Perth Indymedia: Recent Episodes
Perth Indymedia Collective
Radical activist citizen journalism. A weekly radio programme on RTRFM (92.1FM), a community radio station based in Perth, the capital city of Western Australia. We bring an independent perspective to the analysis of news and issues and provide a forum for activists, campaigners, academics, advocates and workers denied a voice by the mainstream media. Covering indigenous issues, post-capitalist/anti-capitalist analysis, refugee rights, antifa and all the important environmental, economic and social justice issues of the day. Don’t hate the media, become the media!! - http://perthindymedia.net/
We speak to Greens MLC Sophie Mcneil about the campaign to introduce a 25% tax on gas exports and the disappointing response from the federal and state Labor governments.
- online forums where men share tactics for committing sexual violence. The investigation is a confronting look at how widespread and organised this behaviour can be.Raymond Grenfell spoke to founder and CEO of What Were You Wearing? Sarah Williams.
As Israel and the United States launch their long-awaited attack on Iran, and the Middle East teeters on the edge of all-out regional war, Alex Whisson explains how we got here and what might happen next.
We speak to Greens MLC Sophie Mcneil about proposed new protest laws in WA and the implication to our right to political demonstration.
As the Australian government rolls out the red carpet for the visit of Israel's President Isaac Herzog, Alex Whisson speaks to Rawan Arraf, Executive Director and Principal Lawyer of the Australian Centre for International Justice, to discuss the case against him for incitement of genocide.
Troy Turner from Democratic Socialists of America discusses the ongoing resistance to the ICE raids in cities throughout the USA.
Indymedia investigates WA Police's chaotic evacuation of Boorloo's annual Invasion Day Rally after an attempted terrorist attack. Speaking to over 40 attendees and marshals - we demonstrate a lack of urgency on behalf of WAPOL, as well as a the use of unnecessary force and the absence of cultural understanding during a major threat to community.Written and narrated by Joni BoydCover image courtesy of NITVOriginally broadcast on RTRFM 92.1
Queer Liberation Boorloo marched with a range of groups at the annual Perth Pride Parade in solidarity with Palestine - Indymedia's Joni Boyd was there to catch it.Originally broadcast on RTRFM 92.1
Mel from Rising Tide chats to Indymedia's Joni Boyd. Mel was arrested over the weekend for swimming into the Newcastle coal port - the world's largest- as part of a large protest that shut down the port for the day and lead to over a hundred arrests of climate activists.Originally broadcast live on RTRFM 92.1Image via The Guardian.
We speak to Greens MLC Jess Beckerling about the proposed State Development Bill 2025, a very concerning bill that would see the state's premier Roger Cook able to bypass environmental laws and regulations to push through major developments in WA.
Indymedia's Joni Boyd chats with William and Mia from the growing WA branch of the Renters and Housing Union about the rapidly worsening rental crisis and the branch's upcoming protest outside the WA Labor conference this Saturday the 8th November.Originally broadcast on RTRFM92.1 on 03/11/2025Banner image via RAHU's national facebook page - 21/12/2020
Indymedia's Phil Evans reports on the Tuesday 9th September Lock The Gate Alliance/Frack Free WA rally at state parliament calling the Cook Government to reject a bid by American company Black Mountain to open at least 20 wells in the Kimberly.Read by Joni Boyd.Picture from the ABC.Originally broadcast on RTRFM92.1 on 15/09/2025
Joni Boyd's live reporting and analysis on efforts to counter and disrupt the Nazi organised anti-immigrant "March For Australia" in Perth on the 31st August 2025.Originally broadcast on RTRFM 92.1
We chat to Chloe from Friends Of the Earth about new proposed restrictions to protest in Victoria.
Social Reinvestment CEO, Sophie Stewart, joins the show to discuss Hakea Prison.In recent weeks, news has come from Eamon Ryan, Inspector of Custodial Services, that several National and International human rights standards are being breached. Issues concerning overcrowding, underfunding, prisoners placed in constant lockdown are being made aware by Mr Ryan, who wants the government to hold a formal inquiry into the problems at Hakea and what needs to be done to improve it.Indymedia’s Joni Boyd spoke with Sophie Stewart about the ongoing issues in Hakea Prison at alternatives to incarceration.Originally broadcast on RTRFM92.1
We speak to James Godfrey from the Freedom Flotilla Coalition about Israel's illegal raid of the Handala, the latest vessel to attempt to break the blockade of Gaza.
Students of Palestine Campaigner, Jasmine Duff, Highlights A Broken Judicial System In Australia; five charges against her were dropped, after being charged during a protest of The Land Forces International Land Defence Exposition, in Melbourne 2024. We discuss government inaction, the war in Palestine, anti-protest laws, grassroots activism and the broader socialist movement, in the wake of the last federal election.
Indyemdia's Joni Boyd reports on last Saturday's STOP AUKUS event at The Buffalo Club from the newly formed Youth Against War and Facism. Voices include WA Greens MLC Sophie McNeil, YAWF's Patrick Truman-Healy, long time Freo activist Sam Wainright and poet Mena Tabeshfar - also a member of YAWF.Originally broadcast on RTRFM.
We speak to Pakistani political activist and academic Ammar Ali Jan about the recent escalation in conflict between Pakistan and India, as well as the broader geopolitical forces at play.
Former NSW Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon speaks to Alex Whisson about her experiences making the new MUA-funded documentary film, Palestinians Don't Need SIdewalks.
As a fragile ceasefire finally comes into effect in Gaza, Nasser Mashni, President of the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network, joined Alex Whisson to discuss the politics and logistics of the truce, brokered by Egypt, Qatar and the United States, and what might happen at the end of the first phase of the agreement in six weeks' time.
El Gibbs is a writer and deputy ceo of DANA, the Disability Advocacy network Australia. Recently she had a chat with Indymedia's Jack Prendergast to discuss cost blowouts tot he NDIS and possible non-market based alternative's to the scheme.
Alex Whisson analyses what Donald Trump's extraordinary triumph in the 2024 U.S. Presidential election will mean for workers in the United States and around the world.
Tone Wheeler is a Sydney based-architect, the president of the Australian Architechture Association and has extensive knowledge about public housing in Australia.Last week he spoke with Indymedia's Jack Prendergast to discuss public housing's history and the compounding economic effects of not providing housing for all.
Jordan Van Den Lamb, AKA Purplepingers, has been steadfast in his advocacy for a paradigm shift in Australia's housing system. Here he talks with Indymedia's Jack Prendergast about what he hopes for in his bid for the national senate, adverse possession laws and the importance of organising with your friends to fight the power imbalance at the heart of our housing crisis.
Doug Henwood is an author, commentator, contributing editor at The Nation, and host of Behind the News on KPFA Radio, part of the Pacifica Radio Network. As we finally reach the end of what has seemed like the longest campaign in modern political history, he joined Alex Whisson to discuss the perils, pitfalls and possibilities of the American Presidential election.
Since its formation during the early uneasiness of the first lockdowns, the Renters And Housing Union (RAHU) have developed a reputation for their uncompromising defense of tenant's rights.A recent expansion to WA sees Ben Millward (General Secretary) and Sadie Ward (WA delegate) in conversation with Jack Prendergast.
Philip Chilton is a historian at Curtin University and a rank-and-file activist with the National Tertiary Education Union. He has an academic interest in studying various forms of political extremism and it’s in that context he joined Alex Whisson to discuss yesterday's Christian Zionist rally on the steps of the State Parliament.
Na Mon from AMSWAG (Asian Migrant Sex Worker Advisory Group) chats to Joni Boyd about a south east Asian trans woman who had her visa cancelled by Border Force and has spent the last ten weeks in male detention at Villawood. There, the woman has been sexually assaulted, isolated, intimidated and denied medical treatment.Na Mon also goes into the profiling of south east Asian women under 30 being disproportionately targeted by border force and AMSWAG's campaign to end profiling, border turn backs and mandatory detention for migrants awaiting visa outcomes.
We speak to Professor Neville Bruce about the WA Grandparents for Climate Action's bike ride from Perth to Canberra, protesting WA's gas expansion.
As Israel's genocidal war against the Palestinian people continues unabated, and as Netanyahu's campaign of terror expands to Lebanon and the wider region, Alex Whisson spoke to Mustafa, chair of the Palestinian Community of WA, to discuss an upcoming charity event, the Run for Palestine.
Richard Hamilton from Victims of Nicheliving joins Alex Whisson once again to discuss the latest twists and turns in the long-running saga.
Lebanese-Australian and education leader for Mums for Palestine, Yasmin Roz, joined Alex Whisson to discuss Israel's ongoing atrocities in Lebanon.
In the midst of Israeli atrocities in Lebanon, and as the genocide in Gaza continues unabated, Alex Whisson spoke to Gamel Kheir, Secretary of the Lebanese Muslim Association in NSW.
After the a second death of a child in custody in ten months - Boorloo Justice and the Justice for Cleveland Dodd campaign rallied at Parliament House on Thursday to call on the state government to close Unit 18 and overhaul WA's youth justice system.Indymedia's Joni Boyd reports.Broadcast on 23/09/2024
We speak to one of the organisers from Disrupt Land Forces in Melbourne about the protests, reportage and state repression.
Joni follows up on last week's chat with Disrupt Land Forces about the beginning of the mobilisation against the massive arms expo.She's joined by Louis who gives an update on the truth telling circle that launched the campaign, the disruption of roads into the convention centre and the tank escorted into the venue by a $500,000 police presence.
We speak to Nathalie, an organiser for Disrupt Land Forces, about the upcoming protests in Melbourne in opposition to the Land Forces International Defence Exposition.
After construction company Nicheliving failed to have its building license renewed in July, hundreds of home builders were in line for insurance claims and therefore the possible completion of their homes. Now, however, the State Administative Tribunal has approved a stay on that order, allowing the conpany to continue its operations for the time being, and once again leaving dozens of families in the lurch, with seemingly no one to support them.RIchard Hamilton joined Alex Whisson to discuss the implications of the SAT's ruling, and where matters might proceed from here in this long-running saga.
In another edition of Fieldnotes on the road to global war, Alex Whisson presents a brief summary of the global situation across multiple theatres and potential theatres of war.
The United States has declared Venezuelan right wing opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez the winner of July's Presidential election, with Joe Biden citing "overwhelming evidence" for the claim.Did Nicolas Maduro win the election fairly and squarely? And is there another Washington-led coup attempt underway?
Long suffering home builder Richard Hamilton joined Alex Whisson to discuss the latest chapter in the Nicheliving saga, the construction company which has become a byword for everything wrong with the Western Australian housing industry.
Last week NDIS minister Bill Shorten annouced sex work would be removed from the NDIS. The decision has been widely protested by sex worker rights groups and disability activists. Indymedia's Joni Boyd chatted to Lua; a disabled sex worker from DeCrim WA and Smut Club film festival about the ramifications.
Alex Whisson discusses all the potentially seismic political ramifications of the attempted assassination of Donald Trump in rural Pennsylvania.
Professor Salim Vally, the National Research Foundation Chair in Community, Worker and Adult Education at the University of Johannesburg, joined Alex Whisson to discuss the recent South African elections, in which the African National Congress for the first time lost its absolute majority in parliament.
We speak to local film maker Jane Hammond about her latest film in development: Browned Off. A documentary on the developing ecological crisis facing our south-west forests, with over 1000 Km of forest and woodland already dying off as a result of the changing climate.To support the film head to: https://documentaryaustralia.com.au/project/browned-off/
Executive Director of the Australian Centre for International Justice, Rawana Arraf, joined Alex Whisson to discuss the jailing of military whistleblower David McBride, and the prospects for justice being served in the war crimes he brought to light.
For this edition of Fieldnotes on the road to global war, Alex Whisson explores the advances in military technology on the battlefields of recent and current wars, with a particular focus on the revolutionary use of weaponised drones in Nagorno-Karabakh and Ukraine.
In a historically unprecedented development, Tehran launched hundreds of drones and missiles against Israeli targets, in response to the assassination of senior Iranian military officers in Damascus. Alex Whisson discussed the dangers and temptations of viewing this attack as an act of solidarity with anti-imperialist forces.
Nathalie Farah is a writer and advocate from Naarm/Melbourne. She joined Alex Whisson and Joni Boyd to discuss the various mobilisations taking place in response to the call for escalatory, economically disruptive action in solidarity with the people of Palestine.
Lockdowns, travel bans, two-week mandatory quarantines. These draconian measures became all too familiar to Australians during the years of the COVID-19 pandemic. And yet, none of these 'policy levers' were part of the country's long term pandemic response planning.Addressing a collective trauma from which almost none of us have even begun to properly recover, political scientists Tom Chodor and Shahar Hameiri set out to discover just why Australia's response to COVID-19 was so badly bungled at every step, and why the rise and rise of a neoliberal regulatory state came back to haunt us amid the worst public health crisis in a hundred years.
Ahead of Julian Assange's final attempt to appeal his extradition to the United States on 17 charges of espionage and one charge of computer misuse, Alex Whisson spoke to his father John Shipton.
Jarrod McKenna is a Christian pastor, educator, and peace activist currently involved in organising the Gaza Ceasefire Pilgrimage, a project which has expanded to include an astonishing 109 cities in 17 nations.Alex Whisson spoke to Jarrod to discuss the motivations behind the project, and why it is an opportunity to both map the geography of horror unfolding in Gaza, as well as create space for emotional catharsis and spiritual rejuvenation.
One of three Disrupt Burrup Hub campaigners issued a summons to appear in the Supreme Court, in relation to an action last June which led to the evacuation of Woodside's corporate headquarters, Emil Davey joined Alex Whisson to discuss this latest episode of 'lawfare' by the fossil fuel giant hellbent on destroying both ancient Aboriginal rock art and the natural habitat of the Burrup Peninsula.
Prior to the last election, the Albenese government made a promise for Australia to end live animal exports, divesting itself economically and moving to more humane ways transporting meat internationally, after the industry was found to be was not only declining economically, but as a salient and shameful example of animal cruelty. Brad Pettit, MLC, unpacks why activists are demanding an end now!
Protesters gathered in central Perth yet again on Sunday 28th January to cry out in anguish and anger at the suffering of the Palestinian people. The event was also an opportunity to express solidarity with indigenous people in Australia who themselves continue to battle oppression in a colonial-settler state. Meanwhile, governments throughout the Western world have ignored the International Court of Justice's interim orders relating to Israel's genocidal assault, and instead chosen to cut off funding to the United Nations Relief & Works Agency, one of the few lifelines for a population in Gaza now facing mass starvation.
Argentinian-Australian political commentator, author and analyst, Federico Fuentes, joined Alex Whisson to discuss the recent election of Javier Milei as President of Argentina. Is he a populist? A libertarian? An anarcho-capitalist? Or an out-and-out fascist? And what are the political implications of his election, not only for Argentina, but the Latin Amerian region as a whole?
Joni reports on the 7th January rally for Gaza in the Perth CBD - the 10th march in a row since the IDF's current bombardment of Gaza began.
Indymedia's Joni Boyd chats to newly elected City of Bayswater Councillor Nat Latter about the power of local government, adapting to climate change on a local level and a whole range of other topics like homelessness, accessibility and transparency.Broadcast on 8th Jan 2024 on RTRFM92.1
Disrupt Burrup Hub's Gerard Mazza joined Alex Whisson to discuss why an activist with the group, Marek 'Maz' Misiewizc, chose to lock himself on to a barrel in the boot of a 4WD, parked right outside the office of the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority.
Several campaign groups came together on Friday 8th December outside the Perth convention centre, to give their warm season's greetings to a gathering of defence industry bigwigs, including representatives from Babcock and BAE Systems, and featuring special guest speaker, the UK Minister of State for Indo-Pacific, Anne-Marie Trevelyan.The protest speakers featured are Stop AUKUS - WA campaigner Sam Wainwright, veteran environmentalist & peace campaigner Jo Vallentine, Unionists for Palestine WA's Alex Whisson, Students for Palestine's Ella Marchionda, and Nuclear Free WA activist KA.
Former seafarer, rank-and-file leader of the Great Patrick’s Dispute of 1998, and now National Secretary of the CFMMEU, Christy Cain, set a firestorm through both the Australian trade union movement, and the Palestine solidarity campaign, with an impassioned speech at a mass rally for Palestine in the centre of Melbourne on Sunday 3rd December. He joined Alex Whisson to discuss why he gave that speech, which among other things, directly called on other union leaders, and specifically ACTU Secretary Sally McManus, to do more, much more, for the people of Palestine, and why it was so important to him both personally and politically.
The AUKUS agreement, signed in September 2021, is one step of many designed to reinforce, intensify, and scale up a wider network of Western military alliances, particularly in the Indo-Pacific region.As the US empire continues its geostrategic shift towards confronting its great rival China, the so-called 'pivot to Asia', Australia is set to play potentially a key role, as Washington's loyal lieutenant, in attempting to extend American global domination well into the 21st century.Sam Wainwright, spokesperson for the campaign group Stop AUKUS - WA, joined Alex Whisson to discuss the nature and purpose of AUKUS, its connections with the local weapons industry, and how all of this business of death and destruction ties in with the unfolding genocide in Gaza.
Alex Whisson provides an update on the current situation in Gaza, after the ceasefire talks mediated by Qatar collapsed and the Israeli slaughter of Palestinian civilians recommenced.
Irish Indymedia contributor Saoirse Nash speak to Joni Boyd about the violent race riots in Dublin last Thursday. Saoirse tells us what happened on the night, speaks on the various responses from authorities, political parties and community groups and contextualises the rise of the anti-immigrant movement in Ireland.Broadcast 27/11/2023Image from Reuters
Continuing our coverage of the campaign against property developer Niche Living, which has left dozens of families in financial distress as their homes face interminable construction delays, Alex Whisson attended a protest near the company's main office in Northbridge and spoke to some of those caught up in the scandal.
We speak to MUA member and organiser with Unionists For Palestine, Erima Dall, about a recent blockade of Port Botany in NSW that targeted the Israeli ZIM shipping company - highlighting their connection to the Israeli attacks on Gaza.
Media adviser for Disrupt Burrup Hub, Jesse Noakes, joins Alex Whisson to discuss the ongoing campaign of harassment and intimidation by the WA Police force directed towards the group's activists, in light of his conviction for failing to comply with data access orders that would have compromised his sources and freedom to act as an independent journalist.
Unionist, academic and frustrated homebuyer Richard Hamilton joined Alex Whisson to discuss interminable construction delays on dozens of home builds by property developer Niche Living. Facing ongoing uncertainty, heartache and stress, after waiting years in some cases for their homes to be finished, affected families throughout Perth have decided to take action, launching a campaign group, We Need a Home, and staging a protest outside Niche Living's Perth offices.
Joni Boyd chats to Gem Walsh from the Loud Jew Collective about the occupation of Defense Minister Richard Marles' office in Geelong on Wednesday the 1st November - a Jewish lead action including reading the names of Palestinian dead and traditional Yiddish songs of peace. The action called for a cease fire in Gaza and an end to Israeli Apartheid.Broadcast 6/11/2023 on RTRFM92.1
Joni Boyd reporting on a Friends of Palestine action on Wednesday the 1st of November, when roughly a hundred protesters marched on the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to demand Australia call for a cease fire in Gaza and an end to the Israeli Apartheid.Broadcast on 6/11/2023 on RTRFM92.1
Joni chats to Nova Sobieralski from Queer Liberation Boorllo about upcoming rallies calling upon Labor to finally implement the reforms to discrimination and ID laws that were promised to the LGBT+ community since taking office in 2017.
Indymedia's Nova Sobieralski was with striking Coles and Woolworths workers with the Retail and Fast Food Workers Union asking why they went on strike.Presented by Joni BoydImage via Chuffed.org
On Saturday 28th October 2023, some 3000 people marched through the streets of Perth in solidarity with Palestine. In so doing, they added their voices to the millions mobilising around the world in growing opposition to Israel's genocidal assault on the people of Gaza.Speakers include Friends of Palestine WA chairperson Nick Everett, NSW Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi and the Palestinian Community of WA's Ayman Qwaider.
We speak to the Director of National Suicide Prevention and Trauma Recovery Project Megan Krakouer about the tragic death of young Aboriginal boy, Cleveland Dodd, in the notorious Unit 18 in Casuarina Prison.
Chairperson of the Palestinian Community of WA, Ammar Abu Shamleh, joined Alex Whisson to discuss the mass media’s distortion and narrow framing of Israel’s genocidal assault on the people of Gaza.
As the blockade and bombardment of Gaza continues and the death toll from the Israeli attacks sky rockets, we speak to local Palestinian Ayman Qwaider about the current situation in the occupied territories.
Indymedia's Joni Boyd chats to Tess Louise from Decrim WA and the Its So Hard podcast about attempts to bring in the so-called 'Nordic Model' in South Australia - a legislative model that has been widely condemned by sex worker organisations around the world.From Indymedia on the 25th September 2023 on RTRFM92.1
Sarah Newbold - Detransition Bigotry from 7 News Spotlight by Perth Indymedia Collective
Federico Fuentes is an author, activist, commentator and the editor of Ukraine Resists! Left Voices on Putin's War, NATO and the Future of Ukraine.He spoke to Alex Whisson on the central importance of the Russo-Ukrainian War to the future of world affairs, and why it's therefore vital the internationalist left understand the causes and consequences of the conflict.
The Voice to Parliament has been touted as a progressive step forward for Indigenous rights in Australia, however the proposal does not address and is a distraction from the fundamental and significant issue of sovereignty.Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples have never ceded sovereignty to the Australian government.
Indymedia looks into the counter-terrorist police ambush of a planned protest by Disrupt Burrup Hub activist Matilda Lane Rose and how the campaign is standing strong against repeated home raids by the police and constant misinformation by the corporate press in defense of Woodside's massively polluting project up in the Burrup.
With an interview from Jesse Noakes and the voices of Matilda Lane Rose and Desmond Burton. Hosted by Joni Boyd.
JJ Blackburn from Rainbow Rebellion discusses a drag story time event in Maylands which was targeted by the far right. In response, hundreds of people came out to protest them and to stand up for LGBTI rights. This is an outstanding win against the transphobic and homophobic far-right. It's crucial that when they organise, we don't back down and cancel drag events like local councils elsewhere have done.
In the wake of Western Australia and Victoria banning native logging, we speak to Paddy Cullen, from the Bob Brown Foundation, regarding Labor's opportunity to bring Australia in line with the rest of the developed world in its fight for climate; by ending native logging across the country.
WA’s leading Conservation Groups will be gathering at Parliament House on Saturday 12 August at 11.00 am to ‘Rally for the Forests’ https://www.facebook.com/events/820114869468990?ref=newsfeed Overall, 10 rallies are planned around the country as the culmination of three days of forest actions by the Bob Brown Foundation as part of a nationwide protest to end logging and native forest destruction. In WA Actions taking place include making a giant Black Cockatoo out of people holding umbrellas in Bunbury organised by Nannas for Native Forests. They will be joined by Friends of the Gelorup Corridor who have been fighting to save ancient woodlands around Bunbury. Register here bit.ly/BunburyCockatoo
Raymond Grenfell speaks to socialist activist and academic Dr John Mullen about the ongoing riots and demonstrations in France in response to the police killing of seventeen year old Nahel Merzouk.
On the 2nd July, members of the disabled community gathered to mourn Josh, a 24 year old man living with Sotos syndrome who died after an altercation with transit guards at Perth Underground station. The vigil was held in Murray St Mall at the entrance to the Underground. Indymedia's Joni Boyd went down to catch some of what the community had to say about Josh’s death.
Raymond Grenfell speaks to Kristen O'Connell from Action for Public Housing in NSW about recent actions to protect public housing in the state and the ongoing housing crisis in Australia.
WAFA Stands Between Mining Companies and The Northern Jarrah Forrest- JESS BECKERLING by Perth Indymedia Collective
In response to the latest escalation of conflict in Sudan the Perth Sudanese community, along with supporters, have rallied in Perth to call on the federal government to offer more support to those fleeing the violence. We speak to one of the organisers, Khalid Hassan who is a part of the newly formed group, the Perth Anti-War Alliance.
After riots at the Banksia Hill Youth Detention Centre we speak to Youth Justice Reform campaigner and an organiser of a rally at the centre, Gerry Georgatos.
As of last week, the EPA announced they are assessing the Gnangara, Pinjar, Yanchep pine plantations – Dr Hugh Finn, lecturer at curtin university is calling for a moratorium, in order to save this now crutial habitat for 70% our black cockatoo population.
Is this a question of profits over preservation from the west Australian government, with the EPA refusing to assess the land related for a surf park despite community concern?
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has set Australia on a path to potential war, recklessly throwing the country into a nuclear submarine deal with Britain and the United States. Alex Whisson spoke late last week to Dr Chris Johansen, a member of the newly formed campaign group, Stop AUKUS-WA.
‘Yeelirrie 50 years of resistance’ is the incredible true story behind Western Australia’s longest and most bitter battle to prevent the mining of uranium in our state. It is the story of how three multinational mining companies tried – and failed – to dig up one of Australia’s largest uranium deposits, 650 km northeast of Perth. We spoke to Mia Pepper from Conservation Council of WA about the book and the history of the struggle.
As the war between Congolese government forces and rebels of the March 23rd Movement continues to cause great suffering for the people of eastern Congo, Prosper Baeni, managing director of the International Forum of Reconciliation and Peace, and recently returned from a humanitarian project in Goma, joins Alex Whisson to discuss the appalling situation on the ground and the need for international solidarity.
After the Age uncovered links between Legacy Boxing Gym, in Sunshine West, some of Victoria’s most dangerous neo-Nazi activists and a growing community of young men learning to box at the gym.CARF
We speak to Francis Russel from the Curtin Branch of the NTEU about ongoing bargaining between Curtin staff and management, the recent non-union ballot that was rejected by workers and the potential for further industrial action to ensure fair pay and rights for workers at Curtin Uni.
We speak to Joana Partyka from Disrupt Burrup Hub after her apartment was raided by police and state security in connection to her actions in the campaign to protect the Burrup peninsula from Woodside's proposed developments.https://disruptburruphub.com/
Notorious far-right anti-trans activist Posie Parker is coming to Perth for a 'speaking tour' - a series of rallies to galvanize the far-right around anti-trans rhetoric. The trans community and our allies are coming out to counter her rally at Parliament House at 11:30 14 March. Indymedia's Joni Boyd talks to Danica Scott from Socialist Alliance to talk about why it's important to organise and counter rallies like these.More info here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1366495174171728
On Wednesday 1st February, some half-a-million workers undertook strike action in the United Kingdom, the largest singe day of industrial action in that country in over a decade.It served as something of a culmination of a long wave of strikes currently taking place in the UK. To discuss the causes and contours of the strike wave, Alex Whisson spoke to author, commentator, activist and journalist, Kevin Ovenden.
We speak to Chris Sheed from the campaign to save Bulga Forest in NSW and the importance of ending native logging in Australia.
Following the Congress-led coup against leftist President Pedro Castillo in early December, a huge protest movement has erupted in Peru, calling for the resignation of Castillo’s replacement, his own Vice-President Dina Boluarte, and a new round of elections. Alex Whisson had the opportunity to speak to Sydney-based Peruvian community organiser, Leonor Luna.
After two years of occupying a village in Lutzerath, Germany, tens of thousands of climate activists have faced off against the full force of the German state, resulting in hundreds of arrests. Indymedia's Raymond Grenfell speaks to Luka Scott, a spokesperson for Ende Gelaende, a grassroots environmental organisation that has been campaigning against the expansion of the Garzweiler coal mine in the area.
Christine Duckham speaks to indymedia's Raymond Grenfell about the significance of the Cockburn Wildlife Corridor and the need to preserve the area from development.
Queer Youth Event, Glitter Nova, was cancelled last Thursday after safety threats from a Neo Nazi group.The event, which was organised by @stronningtonyouthservices and the council will be postponed to another date; however, was canceling the right option?While the event was cancelled, 200+ showed up in solidarity, including Drag performers and community allies alike. @tomtanuki - Antifascist commentator and community organiser, unpacks what happened, why cancelling such events is not conducive to any assurance of safety, and how the activist and anti-fascist community will always stand in solidarity with those at risk.
Murrawah Johnson from Youth Verdict spoke to Indymedia about their landmark win in the Queensland Land court. The case, which ruled in favour of rejecting Waratah Coal / Clive Palmers coal mine, is an amazing step forward for not only preservation of environment and country, but for First Nations connection to it. Murrawah explains how they won, and what it means for the future.
Clinton Fernandes is an author, a former intelligence officer on the Indonesia desk for the Australian Army, and currently a Professor of International and Political Studies at UNSW Canberra. He spoke to Alex Whisson to discuss his latest book, Sub-Imperial Power: Australia in the International Arena, published by Melbourne University Press.
On Friday 25th November, after many twists and turns in a fiercely fought campaign for better wages and conditions, Western Australian nurses went out on strike. It was the first strike by Western Australian nurses since 1998, one held, remarkably, in defiance of an Industrial Relations Commission order, the same industrial umpire, so-called, which later threatened to suspend the Australian Nursing Federation's registration as a union.To discuss these dramatic developments, and what might happen next, Alex Whisson was joined by Tyler Ray, a rank-and-file ANF activist and enrolled nurse at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital.
While in Australia for the International Trade Union Confederation World Congress, currently being held in Melbourne, Deputy Chairperson of the Independent Mineworkers Union of Ukraine, Nataliya Levytska, spoke to Alex Whisson about the immense difficulties of carrying on her work in conditions of war and privation.
On the eve of Palestinian Independence Day, and in the wake of Benjamin Netanyahu's return to Prime Ministerial office, Alex Whisson spoke to Palestinian writer and commentator, Jafar Ramini, who has recently moved to Perth from the UK.
In the wake of Ethiopia’s government brokering a deal to permanently halt hostilities with the Tigray People's Liberation Front, we speak to Amhara Ethiopian man Mesfin Tadesse and his partner and longtime advocate for peace in Ethiopia Janet Bastyan.
The State Government is considering potential future land use and zoning opportunities for the western section of the land corridor originally reserved for the Roe Highway extension proposal. The East- West corridor which runs from the Beeliar wetlands to Clontarf hill is a deeply loved and an environmentally essential path for not only our wildlife and biodiversity but, for its mental and physiological benefits for those that utilise them. While the space is now free of a highway, those who fought to protect it did not do so for the sole purpose of preventing Roe 8/9.
Christine outlines what exactly the Green corridor (also known as the Cockburn wildlife corridor) is, the ecological value it provides and why its preservation is so important.
The DPLH are currently conducting a study to explore potential land uses for the Cockburn Wildlife corridor - originally reserved for the Roe 8/9 Highway. The corridor crosses 7 distinct ecological zones, including wetlands, paperbark forests and banksia woodlands as well as 3 dune systems. This environment not only houses hundreds of reptiles and small marsupial species, native to WA but it is also the home to our beloved black cockatoos which face extinction threats.
Paddy Cullen, a prominent environmental activist who has dedicated much of his life to raising awareness for the preservation of these endangered majestic creatures, spoke to Zoe about what threat any development would have on our endangered Black Cockatoos.
While news of Georgia Meloni's neo-fascist party, Brothers Of Italy, rising to power in Italy has caused much concern for people of conscience everywhere, there are also signs of hope from the Mediterranean Basin.
The GKN Factory Collective, an organisation born from a workers struggle and general strike in florence and occupation of the Campi Bisenzio GKN plant, have joined forces with the Fridays For Future student climate justice movement.
This new movement "Insorgiamo" translated as "we rise up" has brought together a coalition of ecological, economic and social justice movements to confront the crisis of Italian Capitalism.
On Saturday an estimated 15 thousand people gathered in Bologna in the latest manifestation of this movement, marching and dancing through the streets and occupying a highway. Indymedia's Raymond Grenfell was there to speak to some of the participants of this new movement.
Co-editor of Brasilwire, and Brazil correspondent for the Telesur news service, Brian Mier, joins Alex Whisson to discuss the outcome of the first round of the Presidential elections, and the prospects for the second and decisive round.
Candidate for the Northern Metro region of the upper house in the upcoming Victorian State elections, Jerome Small, spoke to Alex Whisson about plasterboard giant Knauf's lockout of workers, the prospects for a revival of working class struggle, and the challenges of standing as a socialist for parliament.
After the victory of Georgia Meloni's Brothers Of Italy party in Italy we speak to local Italian historian and activist Dr Fausto Butta about what the election victory means for the country, and what hope their may be for resistance.
Thousands of Iranians have taken to the streets in protest since last week saw the tragic death in custody of 22-year old Mahsa Amini, who was apprehended in Tehran, beaten and later taken to a re-education centre for women.
Sahar Gholizadeh, Iranian Australian community planner, political and human rights activist and demonstration organiser speaks to Indymedia about what is happening in Iran and internationally, following the killing of Mahsa Amini.
Amid a nauseating period of what seems like mandatory mourning, not to mention sycophantic praise for Queen Elizabeth II, lawyer, social commentator, activist and author, David Renton, joins Alex Whisson to discuss the future of British society. What next for a country reeling from crisis to crisis on multiple fronts, from record high inflation, a chaotic, corrupt Tory government, to the possible breakup of the United Kingdom? And what fate is in store for the monarchy itself? David began by recalling his first reactions upon hearing of the death of the Queen, and the collective mood of hysteria and obsequiousness the media has since tried to impose upon the British people.
Independent journalist and activist Andy Paine spoke to Alex Whisson about plans to disrupt the biennial Land Forces arms trade expo, set to be held at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre from October 4th to 6th.
Staff at Sydney University have very much been leading the charge in recent times in the campaign for better wages and conditions in the higher education sector. On the back of several days of strike action that have taken place since May, workers there have voted for another 48-hour strike later this semester. Alex Whisson spoke to National Tertiary Education Union Sydney Uni Branch President, Nick Riemer.
We speak to Sam Wainwright from Scarborough Gas Action Alliance about a recent federal government decision to allow Perdaman to build another fertilizer plant in the Burrup, as well as the implications of Burrup industry expansion for climate.
Sarah Newbold - a senior counsellor from Perth Holistic Counselling, speaks to Indymedia regarding the current lack of financial and mental health support available when seeking an abortion.
During our interview, Sarah outlines what she as a senior counsellor to be the most alarming and how both financial support and physical access to these services could impact the mental health of not only cis- women but gender-diverse and marginalised persons.
Indymedia's Jessie Noakes reports from the historic Save Our Songlines demonstration on the Burrup Peninsula where traditional owners and their supporters gathered to oppose the expansion of industry on sacred Murujuga country. Jessie spoke to Mardudhunera woman Josie Alec and Ngarlama Yindjibarndi man Patrick Churnside. We also hear from Mardudhunera woman Raelene Cooper who spoke at the rally.
After the EPA's decision to extend Woodside's North West Shelf Gas project to 2070 we speak to Gerrard Mazza from Scarborough Gas Action Alliance about the campaign to protect Murujuga country (the Burrup Peninsula).
In response to the state government's decision to move 20 children into a maximum security prison in WA Indymedia's Raymond Grenfell speaks to Megan Krakouer, Project Director of the National Suicide Prevention and Trauma Recovery Project. He started by asking Megan what the significance of this proposed transfer is.
According to UNICEF, the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, at least 13 Palestinian children have been killed by Israeli forces so far this year. Dozens more Palestinian civilians have also been killed, including the revered Al Jazeera journalist, Shireen Abu Akleh. Yet you won't see blazing headlines in the Western press about the need to support the fight against Israeli oppression, let alone announcements of Bushmaster armoured vehicles being sent to the Palestinian resistance, for Palestinian voices are rarely heard, rarely respected, their messages calling for solidarity rarely heeded.
Alex Whisson sought to make a modest contribution to correcting that gross imbalance by speaking to three members of the Palestinian Community of WA, Amer, Samya and Ayman.
Working class people in this country are currently facing the worst cost of living crisis for a generation. With inflation higher than it's been in decades, and an energy crisis in the eastern states seeing electricity prices skyrocketing, it's difficult enough for those of us employed to make ends meet. Spare a thought then for the unemployed and the poor, drowning in debt and struggling to pay their bills. Alex Whisson spoke to Pas Forgione, co-coordinator of the Anti-Poverty Network South Australia.
May 15th marked 74 years since the Nakba, Arabic for the catastrophe, the day mourned, and remembered in defiance, by Palestinians the world over. It was on that day in 1948, in fact technically the day before on the Israeli calendar, that the Zionist state's first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, declared victory over the Palestinian people, having overseen the expulsion of some 750 000 men, women and children from their homes, soon to be cast adrift to every corner of the world, where their descendants remain in exile to this day. This past Saturday, the Palestinian Community of WA, in coordination with Friends of Palestine Western Australia, commemorated the Nakba, but also used the event as a platfrom to express people's anger at Israel's murder, earlier this month, of the esteemed Palestinian journalist, Shireen Abu Akleh. Alex Whisson spoke to Friends of Palestine WA convener, Nick Everett.
In the aftermath of Saturday's federal election, Indymedia's Alex Whisson provides a report and analysis on all the many facets of the result.
We speak to Kyle Gleadell from the School Of Critical Arts about the school, their upcoming courses and the need for alternatives to the increasingly neoliberal university system.
http://www.criticalarts.org.au
We speak to the founders of The Abortion Project about a 'pro-life' rally in Perth, the US supreme court's expected decision to reverse abortion laws and the work that the Abortion Project are doing to increase awareness around reproductive and medical rights.
Are you nauseated by this election campaign? Does the corporate media's banal coverage of it, replete with ridiculous 'gotcha' moments, and sports-like commentary on who is winning and losing, make you feel physically ill? Rest assured, you are not alone. In fact, it may well be you're in the majority. Indymedia's Alex Whisson had the opportunity to chat with someone who feels the same way. Dr Tad Tietze is an author, commentator and political analyst.
We speak to Zane Wayman from the North Fremantle Social Club about plans to create a community hub for art, well-being, social activities and activism.
We speak to traditional owner Josie Alec from Murujuga in the Pilbara about the threat to Aboriginal rock art and the climate from the proposed Scarborough Gas Hub in WA's north.
We speak to long-term activist, journalist and commentator Federico Fuentes about the Novak Djokovic case and what it says about the Australian government's response to the Covid19 pandemic.
We speak to Palestinian activist Fahad Ali from Palestinian Justice Movement Sydney about the boycott of the Sydney Arts Festival 2022 over a sponsorship deal with the Israeli embassy.
Knee jerk border closures without an examination of the evidence, the spreading of fear & panic, and abject indifference, at best, to the suffering of poorly vaccinated populations in the global South. Familiar aspects of the Australian government’s COVID-19 political playbook that we’ve grown used to almost two years into the pandemic, this time in response to the emergence of the Omicron variant. Alex Whisson spoke to social justice activist, academic and commentator Paddy Gibson to discuss the politics of Omicron, the left’s response, and the continuing rise of the far right on the back of the anti-vaccination movement.
We speak to Clancey from Blockade Australia about the ongoing direct action in and around Newcastle to shut down the word's largest coal port and confront our government's inaction on the climate crisis.
We speak to Liz Downes from Rain-forest Action Group about community opposition to gold and copper mining in the north Ecuadorian town of Buenas Aires. The community have been peacefully resisting Gina Rinehart's company Hanrine mining the area despite brutal crackdowns from military police.
Indymedia's Jessie Noakes speaks to Noongar man Brendan Jones about his experience of sleeping rough on the streets of Perth throughout the pandemic.
Street protests in Colombia began some two months ago on the basis of widespread opposition to regressive tax changes proposed by the government of Ivan Duque. Duque was forced to withdraw those proposals within a matter of days, but the protests continued. To discuss the question of why those protests morphed into a more generalised anti-government movement, Alex Whisson spoke to Colombian political activist Christian.
We speak to researcher and author Iain McIntyre about his book Environmental Blockades: Obstructive Direct Action and the History of The Environmental Movement. A new book that chronicles early environmental blockades in Australia, the USA and Canada.
You can read and listen to some of the interviews that contributed to the book at www.commonslibrary.org
Photo by David Kemp.
We speak to Curtin NTEU branch vice president and state-secretary candidate, Dr Thor Kerr, about how the covid-19 pandemic, federal budget cuts and neoliberal management is impacting on the university sector, as well as the need for a fightback from students and staff.
We speak to Margaret Pestori,us a Brisbane based activist who is helping to organise a festival of resistance that is hoping to disrupt the 2021 Land Forces convention, a convention of the military industrial complex.
Voices of Palestinian-Australians, and their supporters, from the Palestine solidarity demonstration, Perth, Western Australia, Sunday 23rd May.
Yet again the world reels in horror at another Israeli assault on the people of Gaza, yet again the governments of the world, including the Australian government, give their imprimatur to the slaughter. Dr Ramzy Baroud is a Palestinian-American author, journalist, and editor of The Palestine Chronicle. He spoke to Alex Whisson from his home in Seattle.
The 1946 Pilbara strike of Aboriginal pastoral workers is one of the most significant episodes in both the history of the Australian labour movement, as well as the history of the Aboriginal self-determination movement. On the 75th anniversary, Alex Whisson spoke to Paul Roberts, writer and producer of How the West Was Lost, the 1987 documentary which recorded the history of this great and important strike.
Following the tragic death of a 15-year-old Aboriginal boy we speak to the national coordinator of the National Suicide Prevention and Trauma Recovery Project to discuss the continuing crisis of youth suicide.
Chris Breen is a long time activist with the Refugee Action Collective in Melbourne. Organising a protest last April in solidarity with refugees detained at the Mantra Hotel, he found himself subject to arrest for incitement, a rarely used charge with a potentially chilling effect on the right to protest.
As Brazilians continue to suffer under the authoritarian rule of Jair Bolsonara, and one of the worst COVID-19 death tolls anywhere in the world, a glimmer of hope has emerged, with the Supreme Court quashing the conviction on bribery charges of former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Alex Whisson spoke to São Paulo-based political commentator and journalist, Brian Mier.
We speak to local Burmese democracy activist Khin Myo Myint about the ongoing anti-coup protests in Burma and the horrific repression facing activists.
Economist and author Michael Roberts spoke to Alex Whisson about the economic impact of COVID-19, and the prospects for a post-pandemic recovery.
Kristin O'Connell, spokesperson for the Australian Unemployed Workers Union, talks to Alex Whisson about the Morrison government's phasing out of the coronavirus supplement to the JobSeeker payment, and the need for a substantial increase to the allowance.
In light of Facebook's ban on news media in Australia we speak to author, editor and academic Timothy Erik Strom about the implications of Platform/Surveillance capitalism on our political and social economies.
You can read some of Timothy's work via Arena, which he also edits: www.arena.org.au
In June 2019, the eyes of the world turned to Hong Kong, as a mass protest movement erupted in defiance of Beijing. Initially catalysed by the introduction of an extradition bill into the Hong Kong Legislative Council, the movement soon came to embrace a set of much wider demands. Some on the left quickly dismissed it as a creature of Western interests, while others recognised the importance of solidarity with a pro-democracy movement. To get to the truth of what the Hong Kong protests were about, and what the situation is now, Alex Whisson spoke to writer and activist Au Loong Yu.
As protests erupt throughout Myanmar in response to the attempted military coup, we speak to local Burmese community member and activist Khin Myo Myint.
We speak to public housing advocate Jesse Noakes about the eviction of the tent city in Fremantle and the ongoing homelessness crisis in WA.
We speak to Jonny Windus, an organiser at the Fremantle Tent City that was dismantled by the state government over the weekend.
We speak to Jess Beckerling from the Western Australian Forest Alliance about a recent action at Simcoa by Nannas For Native Forests and the ongoing issue of native logging in WA.
We speak to writer and comedian Patrick Marlborough about their Fringe show On Fringe and about the complex relationship between the big polluters such as Woodside and the arts.
The struggle for self-determination and independence in West Papua has ramped up in recent weeks and months. With calls for a general strike by West Papuan activists, solidarity protests in Indonesia and actions here in Australia, all amid the heightened state repression of West Papuans by Indonesian authorities. We speak to Lewis Prai Wellip, a West Papuan activist based in Melbourne.
In the annals of working class history in this country, the Jobs for Women campaign has, quite rightly, gone down as the stuff of legend.
Beginning in 1980, and centred around the right of women to work at the Port Kembla steelworks in Wollongong, owned and operated at the time by Australian Iron & Steel, a subsidiary of BHP, the bitter struggle would carry on throughout the entire decade of the 1980's, eventually ending in a crucial, historic victory for working class women, not only in the steel industry, but throughout the country.
Robynne Murphy is an activist, filmmaker, and retired steelworker. She was central to organising the Jobs for Women campaign, and is the director of Women of Steel, a documentary film chronicling this important struggle, one from which younger activists can learn a great deal.
We speak to Petrina Harley from Rainbow Rebellion about the protest roots of pride and the need to continue the struggle for LGBTQi rights.
We speak to Anthony Collins from 350.org Perth about the groups recent report Captured State: The influence of the gas lobby on WA.
We speak to Alan Hayden from the Extinction Rebellion WA Grandparent's Group about the recent Festival for Love and Rage that took place in Perth.
In a two part series we explore the impacts platform capitalism (corporate social media) is having on art collectives and communities in Indonesia.
Platforms such as Facebook, Whatsapp and Twitter, while being used by many collectives, activists and others around the world to organise, have serious implications for security, surveillance and control or ownership of content. More broadly the very way in which we socialise and organise has changed considerably. Our very concepts of space, community and relationships are being changed by these platforms.
The first part of this series features Wimo, Akiq, and Dito, members of Mes56, an artist community and collective house in Jogjakarta, Indonesia. The members discuss their use of platforms, the effect this is having a well as the connections between the Covid-19 pandemic and platform capitalism.
Interviews were conducted as a part of workshops held at Mes56 in June, 2020 by Rangga Purbaya, coordinated by Indymedia's Raymond Grenfell, for Curtin University and RTRFM.
Doug Henwood is a broadcaster, commentator, a contributing editor at The Nation and author, among other volumes, of My Turn: Hillary Clinton Targets the Presidency. He joined Alex Whisson to discuss the 2020 U.S. Presidential election, and what might happen in its aftermath.
After the tragic death of 11-year-old Annaliesse Ugle and subsequent calls for the reform of WA's bail act, we speak to suicide prevention researcher and advocate Gerry Georgatos.
Historian Djene Bajalan from Missouri State University joined Alex Whisson to discuss the war in Nagorno-Karabakh.
While much of the Western press and liberal opinion remains obsessively focussed on the upcoming U.S. Presidential Election, another election will take place this weekend, the background to which reveals just how many features of the American Empire will continue on as before, regardless of who wins between Trump and Biden. Journalist and political commentator Federico Fuentes joined Alex Whisson to discuss the fate of Bolivia.
We speak to Associate Professor Agung Wardana about the ongoing demonstrations and strikes in Indonesia in response to the omnibus bill's resulting attacks on workers rights and environmental regulations.
The carnage continues across the University sector, with ANU, UNSW, and Charles Darwin University among those to announce more job cuts in recent days, bringing the total number of job losses to at least 11 000. The local Unis have not been spared, with Murdoch Uni management looking to cut $25 million from its salary budget. Last week, Murdoch staff voted on a variation to their Enterprise Bargaining Agreement. Indymedia's Alex Whisson spoke to Nick Everett, delegate and Branch Committee member for the National Tertiary Education Union, to understand what the vote was about, and what might happen next in the fight to save jobs.
Student-led protests against the military-backed government of Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha have been ongoing since July. In recent days, they have increased in scale and intensity, with tens of thousands taking part in a protest on Saturday 19th September, to mark the anniversary of the 2006 military coup d'etat, which lasted into early Sunday morning. Giles Ji Ungpakorn is a Thai-British academic and activist. He spoke to Alex Whisson from his home in the United Kingdom.
It's been six weeks since a devastating explosion rocked the port of Beirut, killing hundreds and leaving widespread destruction throughout the city. Caused by the negligent storage of nearly 3000 tons of ammonium nitrate in a portside warehouse, the disaster has dramatically exposed the criminal nature of the Lebanese ruling class. Alex Whisson spoke to Gilbert Achcar, Professor of Development Studies and International Relations at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London.
MUA WA State Secretary Christy Cain joined Alex Whisson to discuss the McGowan government's proposal for a new outer harbour to be built at Cockburn Sound by 2032.
The Kurdish people continue to be assailed on multiple fronts by various enemies, with Turkey escalating its attacks on Kurdish communities in northern Iraq, while simultaneously maintaining its occupation of Kurdish areas in the north of Syria. Ozer Coskun is active with the Kurdish Association of Western Australia, as well as a member of the Kurdish National Congress based in Brussels.
Clinical research in recent years has suggested what therapists, researchers and the hippies knew decades ago - psychedelics like magic mushrooms, ayahuasca and even MDMA can have powerful benefits when used as a controlled therapeutic treatment.
Indymedia's Jesse Noakes spoke to Tania de Jong is founder and director of Mind Medicine Australia, an organisation advocating for this research, and this therapy, to come to Australia.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who continues to cling to power despite ongoing legal troubles and multiple elections where he was unable to secure a stable government, is pushing ahead with his plans to formally annex up to 30% of the occupied Palestinian territory in the West Bank. Netanyahu had announced several months ago that 1st July would be the deadline for those plans to come into effect, but that date has come and gone, without any further clarity on his plans. To discuss the implications of the planned annexation on Palestinians Indymedia's Raymond Grenfell spoke to Hiba El Farra from Friends of Palestine Western Australia.
Mes56 is a collective of artists who work cooperatively with the community and its network in managing a home that is used as a work studio, study class, playroom and shelter. Formed in 2002 with independent funding, this community rests on the development of photography and contemporary art that intersects with other disciplines critically and contextually for the realization of an open, creative and independent society.
Pas Forgione is the Raise the Rate Community Organiser at the Australian Council of Social Services. Alex Whisson spoke to him about the findings of the recent 'I Can Finally Eat Fresh Fruit and Vegetables' survey, as well as some of the wider concerns around the ongoing unemployment crisis.
Liz Humphrys is a political economist and sociologist at the University of Technology Sydney, and the author of How Labour Built Neoliberalism: Australia’s Accord, the Labour Movement and the Neoliberal Project. She joined Alex Whisson to discuss Scott Morrison's announcement of a potential new era in Australian industrial relations, which some commentators have likened to Bob Hawke's Prices and Incomes Accord.
Following a huge collapse in revenue, particularly from international students, Universities across the country find themselves at a historical crossroads. Up to 21 000 jobs may be lost in the coming months. A potential showdown looms between the boards of management and academic staff. Also looming is a possible civil war within the National Tertiary Education Union. The leadership is proposing sacrifices be made, in order to save workers from potentially even greater sacrifices. A Jobs Protection Framework is soon to be voted on by the union membership. It will entail wage cuts of between 5 and 15% but, according to the union, that will mean thousands of jobs will be saved.
Indymedia's Raymond Grenfell spoke to Nick Everett, a member of the Murdoch University NTEU branch committee.
Jack Mundey. Leader of the NSW branch of the Builders Labourers' Federation. Member of the Communist Party of Australia. On first blush, hearing that bio, one might take him to be an obscure figure, a man of little consequence. Yet he played a monumental role in post-war Australian history, and his impact on modern environmental politics is arguably without parallel. Mundey passed away earlier this month. Indymedia's Raymond Grenfell had the opportunity earlier this morning to speak to Professor Verity Burgmann, Adjunct Professor of Politics in the School of Social Sciences at Monash University, and co-author of Green Bans, Red Union: Environmental Activism and the New South Wales Builders Labourers' Federation.
In the early 1990s the internet was largely considered a tool for global democratization. Particularly in the western world it was largely thought that new digital media would bring about a radical transformation in how civil society both engaged with the state and organised itself.
In 1999, on the back of the huge anti-capitalist and alterglobalisation movements, the Indymedia network was born. One of the first open-source projects that radically transformed how people, especially activists engaged with new digital media technologies.
Indymedia's Raymond Grenfell speaks to three founders of Indymedia, Allan Boyd and Shayne O'neil from Perth Indymedia and Stacy Lightfoot from Sydney Indymedia to discuss the history of the network and our new online platform capitalist reality.
The COVID19 pandemic has meant an increased level of policing the world over, as states move to ensure social distancing and lockdown measures are maintained. But this increased police presence along with additional police powers has raised concern about a shift towards heavy handed policing in Australia, as well as a lack of accountability and transparency. Indymedia's Raymond Grenfell spoke to Associate Professor in Criminology at Deakin University, Darren Palmer about the changing nature of policing in Australia.
Megan Krakouer, director of the National Suicide Prevention and Trauma Recovery Project, joined Alex Whisson to discuss the WA State government's response to Coroner Ros Fogliani's inquest in to Aboriginal youth suicides in the Kimberley region.
Jill Brown, coordinator of the Gas Field Free - Moore River Region group, spoke to Alex Whisson about the recent community survey conducted on the question of fracking.
Michael Roberts is an economist and author of The Long Depression: Marxism and the Global Crisis of Capitalism. He joined Alex Whisson to discuss the possibility we may be on the precipice of a global recession.
Jeff Sparrow is the former editor of the Overland literary journal, a regular columnist for the Guardian, and the author of many books, including Killing: Misadventures in Violence, Money Shot: A Journey into Porn and Censorship, and No Way But This: In Search of Paul Robeson. His latest work, published by Scribe, is Fascists Among Us: Online Hate and the Christchurch Massacre.
29-year-old Yamatji woman Joyce Clarke was killed by a police officer in Geraldton on September 17th last year. She had only just been released from Royal Perth Hospital and was in desperate need of mental heath care. The officer responsible for her death, whose name has not been released, was charged last Thursday with her murder. Jesse Noakes spoke to Joyce's older sister Bernadatte.
Doug Henwood is an author, commentator, broadcaster, and contributing editor of the Nation. He joined Alex Whisson to discuss the 2020 US Presidential primaries.
We speak to local activist Sam Wainwright about a newly formed coalition for climate justice and an upcoming Australian national day of action on February 22nd.
We hear from two of the speakers at the Perth Invasion Day Rally, Corina Hayden-Howard and Marianne Mackay.
Raymond Grenfell speaks to Chilean journalist Sarah about the developing protests in Chile and the broader politics of the movement.
Jesse Noakes spoke to local elder Mingli Wanjurri McGlade to get her thoughts on invasion day and the rallies held around the country on the weekend.
We speak to local social justice activist Sam Wainwright about the incredible wave of strike action currently taking place in France.
We speak to New South Wales firefighter, union-activist and environmentalist Jim Casey about the tragic fires sweeping the east coast and the political response.
We speak to long-time social justice activist Mark Goudkamp about the implications of the US assassination of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani.
We speak to Anton Troy from the Save Our Donnelly campaign to discuss plans to dam the Donnelly and the potential implications for the local ecology.
We speak to organiser and academic Jimmy Yang at Melbourne University regarding a recent action that aimed to highlight the effects of casualisation and wage theft on workers rights and education at Melbourne Uni.
Joy Ming King of the Lausan Collective joins Alex Whisson to discuss the Hong Kong protests.
As the massive demonstrations in Chile continue we speak to independent journalist Juan Toro from Santiago about the implications of the social movement and the political repression from the state.
The Tarkine in the north west of Tasmania is once again under threat from logging and mining. We speak to Jenny Webber from the Bob Brown Foundation who is currently at the blockade to #SaveTheTarkine
Members of Perth's Kurdish community spoke to Alex Whisson at last Saturday's emergency rally to Save Rojava and Stand With the Kurds in Syria.
We speak to Bambang Warinto from the Alliance of Independent Journalists in Indonesia regarding the dangerous implications of President Joko Widodo's new coalition government and the proposed changes to the penal code.
The previous Ecuadorian government under Rafael Carreo was broadly seen as a progressive one, part of the so-called pink tide of left wing governments in Latin America. Among many other things Carreo famously offered political asylum to Julian Assange, and rejected the economic diktats of the International Monetary Fund. Lenin Moreno then took office as President in May 2017. Alex Whisson began his conversation with Buenos Aires-based freelance journalist Denis Rogatyuk by asking what changed under the new administration.
Indonesian student activist Nailendra spoke to Alex Whisson from Yogyakarta about the ongoing anti-government protests.
Liz Humphrys is a political economist at the University of Technology Sydney and the author of How Labour Built Neoliberalism: Australia’s Accord, the Labour Movement and the Neoliberal Project. She spoke to Alex Whisson.
Tommy-John Herbert is a wharfie and rank-and-file unionist who recently spoke at the School Strike for Climate in Sydney. He spoke to Alex Whisson.
We speak to activist and comedian Tom Tanuki about the direct action, anti-fascist and anti-racist phenomena known as Yelling At Racist Dogs.
We speak to the chief director of the Aboriginal Legal Service, Dennis Egginton, about the tragic death of Joyce Clarke.
Maritime Union of Australia State Secretary Christy Cain joins Alex Whisson to discuss recent divisions within the Labor Party and the Western Australian labour movement.
Adrian Lowe is both a proud communist and a Balga ward candidate for the upcoming City of Stirling elections. He joined Alex Whisson to discuss his campaign.
Year 11 North Albany Senior High School student and climate activist Kaelin Abrahams joined Sara Morrison and Alex Whisson to discuss the local plans for the 20th September school strike for climate action.
Author, commentator and activist John Rees spoke to Alex Whisson about the latest twists and turns in the saga that is Britain's attempt to leave the European Union.
Brian Mier is an author, journalist and co-editor of the news site Brasil Wire. He recently returned from Rondonia, one of the Amazonian states in Brazil most affected by the devastating fires that have shocked the world.
West Papuan activist Wiwince Pigome joined Alex Whisson to discuss the recent escalation of pro-independence protests in the Indonesian province, and the repression meted out by the Widodo government.
Mark Goudkamp is an activist with the Refugee Action Coalition in Sydney, and a founding member of Teachers for Refugees. He spoke to Alex Whisson.
We speak to Aran Mylvaganam from the Tamil Refugee Council concerning the attempted deportation of a Tamil family from rural Queensland.
We speak to Professor Damien Kingsbury regarding the declassification of US Intelligence documents connected to the 1999 East Timorese Independence.
We speak to Jennifer Kaeshagen, the director of First Nations Homelessness Project and Vachel Spirason, the Community Legal Education Coordinator for Tenancy WA about issues facing people in public housing in WA.
We speak to Jane Hammond from Lock The Gate Alliance regarding the WA Labor government's lifting of the ban on fracking.
Kevin Ovenden, author of Syriza: Inside the Labryinth, speaks to Alex Whisson about the results and political lessons from the recent Greek parliamentary elections.
Campaign coordinator for the Australian Council of Social Services' Raise the Rate campaign, Pas Forgione, spoke to Alex Whisson about the need to increase the Newstart Allowance, which hasn't been increased in real terms since 1994.
In February 2018, in an extremely important development that might yet prove to be a historical turning point, teachers in the so-called red state of West Virginia, a Republican Party-supporting state which helped sweep Donald Trump to the White House, decided to go on strike. Remarkably, this would be the beginning of a teachers' strike wave that would engulf not only other red states like Oklahoma, Arizona and Kentucky, but eventually spread to Oakland and Los Angeles in California. Eric Blanc is a former teacher and writer whose Red State Revolt: The Teachers' Strike Wave and Working-Class Politics, published earlier this year by Verso Books, is the single best account of the still ongoing strike wave.
We speak to Fremantle councillor Rachel Pemberton regarding Fremantle's new Walyalup Reconciliation Action Plan.
We speak to award-winning activist and former Manus Island detainee Abdul Aziz Muhamat about his experiences inside Manus Island Detention Centre and his ongoing struggles for justice and freedom.
Could hosting US marines in Darwin increase the likelihood of Australian involvement in foreign conflict? We speak to Nick Deane from the Independent and Peaceful Australia Network.
As the City Of Perth roll out new CCTV cameras with facial recognition software we speak to the Vice President of Civil Liberties Australia, Tim Vines, about potential privacy and civil liberties concerns.
We speak to Stop Adani campaigner Scott Harney on the current state of the campaign to stop the carmichael coal mine.
We speak to Jess Beckerling from the WA Forest Alliance about a growing blockade in our south-west and the need to save the Lewin karri forest.
All eyes turned to Venezuela on April 30th, when the self-declared interim President Juan Guaido announced what he called "the final phase" of his effort to wrest power from the democratically elected government of Nicolas Maduro. Brazil-based freelance journalist Michael Fox was in Caracas on the day of the attempted coup. Speaking late last week to our own Alex Whisson, Michael began by outlining the day’s events and what he personally witnessed on the streets of the Venezuelan capital.
We speak to long-time Javanese author, researcher and activist Al-Fayyadl about the political and social implications of Indonesia's recent elections.
Trade unions across the country flexed their muscles last Wednesday, with a display of strength in support of the Australian Council of Trade Unions' Change the Rules campaign. As many as 200 000 people took to the streets of Melbourne, effectively shutting down the centre of the city. In Perth, some 3000 workers gathered outside State Parliament House. Alex Whisson was there to capture the highlights. The speakers, in order, are Meredith Hammat, the Secretary of UnionsWA, Carolyn Smith, Secretary of United Voice, Sally McManus, Secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, the Secretary of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union, Steve McCartney, and finally Dave Noonan, the National Construction Secretary of the Construction, Forestry, Mining & Energy Union.
When it comes to federal budgets, we hear the same blathering nonsense from politicians year in, year out. While major corporations pay little or no tax on multi-billion dollar profits, we're told the rest of us must tighten our belts, and be fiscally responsible in the face of economic headwinds and mounting debts and deficits. Above all, we must as a nation constantly work towards budget surpluses, a theme so often repeated it might as well be a religious mantra.
Union membership and strike activity remain at record lows across Australia. In recent times however, a few vitally important episodes of industrial action have bucked the historical trend. Last year in our own state for example, 1600 Alcoa workers went out on the grass for no fewer than 53 days. Meanwhile on the eastern seaboard, Chemist Warehouse workers, members of the National Union of Workers, have just emerged victorious from a two-week strike. Alex Whisson spoke to the General Branch Assistant Secretary of the NUW, Godfrey Moase.
Indymedia's Alex Whisson speaks to Dr Yassir Morsi on the culture of xenophobia and Islamophobia connected to the tragic terror attack in Christchurch.
Freight operator Aurizon are taking legal action against anti-coal activists in Queensland who are trying to stop the expansion of the coal industry. Raymond Grenfell spoke to Tess from Front Line Action on Coal to find out more about the legal case and the FLAC campaign.
Indicted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes in Darfur, guilty of the large scale repression and impoverishment of his own people, the rule of Sudan's Omar al-Bashir, who came to power in a 1989 coup, is now under serious challenge from a popular uprising calling for his resignation. Ray Grenfell spoke to Nidal Saeed from the Australian Sudanese Activists Group WA, and began by asking her what gave rise to this current wave of protests.
Indymedia's Ray Grenfell hits the streets during the Perth Strike for Climate protest and chats to some attending students and supporters on why this movement is important.
We speak to researcher and activist Marine Benoit on the current state of the Yellow Vest movement and the French governments plans to criminalise protest.
In the wake of the Christchurch terror attack we speak to long time organiser Ezekiel Ox on the need for antifascist and antiracist militancy.
High school students 16-year-old Justin Alford and 15-year-old Siobhan Sutton chat to us about the up coming Strike for Climate protest worldwide March 15th.
Last Friday marked International Women's Day. It's a day not only for the celebration of past achievements in the struggle for women's liberation, but an opportunity to refocus on the struggles of the present. It's also a day which has its origins in the labour movement. UnionsWA, the peak body of the trade union movement in Western Australia, held a Working Women Change the Rules rally late on Friday afternoon in the Supreme Court Gardens to mark the occasion. These are some of the voices and highlights from the day.
Federico Fuentes, political commentator and co-author of Latin America's Turbulent Transitions: The Future of Twenty-First Century Socialism, joins us again to discuss the latest developments in the US-backed coup attempt in Venezuala. Alex Whisson began by asking about Washington's strategic and political objectives in attempting to deliver so-called humanitarian aid to Venezuela.
We speak to Indonesian musician and independent music label manager Rian about a controversial draft music bill currently being proposed by the Indonesian government.
We speak to organiser Erima Dall regarding the NSW Right to Strike campaign and the importance of workers being able to take militant industrial action to protect and expand their rights at work.
We speak to long-time activist, journalist and researcher Federico Fuentes about the unfolding political situation in Venezuela and the US state's involvement.
We speak to author, journalist and film-maker Antony Lowenstein about the ongoing privatisation of the war in Afghanistan
We speak to policy analyst and researcher Michael Smethurst about the issue of pill testing at festivals in Australia
We speak to Indymedia's Alex Whisson on the streets of Paris as he joins the Yellow Jackets demonstrations.
The growing homelessness and public housing crisis in Australia is being tackled head on by community members in Queensland. We speak to The Gabba ward councillor and Greens member Jonathan Sri in Brisbane about efforts to confront homelessness.
As huge demonstrations by the anti-austerity 'Yellow Jackets' sweep across France we speak to long-time French organiser Marine Benoit about the growing social movement.
Kyle Cox from United chats to us about the campaign to decriminalise all illicit drugs in NSW.
We speak to Martin Pritchard from Environs Kimberley regarding the shock news that the state Labor government may consider lifting the ban on fracking in some parts of our state, particularly the Kimberley region region.
Indymedia's Ray Grenfell speaks to George Barda, the spokesperson for climate change action group Extinction Rebellion, regarding the inspiring direct action and protest that took place in London last week.
To find out more about Extinction Rebellion visit: https://rebellion.earth/
We speak to organizer Lucy Honan regarding the teachers walk off and industrial action for refugee rights and #KidsOffNauru
We speak to Dr Kaz Ross from UTAS re recent attempts by white supremacists to infiltrate the NSW Young Nationals
We speak to Alaskan professor Richard Steiner regarding the proposal to drill for oil in the Great Australian bite.
Much of the world seemed to be in a state of near convulsion at the election of Jair Bolsonaro, a far right candidate who has won the Presidency of Brazil, in yet another election result that illustrates the extraordinary political instability of the current period. Freelance journalist and editor of Brasil Wire, Brian Mier, spoke to Alex Whisson.
Bradon Ellem is a Professor of Employment Relations in the University of Sydney Business School, and the author of The Pilbara: From the Deserts Profits Come, a rich and engaging single volume history of trade unionism in the Pilbara iron ore industry.
Professor Raymond Evans taught for many years at the University of Queensland and is the author of many texts on the history of both frontier and post-frontier Queensland, including the seminal A History of Queensland, published by Cambridge University Press, and short-listed for the inaugural 2008 Prime Minister's Literary Awards for Non-fiction. One of his long term research interests is the history of frontier violence in the Queensland colony.
Identity politics. Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few years, you’ll have at least heard the term. One particular version of identity politics featured heavily in Hillary Clinton’s campaign for the American Presidency. And if you spend so much as five minutes in left wing circles on social media, you’ll be guaranteed to encounter another, especially strident version of it. But what does the term identity politics actually mean? And why has it taken hold of the political left throughout the Western world in such an extraordinary way? Alex Whisson spoke to Asad Haider, author of Mistaken Identity: Race and Class in the Age of Trump.
Author and researcher Chris Owen speaks to Indymedia's Raymond Grenfell about the dark history of policing and frontier violence in the Kimberly region of Western Australia.
Lizzie O'Shea is a human rights lawyer, author, board member of Digital Rights Watch, and newly appointed spokesperson for the Alliance for a Safe and Secure Internet. The Alliance has been formed in response to proposed anti-encryption legislation being put before the federal parliament. If its passage through the parliament isn’t thwarted by campaigning efforts, the Assistance and Access Bill 2018 may well come in to law before the end of this year. Lizzie spoke to Alex Whisson late last week and began by explaining why anyone concerned about online privacy, and digital rights more broadly, should be opposed to the bill.
Richard Seymour is a founding editor of Salvage magazine, creator of the popular blog Lenin's Tomb, and the author of many books, including Corbyn: The Strange Rebirth of Radical Politics. He joined Alex Whisson to discuss the remarkable phenomenon that is Jeremy Corbyn's continuing leadership of the British Labour Party.
Director, writer and author Benjamin Gilmour speaks to Indymedia's Raymond Grenfell about his most recent film Jirga. A film that challenges the notion of our supremacy in the middle east and asks: what would restorative justice look like for the people of Afghanistan who have suffered so much under occupation?
Described by the New York Times Magazine as "America's most prominent Marxist economist", Richard Wolff is the author of many books, including Capitalism Hits the Fan: The Global Economic Meltdown and What to Do About It, and is currently a Visiting Professor in the Graduate Program in International Affairs of the New School University, New York City. He joined Alex Whisson to discuss the causes and consequences of the Great Recession.
It's been ten years since the US investment bank Lehman Brothers collapsed. History records Lehman's fall as the event which catalysed the Great Recession of 2008-9. Various theories have been postulated as to the cause of that recession, but the overextension of the American property market, in the form of sub-prime mortgages, and the uncontrolled growth of so-called financial instruments invented by Wall St bankers, are seen as the primary factors. Economist and author Michael Roberts argues there were much deeper reasons for the Great Recession. He addressed those underlying causes in discussion with Alex Whisson.
We speak to longtime commentator, author and activist Helen Razer on the #SerenaWilliams cartoon, racism in Australia, the #metoo campaign and the changing nature of political discourse.
Helen is a regular contributor to publications such as New Matilda and The Age and is the author of four books. Her latest is titled Total Propaganda: Basic Marxist Brainwashing for the Angry and the Young.
Ian Rintoul of the Refugee Action Coalition on the weekend protests at the Yongah Hill detention centre, which followed the attempted suicide by a 22-year-old Iraqi refugee. Ian began by discussing the man's welfare.
"Alcoa's got a lease for the bauxite for the next 40 years and they want to give us a one year contract each, which to me seems a bit unfair."
Alcoa workers at the Kwinana alumina refinery shared their thoughts on day 25 of their strike.
Co-coordinator of 350 Perth Franca Gilissen talks to Alex Whisson about the Rise for Climate Action. She began by addressing the question of widespread indifference to the climate crisis.
Ride share drivers took strike action on Monday the 6th of August calling for better pay and conditions from Uber. Indymedia's Raymond Grenfell spoke to Ride Share Drivers United spokesperson Max Marino about why they had decided to take industrial action.
As the Israeli Air Force bombed Gaza last week, killing several Palestinians and wounding many others, a tweet from the United Nations envoy for the Middle East peace process, Nickolay Mladenov, neatly summarised the gross distortions of the way Israel’s criminal occupation is so often presented to the world. “Everyone in Gaza needs to step back from the brink”, wrote Mladenov, thus repeating, yet again, the tired old lie of moral equivalence between an occupying force and the resistance forces opposing it. Depressingly, it seems nothing ever changes for the long-suffering Palestinians. Yet many commentators believe the Israeli massacre of 60 Palestinians on May 14th may yet prove to be a historical turning point in the struggle for Palestinian national liberation. Palestinian-American human rights lawyer, activist and writer, Noura Erakat, spoke to Alex Whisson on the back of her Australian speaking tour.
Have you heard of the Defence Amendment (Call Out of the Australian Defence Force) Bill 2018? Chances are you haven’t. It was recently introduced into the federal parliament with scant attention from the media, and scarcely a whimper from the public at large. One of the few people paying attention was freelance journalist Paul Gregoire. Alex Whisson spoke to him late last week.
Earlier this month human rights lawyer Lizzie O'Shea wrote an article for Eureka Street that ought to trouble anyone concerned about the expanding power of the surveillance state in this country, as well as the grotesque hypocrisies that lie at the heart of the Australian political class. A former intelligence officer, known only as Witness K, and his lawyer, potentially face up to two years in jail, for exposing a 2004 operation to bug the cabinet offices of the East Timorese government. O'Shea spoke to Indymedia's Alex Whisson.
Recent months have seen a wave of protests against Daniel Ortega’s government in Nicaragua. Picking up where a similar set of student and pensioner-led protests in 2013 left off, the growing movement has been met with brutal repression, with hundreds killed and injured. Famous for leading the Sandinista National Liberation Front, first in overthrowing the Somoza dictatorship in 1979, and then resisting US-backed death squads throughout a decade-long civil war, Ortega’s political legacy is now, to say the least, a contested one. Alex Whisson caught up with long time Nicaragua solidarity activist, Lori Hanson, and began by asking if it was accurate to describe Ortega’s government as a form of neoliberalism with an ostensibly left wing face.
As grassroots protests against Trump’s detention of migrant children spread across America, one of the striking things about the outrage from the liberal press and Democratic Party politicians is its shameless hypocrisy. These are pundits and politicians who, in many cases, supported President Obama's deportation policies, as well as the detention of unaccompanied children who had family members in the United States. What accounts for this selective, blatantly partisan outrage? Alex Whisson put this question to New York-based author, journalist and commentator Doug Henwood.
In the grand chessboard of geopolitics, Turkey plays an important role. Its fate could have a significant impact on the wider region. The path it’s heading down at present is one of authoritarian nationalism and war. In the 24th June elections, incumbent President Tayyip Erdogan secured 52.5% of the vote, and his AK Party 42.5% of the parliamentary vote. Alex Whisson caught up with Turkish writer, poet and activist Ron Margulies and began by asking about the apparent coup attempt of July 2016, and the repressive measures Erdogan took in its wake.
Which country has suffered the worst ever outbreak of cholera, with more than a million cases and over 2000 deaths recorded in the past year? You’d be forgiven for not knowing the answer is Yemen. Described by Amnesty International as the “forgotten war”, Yemen is in the fourth year of a conflict which has left over 10 000 people dead, and more than 8 million at risk of starvation. The war has entered a vicious new phase, with Saudi-led coalition forces launching an assault on the port city of Hodeida. Alex Whisson had the opportunity to speak to Helen Lackner, a research associate at the London Middle East Institute in the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London, and author of the recently published, Yemen in Crisis: Autocracy, Neo-Liberalism and the Disintegration of a State. Lackner began by outlining the 2011 protests in Yemen, which brought down the long term ruler of the country, Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Last year the McGowan state Labor government announced a ban on fracking in Perth, Peel and the southwest, and a three year moratorium in every other part of the state. Yet the fight against fracking is far from over, with several corporations, including Boro and Mitsubishi, waiting in the wings and continuing to curry favour with the government. Alex Whisson spoke to Frack Free WA campaigner Jane Hammond to get a better understanding of the current state of play.
Wages paid illegally below award rates, dodgy individual contracts, unpaid penalty rates, summary dismissal. Such exploitative practices are suffered by many a worker in many an industry. But what if you’re a young worker, new to the world of work, with no understanding of your rights and entitlements in the workplace, and no knowledge or experience of what collective struggle can achieve? That’s where organisations like the Young Workers Centre have a crucial role to play, providing an entry point in to the labour movement for vulnerable and disenfranchised young workers. Alex Whisson caught up with the director of the Young Workers Centre, Keelia Fitzpatrick. He began by asking how the centre first came into existence.
Refugee advocates and activists were shocked and dismayed when the CFMEU and AWU joined forces to pass a gag motion at the recent Victorian Labor Party conference, shutting down debate on refugee policy. It was a devastating blow for those inside the Labor Party fighting for a refugee policy consistent with international humanitarian law and the basic standards of common human decency. Alex Whisson spoke to Pauline Brown, President of Labor for Refugees Victoria, and the seconder of that motion. The motion itself read, in part, “when in federal government, to close offshore detention centres, transit centres and other camps on Manus and Nauru within the first 90 days, and to bring all the children, women and men who are refugees or seeking asylum remaining there to Australia”. Pauline began by explaining the rationale behind that motion, and why it ought to be supported by a future federal Labor government.
Felicity Ruby has, to say the least, an impressive resume. The former director of the United Nations’ Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, a former senior communications adviser to Greens Senator Scott Ludlam, a founder of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, an organisation which received last year's Nobel Peace Prize, Ruby is currently working on a PhD at Sydney University, on the topic of political movements resisting mass surveillance. Alex Whisson caught up with Felicity to discuss Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton’s proposed expansion of domestic intelligence gathering powers. Felicity began by addressing the question of the Australian Signals Directorate, the highly secretive government agency, which has historically gathered intelligence overseas.
Nationally-celebrated college football star, prize-winning orator, world-famous singer, Hollywood actor, political activist of great renown, master of a dozen languages or more with a law degree under his belt, Paul Robeson was unarguably one of the greatest figures of the 20th century. Yet today, to many people, his name is unknown, his achievements unrecognised. Alex Whisson spoke to Jeff Sparrow, author of No Way But This: In Search of Paul Robeson. Sparrow began by explaining exactly how and why he came to write a book about the great Robeson, some four decades after his death.
Russiagate, Trump, Trump and Trump. It's all we ever hear about the United States. Meanwhile, there are some amazing political developments taking place in what is still the world's only superpower. One such development, which has received virtually no media coverage at all here in Australia, is the extraordinary wave of teachers' strikes that has swept the nation, starting in West Virginia in February, and then quickly spreading to Kentucky, Arizona, Oklahoma, North Carolina and as far afield as New Jersey. Alex Whisson spoke to Attica Scott, representative of the 41st district in the Kentucky state house, and herself a former union organiser. The conversation began with the question of how, bizarrely, a bill relating to sewage in the state legislature somehow turned into a so-called pension reform bill, one designed to gut teachers' retirement schemes.
22-year-old Ahmed Alnaouq is a graduate of Al-Azhar University in Gaza City, a freelance journalist, and a project manager with We Are Not Numbers, which aims to disseminate Palestinian stories to an international audience. He was an active participant in the Great March of Return protest movement and present on the day of the May 14th massacre.
Nicolas Maduro's government in Venezuela has come under increasing attack from both Western governments and the international capitalist press. With prices doubling every month and poverty reportedly on the rise after years of social improvement for the mass of the people, the Maduro administration also faces fierce criticism from at least some elements of the left. Journalist, political commentator and co-author of Latin America's Turbulent Transitions: The Future of Twenty-First Century Socialism, Federico Fuentes, addressed the question of whether this latest election was illegitimate or even rigged, as claimed by much of the Western press.
Supporters of the labour movement across the country experienced a real shot in the arm last Wednesday, when an estimated 100 000 people marched through the streets of Melbourne in support of the Australian Council of Trade Union's Change the Rules campaign. Alex Whisson had the opportunity to speak to one of the organisers of the march, Assistant Secretary of the Victorian Trades Hall Council Wil Stracke.
A few weeks ago we promised to bring you a range of perspectives on the Syrian war. We've already spoken to Leila Al-Shami, blogger and co-author of Burning Country: Syrians in Revolution and War. We also heard from Mark Goudkamp of the Sydney Stop the War coalition. Today we speak to Jay Tharappel. Jay is a PhD researcher at Sydney University's Political Economy Department, an anti-war campaigner with Hands off Syria, and a prominent political commentator on social media. We began our conversation with the question of the recent Western bombing of Syrian government targets, in the wake of the alleged chemical weapons attack in Douma by the Syrian Arab Army.
"The State acknowledges the right to life of the unborn and, with due regard to the equal right to life of the mother, guarantees in its laws to respect, and, as far as practicable, by its laws to defend and vindicate that right."
That’s the wording of the eighth amendment to the Irish constitution, enshrined in law after a referendum in 1983. There’s now another referendum scheduled for May 25th to repeal that amendment. Shauna Stanley is a campaigner with the Melbourne Irish Abortion Rights campaign. She began by explaining what the amendment has meant for Irish women’s ability to choose to have an abortion.
The world was stunned early last week to hear Dr Mahathir Mohamad, long term former autocratic ruler of Malaysia, had won the right to form government. The opposition coalition he led received a 12% swing and gained some 54 seats in the national parliament. Alex Whisson spoke to Dr Jeyakumar Devaraj, who it’s confirmed has lost the seat he held for the Malaysian Socialist Party since 2008. Dr Kumar began by giving his assessment of the political factors behind Mahathir’s return to power.
The Change the Rules campaign is an initiative of the Australian Council of Trade Unions. Its goal is to, as the name suggests, change the laws and regulations governing industrial relations in this country. From unpaid penalty rates to record low wage growth, to the fact one third of big businesses in Australia don’t pay any tax at all, the hope is this campaign will focus public attention on the lack of economic justice and basic fairness in this country. It’s already breathed new life in to a labour movement long struggling for relevancy and indeed its very survival. Yesterday the architect of that campaign, newly elected Secretary of the ACTU Sally McManus, was in Fremantle to address the annual May Day festival.
The current protests in Gaza have involved tens of thousands of people. It’s the largest sustained mobilisation of Palestinians in many years. Despite the largely peaceful nature of the protests, at least 48 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli Army, and many hundreds wounded. Dubbed the Great Return March, this new movement has given birth to a flowering of creative, non-violent resistance to the Zionist occupation. Palestinian scholar and author Dr Ramzy Baroud has written for many years on the history and politics of the Palestinian struggle. Alex Whisson interviewed Dr Baroud ahead of his Australian speaking tour, beginning with the question of why the Palestinian struggle for justice and nationhood has for so long been grossly mischaracterised as terrorism and nothing but terrorism.
Independent journalist and commentator Michael Brull recently wrote a three-part special report for New Matilda on conflict within the NSW Greens. The piece focuses on a dispute, which eventually made its way to the NSW Supreme Court, over the validity of Cate Faehrmann standing for preselection in the upper house of state parliament. Faehrmann, who won the court case and is now expected to take up the Legislative Council seat vacated by Mehreen Faruqi, is a person of some standing within the party structure, having served as Richard Di Natale’s chief-of-staff from 2015 until March of this year. It’s fair to say the prospect of her nomination was not welcomed by all party members. Indeed, some media commentators, as well as people inside the Greens, have characterised this dispute as one shaped by an ongoing, increasingly bitter civil war between the hard left and so-called moderate factions of the state party branch. Alex Whisson caught up with Michael Brull and began by asking him to outline what the dispute was about and what, in his view, its political significance was.
Last week we spoke to Mark Goudkamp from the Sydney Stop the War coalition to get his perspective on the Syrian war. Today we turn to Leila Al-Shami, co-author with Robin Yassin-Kassab of Burning Country: Syrians in Revolution and War, published by Pluto Press. Alex Whisson began by asking Leila to start at the beginning, to go back to what happened in the early months of 2011, when massive street protests broke out against the Assad regime.
Many observers, including many people on the left, accept the Assad regime carried out a chemical weapons attack in the town of Douma on April 7th, killing some 60 people and injuring dozens of others. And many people, with a gut instinct against war, support the idea of the so-called international community responding to such attacks with limited, targeted airstrikes. Others take the view the strikes are part of a Western imperialist agenda and that, in the long run, they will only serve to increase the suffering of the Syrian people. Alex Whisson spoke to Mark Goudkamp of the Sydney Stop the War Coalition to address these vitally important questions. He began by asking exactly why the British, French and American bombing of Syrian government targets ought to be opposed.
Though there will be May Day events around the country this weekend, there are few people who would seriously argue they’re not a pale shadow of the past. With only around 15% of workers members of a trade union, and only one in ten in the private sector, the truth is the labour movement in Australia is at a historical ebb. Alex Whisson spoke to Liz Humphrys, political economist at the University of Technology Sydney, and author of the upcoming book, How Labour Built Neoliberalism, to get a better understanding of this sorry state of affairs. Liz began by explaining the historical importance of Bob Hawke’s signature achievement in government, the Prices and Incomes Accord, in the decline and degeneration of the Australian trade union movement.
Karun Cowper talks to independent journalist and filmmaker Cathy Vogan about the latest developments in the Cambridge Analytica debacle.
West Australians for Racial Equality's Suresh Rajan responds to the weekend's march for South African farmers in Perth.
Karun Cowper speaks with anti-nuclear activists Jessica Lawson and Jemila Rushton about the generations of anti-nuclear activists, military whistleblowers, founders of ICAN Australia, the Medical Association for the Prevention of War, and staunch traditional owners whom are all presently participating in the Radioactive Exposure Tour in South Australia.
Karun Cowper speaks with academic and commoner Elsie L’Hullier about power and value in the commons.
Tomorrow is Keep Your Children at Home Day, an initiative organised by the United Voice Union as part of their Big Steps campaign. It aims to highlight the low wages of early childhood educators, who at $21 an hour are paid only around half the average national wage. Alex Whisson caught up this morning with the assistant secretary of United Voice’s WA branch, Karma Lord, and began by asking what life is like on such a low wage for the people doing surely what is one of the most important jobs in the country.
The Tamil Refugee Council has condemned an early morning raid in which a refugee family was given just ten minutes to gather belongings before being flown to Melbourne and detained at the Broadmeadows detention centre (MITA – Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation). Priya, her husband Nadesalingam and their daughters – 9-month-old Dharuniga and 2-year-old Kopiga, born in Australia – were woken at their home in Biloela, central Queensland, by scores of police, Border Force officers and Serco guards.
To find out more about the situation Indymedia's Raymond Grenfell spoke to Ben Hillier from the Tamil Refugee Council.
Venezuela is not a country one often sees in the news. When stories do appear, they tend to present a very one dimensional, often lurid picture. Footage of violent anti-government protests, empty supermarket shelves, hyper-inflation, and a President, Nicolas Madura, apparently intent on claiming absolute power over the state. Rarely do we hear the voices of ordinary Venezuelans. Pacha Guzman is an activist with the Ezequiel Zamora National Campesino Front, currently visiting Australia on a speaking tour. Alex Whisson spoke to her via a translator and began by asking what kind of work her organisation is involved in.
Karun Cowper speaks to CEO of Modest Fashion Project Aisha Novakovich about the booming modest fashion market in a time of Islamophobia. The growing demand for modest clothing is not just limited to people of Islamic faith and is estimated to be worth US $368 billion by 2019. Meanwhile former prime minister of Australia Tony Abbott claims support for the industry by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade for a modest fashion exhibition ignores ‘mainstream Australian values'.
Bugs placed in foreign government offices, withdrawals from international legal obligations, the suppression of witness statements. Sound like the actions of a rogue state? North Korea perhaps? Iran? In fact it describes just part of Australia’s conduct in its efforts to secure an unjust share of revenue from the Greater Sunrise oil and gas field, much of which sits in East Timorese territorial waters. After a long and twisted tale stretching back many years, the two nations are on the verge of announcing a new maritime border agreement, which might finally deliver some justice to the people of East Timor. Alex Whisson spoke to Tom Clarke from the Timor Sea Justice campaign. He started by asking what a fair share of the Greater Sunrise revenue might mean for the future of East Timor.
Karun Cowper speaks with Amanda Cahill, director and founder of the Centre for Social Change about post-capitalism in the here and now. Amanda has spent nearly two decades working on community development projects in countries as diverse as Brazil, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, India, Timor-Leste and Indigenous Australia.
Australian songwriter and accomplished storyteller Carus Thompson live in studio playing his song "Reza Barati" in commemoration of his tragic murder in detention 4 years ago on Manus Island.
Karun Cowper speaks with farmer and community organiser Frank Ashman of the Oakey Coal Action Alliance Inc (OCAA) on "Dining not Mining" opposing coal mine expansion at the Inner Downs in QLD.
Ray Grenfell and Karun Cowper talk to Melbourne activist and funny man Sean Bedlam about his Fringe comedy gig "Death to America".....
"It is 2017. The United States of America has lost its mind. The world looks on as the American Dream becomes a nightmare. Should we let these idiots take us down with them? Obviously the answer is no, but you’ll be surprised to learn the solution includes nuking New Zealand.
Come, let comedian-philosopher Sean Bedlam take you on a joke journey (or ‘jokeney’) to a beautiful land beyond the end of the world (obviously not New Zealand because we nuked it. Sorry about that, New Zealanders are really cool. We should stop making jokes about them).
Because dreams can come true."
Karun Cowper speaks with urbanist, activist and "Audacities" initiator Sharon Ede on "cosmo-localisation" in the New Economy in Australia and beyond.
Karun Cowper speaks with Nick Everettt, co-convenor of Friends of Palestine WA on Donald Trump "recognising" Jerusalem as Israel's capital, in reversal of decades of US policy and drawing international condemnation.
Karun Cowper speaks with Johnny Windus, national advocacy coordinator of the Australian Unemployed Workers Union which is starting to get moving in Perth.
Lee Carter is a 30-year-old socialist who recently defeated Jackson Miller - the powerful Republican Whip in Virginia's House of Delegates, the state legislature of Virginia.
Lee was born into a military family in North Carolina and spent five years in the Marines before moving Virginia, where a workplace accident and subsequent unjust treatment fired his passion for workers' rights and building a better society.
Lee's campaign platform was unashamedly left-wing: promoting universal healthcare, free education, collective bargaining, criminal justice reform, and womens' rights.
The Republicans' use of 1950s red-baiting scare tactics against Lee fell flat.
More and more Americans are rejecting the establishment politics of both major parties and exploring the ideas of workers' power, organised labour, and social democracy.
Giovanni Torre and Alex Whisson interviewed him for Indymedia this week.
Recently the Australian government announced they will provide millions in funding for a cutting edge project in the City of Fremantle featuring the use of blockchain-powered distributed energy and water systems. Karun Cowper speaks with Marc Griffiths blockchain developer with Power Ledger on this innovative project and on how blockchain technology can transform our society
Karun Cowper speaks with Brisbane peace activist Robin Taubenfeld about the #PineGapPeacePilgrims currently on trial for breaking the silence around Pine Gap's role in US drone attacks & nuclear warfare.
Karun Cowper speaks with anti-nuclear campaigner from the Conservation Council of WA KA.
Kurdish journalist and detained refugee Behrouz Boochani on conditions inside the besieged Manus Island detention centre.
This weekend just gone, the Dumbartung Aboriginal Corportation, with the support of the CFMEU, presented a panel discussion and photo exhibition "Kerosene Tins and Love Hearts" on the past policies and legislation of the 1905 Native Welfare Act primarily focused on the Stolen Generations and the ingrained trauma associated with the after effects of these policies. The photographic exhibition was a project that came about when Robert and Selina from Dumbartung took students from Clontarf Aboriginal College on a tour of the missions through the south west, documenting the old sites with photographs and telling them the stories of kids who were taken from their parents under the 1905 Native Welfare Act.
Luke Stobart is an author, academic and activist, who was in Catalonia on the day of the independence referendum, involved amongst other things in a dramatic demonstration to defend a polling station from the Spanish national police. He is currently working on a book for Verso Press, on the multiple crises facing the Spanish state, covering the rise of the Indignados movement, Podemos, and the Catalan independence struggle. He spoke to Alex Whisson yesterday from the UK. Alex began by asking Luke to give his firsthand account of his experiences on the day of the referendum.
Belinda spoke with Dezeray from Mutual Aid Disaster Relief in Florida, where they have been organising and delivering aid in response to Hurricane Irma. She discusses their model of grassroots anarchist organising, the opportunism of the State in times of crisis, and inequality in access to care. She concludes with analysis of what it means to work from a place of solidarity rather than charity.
Check out https://mutualaiddisasterrelief.org for more info.
Photo credit Mutual Aid Disaster Relief
Karun Cowper speaks to Katie, co-founder of Rainbow Revolt, a project to share positive support for queer & LGBTIQA folks through creative direct action painting the country rainbow in support of equal rights.
Karun Cowper speaks to Dr Michelle Maloney of the New Economy Network Australian about the upcoming ‘Building a New Economy for Australia’ which is being held from 1-3 September 2017 in Brisbane. Building on the inaugural 2016 conference held in Sydney, the 2017 gathering invites people to come together to share stories of success, address challenges and join the broader movement so we can continue working together to build a ‘new’ economic system.
Lenny van den Haak and Rosanne Scott on the Activate Tree Planting festival -
"ACTIVATE the Wheatbelt invites you to join us in York for the weekend of July 28th-30th to help us plant 26000 seedlings. This enjoyable weekend will consist of tree planting, live music, DJs, dancing, community and education. This is a drug free and family friendly event open to all age’s, where everyone is welcome to come and help out planting trees. "
https://www.facebook.com/events/216683732072748/
On Friday, the Supreme Court in Perth issued a shameful verdict on the killing of indigenous boy Elijah Doughty, who was run down by a utility vehicle in August last year in Kalgoorlie while riding a small motorcycle. Despite evidence that the driver had intended to at least injure the boy, and social media posts in the community urging vigilante violence against Aboriginal people, the jury refused to convict the man of manslaughter, instead returning a verdict of dangerous driving occasioning death - essentially a traffic infringement. Despite being in mourning, the local Aboriginal community has been galvanised into supporting the family, with a vigil being held on Friday evening and a rally on Sunday to stand in solidarity with the Kalgoorlie community. We're now going to play a speech from yesterday's rally, by community leader Dennis Simmons, who organised a cultural dancing group to take part in the event.
Karun Cowper speaks with Cam Walker from Friends of the Earth Melbourne on the battle to maintain Deductible Gift Recipient status for environmental groups as the Turnbull government renews their attack.
Karun Cowper chats with Katie Stubley, co-director of the Social Impact Festival - a platform for cutting-edge knowledge and ideas, celebrating initiatives creating positive change, and generating insights that address complex social problems. Running from July 18-28.
https://socialimpactfestival.org/
Indymedia's Raymond Grenfell was in Hamburg for the G20 Summit, covering the events for Indymedia. There were impressive demonstrations and riots throughout the summit including a Block G20 action that managed to delay delegations arriving and disrupt events, including stopping Melania Trump attending a G20 leader's spouse event.
Saturday saw an estimated two hundred thousand people take to the streets for the Solidarity Without Borders demonstration.
Raymond spoke to a number of people taking part in the demonstrations as well as organizers such as Jana Schneider from Block G20 who we hear from first in this piece from the streets of G20.
Indymedia's Ray Grenfell speaks to Timon Simons on the social strike that shut down Hamburg's port.
Indymedia's Ray Grenfell speaks to Robert Borba from the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP) in the USA about why they are demonstrating at the #G20 summit in Hamburg.
Indymedia's Ray Grenfell speaks to organizer Andreas Blechschmidt about the anti-capitalist movements who are taking direct action against #G20 in Hamburg.
https://g20tohell.blackblogs.org/international-anticapitalist-demonstration/
Indymedia's Ray Grenfell speaks to Jana, an organizer with the Block G20 demonstration that aims to shut down the city and creatively but militantly stop delegates arriving to the G20 conference in Hamburg.
www.blockg20.org
Indymedia's Ray Grenfell speaks to Max from sea rescue organization Sea Watch. The group engage in direct action to rescue refugees and migrants in the mediterranean sea. Max discussed the relevance of G20 and why the organization are demonstrating in the protests.
More about Sea Watch:
Since the year 2000 more than 23.000 people died trying to reach Europe’s shores. After the end of the Mare Nostrum operation in the Mediterranean Sea three business partners from Germany decided to found the nonprofit NGO Sea-Watch.
https://sea-watch.org/en/
Indymedia's Ray Grenfell speaks to Britta who is organizing one of the camps at the global G20 summit in Germany. There has been heavy police repression of camping in the city with police removing protesters from established camping spots. Ray spoke to Britta as they were building a new camp in the grounds of a church.
Karun Cowper spoke to Sally Hunter, human rights activist and member of the magnificent WACA (Whistleblowers Activist Citizens Alliance) about their action on Friday hanging a banner reading “Border Force Tortures Refugees - Deportations = Death” off the Channel 7 building in Melbourne’s Docklands precinct. The building was in a direct line of sight of the Border Force headquarters in Customs House, where operational matters in Manus Island and Nauru refugee detention camps are managed.
WACA spokesperson Zianna Fuad said on Friday “The federal government and its refugee detention industry contractors have again sought to avoid being held to account with their proposal to settle the Manus class action compensation case out of court. WACA has staged this action to call on the Federal Government to repeal the Border Force Act, evacuate the camps immediately, bring them here and end the illegal indefinite detention of refugees”.
In a week where Treasurer Scott Morrison has been accused of blackmailing his state and territory counterparts after threatening to cut their GST share for placing restrictions on fracking, Karun Cowper spoke to local Lock the Gate regional campaigner Simone Van Hattem.
Apart from these very concerning noises on a federal level, there are some equally concerning developments from the newly elected WA Labor government on the fracking front.
To stay in touch with the Lock the Gate campaign here in WA head to http://www.frackfreefuture.org.au/.
Last weekend a group of concerned citizens conducted a tour of US/Australia military facilities in WA such as the spy base near Geraldton, in order to raise awareness of the role these facilities play in US hegemony.
The trip coincided with a National Day of Action to ban nuclear weapons ahead of UN negotiations to develop a ban treaty.
Indymedia's Karun Cowper joined the group who travelled over the weekend to visit the US/Australia spy base.
On location, in close proximity of the base, he spoke to local veteran anti nuclear and peace activists Mia Pepper, Bilbo Taylor, Marcus Atkinson and K A.
Indymedia's Raymond Grenfell chats to filipino activist Noel regarding their infoshop and the community mutual aid taking place after the typhoon in the Philippines.
More info: http://greenhouseinfoshop.blogspot.com.au/
Peer-to-Peer theorist and activist Michel Bauwens is a leading figure in P2P and commons oriented thinking and a swiftly emerging alternative post-capitalist world. Indymedia's Karun Cowper spoke to Michel about this emergence and what hope and tangible solutions it provides in the Trump era.
Jaz, an organizer of the annual Students of Sustainability conference speaks to Indymedia's Raymond Grenfell re the conference and movements for environmental and social justice in Australia.
Aboriginal Gumbainggir activist, academic, writer and actor Gary Foley speaks to Indymedia's Aleesha Hanczakowski and Raymond Grenfell regarding the governments Recognise campaign and the future of struggles for Aboriginal self-determination.
Psychiatrist, author and social commentator Dr Tad Tietze speaks to Alex Whisson about the social and political roots of the Manchester atrocity.
The Western Australian Industrial Relations Commission last week began hearings for the State Wage Case which will set the wages for some of the lowest paid working people in WA, those on the WA Minimum Wage and state awards. Around 100,000 people rely on this decision to determine their wages.
Again, this year the peak employer body, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry WA, have recommended that the lowest-paid working people get no increase at all.
Indymedia's Karun Cowper spoke to Meredith Hammat, Secretary, UnionsWA to get her response to the hearings.
Felicity Ruby is a Doctoral candidate at the University of Sydney and former political adviser to Senator Scott Ludlam. Her research is focused on transnational political movements resisting mass surveillance.
Indymedia's Karun Cowper spoke to Felicity about her PhD dissertation entitled "The Fourth Eye: Australia’s Role in the Five Eyes before and after Snowden".
Even in the age of the Trump presidency, Australia's political leaders and media maintain their unquestioned subservience to our US masters...
Indymedia's Raymond Grenfell speaks to Valerie Farfalla from the AUWU regarding federal government plans to trial the mandatory drug testing of welfare recipients.
Jess Beckering speaks to Indymedia's Raymond Grenfell on the on-going campaign to protect native forests in WA's south-west.
Indymedia's Raymond Grenfell speaks to Road To Rail convenor, Sam Wainwright about the state government's announcement of over two billion dollars worth of road and rail infrastructure, including $1.6 billion dollars of federal funding previously ear-marked for the Perth Freight Link.
Dr Sandra Bloom is an American mental health activist, psychiatrist and Associate Professor of Health Management and Policy at Drexel University. She is the creator of the "Sanctuary model" of therapeutic care which is now a prevalent approach to mental health in the USA, Australia and around the world.
"A traumatic experience impacts the entire person – the way we think, the way we learn, the way we remember things, the way we feel about ourselves, the way we feel about other people, and the way we make sense of the world..."
The Sanctuary model is an approach to mental health care which promotes safety and recovery from adversity through the active creation of a trauma-informed community. A recognition that trauma is pervasive in the experience of human beings forms the basis for the Sanctuary Model's focus not only on the people who seek treatment, but equally on the people and systems who provide that treatment.
Karun Cowper spoke to Dr Bloom about the unfolding paradigm shift in our understanding and treatment of mental health towards "trauma informed care" as embodied in models such as the Sanctuary model and also about the importance of political activism to challenge powerful interests that create trauma in the first place.
Indymedia's Raymond Grenfell speaks to Julien Vincent from Market Forces regarding Westpac's decision to not fund new coal, including Adani's Carmichael project. A project that, if built, would be the largest coal mine in the southern hemisphere.
Indymedia's Raymond Grenfell speaks to Greens Senator Scott Ludlam regarding the implications of changes to government policy on metadata retention and the recent breach by the Australian Federal Police.
The Independent and Peaceful Australia Network (IPAN) is currently circulating a public statement to Keep Australia out of U.S. wars - A public call for an Independent and Peaceful Australian foreign policy. The statement will be published in national media outlets, including on-line journals and newsletters.
Karun Cowper speaks with former Greens Senator, long-time peace activist and IPAN member Jo Vallentine.
It seems an Israeli-Palestinian peace settlement is further away than ever, with the Netanyahu government approving late last week the first new illegal colonial outpost, commonly referred to as a settlement, in the West Bank in 20 years. Military occupation remains a daily reality for millions of Palestinians, and the people of Gaza continue to go about their lives under conditions of siege. There are fragile signs of hope however, perhaps none more so than in the West Bank village of Nabi Salih, for seven long years home to weekly peaceful protests against the Israeli occupation. The key leader of these protests is Nabi Salih resident Bassem Tamimi. Bassem was due to arrive in Perth this Wednesday evening to begin a speaking tour of Australia, but his entry visa has thus far been denied by the Turnbull government. Alex Whisson began by asking Bassem why he felt it was so important for the people of his village to so defiantly maintain weekly protests against the occupation over such a long period of time.
In the wake of Mark McGowan's crushing victory in last weekend's Western Australian election, MUA State Secretary Chris Cain was quick to remind the Premier-elect of the contribution made by the union movement to his win, telling the press, "We've delivered for them so it's not too much to expect them to deliver for working-class people." Alex Whisson began by asking the long-standing union leader what confidence he had in McGowan's ability to deliver on his promises, especially with respect to keeping Western Power and the Fremantle Port in public hands.
Ms Dhu family spokeperson and Deaths In Custody Watch Committee (WA)co-chair Carolyn Lewis on the WA coroner's report into Ms Dhu's death who died after being locked up at South Hedland Police Station in August 2014.
Father Chris Bedding on his participation in recent creative action in support of asylum seekers with a entourage of the Holy Family greeting shoppers in Garden City.
Dr Kate Raynes-Goldie on the roe 8 madness and why WA can be doing so much more to support real innovation
Following a decision by the West Australian state government to allow for preparatory work on the controversial Roe 8 Highway, which goes through the Beeliar Wetlands, Indymedia spoke with Green's MLC Lynn MacLaren about the implications of this decision, and protests which began on 5 December.
We speak to Sydney-based political commentator and blogger Dr Tad Tietze on the eve of the U.S. Presidential elections. Alex Whisson began by asking for his take on the rise of the Trump phenomenon.
Lizeth Castellanos and Daniel Rojas from Perth City Farm on creating engaging community spaces such as the upcoming Twilight Festival Mini-Series Episode Two: Community Gardens
https://www.facebook.com/events/670516106435666/
Australian activist Samantha Castro reports back on her recent trip to the "United" States - apocalype pending vibes in Amurica (Fuck Yeah), can our brothers and sisters there stop the train before it goes over the cliff(?), 5 years post-Occupy, wash up of #feelthebern, what the hell is Julian Assange up to (?), the #noDAPL stand off and glimmers of hope...
Karun Cowper speaks with Perth Muslim and social justice activist Marziya Mohammedali about the French Muslim citizen made to undress by four armed police as she lay on the beach. The 38-year-old was made to remove her burkini under the watch of four French policeman in accordance with a controversial new ban on the garment in parts of the country.
An ANU social survey, Attitudes to National Security: Balancing Safety and Privacy, has revealed a range of shocking attitudes among a random selection of 1200 Australians, with some 71% of respondents concerned about the possible rise of Islamic extremism, and 41% not bothered by the singling out of Muslims for "increased surveillence and monitoring". Alex Whisson started the conversation by asking Dr Morsi, a lecturer in politics at La Trobe University, for his initial reaction to these disturbing findings.
Jeff Sparrow is the author of Radical Melbourne: A Secret History, former editor of Overland literary journal, and one of the hosts of 3RRR's Breakfasters program. He is also a regular columnist for the Guardian. Alex Whisson spoke to him regarding the return of Pauline Hanson to federal parliament, the rise of Islamophobia, and the burning question of how to combat racism in Australian society. He began by asking Jeff about the recent Essential Media poll, which found 49% of respondents favoured a blanket ban on Muslim migration to Australia.
Following news that euthanasia has been performed on a terminally ill minor in Belgium, Indymedia spoke with National Ethnic Disability Alliance president Suresh Rajan about the implications on people with disabilities.
In his Prison Notebooks of 1930, the Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci wrote, "The crisis consists precisely in the fact that the old is dying and the new cannot be born; in this interregnum a great variety of morbid symptoms appear." In his new book, Morbid Symptoms: Relapse in the Arab Uprising, published by Saqi Books, Gilbert Achcar, Professor of Development Studies and International Relations at the School of Oriental and African Studies of the University of London, argues we are witnessing precisely such an interregnum unfold in the Arab world. Will the counter-revolution triumph, or are we likely to see successive waves of revolutionary ferment continue to break out across the region? Only time will tell. Indymedia's Alex Whisson began by asking Professor Achcar to outline the key events in the northern summer of 2013 that consolidated the counter-revolution - the Iranian-backed al-Qusayr offensive by the Assad regime in Syria, and the July 3rd military coup d'etat in Egypt - events which contributed to the horrific landscape of multiple wars and massacres that characterise the Middle East today, five years on from the Arab Spring.
The ongoing social revolution in Rojava, within the Kurdish Territories in Northern Syria, is providing inspiration for activists and libertarian socialists around the world. While having to pursue the revolution and self-determination amidst the ongoing war with ISIS and the Assad regime, as well as suffering attacks from Turkey, the Ocalan movement is putting into practice real democratic alternatives to the system, based on gender equality and a respect for ecology. Catalan libertarian activist Saura travelled to the Kurdish territories to observe the unfolding revolution, Indymedia's Ray Grenfell caught up with her to hear about her experiences.
Very few people remember the Jobs for Women campaign of the late 1970’s and 80’s. Fewer still remember the 1973 ‘work in’ protest by a determined group of women at BHP’s Port Kembla steelworks in Wollongong. They should, for it was these struggles that forged the path for women working today in heavy industry. With the 25-minute short The Women Who Were Never There, and a potential feature film on the way, Jill Hickson and a team of filmmakers set out to recover this treasured history for a new generation of militant trade unionists and women in struggle.
The Four Corners report in to institutionalised abuse of children in the Northern Territory, has rightfully caused outrage throughout Australia. It even made headlines in the international press. But how sincere is that outrage when it comes from ‘our’ politicians, the very same people who preside over these systems of injustice? And why do so many non-indigenous Australians react with horror to these very particular forms of abuse, when anyone with their eyes open knows they are reflective of the daily lived experience of our Aboriginal brothers and sisters? Alex Whisson spoke to Walkley award-winning journalist and editor of New Matilda, Chris Graham, to try and make sense of the Don Dale outrage in a broader social context.
We speak with Robert Eggington of the Dumbartung Aboriginal Corporation on the call for a Royal Commission in the wake of the Don Dale detention centre revelations of abuse in the Northern Territory.
Extended interview with inventor Daniel Connell and open source technology designer says anyone who "can cut paper and hold a drill" can have their own wind turbine using $20-30 worth of easily sourced local recycled materials and basic hand tools.
He's got a workshop coming up this weekend in Perth - check out https://www.facebook.com/events/113710892396433/
Following a rally of around 500 people in perth in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, Indymedia spoke to Kayande Rashidi from the local Congolese community about the event, racism in Australian society and global awareness of the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The Black Lives Matter movement continues to cause reverberations throughout the United States, exposing the racist core at the heart of the world’s most powerful nation. But racism is integral to the functioning of capitalism in Australia too, as Aboriginal deaths in custody, Islamophobia, and hatred of refugees continue to leave a dark stain on the body politic. With all that in mind, and with the world in desperate need of a united movement against bigotry in all its forms, one young woman decided a Black Lives Matter rally wouldn’t be amiss in our own sleepy little town. Yasmina Paige spoke to Alex Whisson.
blacklivesmatter #aboriginaldeathsincustody #australianracism #racism #islamophobia #paulinehanson
We speak with Dr Kate Raynes-Goldie, Adjunct Research Fellow with Curtin University’s School of Media, Culture and Creative Arts and founder and creative director at Games We Play about the worldwide phenomenon that is Pokemon Go.
A bit of editorial (aka ranting) from some of the Indymedia team who couldn't help but also weigh in on this discussion.
Professor Paul Flatau Director Centre for Social Impact UWA on upcoming Social Impact Festival in Perth. The Social Impact Festival is aiming to connect and celebrate the people, organisations, ideas, networks and collaborations for social change across WA.
Indymedia speaks with ImportantCool associate Allison Petite who was in Dallas shortly before the deadly shootings of police officers in her ongoing coverage of the #BlackLivesMatter movement. We hear about her experience, as a black woman, of the racial tension in the United States in these tumultuous times.
The days following the British referendum to leave the EU, the Brexit, have seen political turmoil for both major parties in the UK. Meanwhile reports of racist violence has skyrocketed. Ray Grenfell speaks to historian and activist Cedric Beistatch to get an idea as to what this vote means for the UK and Europe.
Indymedia's Karun Cowper speaks with National Director at New Zealand's Action Station and Enspiral member Marianne Elliott on alternatives to the dominant paradigm in tumultuous times.
Karun Cowper speaks to Claire Vanderplank on The Slow Project - a social change project on Slow Movement that helps people rediscover presence & connection & benefits for individuals. First expressed via Slow Food, ‘Slow’ is popping up in many areas of life (Slow Travel, Slow Thinking, Slow Money, Slow Design, Slow Medicine etc) as a response to the impacts that the false god of speed has on ourselves, others and the planet.
Professor Sohail Inayatullah is Unesco Chair in Futures Studies associated with Tamkang University, Taiwan; University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia, and Mt Eliza Executive Education, the University of Melbourne. Karun Cowper speaks to Professor Inayatullah about his work assisting local and global organisations and institutions create alternative and preferred futures.
Flood the Campus last week saw students from 7 university divestment campaigns across Australia take escalatory action in order to send a strong message to their uni to stop funding climate change.
The fossil free uni groups are asking their uni to divest the millions of dollars they have currently invested in the fossil fuel industry in order to avoid dangerous levels of warming and catastrophic climate change risking their future.
It is known that in order to do this 80% of fossil fuels must be kept in the ground, yet here in Australia there are massive new coal mines being approved. It is for this reason that after 3 years of campaigning fossil free uni groups took direct action to flood the campus. This included UNSW occupying their council chambers for 38 hours.
Indymedia's Aleesha Hanczakowski spoke to Breana Macpherson-Rice from the UNSW action.
Anzac Day grows more sinister with each passing year. Once a dead letter of a day, ignored by most Australians, it grew spectacularly under the reign of John Winston Howard, and reached its apex of misplaced jingoism and 'national pride' in last year's centenary of the Gallipoli landings. To discuss exactly why the day has become so popular, Indymedia's Alex Whisson was joined by historian and author of In the Shadow of Gallipoli: The hidden history of Australia in World War I, Robert Bollard. #anzacday #war #australiannationalism #johnhoward #gallipoli #iraqwar
French people, mostly students have been rallying for more than a month against labor law reforms recently proposed by Labor Minister Myriam El Khomri.
The French protests went under the #NuitDebout (Rise Up At Night)and has been compared to Occupy Wall Street of the United States and the anti-austerity 15-M or Indignados movement of Spain.
The movement is centred at Paris's Place de la République, where protestors have held nightly assemblies following the March 31 protest. The movement has spread to dozens of other cities and towns in France and to neighbouring countries in Europe.
Karun Cowper spoke to a participant in one of the "digital" commissions, a working group or committee that is working on the technology and digital tools of the movement, Juan Diosdado.
The history of Australia's relationship with Timor-Leste (formerly East Timor) is a long and sordid one. Decades of complicity by both Labor and Liberal governments alike in the Indonesian genocide there led to a great material prize - the carve-up of oil and gas in the Timor Sea. Post-independence for the fledging nation, not a lot has changed. Australian companies still take an unfair share of Timor-Leste's resources, and a large percentage of royalties flow to Canberra under the terms of the much-criticised 2006 Treaty between Australia and the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste on Certain Maritime Arrangements in the Timor Sea. But led by the Movement Against the Occupation of the Timor Sea, the people of Timor-Leste are fighting back against Australian bastardry and venality. Alex Whisson spoke to Tom Clarke from the Melbourne-based Timor Sea Justice Campaign. He began by asking him to explain exactly what made the oil and gas treaty between the two nations so unjust.
timorleste #timorsea #unconventiononthelawofthesea #timorseajusticecampaign #movementagainsttheoccupationofthetimorsea #australianimperialism
Legendary writer and environmentalist Derrick Jensen chats to Ray Grenfell about his new book, 'The Myth of Human Supremacy', breaking identification with the dominant culture and the struggle for survival in the face of an impending global ecocide.
By the government's own admission its draft Perth and Peel Green Growth Plan would reduce the already endangered Carnaby's Cockatoos by a staggering fifty percent. Ray Grenfell chats to Marie Grey from the Urban Bushland Council to dissect the destructive plan and examine possible sustainable alternatives.
As the water crisis in Flint, Michigan continues to demand questions, Perth Indymedia speaks to Dr Adam Quinn, Senior Lecturer in international politics at the University of Birmingham, UK about how it reflects on the US political scene.
Ali Abunimah is a Palestinan-American journalist, a co-founder of The Electronic Intifada, and the author of several important books on the Israel-Palestinian conflict, including his latest volume The Battle for Justice in Palestine, published by Haymarket Books. A leading proponent of the one-state solution, Abunimah is currently on a speaking tour of Australia. Alex Whisson spoke to Nick Everett from Friends of Palestine WA to discuss why Abunimah’s visa had been delayed. UPDATE: Abunimah’s visa was granted the day after this interview went to air. He then faced the additional challenge of standing up to the Sydney University Administration, which backed down after initially cancelling his first Australian speaking engagement.
The Barnett Government has sold out on WA’s unique plants and animals according to the State’s lead forest conservation organisation, the WA Forest Alliance (WAFA).
‘The Government's Biodiversity Conservation Bill (listed for debate this week) will not protect our precious wildlife,’ said WAFA spokesperson Dr Jasmina Brankovich. '
Legendary rap group Curse Ov Dialect have been spitting their anarchic experimental hip hop since 1994. Ahead of their upcoming release, Twisted Strangers, Ray Grenfell spoke to Curse Ov Dialect MC Volk Makedonski.
We speak with Pia Mancini of the Open Collective on how this revolutionary new platform may be one of the keys to transforming democracy from the bottom up.
https://opencollective.com/
We talk with young Perth Muslim activist Aisha Nancy Novakovic about the conference where she presented a paper on Radicalisation, Redemption and Loss: Insights into the Young Muslim Mind.
The Barnett Government is trying to push through legislation to curtail our right to protest. They want to make it an offence to carry a "thing" with the 'presumed' intention of impeding lawful activity.
This incredibly vague wording has horrible implications for anybody fighting for what's right in Western Australia. Read it here: http://www.parliament.wa.gov.au/Parliament/Bills.nsf/1E00CF48C52EF57848257DF6000AA4DF/$File/Bill114-1.pdf
As the United Nations wrote this week: “The Bill would grant police disproportionate and unnecessary powers to restrict lawful protests. ... It discourages legitimate protest activity and instead, prioritizes business and government resource interests over the democratic rights of individuals. The statement also warns that “The Bill will have the chilling effect of silencing dissenters and punishing expression protected by international human rights law."
The Bill was introduced in February 2015, passed in the Upper House on Thursday 18 February 2016 without going to commitee, and is now set to be debated in the Lower House. Labor WA and Greens members of parliament oppose this Bill, and Labor have said they will repeal the Bill if they form government in 2017.
Come to Parliament House on Tuesday, February 23 at 12pm and make sure your concerns are heard by our political representatives and the media. It's our democratic RIGHT to protest. We will stand firmly against any attack on our civil rights. Lets show them what democracy looks like. Bring your THING.
https://www.facebook.com/events/960812823998993/
We speak with the Rector of the Anglican parish of Darlington and refugee campaigner Father Chris Bedding on the recent offering of sanctuary to refugees by churches around the country as the federal government threatens the deportation of 267 refugees to abusive detention camps on Manus Island and Nauru.
In recent years we've seen a renaissance of the struggle for Aboriginal self-determination. From the rebirth of the Canberra tent embassy to our own Matagarup encampment and the ongoing campaign against deaths in custody, many valiant and self-sacrificing leaders have emerged. Brisbane-based Bogaine Spearim is one such champion of this new movement. We spoke to him on the eve of Invasion Day about a variety of pressing issues for our Aboriginal brothers and sisters. Indymedia veteran Alex Whisson began by asking Spearim to reflect on the value of Stan Grant recent viral speech. Tags: #Invasion Day #Bogaine Spearim #Stan Grant #Adam Goodes #Musgrave Park
We speak with veteran independent journalist and activist Tony Serve who, upon returning from abroad, had his phone and pin demanded of him, raising further concerns for journos and activists in the day and age of metadata retention laws and the ongoing erosion of our civil liberties.
We talk to Robert Eggington of the Dumbartung Aboriginal Corporation in the wake of the Federal Government's pledged $1 million to set up a "critical response" project to tackle Indigenous suicide in Western Australia.
The Dumbartung Aboriginal Corporation has worked with the Aboriginal community at the grassroots level for 30 years in a wide ranging capacity. Preserving and teaching culture, being powerful and vocal advocates on Aboriginal issues, and working in countless ways to support the day to day struggle of Noongar peoples.
This photo (courtesy of Dumbartung) is of a meeting with WA Premier Colin Barnett and Robert and Selina Eggington which took place in 2013 immediately following an important suicide crisis summit organised by Dumbartung. The summit exposed the horrific reality and impact of suicide for Aboriginal people in WA and the need for greater funding and support for grassroots Aboriginal organisation to help address the issue.
Despite the tremendous and well recognised work over 30 years of Dumbartung, despite the significance of the suicide crisis summit, despite this meeting with the Premier and many other politicians, despite the overwhelming suicide crisis, Dumbartung has not had an increase in funding.
Quite the opposite, Dumbartung has had funding cut and today, on Survival Day 2016 is in a fight for its very survival.
We speak with Yarramun, blogger at http://black-australia.tumblr.com/ about her involvement in forcing
Katie's talk covers mental health issues and the importance of safe spaces and trigger warnings.
This talk was recorded at the Institute for Critical Animal Studies Oceania 2015 Conference in Melbourne. You can find out more information about this conference here: http://www.criticalanimalstudies.org/conference-schedule/
You can find links to listen to other talks from the conference here: http://progressivepodcastaustralia.com/2015/08/14/108/
A shortened version of this talk was played on the 28th of December 2015 episode of RTR92.1FM Indymedia. You can listen to this episode at this link (just select 28th December episode on the little calendar on the left): rtrfm.com.au/shows/indymedia/
Kaliyugan Pathmanathan and Sarah Ross discuss the importance of the voices of refugees in the movement for refugees, strategies for effective refugee activism and who is to blame for harsh policies towards asylum seekers?
Sarah Ross is an activist with the Refugee Rights Action Network: http://rran.org/
Kaliyugan Pathmanathan is Project Coordinator of Tamil Eelam Cricket. Kaliyugan had to leave Sri Lanka as a refugee to Australia himself and he co-founded this project in order to create a platform for the Tamil diaspora around the world to participate in national and international cricket competitions and also to bridge the gap between newly arrived Tamils in the local community and the pre-existing Tamil community: https://soundcloud.com/perth-indymedia/tamileelamcricket www.tecricket.com/ facebook.com/TamilEelamCricket
You can read Tad Tietze's article 'Why We Shouldn’t Blame Voters For Our Appalling Asylum Policies', which was referred to during the interview, here: https://newmatilda.com/2014/07/14/why-we-shouldnt-blame-voters-our-appalling-asylum-policies/
This interview was played on the 28th of December 2015 episode of RTR92.1FM Indymedia. You can listen to this episode at this link (just select 28th December episode on the little calendar on the left): rtrfm.com.au/shows/indymedia/
Coggo from the Melbourne Street Medic Collective discusses the recent #FloodTheSystem action in Melbourne, where activists took a stand for climate justice and against the power of big business, shutting down the entrances to Westpac, BHPBilliton and part of the CBD.
For more on this action, check out #FloodTheSystem on Facebook and Twitter, as well as the website: http://www.floodthesystemaus.net/
You can also see lots of videos from the action on the No Frontiers Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/nofrontiersmedia/?fref=ts
CounterAct have done a write-up on the action: http://counteract.org.au/flood-the-system/
You can find out more about the Melbourne Street Medic Collective here: http://melbsmc.org/
Follow Coggo on Twitter: https://twitter.com/akaCoggo
This interview was played on the 16th of November 2015 episode of RTR92.1FM Indymedia. You can listen to this episode at this link (just select 14th December episode on the little calendar on the left): rtrfm.com.au/shows/indymedia/
After antifascist and antiracist activists confronted Reclaim Australia and the United Patriots Front on the weekend Indymedia speak to Barry Cade, a Melbourne based anti-fascist activist, about the events of the weekend and the broader movement to oppose the far right.
Indymedia's Alex Whisson and Ray Grenfell’s speak to Muslim social justice activist Marziya Mohammedali on the Islamophobic backlash following the Paris attacks.
This interview was played on the 16th of November 2015 episode of RTR92.1FM Indymedia. You can listen to this episode at this link (just select 16th November episode on the little calendar on the left): rtrfm.com.au/shows/indymedia/
US Iraq war veteran Vincent Emanuele is currently in Australia supporting the release of the documentary "We Are Many" - the story of the biggest demonstration in human history, which took place on 15th February 2003, against the then impending war on Iraq.
We talk to him about the film and the echoes at this moment of time in the wake of the Paris terrorist attack with the post 911 period leading up to the Iraq war.
Sociologist Dr Theresa Petray discusses her research on the opportunities and limitations of using the Internet to bring about social change, as well as some of the ways it can be used more effectively by activists.
Follow Theresa on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheresaPetray
You can read some of her publications here: https://www.jcu.edu.au/college-of-arts-society-and-education/social-sciences/our-staff/college-of-arts,-society-and-education6
This interview was played on the 16th of November 2015 episode of RTR92.1FM Indymedia. You can listen to this episode at this link (just select 16th November episode on the little calendar on the left): rtrfm.com.au/shows/indymedia/
On Sunday 1st November, five members of the fascist group United Patriots Front (UPF) gained entry to the premises of 3CR Community Radio and filmed throughout the building without permission. In an effort to intimidate the station and its programmers, they then posted the video on their Facebook page.
Feminist activist Kathyrn Joy gives a critical perspective on the campaign calling for American singer Chris Brown to be denied entry into Australia because of his conviction for assaulting his ex-girlfriend, Rhianna.
This interview was played on the 9th of November 2015 episode of RTR92.1FM Indymedia. You can listen to this episode at this link (just select 9th November episode on the little calendar on the left): rtrfm.com.au/shows/indymedia/
Indymedia speaks to filmmaker Dujon Pereira about his documentary Black Hole which reveals unseen footage of coal, corruption and community resistance of one of Australia’s most controversial mining projects – Whitehaven’s Maules Creek Coal Mine in the Leard State Forest.
Indymedia speaks to International Solidarity Movement activist Phoebe on the escalating violence in the West Bank over recent weeks.
We speak with Refugee Rights Action Network campaigner Sarah Ross on the horrific suicide of Afghan asylum seeker Khodayar Amini who self immolated whilst on a video call to her and another refugee campaigner.
In his message before he died he said - "My crime was that I was a refugee. They tortured me for 37 months and during all these times, they treated me in the most cruel and inhumane way, they violated my basic human right and took away my human dignity...They killed me as well as many of my friends such as: Nasim Najafi, Reza Rezayee and Ahmad Ali Jaffari"
Jenny Ejlak from Reproductive Choice Australia is interviewed by Katie on the various state and territory laws on abortion in Australia, exclusion zones, Planned Parenthood and #shoutyourabortion.
You can find out more about Reproductive Choice Australia here: http://www.reproductivechoiceaustralia.org.au/
You can also read Ejlak's article exploring some of the issues covered in the interview and more here: http://tasmaniantimes.com/index.php?/weblog/article/a-health-issue-not-a-criminal-one/
This interview was played on the 19th of October 2015 episode of RTR92.1FM Indymedia. You can listen to this episode at this link (just select 19th October episode on the little calendar on the left): rtrfm.com.au/shows/indymedia/
Journalist Michael Brull discusses what has changed and what hasn't as a result of the government's new rhetoric around Islam and terrorism, in the wake of the Parramatta shooting.
For more on this, see Michael Brull's article 'The Parramatta Shooting: New Rhetoric, Same Old Problem?': https://newmatilda.com/2015/10/07/parramatta-shooting-new-rhetoric-same-old-problem/
You can view more of Brull's work here: https://newmatilda.com/users/michaelbrull
This interview was played on the 12th of October 2015 episode of RTR92.1FM Indymedia. You can listen to this episode at this link (just select 12th October episode on the little calendar on the left): rtrfm.com.au/shows/indymedia/
Recently returned from Greece, where she covered the some of momentous struggles that took place there for the newspaper Red Flag, Melbourne-based journalist Colleen Bolger speaks to us about the results of the Greek elections and what might happen next.
Author, blogger, commentator and former Guardian columnist Richard Seymour discusses the stunning emergence of socialist backbencher Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the British Labour Party.
Kaliyugan Pathmanathan is Project Coordinator of Tamil Eelam Cricket. Kaliyugan had to leave Sri Lanka as a refugee to Australia himself and he co-founded this project in order to create a platform for the Tamil diaspora around the world to participate in national and international cricket competitions and also to bridge the gap between newly arrived Tamils in the local community and the pre-existing Tamil community.
Online Crowd-funder: https://www.chuffed.org/project/tamil-eelam-cricket/
Other links: http://www.tecricket.com/ facebook.com/TamilEelamCricket twitter.com/TE_cricket instagram.com/TE_cricket
Song: Ulagathin Sondhakaran (Man who owns the World) Album: Azhagu Puratchi (Beautiful Revolution) Artist: Kaber Vasuki / facebook.com/kabervasukiofficial
This interview was played on the 21st of September 2015 episode of RTR92.1FM Indymedia. You can listen to this episode at this link (just select 21st September episode on the little calendar on the left): rtrfm.com.au/shows/indymedia/
Meredith Hammat, Secretary of UnionsWA, discusses the union campaign against the Liberal government in the Canning By-Election and beyond, due to this government's attacks on workers.
You can find out more about this campaign here: http://www.unionswa.com.au/canning_by_election_about_jobs_bring_it_on
This interview was played on the 14th of September 2015 episode of RTR92.1FM Indymedia. You can listen to this episode at this link (just select 14th September episode on the little calendar on the left): rtrfm.com.au/shows/indymedia/
Maria from the Self-Organised Solidarity Initiative for Refugees based in Athens speaks to Indymedia's Alex Whisson about the amazing things ordinary Greek people are doing to provide real solidarity and assistance to the refugees making their way across the border.
This interview was played on the 7th of September 2015 episode of RTR92.1FM Indymedia. You can listen to this episode at this link (just select 7th September episode on the little calendar on the left): rtrfm.com.au/shows/indymedia/
Samah Sabawi is a Palestinian Australian Canadian writer and human rights advocate. She discusses the ongoing oppression Palestinian people face, including between widely publicised bombing raids. She also reads her poem 'Red Shirt, Blue Jeans'.
Check out her website http://talesofacitybythesea.com/ which also has links to her social media pages.
She recommends people look into the following resources:
http://www.bdsmovement.net/
https://electronicintifada.net/
http://www.palestinechronicle.com/
You can find out more about the upcoming Boycott Divestment & Sanctions Conference Samah will be speaking at here: http://vpm.org.my/events/events-calendar/eventdetail/24/18/boycott-divestment-sanction-conference
This interview was played on the 7th of September 2015 episode of RTR92.1FM Indymedia. You can listen to this episode at this link (just select 7th September episode on the little calendar on the left): rtrfm.com.au/shows/indymedia/
The Trade Union Royal Commission has descended into high farce with head commissioner Dyson Heydon ruling, of course favourably, on his own ability to continue the job. We speak to CFMEU National Secretary Michael O'Connor about what lies behind this discredited investigation, and touch on the reasons why the union is campaigning against Australia's free trade' agreement with China.
Image via @CFMEU_National
Jasmina Brankovich on the recent #HESTAdivest win which has seen industry super fund HESTA divest from its Transfield Services holdings for that company's involvement in the Australian detention industry.
Image via Sarah Maynard (@sarahmaynard191) | Twitter
For the radiothon edition of Indymedia, we speak to renegade Catholic legend Father Bob Maguire about the importance of political struggle, love and spirit.
Capitalism is in crisis, the politics of austerity and debt are crippling much Europe and the world. Meanwhile we face some of the biggest environmental challenges any generation has ever faced. But within the social, environmental and economic crisis, alternatives are being born. The squatted social centre movement in Spain has played a key role in shaping alternatives to Capitalism.
Indymedia spoke to sociologist and political scientist Dr Miguel A. Martínez who has been a long time squatter, researcher and activist in this movement. Miguel is a member of SqEK (Squatting Europe Kollective) and has published numerous articles and books about squatting and urban movements (available here: www.miguelangelmartinez.net www.sqek.squat.net)
Celeste Liddle is an Aboriginal, working class, feminist, which she argues makes her intersectional "by default". Intersectionality is a theory which highlights the similarities between different forms of oppression and the importance of opposing all oppression, rather than just focusing on one form.
Look into Celeste's work @Utopiana on Twitter and her blog is: http://blackfeministranter.blogspot.com.au/
This is a talk from the 2015 Institute for Critical Animal Studies (ICAS) Oceania conference, which was held in Melbourne: http://www.criticalanimalstudies.org/conference-schedule/
Coggo from the Melbourne Street Medic Collective discusses police violence against medics and anti-fascist protesters at the recent counter-rally against Reclaim Australia in Melbourne.
For more on this, see: http://melbsmc.org/rallies/medics-statement-on-july-18-anti-racistfascist-demonstration/
Adjunct Research Fellow Curtin University in the School of Media, Culture and Creative Arts, Director, Director Games and Interactive at FTI and founder of Games We Play Kate Raynes-Goldie on our Orwellian times and the gaming industry in Australia.
All eyes remain on Greece in the wake of what many observers are calling an act of historic capitulation by the Syriza government, with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras agreeing to provisional terms for a third bailout of the depressed Mediterranean economy. Indymedia’s Alex Whisson spoke to Greek socialist and anti-austerity activist Petros Constantinou about the latest developments in this pivotal struggle.
Debriefing the weekends Reclaim Australia v Racial Equality clashes over the weekend with Love Makes a Way campaigner Jarrod McKenna, Refugee Rights Action Network WA organiser Victoria Martin and comedian and Muslim woman Leah Aliyyah Cornish-Ward.
We speak with Rockhampton Peace Convergence spokesperson Robin Taubenfield about the Quaker Grannies arrested at the gates of Shoalwater military base after a cup of tea, lamingtons and a chat with the military about the cost of war.
The Grannies were arrested and detained by police after holding a tea party complete with flowers, tea and cake to create dialogue with soldiers participating in the joint U.S / Australia / Japan /NZ Talisman Sabre war exercises.
We speak to historian and long time activist Cedric Beidatsch to try and understand the latest attacks on civil liberties and how they are connected to the Neoliberal Capitalist agenda in Australia and the world. This is part one of the interview where Cedric also touches on the changing nature of the global anti-Capitalist movement.
We speak with emeritus professor Frank Stilwell of Sydney University on the historic Greek referendum rejecting harsher austerity economics. Professor Stilwell was previously a colleague at Sydney University of the (now previous) Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis.
At 8am members of the Melbourne Palestine Action Coalition (MPAC) shut down the headquarters of Israeli arms manufacturer, ELBIT SYSTEMS, at 235 Ingles St Port Melbourne to mark the first anniversary of the 2014 Israeli ‘Protective Edge’ assault on Gaza. The group have blockaded access to the building and currently have two people locked on to the entrance gate, who state that they are prepared to remain there as long as possible. This is the second time the pro-Palestinian group has disrupted Elbit Systems, the first time being in August 2014 when they occupied the building’s roof and blockaded the entrance to Elbit during the 2014 Israeli attack on Gaza.
We speak with Melbourne Palestine Action Coalition spokesperson Samantha Castro.
Not a week goes by that there is not a meeting or action around the state government's proposed Perth Freight Link. As the community anger mounts and on the eve of the Fremantle Council voting to officially oppose the $1.6 freeway, Indymedia spoke to councilor Sam Wainwright about the campaign to both oppose the PFL, as well as the privatization of the Fremantle Port
With the economy weakening, and job losses on the horizon for many West Australians, many are turning to financial counsellors for support- but the sector is also being hit with budget cuts, and is expected to lose around 50 jobs this year. For more on the perfect storm this might create, we spoke to Charles Brown, chief executive of Financial Couselling WA.
Simone Van Hattem with the latest on the Protect Peaceful Protest campaign in WA, a group concerned with legislation the Barnett government is attempting to push through parliament that would criminalise protest.
"We are concerned that the punishments defined in the bill, up to $24000 or 24 months’ imprisonment, will act as a deterrent to lawful and peaceful protests; inhibiting our ability and the ability of all Western Australians to stand up for the people, places and activities they love and to have their voices heard."
from the website http://protectpeacefulprotest.com/
Equal love and LGBTI rights campaigner Farida Iqbal on the historic supreme court ruling in the US for marriage equality and what it means for the Australian campaign.
We speak with her also about the upcoming rally in Perth (5th July) - https://www.facebook.com/events/835882479842128/
Tammy Solonec Indigenous Peoples' Rights Manager at Amnesty International Australia speaks with us about their new report which finds Aboriginal youths are 24 times more likely to be in detention.
The report is available from the following link - http://www.amnesty.org.au/images/uploads/aus/A_brighter_future_National_report.pdf
Bella Bropho discusses the latest police invasion of the refugee camp at Matagarup. She is one of the participants in this camp and the interview was recorded at the site. This is a sacred Indigenous site that is serving as a refugee camp for people who are being affected by the closure of Indigenous communities. Once again the police ripped down and stole all of their tents and are also blocking access to the parking lot.
You can read more about this raid and how you can help by providing supplies to the camp here: https://www.facebook.com/sosblakaustralia/photos/a.1042299689120174.1073741828.1042255972457879/1102036053146537/?type=1&fref=nf
You can find out more about the closure of Indigenous communities here: http://www.sosblakaustralia.com/
This interview was played on the 22nd of June 2015 episode of RTR92.1FM Indymedia. You can listen to this episode at this link (just select 22nd June episode on the little calendar on the left): rtrfm.com.au/shows/indymedia/
Dr Matthew Rimmer, a Professor in Intellectual Property and Innovation Law, takes on the Copyright Amendment (Online Infringement) Bill 2015. He describes this Bill and the associated report as 'love letters to Foxtel and News Corp' and criticises the Bill for serving corporate interests, as well as pointing out the worrying implications it has for online freedom.
Be sure to follow Dr Matthew Rimmer on Twitter @DrRimmer: https://twitter.com/DrRimmer
Find out more about these proposed laws here: http://mashable.com/2015/06/11/senate-piracy-websites-australia/?utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Mashable+%28Mashable%29&utm_cid=Mash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial&utm_medium=feed&utm_source=feedburner
Email Labor politicians to encourage them to oppose the Bill: http://choice.good.do/nofilter/email-your-labor-mp/
A shortened version of this interview was played on the 15th of June 2015 episode of RTR92.1FM Indymedia. You can listen to this episode at this link (just select 1st June episode on the little calendar on the left): rtrfm.com.au/shows/indymedia/
Audio highlights from last Saturday's confrontation between the far right bigots of Reclaim Australia and their anti-racist opponents
Felicity Ruby, ThoughtWorks Director of Global Internet Policy and former adviser to Greens Senator Scott Ludlam, on two years of Edward Snowden's revelations and where we're at on the battle for internet freedom.
Refugee rights campaigner Leonie Lundy to hear all about the Refugee Welcome Fiesta happening out in Freo this Sunday.
Kieran Bennett from Anarchist Affinity discusses a recent counter-protest against a United Patriots Front fascist protest in Melbourne. United Patriots Front is a spin off organisation from the racist Reclaim Australia movement.
Bennett also discusses the need for a broad anti-fascist movement in Australia, that includes, but is not limited to, directly confronting fascists in the streets.
For more information on Anarchist Affinity: http://www.anarchistaffinity.org/
Slackbastard's blog tracks fascist activity in Australia: http://slackbastard.anarchobase.com/
This interview was played on the 1st of June 2015 episode of RTR92.1FM Indymedia. You can listen to this episode at this link (just select 1st June episode on the little calendar on the left): rtrfm.com.au/shows/indymedia/
Malou Logan, vice chair person of Gabriela Australia discusses the campaign to free Mary Jane Veloso.
Veloso is a Filipina worker who was arrested and sentenced to death for allegedly smuggling heroin into Indonesia. She has been in Indonesian prison since 2010 and has recently had her execution delayed. Logan makes the case that 5 years in prison is more than enough punishment for Veloso.
To find out more about Veloso's case: http://migranteinternational.org/tag/mary-jane-veloso/
Connect with Gabriela Australia on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Gabriela-Australia/1491865197762777?fref=ts
This interview was played on the 1st of June 2015 episode of RTR92.1FM Indymedia. You can listen to this episode at this link (just select 1st June episode on the little calendar on the left): http://rtrfm.com.au/shows/indymedia/
The proposed Roe 8 extension is a 5.2 kilometre extension of the Roe 8 highway through Beeliar wetlands to just west of coobelup avenue. This road in combination with others including Roe 9 as well as a possible return of the Fremantle Eastern By-pass in the form of a tunnel is a part of the Barnett government's freight link plan. The development will have severe impacts on the environment and community of Fremantle. While the government are pushing ahead with the project, many argue that there are many alternatives, most notably moving freight to rail. Indymedia's Ray Grenfell spoke to Grainne from the group Rethink The Link to hear more about such alternatives and the campaign to stop the roads.
Find out more about Rethink the Link here: http://www.rethinkthelink.com.au/
We’re joined by independent journalist Will Potter from greenisthenewred.com. He discusses: what ‘green is the new red’ refers to (linking the previous “red scare” about communism to the current “green scare” about animal and environmental activists), the way repressive laws target both militant and moderate activists, and the ways these laws are creeping into Australia and elsewhere around the world.
Jessica Ellen takes on the lack of funding for services to tackle domestic violence in the federal budget. Jessica is a law student who has done research into domestic violence and volunteered at community legal centres. She discusses the importance of domestic violence services and education for men, as well as gendered violence and why anger management alone doesn't address it.
Follow Jessica on Twitter @jessicaellen_o and check out her YouTube video which explores the issues we discuss here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yi7JGwL_qio&feature=youtu.bea
Dr Patricia Ranald of AFTINET on the likelihood that US Congress will pass a bill in the coming days to fast track the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP).
In the wake of seven weeks of global protest against the closure of remote Aboriginal communities in Western Australia, we spoke to organiser Sam Cook, from SOS Blak Australia, about the significance of the movement.
The “No jab no pay” plan to withhold payments of child-care and family tax benefits for unvaccinated children could cost non-compliant parents up to A$15,000 a year in childcare and welfare benefits.
Perth Indymedia speaks with Ura Auckland, previously commercial executive in medical science and author of viral blog piece A call for Pro-truth to replace Pro-Vax v Anti-Vax.
Marcus Hampson from the Refugee Rights Action Network of WA (RRAN) on the 8000 Rohingyan asylum seekers stranded in the Malacca Straits.
Having spent up to 3 months on boats being turned away form Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, up to 8000 Rohingyan asylum seekers are now stranded in the Malacca Straits. 200 are already dead and more are at risk from dehydration and starvation.
Following the May 7 British general election, we spoke to Belfast councillor Gerry Carroll, who won just shy of 7,000 votes with People Before Profit, and asked him about the dramatic losses to mainstream parties.
Former Australian diplomat and academic Alison Broinowski on the Australians for War Powers Reform initiative as part of the ongoing project of the Campaign for an Iraq War Inquiry, established in 2012. The initiative is one from prominent Australians who believe that the decision to commit the Australian Defence Force to international armed conflict should be made by Parliament, not by the Prime Minister or Executive. They advocate for the development of legal frameworks that invest in Parliament the exclusive power to make that decision.
Louise O’Shea of Equal Love Melbourne – on the Australia wide rally’s for gay marriage on the weekend.
Phil Chilton – of the Refugee Rights Action Network on the somewhat less than inspiring findings of the Houston report released Monday which Amnesty International reports as a major setback for refugee rights.
Interview with Reham Maklad of the Australian April 6th Movement – talking about the newly elected Egyptian President Muhammad Morsi’s moves against the Supreme Council of Armed Forces as well as the recent clashes with unknown militants in the Sinai desert.
Veteran journalist and broadcaster Tony Serve on the importance of independent, citizen media.
A wrap up of Sunday’s Northam Refugee Convergence featuring speeches given on the day by Senator Scott Ludlam from The Greens, Colin Penter from Serco Watch, and a powerful and moving speech from ex-detainee Jacob.
Dr Brian Senewiratne, long time advocate of the Tamil people ahead of his speaking tour in Perth.
Rebecca Doyle from the UWA based Feminist Action Network talking about Blue Stocking Week which just took place and the foetal homicide laws that could be coming in to Western Australia.
An interview with Virginia Brown, independent, prominent Perth feminist activist on the importance of taking the sexual assault allegations against Julian Assange seriously.
Young Perth activist and rapper Chris “1000eyes” Bonds talks to us about the recent Hungry Jacks national protest action.
Greens’ Senator Scott Ludlam talking on the Fukushima disaster and the shelving of the Olympic Dam mine expansion.
Tony Iltis from the Sydney Stop the War Coalition on the recent deaths of Australia soldiers in Afghanistan.
On the Equal Love WA campaigns recent confrontation of Julia Gillard at Curtin University and more broadly on mental health support for LGBTI youth.
On the standoff between the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) and Grocon Emporium construction site in Melbourne’s CBD.
On the recent unfurling of an 86 square metre banner over the main entrance of Victorian state parliament. The banner read “Coal is the single greatest threat to civilisation and all life on our planet” – a quote from NASA’s Professor James Hansen.