Moz (Mostafa Azimitabaris) is a Kurdish refugee who fled from troubles in his homeland and arrived in Australia in 2013. He was forcibly transferred to Papua New Guinea and locked up in Manus Detention Centre, designed to deter refugees from coming to Australia. After six years he was transferred back to Australia and is currently still locked up on the 3rd floor of the Mantra Hotel in Preston, Melbourne, along with around sixty-five other refugees and asylum seekers. They spend twenty-three hours a day in their room, with only a view of the carpark connecting them to the outside world.
Since arriving in Melbourne, Moz has watched life go by from his window. He has received support and encouragement from friends and refugee advocates, many of whom visit the carpark and wave to him. Moz and his fellow detainees continue to peacefully protest from behind their windows, holding up signs and singing songs asking for their release.
— Saba Vasefi
I dedicate this song ‘Love’ to all the amazing people who are standing up for us and fighting for our freedom. I would like to express my sincere appreciation to my wonderful musician friend Jim Moginie for his dedication in producing my song.
—Moz
Love
I’m looking at you
From the window
I wanna tell you
I love you
How beautiful you are
And you’re always in my heart
Sending my gratitude
And love to you
I believe there are
Many care for us
I feel I’m lucky
To have you in my life
I’ve been through many difficulties
I’ve seen unimaginable things
But that suffering
Provided me the opportunity
To meet some wonderful caring people
Who saved my life
And helped me to be alive
I wanna say thank you
for all your favor and goodness
I believe there are
Many care for us
I feel I’m lucky
To have you in my life
Please support Moz by downloading ‘Love’ here
You can also follow Moz on Facebook and on Twitter
Saba Vasefi is multi-award winning writer, academic, journalist, filmmaker, poet and post-colonial critic. She completed her thesis on Feminist Criticism Literature with High distinction, and at the age of twenty-four became one of the youngest lecturers at the prestigious Shahid Beheshti university in Tehran. She researches her PhD on exilic feminist cinema studies and teaches at Macquarie University in Sydney. She writes for Guardian Australia about the rhetorics of displacement and narrative of detainee women and children incarcerated in Australia detention regime. Saba is a Director of the Social Justice Conference and New South Wales Parliament House recognised her success in directing this event and for her ongoing contribution to women’s rights and social justice. Saba’s poems have appeared in a variety of journals including Transnational Literature and Wasafiri Magazine of International Contemporary Writing in the UK. She has received an Honorary Brave Rising Star Award for her courageous writing on the gendered impacts of seeking asylum in The Guardian as well as The National Council of Women Award for her academic research. As a Discoursing Diaspora Editor, Saba assists Verity La to amplify the subaltern voices of post-colonial writers.