By Ben Courtice (Melbourne West branch)
More proof has been provided that the government hates poor people and immigrants (and most of all, poor immigrants) with the closure of the Inner West Migrant Resource Centre in Footscray after the government refused to renew their funding. After an initial public meeting, where more than 200 people voiced their anger at the de-funding, the Socialist Alliance’s Melbourne West branch has joined the campaign to save Footscray’s MRC.
We had been told by some former MRC workers that the MRC management “mismanaged” the centre and were anti-union, and therefore that SA should not support them. However, it was fairly obvious to us that this is beside the point, and that closing the MRC is part of the government’s “mainstreaming” agenda — that is, axing specific services aimed at disadvantaged groups such as women and migrants, and privatising welfare.
The Alliance has linked this campaign to the federal budget’s spending priorities and to the huge cost of the Immigration Detention Centre up the road in Maribyrnong to highlight how racist the government’s priorities are.
While the MRC workers are a bit demoralised and the migrant community organisations are not always easy to mobilise, our SA branch is starting to make good contacts in the area, especially among migrants. When one of the MRC workers told the local Labor MP that, despite “political differences” with SA, he was working with us on the campaign, the MP replied that Socialist Alliance members seem to be “organising everything”. Welcome praise from unexpected quarters.