No Friend but the Mountains: Writing from Manus Prison

by Behrouz Boochani

For sure, she is also a Kurd who has suffered. Suffered — because of the stigma attached to her — because of the stigma attached to being a Kurd; because she is a person who dares to dream — because she is someone with roots in the Middle East; because she is always a thorn in the side of others — because she always speaks out of place, speaks about things like liberation, speaks about democracy. Her fate is like mine; she has left everything behind and come to Australia. It doesn’t matter on what vessel she has travelled to get to this land: whether on a rotting boat or by plane. I feel that when she looks at me, she recollects her pain. I feel she remembers the days when she was perceived as someone out of place; and it is this that provokes her look of simultaneous disdain and empathy.