Essential hip hop. Pataphysics is Pat Marks, Melbourne-based soulful guerilla hip hop artist. Musician and revolutionary poet with insightful rhymes, in both English and Sri Lankan.

Latest video hits home, hard. Asylum is a Crime tells, in typical straight style, the story of Australia’s latest travesty of justice. To understand the background, there is information on the website of RISE (Refugees, Survivors and Ex-Detainees – the name itself tells a story, as Australia locks up refugees in mandatory detention camps often for so long, surviving that process is a trauma in and of itself). More information also in the related stories links below.

All the proceeds from the sale of this song go to RISE. You can can purchase it here: http://9gates.bandcamp.com/track/asyl…

Listen, learn, understand, act. The lyrics:

Under Australian law Seeking asylum is now a crimeCause ain’t no politician in this country got a spine
Time after time, each party towing the line, 
Detaining em offshore, Out of site out of mind
Forget about human kind, we do this despite
It breaks the universal declaration of human rights,
shhh…...man…What would Jesus do,
Cuz I’m Pretty sure he wouldn’t lock em up in Nauru.
So heartless, We even locking children in prison,
in the most appalling and inhumane living conditions
In 1951 we ratified the refugee convention,
that Prohibits asylum seekers being penalised in detention,
Imagine if your people got bombed at will,
Imagine if your friends and family got tortured and killed,
Finally get a chance to escape and be free,
And the Land you arrive in lock you up indefinitely,
See this the only country where detention’s mandatory
The legacy of a white Australia policy,
golden soil and wealth for toil we girt by inequality
With people on bridging Visas living in poverty, 
Denying asylum political parties don’t care who dies
Sending back the boats, but that’s how their ancestors arrive
Those who come here are only trying to survive,
We’re destroying there futures and we’re destroying

We stand on Occupied lands, Stolen by the white man, 
straight to expanded manus island this is there new plan? 
we supported invasions of iraq and Afghanistan, 
Made those countries war zones, so victims journey this land,
we part of the problem sending troops to there home,
don’t wanna deal situations we created and own,
Our government use it to capitalise in elections
appealing to ignorance, intolerance and border protection
Now there bringing in Orwellian laws, 
making impossible for people seeking freedom to come to these shores,
politicians happy to utilise anything for votes
Around the world It’s not illegal to seek asylum by boat
scapegoats focusing this fear and hate,
For seeking safety, we condemn refugees to a brutal fate
Forcibly displaced, Cause of religion or race
Australians let us hang our heads in disgrace.

Related articles

• United Nations refugee agency warns Australia its asylum policy may breach international law (abc.net.au)
• Nauru riot: 125 asylum seekers arrested (guardian.co.uk)
• UN pokes holes in PNG plan (smh.com.au)
• Australia’s Message to Asylum-Seekers: Go Away (world.time.com)