Under the Sun with Mell and Ben

Mell has gotten a job making podcasts for the national network FBi Radio. Which is exciting! but also sad, because it means she will no longer have time to make Under The Sun.

So this is our last episode for the time being. We recap on some of our past episodes and discuss what has changed about the issues we covered back then.

We will also be introducing a brand new project that we're working on for Edge Radio this summer! Tune in to hear more about it, and hear us get emotional and say farewell.

On the 4th of August a massive explosion erupted in a warehouse full of ammonium nitrate in Beirut’s port district. Over 200 people were killed, 4,000 injured and 300,000 left homeless.

Videos of the explosion went viral on social media and to much of the world it was a spectacle. But this disaster was just the latest in a series of tragedies that have befallen Lebanon in recent decades. 

Years of government corruption, international interference and economic mismanagement have brought the country to the brink of collapse. over half the population are below the poverty line, there are fuel shortages, food shortages and regular blackouts. Garbage is left uncollected on the streets, and traffic unregulated. 

Following the explosion, Prime Minister Hassan Diab announced that his cabinet would resign. But there's a running joke in Lebanon that you can't tell the difference wether theres a government or not, such is the disfunction of everyday bureaucracy.

Activists and critics have good reason to believe this resignation will have little effect. This government has only been in power for 8 months. The previous government resigned in January, after worstening inflation and food shortages gave rise to a wave of protests late last year. 

At the root of the problem is a fundamentally flawed political system that divides power along sectarian lines. The cabinet is merely a front for a political elite who have been ruling Lebanon for the past 30 years. 

In this episode of Under The Sun, Ben talks about the Lebanese Civil War and the peace agreement 30 years ago that started all the trouble. He also discusses the regional and international influences that have held the country hostage for so long. Mell takes a closer look at the banking crisis, with a central bank found to be cooking the books and running an international Ponzi scheme.

We end by discussing the details of the explosion, the recent international court verdict on the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, and what all this might mean for Lebanon's future.

Under The Sun is a production of Edge Radio, and is made on the stolen land of the Muwinina people, in Nipaluna, on the Island of Lutruwita and sovereignty was never ceded. 

A few weeks ago, we did a three-part series looking at Aboriginal deaths in custody and the deeply systemic issues that disadvantage Aboriginal people on almost every level.

And since we did that series, activists and Aboriginal advocacy groups have continued to call for justice for the families of those killed in custody, and for a review into police conduct and discrimination in the legal system. 

In recent weeks, peak bodies representing youth advocates, doctors and lawyers called on the Australian Government to raise the age of criminal responsibility, a request that was denied. The UN commission on the rights of the child has stipulated that the minimum age of criminal responsibility be 14 years. In Australia however, children as young as 10 can be criminally charged and locked up and Aboriginal children are 25 times more likely to be imprisoned than non-Aboriginal children.

And then this week, the government launched an ‘ambitious new set of targets’ for closing the gap between Aboriginal people and the rest of Australia.

The first ‘closing the gap’ scheme was launched in 2008 under Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. Every year, the government reviews it’s progress and every year it finds progress to be well below the target. 

This week we want to look at the old ‘closing the gap’ scheme, why it didn’t work, and discuss how much hope we can have for the new agreement.

References

https://thesector.com.au/2020/08/03/there-are-3-new-closing-the-gap-education-targets-heres-what-they-miss/ 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-07-27/raise-the-age-of-child-criminal-responsibility-in-australia/12483178

https://theconversation.com/chelsea-bond-the-new-closing-the-gap-is-about-buzzwords-not-genuine-change-for-indigenous-australia-143681 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-04/indigenous-australia-closing-the-gap-reaction/12518496

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qWFZCGDbrc

https://www.smh.com.au/national/new-agreement-won-t-deliver-the-change-indigenous-australians-need-20200705-p5593d.html 

*Content Warning* Descriptions of self-harm and sexual assault involving children

This week we wrap up a three-part series about Australia’s policies towards migrants and refugees. 

In this episode we focus specifically on refugee policy since 2001 and the history of the Manus Island and Nauru detention centres. Ben looks in harrowing detail at the ‘Nauru Files’ and I discuss all the times that the UN has condemned Australian refugee policy, and the reasons why offshore detention does not ‘save lives at sea’. 

What I would have liked to focus more on however is the ‘death by a thousand cuts’ that is the long, slow cruelty of Australia’s increasingly harsh and arbitrary laws governing the lives of those who seek asylum in Australia. So here's is a link to an article I wrote that delves a bit deeper. 

Today we're bringing you a really special episode featuring an amazing interview Ben and I had with Hanif, a Hazara man who escaped persecution in Pakistan and embarked on a treacherous, months long journey to Australia. 

Hanif has been living in Hobart on temporary visas for seven years. He is currently doing his honours in medical research at the University of Tasmania. But he remembers the journey to Australia like it was yesterday, and he tells us the whole story. 

We also chat to Hanif about what it's like to live on a temporary visa, and what his dream future would be if he ever got permanent residency here. 

We begin this week's episode by looking at the hard lockdown on the 9 public housing towers in Melbourne at the start of this month. As well as illuminating the problems with public housing in Victoria, this crisis also highlighted migrant experiences during Covid-19, the failure to communicate properly to marginalised communities and the lack of respect they were afforded compared to wealthier communities.

We take a look at migrant experiences since the start of Coronavirus, and how many of Australia's valuable non-citizen workers (and taxpayers) have lost their jobs and been left without any assistance from the government, having to turn to charities and often unable to go home because of closed borders or lack of funds.

The treatment of migrants on temporary visas in Australia was a problem long before Coronavirus, but like so many things, the last few months has brought it to a crisis point. We end the discussion by talking about the injustice of the temporary visa and the debilitating limbo that many migrants and refugees are forced to exist in. Not to mention the exorbitant amounts of money they pay for visa applications which are often rejected.

References

https://theconversation.com/melbourne-tower-lockdowns-unfairly-target-already-vulnerable-public-housing-residents-142041

https://www.riserefugee.org/north-melbourne-and-flemington-hard-lockdown/

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/audio/2020/jul/07/inside-hard-lockdown-of-melbourne-public-housing-towers

https://coronavirus.tas.gov.au/travellers-and-visitors

https://minister.homeaffairs.gov.au/davidcoleman/Pages/Coronavirus-and-Temporary-Visa-holders.aspx

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-06-05/australia-migrant-workers-temporary-visa-holders-coronavirus/12301394

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/for-australia-s-temporary-visa-holders-the-coronavirus-crisis-means-everything-is-broken

Recently the Morrison government announced a 'defence strategic update' designed to increase Australia's capacity to defend its interests in the Into-pacific region. Without saying it directly, Australia is more afraid of China, and less certain of America, than ever. So why has Australia's relationship with China gotten to this point? and what exactly is China up to in the rest of the world. 

This week, leading on from our last episode about the 'history wars' in Australia, we are talking about a culture war that has led to a decline in the role of Universities.

Recently it was announced that some humanities courses would more than double in price, and STEM subjects would be made cheeper in a bid by the federal government to made University graduates more 'job ready'. 

In reality, many of the skills provided by humanities and social sciences are highly sought after in the work place. not only that, but many politicians and cultural influencers in Australia hold arts degrees. Why then, is the Australian government devaluing these courses?

It is hard to ignore that this recent reform follows a pattern of conservative politicians attacking the liberal arts in Australia. Cuts to research grants and funding, the ABC, museums and cultural institutions. As well as public criticism of Universities by education ministers and others. 

We take a look at the history of Universities in Australia and the consequences of these changes on the quality of teaching. We discuss what we think is important about arts and humanities subjects in our rapidly changing world. 

References 

Australian universities could lose 19 Billion in the next 3 years. Our economy will suffer with them https://theconversation.com/australian-universities-could-lose-19-billion-in-the-next-3-years-our-economy-will-suffer-with-them-136251


Coronavirus and university reforms put at risk Australia’s research gains of the last 15 years https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-and-university-reforms-put-at-risk-australias-research-gains-of-the-last-15-years-141452 

The decline of universities, where students are customers and academics itinerant workers
https://www.smh.com.au/national/the-decline-of-universities-where-students-are-customers-and-academics-itinerant-workers-20200528-p54xbd.html 

Covid 19 and the loss of expertise 
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/jun/20/its-awful-for-our-intellectual-life-universities-covid-19-and-the-loss-of-expertise

The reduced rate of funding to universities sends a perverse message
https://theconversation.com/the-government-is-making-job-ready-degrees-cheaper-for-students-but-cutting-funding-to-the-same-courses-141280 

the government is overstepping its charge
https://theconversation.com/the-governments-funding-changes-are-meddling-with-the-purpose-of-universities-141133

Australian conservative politicians have a long history of attacking researchers
https://theconversation.com/why-is-the-australian-government-letting-universities-suffer-138514 

If the government wants to support university courses that lead to jobs, they’d do well to listen to their business leaders who have been quite clear https://theconversation.com/if-the-government-listened-to-business-leaders-they-would-encourage-humanities-education-not-pull-funds-from-it-141121

In the past couple of weeks we have discussed Aboriginal deaths in custody and the discrimination that Aboriginal people face in Australian law and society.

To get to the root of this issue, this week we look back at the telling of Australian history, the way that has informed our national narrative and created a barrier to addressing inequalities.

We discuss the History Wars, the ideological battle between the revisionists who wished to tell a history of Australia that represented the experiences of Aboriginal people, and conservatives such as Prime Minister John Howard, who insisted that history should instil nationalist pride in it's students.

We end with a story about Tunnerminnerwait and Maulboyheenner, two of many Aboriginal warriors who fought against the invading European forces in the Frontier Wars, something we never learnt about in school.

But don't take our word for it! Aboriginal scholars, journalists, artists and activists have been talking about this stuff forever.

Here are just a few resources we've compiled for more information.

Frontier War Stories (podcast)

 “Boe Spearim is a Gamilaraay & Kooma radio host and podcaster who lives in Brisbane. Frontier War Stories - a podcast dedicated to truth-telling about a side of Australian that has been left out of the history books.”

 https://boespearim.podbean.com

 First Australians (SBS TV Series)

 “First Australians chronicles the birth of contemporary Australia as never told before, from the perspective of its first people.” 

 https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/program/first-australians

 Share Our Pride (Website)

An introductory resource curated by Reconciliation Australia, which intends to raise awareness of Aboriginal history and identity, as well as dispelling myths around aboriginality. 

 http://www.shareourpride.org.au/index.html

 Deaths Inside

A database compiled by The Guardian Australia, tracking every known Aboriginal death in custody between 2008-2020.     

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/ng-interactive/2018/aug/28/deaths-inside-indigenous-australian-deaths-in-custody

 Colonial Frontier Massacres in Australia, 1788-1930

Produced by The Centre for 21st Century Humanities at the University of Newcastle, this interactive map provides information about the numerous massacres of aboriginal people during the colonization of Australia. 

https://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/

**Content Warning: This episode contains descriptions of racial violence and the names of Aboriginal people who have died.

This week's episode is entirely dedicated to a conversation I was honoured to have with Tasmanian Aboriginal activist Nala Mansell. Nala has worked at the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre for 16 years and currently works at the Riawanna Centre at the University of Tasmania, supporting Aboriginal students. She speaks eloquently and passionately about being Aboriginal in a country that is still governed by white nationalism and racist institutions. She speaks personally about the deeply embedded fear of the police in Aboriginal people and communities, as well as other issues such as lower life expectancy and stolen culture. Nala reminds us what real change looks like, not just saying 'sorry' but doing something about it.

**Content Warning: This episode contains descriptions of racial violence and the names of Aboriginal people who have died.