Stop the Tampons

I am making ceramic tampons, these tampons are made from Southern Ice Porcelain and when fired, they will be blindingly white. The icy white background will make the red words I am going to paint on them even redder.

Here they are in their very raw state, waiting for their words, waiting for their strings, waiting to be turned into PROTEST TAMPONS.

Refugee advocacy groups have been telling us, the general public, that refugee women do not have free and easy access to sanitary products, to nappies for their babies, that toilet paper and water is rationed. This message has been slow to filter out into the mainstream. RISE first raised this matter in 2011. Advocacy groups have been telling us of the inhumane treatment of refugees and we are not listening. This article published in the Green Left  titled, “Life in Detention a Daily Shame” Shames me. Locking up refugees has now become big business and there is a lot of money to be made in cruelty.

The Governments propaganda machine has been working overtime to convince 60% of those one thousand people polled in this poll that refugees MUST be treated even more harshly.

Even more harshly? How can that be?

How can I look anyone in the eye when this is being done in my name?

The Anglican Parish of Gosford is a beacon of hope. Father Rod helps me to remember my humanity and shows me what a true Christian looks like. A real Christian has little resemblance to these mealy mouthed Christians of expediency, led by our current Prime Minister and his motley crew of shameless bullies and opportunists.

Australia is hurtling down the same path that Germany followed in the 1930s and those of you that roll their eyes and mutter she hit Godwin’s Law before she hit 500 words can go and play with the intelligentsia elsewhere, you have no place here on this blog.

Refugee arrivals are now recorded officially as numbers instead of names. Will we tattoo them next?

The simple tampon has now become a symbol of freedom.

As a free woman, I can walk into a shop and buy all the tampons I want. I also buy chocolate with my tampons.

Do refugee women get chocolates with their tampons? Do the guards dole out single pieces of melting Cadbury Dairy Milk along with rationed sanitary products?

Morrison’s comments at his press conference, published in the Guardian yesterday, make for interesting reading.

Scott Morrison has dismissed a campaign of sending tampons to his office to push for more open access to female sanitary products in detention centres as a “juvenile protest”.

“That was a ridiculous protest. The policy hasn’t changed. It’s been the same for years. There’s open access and continued access on demand, female welfare officers, all of those sorts of things,” he said.

For people to be sucked in and engage in this juvenile protest I think was very unfortunate, it is very disappointing and not the sort of thing that I would have thought that people who should be more responsible in the debate should be supporting in any way,” Morrison said.

When a powerful white man tells me that my protests are ridiculous I know that I am on the right track.

And what does “all those sorts of things” even mean?

I can assume it means all those sorts of women’s issues?

I despair internet.

I despair.

We are proudly trumpeting our hateful xenophobia to the world.

And I stand here and I loudly say, Not in my name. Never in my name.

Seeking Asylum is NOT ILLEGAL.

And in my despair and my powerlessness I make ceramic tampons as a protest, to show that I disagree and to show that Xenophobia has no place here with me.