A lot of people today are listening to a particular 40-second clip of audio today.
They are feeling the hairs on their arms stand up on end, a lump rise in their throat, and a compulsion to take action on an issue that matters.
That clip forms part of footage obtained exclusively by The Guardian, which was filmed in Manus Island Detention Centre– and it will change the mind of anyone who believes asylum seekers are treated fairly in offshore attention centres.
Here’s the footage; skip to the last 40 seconds for the audio. (Post and transcript continue after video):
The entire video is confronting; it shows detainees on a hunger strike on Manus Island and at least one man, from Egypt, who has sewn his lips shut in protest.
But it is the audio clip of a man at the video’s conclusion that will chill you — and compel you to take action.
Speaking in a voice that breaks with emotion, the man says his mind “doesn’t work anymore” (1.31 of the video) and he has lost the will to live.
If you can’t watch the whole thing now, here’s the text of the man’s helpless plea:
“Why you have to suffer like this? What we did?
Let your government … to kill us. Let your government to kill us.
We are human beings.
We are not bad people. We are educated people.
Please help us.
Please help. We’re begging you, help us.
Our minds…don’t work anymore.
Please help us.”
If you would like to assist asylum seekers and refugees in Australia and the offshore detention centres, please see these links:
See The Asylum Seeker Resource Centre’s donations page and its volunteering page.
See the Refugee Council’s “Write to be heard” campaign.
Volunteer for .
Get involved in the Welcome Dinner Project.
Top Comments
OKay its not fair. But they were warned that no one would come to australia but they still came. What do they want? I blame their friends and relatives living in australia who no doubt gave then the wrong advice on the opportunity,,,,,
They don't have much choice on where they can go. It's not like they're just looking for the good life, they're trying to escape persecution.
Hold up people, trying to illegally enter a country secretly is... Umm... Illegal. While I do feel for them please remember that there are legal ways to gain asylum In Australia! The water system broke so they refuse to eat? Because of their own unrest its considered too dangerous to send people to repair it. That is all their own doing, not ours, not the government...
Hold up, seeking asylum isn't actually illegal. Australia signed the Refugee Convention and a few other important documents which actually makes it illegal for us as a country to keep them in detention/turn them away/send them to a country (Indonesia) which hasn't signed the convention and therefore isn't safe for them to reside in.