Occupy / Boycott / Protest Bienalle of Sydney

NAURU IS CLOSER THAN YOU THINK!   OCCUPY THE 18TH BIENNALE OF SYDNEY!

URGENT! THIS A CALL TO EVERYBODY & THE ARTISTS INVOLVED IN THE 18TH BIENNALE OF SYDNEY TO OCCUPY OR BOYCOTT THE EXHIBITION!
WHY?  TWO MAJOR PARTNERS OF THIS CONTEMPORARY ART EVENT ARE PARTNERS IN NAURU'S RE-OPENED, OFFSHORE DETENTION FACILITY!!

To EVERYBODY and the more than 100 artists involved in the Biennale hailing from Australia, New Zealand, Asia Pacific, the Americas, Europe, South Africa and the Middle East,
See this link for a list of the artists: http://bos18.com/artists


The title of this year's Biennale is: "All Our Relations". It may fast lose its positive connotation of connectivity and creativity between people of the world when these two major partners are deciding the brutal fate of thousands of refugees. The 18th Biennale of Sydney's website says that one of the benefits of corporate sponsorship of the event is to showcase "community and corporate responsibility". It is clear that Transfield and the Australian Government see refugees who arrive by boat as not part of this "community". 

from safecom.org.au

It has come to our attention that two major partners of the 18TH BIENNALE OF SYDNEY, 2012 is logistics company Transfield (since 1973) and the Australian Government. As you may already know, the Australian government has awarded Transfield a $24.5 million contract to provide cleaning, catering and security for an inhumane refugee detention facility on the island of Nauru. This south pacific island is once again the Australian government's offshore detention centre for refugees who attempt to enter Australia by boat. Over 2000 refugees have arrived since the Labor government announced it would re-introduce detention on Nauru in mid-August, 2012. So who knows how many refugees are destined to be imprisoned on this island, and for how long? The previous Howard government's racist policies had already shown us the terrible physical and psychological effects this unnecessary detainment had upon fellow humans. We must try stop it immediately.

With your help, by OCCUPYING OR BOYCOTTING the 18th Biennale of Sydney, we hope to send a message to the Australian Government and Transfield, that we won't tolerate the re-opening of Nauru as an offshore detention facility for refugees. We also won't tolerate the way in which arts and culture is abused by government and corporations to deceive the public and achieve ends that are not at all in the interests of the well-being of humanity.

We hope you consider the OCCUPY / BOYCOTT action. We only have until Sunday the 16th of September to make an impact! 

From concerned fellow artists and refugee activists.

For further information call Occupy Sydney - ph Lanz 0410722000  email occupysydney@gmail.com 
Or call Van Thanh Rudd on mob. 0430 397 074