Links roundup, 20-26 February 2013

Asylum seekers - 90% of which will turn out to be genuine refugees - continue to harm themselves and attempt suicide while in Australia's mandatory indefinite detention. Quoth the head of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre: "This is no accident - this is a case of these centres working exactly how they're meant to and destroying people. These are not camps for processing; they're camps designed for the psychological torture of asylum seekers." This may sound extreme until you remember that the purpose - stated outright, despite its illegality - is to defer refugees from seeking safety here. Since most of the victims will go on to become Australians, we are essentially cutting off our own noses in adding to their existing trauma, not to mention exposing ourselves to compensation claims down the road. (The better angels of Australia's nature are donating books, clothes, and music as well as English dictionaries to assist them.)