If you could see what I have seen
Hi, I’m Anne Hilton and I have just spent the last 12 months working in an immigration detention centre where I witnessed first-hand the terrible pain and suffering of vulnerable people who are kept out of sight, out of mind, with no voice and no rights.
If you could see what I have seen and met the asylum seekers I have met, I’m sure detention centres would close tomorrow. Asylum seekers do not have a voice. They need us to stand with them. They need us to seek justice for them.
[Photo courtesy of the Guardian Australia]
Join me on The Walk for the Silent Many
This experience has left me angry, full of shame and absolutely determined to do all that I can to bring an end to this harmful, cruel and unjust system. I have decided to walk in silence from Villawood Detention Centre in Sydney to Parliament House in Canberra
to symbolise the silence that has been imposed on the public but more importantly the silent voices of the many asylum seekers we have locked away.
I would like to invite everybody who feels the same way to join me on
The Walk for the Silent Many, to get involved: to walk with me for an hour, a day, the whole journey, or meet me at Parliament House. I want to create an opportunity for us to show the Government that we don’t support locking up innocent
and vulnerable people like criminals. I want to raise awareness so that asylum seekers are not dehumanised but recognised as people just like us with hopes and dreams for their children; with families and loved ones who depend on them; with careers, skills,
talents and creative ideas to contribute to society; with the need to belong, be accepted and feel safe. They are not criminals; they are not illegal.
A far more humane and just response
Currently there are around 6000 men, women and children locked up indefinitely in Australia’s on and off shore detention centres which will cost taxpayers around $4.3 billion dollars this financial year.
Moving people into the community while their claims are being processed is not only more cost effective but most importantly
a far more humane and just response to those seeking asylum.
I believe we are a compassionate generous country but our image throughout the world is being completely damaged by the decisions made by Government in our name.
[Photo courtesy of Robyn Mcdonald]
Here’s my plan:
- We will gather at Villawood Detention Centre on Saturday the 23rd August for a brief ceremony before heading off on a 9 day walk to Canberra.
- We will walk in silence by day but at night break our silence by holding public meetings in towns along the way to give people an opportunity to get together to share their concerns and ideas for positive change. Everybody attending will be able to sign
The Walk for the Silent Many log book and record their personal request to the Prime Minister to end detention.
- On Monday morning of September 1st we will gather on the lawns of Parliament House to commemorate all those people locked up in detention. I will be requesting a meeting with the Prime Minister and other politicians to talk to them about what
I have witnessed and put forward our positive solutions. I will also present him with the many log books filled with signatures along the way. My idea is to symbolise the first day of spring as a new beginning for Australia’s approach to asylum seekers. I
hope that there will be so many of us that it will be impossible to ignore us!
- The journey of The Walk for the Silent Many will be the subject of a documentary by distinguished film makers Simon and Anji Kurian and have the support of social movement
Changing the Tide and their wonderful patron, comedian and human rights advocate
Akmal Saleh
The Walk for the Silent Many Walking Route
This link will take you to an interactive map of the walking route
If you zoom out and click on the icons you will easily see the stopover towns and the distance between towns.
https://www.zeemaps.com/map?group=1032502&location=Villawood&add=1#
Ways you can help
- Donate funds on this page
- Join me on the walk
- Share the campaign with your networks, on Twitter & Facebook encouraging people to support the walk.
If you would like to walk with us please contact Anne and Gayle at: [email protected]
This walk is for the thousands of asylum seekers locked away in on and off shore detention centres without a voice and without rights. I am determined to do all I can for these people. They need us to stand with them and they need us to seek justice
for them. Along this journey I will carry the hopes of all those I met and the many I didn’t meet languishing in our detention centres. I cannot turn my back on the injustice of this system that is wrong on every level. I cannot turn my back on some of the
most courageous and inspiring people I have ever met.
