Moz (Mostafa Azimitabar) is a refugee who was exiled and imprisoned for 2737 days by the Australian government for no crime. He visits Addi Road regularly and volunteers putting hampers together for the community at our Addi Road Food Relief Hub. Moz celebrated the first year of his freedom only recently. We asked him two questions: How you are feeling now? And what might Australia Day mean to you, if anything?
“I’m okay. Up and down. It is like a part of my life is perfect, and a part of me is alone. I think aside from what I am doing in advocacy, painting, music, art, and helping others, I have seen myself – for some hours of each day – as very alone. It’s okay. It’s okay. I am sure it is not forever. I’m looking to find love, but I am very careful. As I understand it, Australia Day is definitely Invasion Day. I don’t celebrate it because I see that for hundreds of years the owners of this land are suffering. And I feel there is a connection between Invasion Day, Aboriginal people and refugees. We are inherently connected.
“I am an indigenous Kurdish person who fled from danger and I sought asylum in Australia for safety, but the government here made the situation ten times worse than where I was before. No one likes to leave their homeland unless they are not safe. I don’t see Australia Day as a celebration day. I feel Aboriginal people so much. I suffered torture for eight years, but I see the suffering of Aboriginal people has gone on for hundreds of years. I am in awe of their resistance.”