Racist pamphlet targets Africans

A DEROGATORY pamphlet that vilifies Sudanese and Somali refugees has been letterbox-dropped in Sydney's west, raising concerns about intimidation by nationalists of the new African communities.

The pamphlet - titled "African 'refugees' today, gangsters and drug-addled welfare parasites tomorrow" and targeting Somali and Sudanese youth - was distributed in Hoxton Park yesterday by supporters of the Australia First Party.

It claims the Africans do not assimilate well and are violent, and sets out so-called "well-known facts" about their intelligence.

"They have absolutely no respect for the laws of the land, let alone human life," the leaflet claims. It criticises "bleeding-heart government-funded" social agencies such as the Blacktown Migrant Resource Centre and church groups.

Jim Saleam, the chairman of the NSW branch of the far-right party, said the pamphlet had not been created by him, but refused to distance himself from the claims made in it.

The leaflet gives telephone, postal and web details for the party. "A lot of people are starting to do homemade pamphlets and associate themselves with us," Dr Saleam said.

Debbie Wojak, 44, of Hoxton Park said it was the first time she had received racist literature since arriving in Australia five years ago, and she found it "quite disturbing".

"We have Arab and Indian neighbours and we all got a pamphlet in the letterbox," she said. "We have an Aboriginal daughter and it makes me a little uneasy."

Mrs Wojak said when she first saw the pamphlet she was not sure if her family had been singled out for intimidation, but later found the leaflet had been delivered along the street.

A spokeswoman for Liverpool City Council said it was not aware of the Australia First literature being circulated in the area and, after seeing it, said it was not something the council wanted to comment on.

"We have campaigned for a policy of total exclusion, we have called for repatriation," Dr Saleam said. He thought the "facts" cited in the leaflet echoed the words of the controversial academic Andrew Fraser.


Brisbane Times