Accent of Women

October 11 is International Day of the Girl and last week, Plan International released its annual report, State of the World’s Girls, which is research on girl’s rights. This year’s report looks at the experiences of girls and young women in activist – the barriers and significant challenges they face as campaigners.On Today’s show, I am joined by a panel of young women activists of colour who participated in Plan International’s report. They are:Yasmin Poole and she co-authored the report. Yasmin is a youth advocate, activist, writer, Plan International Australia ambassador and Rhodes Scholar. Sarah Williams is a proud First Nations woman and survivor advocate against sexual assault, Sarah founded the online campaign “What Were You Wearing”, which went viral on Tik Tok this year. She also campaigns for First Nations justice.And finally, Grace Falconer who last year was selected to participate in Plan International Australia’s Youth Activist Series for 2022. Her campaign focus areas include gender justice and equality, and she has a particular interest in the Asia Pacific region.Get the report here: The State of the World's Girls

We have been sharing with you the monthly meetings hosted by the European Network for Solidarity with Ukraine, which, every month focuses on a different region of the world, to discuss what solidarity activists are doing to support Ukraine in its resistance to Russian aggression and the current war.The June meeting, held on 22 June, focused on solidarity from Middle Eastern countries, and the two feature pieces I will bring you today come from Iran.  We’ll hear from two Iranian socialist feminists, Fatemeh Masjedi and Frieda Afary.

Arundhati Roy accepted the 45th European Essay Award on September 12, 2023.In her acceptance speech, Arundhati Roy calls out the fascism of the Modi Government, and provides gruelling examples both corporate and communal. Arundhati Roy's conclusion though, is that "However grim the situation is, please know that there is a tremendous fight back".

This conversation between activist scholars Sarah Haley and Romarilyn Ralston takes as a point of departure the firefighting labor of people imprisoned in California’s women’s prisons. The discussion considers the specific contradictions of that forced labor and meanders to cover the carceral state’s relationship to disappearance, precarity, interiority, intimacy, possibility, performance, and violence.

This conversation between activist scholars Sarah Haley and Romarilyn Ralston takes as a point of departure the firefighting labor of people imprisoned in California’s women’s prisons. The discussion considers the specific contradictions of that forced labor and meanders to cover the carceral state’s relationship to disappearance, precarity, interiority, intimacy, possibility, performance, and violence.

This conversation between activist scholars Sarah Haley and Romarilyn Ralston takes as a point of departure the firefighting labor of people imprisoned in California’s women’s prisons. The discussion considers the specific contradictions of that forced labor and meanders to cover the carceral state’s relationship to disappearance, precarity, interiority, intimacy, possibility, performance, and violence.

A joint session of Thailand’s parliament on Tuesday 22 August, selected the Pheu Thai Party candidate Srettha Thavisin to become the next prime minister—a decision that was endorsed by the King of Thailand. This comes after 3 months of deadlock, after the progressive and union-supported Move Forward Party was prevented from forming government. On the same day that Thavisin was elected Prime Minister, former Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra returned to Thailand after 15 years of self-imposed exile, only to be arrested at the airport upon arrival.Junya Lek Yimprasert, the founding member of ACT4DEM – Action for Democracy on Thailand, and an activist who is in self-imposed exile in Finland, and she joins Accent of Women to help clarify these events in Thai politics.

Lidia Thorpe is a Djab Wurrung Gunnai Gunditjmara woman and Independent Senator.She is the former Greens’ First Nations spokesperson prior to her leaving the Greens in 2023.She spoke about Sovereignty, Treaty and justice at this forum organised by Green Left in Naarm/Melbourne earlier this year.

On today's show we conclude our coverage of Woman, Life, Freedom – the ideas that inspired the Rojava revolution and the popular uprising in Iran. Nilüfer Koç, Executive Council member and spokesperson for the Commission on Foreign Relations of the Kurdistan National Congress (KNK) will share some of the new ideas inspiring the Kurdish-led feminist and green revolutionary movement that has liberated north and east Syria (Rojava) and its spread to other parts of Kurdistan, including Rojhelat (East Kurdistan currently in Iran).Koç. who spent most of the period from 2013 to 2018 in southern Kurdistan (Kurdistan-Iraq) and Rojava, will explain how the active and autonomous participation of women in all fields of society and politics (a core objective of this revolutionary movement) relates to respect of nature and ecology. She gave a keynote address at the ecosocialism conference hosted by Green Left Weekly and Socialist Alliance on the weekend of 1 & 2 of July.

Woman, Life, Freedom – the ideas that inspired the Rojava revolution and the popular uprising in Iran. That’s the topic of this week’s show and next week’s.Nilüfer Koç, Executive Council member and spokesperson for the Commission on Foreign Relations of the Kurdistan National Congress (KNK) will share some of the new ideas inspiring the Kurdish-led feminist and green revolutionary movement that has liberated north and east Syria (Rojava) and its spread to other parts of Kurdistan, including Rojhelat (East Kurdistan currently in Iran).Koç. who spent most of the period from 2013 to 2018 in southern Kurdistan (Kurdistan-Iraq) and Rojava, will explain how the active and autonomous participation of women in all fields of society and politics (a core objective of this revolutionary movement) relates to respect of nature and ecology. She gave a keynote address at the ecosocialism conference hosted by Green Left Weekly and Socialist Alliance on the weekend of 1 & 2 of July.