In the summer of 2002 a group of people, concerned about the mistreatment of asylum seekers
Their mission: visiting people inside the camps and creating more awareness among the population, especially in rural towns. Waking Up The Nation takes you on this inspiring journey, and introduces you to many of the hundreds of people still incarcerated. It also exposes some of the mistreatments at the hands of the private corporation, which runs the camps, and the government who supports it.

Waking up the Nation Online Preview
Part 1: It was September 2000, that the people behind the fence would start a movement which has noweaced the world's attention..  
 
Part 2: More exposures about Woomera, as told by Mark Huxtep, Meanwhile our friends of the Freedom Bus continue their journey across the continent..

 Part 3: On the way to Port Hedland in W.A.'s far north, the Freedom Bus is stopped by the local police, who insist to know what the group is up to - without success..

 Part 4: In May 2001, Port Hedland made national news, when a riot unfolded in the centre. While the mainstream news failed to uncover the reasons for the violence.

 
VHS version : $25
DVD version:  $40
Postage/Packing,Australia: $5
Postage/Packing, International : $12
(all prices quoted are in Australian dollars)

All proceeds will go to refugee & asylum seeker support groups + a small amount to indymedia bris

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Australia, 4006
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How the film came about:

On a personal level, the realisation and distributiong of Waking Up The Nation is a promise I've made to some of the people still in detention to let their voices be heard to as many people as possible. So for me, the film mainly deals with two groups of people:The first group, are people who are desperately fighting to preserve their dignity, and who have reached to the point where, after counless de-humanisation by government and mainstream medias, they feel they must prove to the people outside that they are humans, and that as humans they do have human rights. The second group, are people who are desperately fighting to preserve the dignity of a society, and (what is left of) a democracy, aswell as fighting for their own democratic rights, which are in this day and age, more than ever threatened for the sake of the powerful elite.Both groups are standing up against one common enemy, who is exactly trying to undermine and deny them these rights.

Shot mainly on miniDV, but also on Hi8 and VHS-C camcorders,Waking up The Nation has been produced on Final Cut Pro on an Apple G3. Nearly 40 hours of footage have been shot during the entire 2-months trip.Funding for the film project came from donations made by  friends and family as well as paid from my own pocket. During the trip there was also time for training  fellow which came really handy, for example, when the group was attacked by a bikers gang in one of the many rural towns the bus stopped at, or when other bus-travellers were being wrongfully arrested. The mentality of DIY-media was adopted by those fellow travellers and has empowered them with new skills, but most importantly it has helped spreading the messages of asylum seekers to the wider Australian community, whereever the Freedom Bus would stop at different locations and hold public meetings and screenings of videoed evidence of the plight of the asylum seekers.  Videoed evidence, which is usually ignored by the mainstream medias,and only reported on, when activists are “making lots of noise”.