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Australia currently has a policy of detaining in the Pacific nations of Nauru and Papua New Guinea, all asylum seekers who try to get here by boat. Since Australia has also stated that these people will never be allowed to settle here, they are effectively imprisoned for life, having never been charged with any crime. In two separate cases, not related to each other, a woman known in the media as Abiyan and a baby known as Asha (not their real names) were brought to Australia from Nauru for medical treatment. The news that they were then to be deported back to Nauru outraged the Australian public, many of whom had seemingly been unaware, or had not wanted to think about, the impact Australia's cruel and inhumane policy has on its victims.





DETAINEE

Words by Lachlan Irvine, adapted from "Deportee", words and music by Woody Guthrie

[G][Gsus4][G][G][Gsus4][G]

[G] They came to this country to [C] seek our pro-[G]-tection,
[G] With hopes that their families could [C] be safe and [G] free;
But [C] we raised the drawbridge and [G] showed them no mercy,
[G] We built them a prison, [C] over the [G] sea. [Gsus4][G]
[C] Goodbye Abiyan, fare-[G]-well baby Asha,
We're [D] not the free country you [G] thought us to be;
[C] You won't need a name when you [G] fly across the ocean,
[G] All we will call you will [C] be ... "Detai-[G]-nee." [Gsus4][G][G][Gsus4][G]

[G] Risking their own lives for [C] their children's [G] future,
[G] They fled persecution [C] of every [G] kind;
But [C] we introduced them to a [G] new kind of torture
[G] Out of our sight and way [C] out of our [G] minds. [Gsus4][G]
[C] Goodbye Abiyan, fare-[G]-well baby Asha,
We're [D] not the free country you [G] thought us to be;
[C] You won't need a name when you [G] fly across the ocean,
[G] All we will call you will [C] be ... "Detai-[G]-nee." [Gsus4][G][G][Gsus4][G]

[G] All of you mothers and [C] all of you [G] fathers
[G] Who sent us your children for [C] medical [G] care;
[C] We'll send them back to [G] our island prison
[G] To live out their lives in [C] hopeless des-[G]-pair. [Gsus4][G]
[C] Goodbye Abiyan, fare-[G]-well baby Asha,
We're [D] not the free country you [G] thought us to be;
[C] You won't need a name when you [G] fly across the ocean,
[G] All we will call you will [C] be ... "Detai-[G]-nee." [Gsus4][G][G][Gsus4][G]

[G] Is this the best way we can [C] treat human [G] beings,
[G] In the land of the fair go, the [C] home of the [G] free?
[C] To close off our hearts as we [G] close off our borders
And [G] know them by no name [C] except "Detain-[G]-ee?" [Gsus4][G]
[C] Goodbye Abiyan, fare-[G]-well baby Asha,
We're [D] not the free country you [G] thought us to be;
[C] You won't need a name when you [G] fly across the ocean,
[G] All we will call you will [C] be ... "Detai-[G]-nee." [Gsus4][G]

[C] Goodbye Abiyan, fare-[G]-well baby Asha,
We're [D] not the free country you [G] thought us to be;
[C] You won't need a name when you [G] fly across the ocean,
[G] All we will call you will [C] be ... "Detai-[G]-nee." [Gsus4][G][G][Gsus4][G]



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