It was desolate times in this hellish year of our �lord�, 2003. Wars were being waged by western empires, all in the name of profit. Men, women and children were dying everyday, for nothing more then making sure the rich man�s world keeps spinning.
I was thrown into this world without any knowledge of the environment I was to be subjected to. Raised a Socialist, bohemian, dope fiend. I was quick to realise that this wasn�t the McDonalds, soap opera, plastic, materialistic, brainwashing my T.V was telling me it was.
This is all fairly obvious and it is probably pointless mentioning it. As I think anyone who would bother reading my bullshit in the first place knows what sort of insane, headfucking world we are living in.
Perhaps though I can entertain you for a while with my account of a mind-blowing trip I recently took part in.
Refugees - innocents fleeing there home country. In Australia we have a special way of dealing with these foreign �scum�. We lock them up in - concentration camp like, detention centres. Hidden from public eye, another forgotten Australian lie.
So me and a group of fellow Socialists, hippies and generally humane people from Perth decided to go pay our forgotten friends a visit.
We travelled coach - only the best for un-materialistic, anti bourgeois hippies. The overtones of excitement and nervousness were too much for me to deal with. So I got pissed on someone else�s wine and debated the many perceptions of reality with a realist-historian of a comrade. I�ve never had so many people call me an idiot all at the same time. Well it sure felt like they were calling me an idiot anyway. I was so long gone from feeling any sense of reason that my argument didn�t seem at all flawed. That is one thing you can always count on when dealing with a dope fiend, wino, in fact any drug person, like myself - we tend to listen to one person and one person only, ourselves.
Regardless of the hippy banter and contemplation, we survived the long night drive. Some of us with more sleep than others. My thirty minute power nap, or should I say dazed unconsciousness, managed to get me through the rest of the trip.
When we arrived at our destination, Port Hedland, I had reached that desperation usually only found in a drowning rat on it�s last breath. I needed to get out of that goddam bus!
We completed the standard rhetoric camp shit. And set off to the detention centre. Strange vibes on this lonely night. It was as though I had been here once before. These friends I cannot talk to through fear of seeming mellow dramatic. People all around me engage with the caged innocents. My feelings are genuine, don�t get me wrong. I want to free the refugees. Though unfortunately as a socially inept �terrorist�, dope fiend I find it hard to communicate to strangers. Especially if they can�t speak much English and are behind two six metre tall fences.
The night passed quickly and soon I was back at camp. Me and two fellow comrades payed a visit to �Mary Jane�. After awhile I was too baked to keep my eyes open and went to bed.
As I lay there looking up at the stars, I thought of the Refugees and how they too look up at the same stars. I felt angry, how could humans ever get this fucked?! We are all one and the same. Why can�t everyone understand this? Dark, angry thoughts filled my mind as I drifted off into a suprisingly deep, peaceful sleep.
With daylight, I awoke. Stiff and sore from a not so comfortable night under the stars. The morning passed quickly and soon we were back off to the detention centre. ABC journos wanted to do a piece about us in the daytime. Being the decent citizens we all are we agreed to brave the heat and do the shoot.
It turned out to be a nice afternoon of interaction and eating. I still had not overcome my fear and did not talk to any detainees. However I managed to rediscover a hidden football talent whilst catching food packages.
Apparently the ABC report was very good. What is a surprise as us �feral left� types usually only get attention when we �incite violence� - in other words �when we get the shit kicked out of us by fascist cops�. Luckily this time our peaceful protest managed to get a bit of coverage.
Something that is also good to note is that over the whole weekend. The cops were pretty cool. This was something that amazed me. I have always had a bit of a problem with �the bacon�. Cops and me don�t seem to ever see eye to eye. Let�s just say they don�t approve of my life style and needless to say I don�t approve of theirs.
A while back I was arrested for spraying �dog fucking fascists� or something on the hippe2club (bunch of assholes by the way). After being beaten up by the bouncer I was taken into cop HQ. Where I talked to a group of coppers. I would have to say I have never been in a more redneck, racist group of people in my entire life. These cops made skinheads look tame. They were talking about the new Northbridge law. One cop said something like �I say we should lock up all those young fucking Arabs and Aboriginals... They are all just twenty years away from the next Osama�. I wasn�t looking for a fight, or further charges. So I just agreed with the man, �yeah those little buggers are dangerous, I say we should only give �em plastic cutlery as well.. I mean who is to say, you couldn�t be sitting across from one of the little buggers and have him lunge at you with a sharp fork... Jesus it is getting dangerous out there�. The cop laughed and agreed. Anyway don�t quote me on any of that, for I was quite �intoxicated� at the time. But as far as I can recall, what I just described did take place.
Anyway back to Port Hedland. After an afternoon of standing in the heat catching MANY food packages. A swim in the caravan park swimming pool was definitely needed. Standing there in the water I felt as though for once I was doing the right thing. Delusional? Perhaps. But just being there with those people, for that reason. Well it just felt good.
A relaxing swim and a few beers later and I felt even better.
We were to head back to the detention centre that evening before getting back on the bus for Perth. The night was to be full of extreme emotion.
We arrived and yet again received vast amounts of food from our friends on the other side of the fence. I played with a few of the younger detainees. Managed to rediscover another hidden sporting talent. I can catch and throw a tennis ball rather well.
The highlight of my night was when I talked to a group of Afghani refugees. The conversation had come about after I scaled the fence to retrieve someone's bag that was stuck in the razor wire. The Afghani�s referred to me as the �Freedom Fighter�. A lovely, inspirational conversation was to follow.
I have done quite a few things in my life that have made me feel wonderful and at peace with myself and environment. But after talking to my newfound friends, all my previous contemplations began to make even more sense. I am a firm believer - or at least �I perceive it to be true�, that we will never truly know anything but the moment and a vague recollection of what has come before. Reality is completely dependent on your perception. Everything we know is created in our mind. The emotion I felt while talking to my friends, this is as �real� as life will ever get. Love. This is all life can ever offer any of us. To love and be loved in return. This is all any of us ever want or need.
I left the detention centre fighting back tears. I had only talked to my new friends for half an hour but felt so very close to them.
Strange vibes on this cold July night. I felt so very alone. I missed my family, my mum, my dad, my many animal friends, lost love. I have not been in the best state of mind lately. Lost romance has been plaguing my mind for a long time. I had fallen deeply in love and had it taken away from me. There is no need to go into details. Let�s just say human emotions are wonderful and yet horrible things. But I now truly understand and accept that, in the great words of Michael Franti, �It�s not who you love, its do you love�.
And I do.
Peace my friends.
