Gerry Georgatos was the Head Coordinator of Students Without Borders, the 16,000 university student strong organisation, which contributed to make a difference in community development, social justice & human rights. In 2006, Gerry founded Students Without Borders firstly at Murdoch University, Perth, Western Australia and expanded it as a work in progress to other university campuses. Upon his departure SWB ceased however as of Nov 2011 it has been re-established and with counterparts in Iraq, Senegal and soon in Uganda. During 2011 Gerry continued to plant the seeds for the Human Rights Alliance - & many human rights and social justice campaigns have been established. At this time the HRA is focused on the sending of one container load of childrens wheelchairs after another to Iraq, and to other devastated regions of our world, where war and depleted uranium has damaged humanity. The HRA is assisting in the development of wheelchair assembly factories in Iraq - http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/wa/9862724/help-comes-on-wheels-for The HRA has committed 2011/12 to campaigning for an end to Australia's mandatory detention system and its horrific effect upon our Asylum Seekers where we recognise that the acute trauma of the detention experience continues post release. The HRA is involved in a campaign to free impoverished Indonesian children, who may number 100, from Australian adult prisons - Gerry spoke to the Prime Minister urging her to remedy this vacuum of inhumanity.
~ ~ ~ WELCOME ~ ~ ~
'Go tell the Spartans , passerby, That here, obedient to their laws, we lie.'
"If we do not change our ways, our ways do not change." Gerry Georgatos, 1993
"No evil can happen to a good man." Socrates, 399 BC
Photographed by Gerry Georgatos at Old Parliament, Tent Embassy, Canberra, 2008 - DCP has not stopped stealing children.
New party to fight for Aboriginal voice
19/May/2010
By Liam Croy, Stirling Times/Eastern Reporter
Pictured (L-R) Gerry Georgatos (interim Party Leader), Dr William Hayward, Glenn Moore (interim Party President), Marianne Mackay (interim Party Secretary) and Cassandra Riley.
A NEW State and Federal political party wants to give Aboriginal people the voice that party leaders say has been “sorely missing” from Australian politics.
The Ecological, Social Justice, Aboriginal Party (ESJAP) has applied for registration to the WA Electoral Commission and Australian Electoral Commission and intends to field candidates at this year’s elections.
Social justice advocate Gerry Georgatos, Dr William Hayward and Aboriginal activists Glen Moore and Marianne Mackay make up the party’s leadership.
The new party said Labor leader Eric Ripper and opposition spokesperson for indigenous affairs Roger Cook have approached them seeking to secure the party’s preferences.
ESJAP leaders met Labor representatives on February 8 at Parliament House, where Mr Georgatos informed them that party decisions on preferences would be merit-based.
“I told them that our preferences are going to be on a case-by-case basis. Many of them may go to the Greens or the Socialist Alliance, but I told Mr Ripper each candidate will be carefully considered and each decision will be merits-based,” he said.
Speaking at a meeting on Monday night, Mr Georgatos told the Community Newspaper Group and inmycommunitythat the party’s three core principles of ecological sustainability, social justice and the remedy of Aboriginal discrimination were inherently connected.
“The broader issues we’ll be looking at are those such as social and economic equity, redressing Aboriginal injustices, ecological economics and preservation of biodiversity,” he said.
“These issues do intertwine in many ways, but we’re not one of these parties that’s coming out with one specific agenda. We’ll be working to dispel certain myths and foster a national consciousness about these issues.”
Mr Hayward said he felt lucky to be in a position where he could help to empower his fellow Aboriginal people.
“I was lucky enough to be educated and to have very supportive, determined parents. They rubbed off on me, so the harder things got, the more determined I tended to get,” he said.
“But other Aboriginal people that try to improve their lot in life hit these barriers and can become understandably depressed or develop an inferiority complex. I’ve been in circles throughout my life where I’m the only Aboriginal and I’ve seen the inequality of opportunity.
“Other politicians may talk about indigenous issues, but they don’t do a whole lot. If one of us can get in there and be a grassroots voice, that’s going to make a much-needed impact.”
Mr Georgatos said one of the main features of the party would be the direct, uncompromising nature of its policies and dialogue.
“With the major political parties it’s often hard to enter a debate unfettered; sometimes it can seem things are said just for the sake of opposing each other,” he said.
“We’re aiming to get bona fide, undiluted representation. We're about disseminating information and being involved in discussions, not about doing the PR thing.”
Mr Moore said he was honoured to have the opportunity to “pick up the baton” and campaign for Aboriginal rights and equity.
“It makes me cry how many people have fought for this, gone through torture for this and died for this. This is the evolution of Aboriginal people now; this is the next step,” he said.
“We’ll still lobby and there will still be activists, but it’s time to have representatives in parliament. You can always have your own passion and your own heart, but there comes a time when you should use the tools at hand.”
A groundswell of support has taken the party from vision to reality in a matter of months, with the party now nearly 1000-members strong.
Founded in Perth, the ESJAP aims to be the first Aboriginal political party to have an indigenous representative in Parliament.
Gerry's YouTube Library!
![](http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/x7lchP2qKlE/default.jpg "Vote 1 in Box "U"")
4:39 
2:33 
14:56
Social justice advocate Gerry Georgatos, Dr William Hayward and Aboriginal activists Glen Moore and Marianne Mackay make up the party’s leadership.
The new party said Labor leader Eric Ripper and opposition spokesperson for indigenous affairs Roger Cook have approached them seeking to secure the party’s preferences.
ESJAP leaders met Labor representatives on February 8 at Parliament House, where Mr Georgatos informed them that party decisions on preferences would be merit-based.
“I told them that our preferences are going to be on a case-by-case basis. Many of them may go to the Greens or the Socialist Alliance, but I told Mr Ripper each candidate will be carefully considered and each decision will be merits-based,” he said.
Speaking at a meeting on Monday night, Mr Georgatos told the Community Newspaper Group and inmycommunitythat the party’s three core principles of ecological sustainability, social justice and the remedy of Aboriginal discrimination were inherently connected.
“The broader issues we’ll be looking at are those such as social and economic equity, redressing Aboriginal injustices, ecological economics and preservation of biodiversity,” he said.
“These issues do intertwine in many ways, but we’re not one of these parties that’s coming out with one specific agenda. We’ll be working to dispel certain myths and foster a national consciousness about these issues.”
Mr Hayward said he felt lucky to be in a position where he could help to empower his fellow Aboriginal people.
“I was lucky enough to be educated and to have very supportive, determined parents. They rubbed off on me, so the harder things got, the more determined I tended to get,” he said.
“But other Aboriginal people that try to improve their lot in life hit these barriers and can become understandably depressed or develop an inferiority complex. I’ve been in circles throughout my life where I’m the only Aboriginal and I’ve seen the inequality of opportunity.
“Other politicians may talk about indigenous issues, but they don’t do a whole lot. If one of us can get in there and be a grassroots voice, that’s going to make a much-needed impact.”
Mr Georgatos said one of the main features of the party would be the direct, uncompromising nature of its policies and dialogue.
“With the major political parties it’s often hard to enter a debate unfettered; sometimes it can seem things are said just for the sake of opposing each other,” he said.
“We’re aiming to get bona fide, undiluted representation. We're about disseminating information and being involved in discussions, not about doing the PR thing.”
Mr Moore said he was honoured to have the opportunity to “pick up the baton” and campaign for Aboriginal rights and equity.
“It makes me cry how many people have fought for this, gone through torture for this and died for this. This is the evolution of Aboriginal people now; this is the next step,” he said.
“We’ll still lobby and there will still be activists, but it’s time to have representatives in parliament. You can always have your own passion and your own heart, but there comes a time when you should use the tools at hand.”
A groundswell of support has taken the party from vision to reality in a matter of months, with the party now nearly 1000-members strong.
Founded in Perth, the ESJAP aims to be the first Aboriginal political party to have an indigenous representative in Parliament.
Gerry's YouTube Library!
4:39 Vote 1 in Box "U" 
Ecological, Social Justice, Aboriginal party video.
2:33 Snap picket outside the DPP.
14:56 Gerry speaking on the Two Party political system at the Maritime Unions Association - August 19, 2010.
1,442 deaths in custody in Australia from 1980 to 2000. 99 Aboriginal deaths in custody from 1980 to May 1989 led to the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. Little has changed. 601 deaths in custody from 2000 to 2007 and counting. More deaths in custody in Australia than deaths in custody in South Africa during the peak of Apartheid. Please read my article in the Articles section, scroll down and also my Opinion Piece in Letters to the Editor 2010. It is a scandal in waiting. Most Australians are unaware. Let us educate one another.
3:08Added to The Real Facts About Australian Deaths In Custody - DICWC WA Banner Campaign in Perth - September 3, 2010. 
Deaths In Custody Watch Committee sumbission to the Parliamentary Inquiry - 22.9.2010
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOGXgqgpH24
3:08Added to The Real Facts About Australian Deaths In Custody - DICWC WA Banner Campaign in Perth - September 3, 2010. Deaths In Custody Watch Committee sumbission to the Parliamentary Inquiry - 22.9.2010
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOGXgqgpH24
The Human Rights Alliance has been leading with monthly forums held throughout Western Australia to bring the facts about our Asylum Seekers to the rest of us, and to evidence their maltreatment by our Government and various agencies - the facts are they have a right to Asylum and we have the right to welcome them - anything else is racism and discrimination.
The Human Rights Alliance encourages you to learn more, and to consider joining the Refugee Rights Action Network in Perth or its relevant counterparts throughout Australia - RRAN.ORG
You can find out more about Students Without Borders at studentswithoutborders.com.au
You can find out more about the Human Rights Alliance at humanrightsalliance.org or by emailing info@humanrightsalliance.org
You can also join Gerry on Facebook as he facilitates his Facebook for human rights campaigns, dissemination and social justice causes. You can follow Gerry's coordination of social justice causes on Twitter.
Gerry was the General Manager (since 2006) of the Murdoch University Guild of Students however at the end of 2009 he stepped down. Gerry was an outspoken social justice campaigner in the tertiary sector and on university campuses. He was prepared to speak out on issues others were not and though often he bore the brunt of various resentment many would benefit. Where necessary Gerry has been prepared to be a 'whistle blower' after exhausting every available avenue to civil and just outcomes - Gerry has always believed in 'throughcare' - and in the resilience of ones principles and values.
Most recently Gerry has worked closely in Aboriginal health and education, and with our most vulnerable peoples, with our destitute and homeless folk.
Gerry has stepped away from management and other enterprises to reconsider the vantage he can best contribute to - he is currently freelance editing various online media, and is freelancing as a writer and journalist, a major life redirection, in various alternative and mainstream news media, print and broadcast. He is determined to contribute to our unfolding human rights language and to the remedying of various societal ills through his belief in that the media has a powerful role to play out.
He is completing a PhD in Law in Australian Deaths in Custody after his own research ascertained that people are coming out of prison worse than they went in, and excepting for the USA, Australia has one of the world's worst deaths in custody records - prison and police custodial, and he argues that the rise of custodial 'natural cause deaths' are not by any means 'natural'. Gerry visits our Prisons - and says "if you want to know the heart & mind of a nation you will look into its prisons, day and night - & into our streets, and turn our eyes towards our homeless."
FREE the Impoverished Indonesian Children incarcerated in Australian Adult Prisons.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvkSjO_byLg ABC DRUM interview with Gerry, June, 2011.
http://enewspaper.thewest.com.au/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=V0FOLzIwMTEvMDcvMDIjQXIwMjgwMA%3D%3D&Mode=HTML&Locale=english-skin-custom Steve Pennells article in The West Australian.
http://www.thewire.org.au/audio/WWindoprison.mp3 ABC radio interview with solicitor Edwina Lloyd and myself.
This article has been picked up by more than 150 sites: http://indymedia.org.au/2011/10/26/the-real-facts-on-deaths-in-custody-and-the-racism-of-incarcerating-aboriginal-peoples-mo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOGXgqgpH24 - ABC DRUM episode with Gerry on the Indonesian children in Australian adult prisons.
I was asked to assist in establishing an Aboriginal political party - as I had been hoping to give rise to another political voice to assist in the erosion of monopoly politics - I set my hopes aside for this & agreed to help. I was part of The Aboriginal Party, at its birth and during difficult times - I have stepped back and away, however will always be there when called upon to walk alongside - and I wish them well - it's a voice sorely needed and another opportunity to erode monopoly politics and evolve politics into a calling. It only needs many of you to be part of it and give it the rise it deserves.
