our government reckon that although “shots were fired”, they definitely weren’t aimed at anyone! But that doesn’t really make sense when you hear that someone got shot in the butt. Getting shot in the butt suggests someone was aiming not only at someone’s lower torso, but that they were aiming at someone with their back to them. What kind of person would do that? Your answer is in this article. And this one, from SMH last year.

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Wendy Bacon for New Matilda: ‘The World’s ‘Third Worst’ Firm Runs Manus‘ (March 7, 2013)

Who are these ‘G4S’ guards anyway? This damning investigation into the lack of water sanitation from Wendy Bacon almost a year ago sheds light not only on how difficult a situation we are subjecting these people to, but on the company of clowns the government has contracted to run the show.

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John Lehmann for The Daily Telegraph: ‘Tensions Erupt On Manus Island As Locals Threaten To Sabotage ‘PNG Solution’ Detention Centre‘ (September 2, 2013)

Here’s a rare enlightening piece from The Tele in September last year, complete with some pretty scary video footage showing just how happy the PNG locals are about the Manus Island detention centre. Can’t imagine them wanting to attack anyone about this, can you?

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Corinne Grant for The Hoopla: ‘Where The Eff Is The Opposition?‘ (February 20, 2014)

A possible explanation for why we’re not hearing too much about this absolutely catastrophic shame is that it has bipartisan support, and it was Labor’s idea to send people to Manus in the first place. Hurrah!

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Tracey Spicer for The Hoopla: ‘Manus Island & The Ministry Of Truth‘ (February 18, 2014)

And finally, here’s some comic relief after all that disturbing shit, courtesy of George Orwell, via Tracey Spicer.

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The Daily Telegraph: ‘Derelict Mona Vale Shack Sells For $1.8 Million‘ (February 17, 2014)

This two-day-old report was the top story on The Tele online yesterday, while I was trying to find evidence that anyone in News Ltd had noticed the Manus crisis. It makes sense — I mean, what are those refugees living in derelict shacks on an island paradise even complaining about? They’re living the AUSSIE DREAM.

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Jenny Noyes writes from Sydney’s inner west. She enjoys making opinions about arts and isms, which you can read on her Tumblr or Twitter: @jennynoise.