News headlines//
We hear some speeches from the Accessible Tram Stops for ALL rally held on 17th June to launch the campaign to win accessible tramstops on Sydney Road, before proposed rail upgrades remove 8 level crossings in Brunswick. First up, we'll hear Monica Harte (Merri-Bek Councillor), who spoke about the history of transport campaigns in so-called Melbourne from 1980 (including Upfield line closures) and honoured disability activists no longer with us today. We will also hear Elyse Cunningham from the FOE Sustainable Cities Campaign, who shared campaign information and the importance of putting pressure on government since “only 15% of tram network is accessible to wheelchair users.” Crossing removal is planned to for around 2 years time, resulting in closures to the Upfield line and adjoining bike path for around 18 months, leaving older people, people with disability, and many other community members with no access to the city of Merri-Bek, likely to lose work, and become further isolated from society. Currently there are no accessible tram stops between Park Street (Brunswick) and Bakers Road (North Coburg, end-of-the-line) on the Route 19 tram. Approx 200-300 people attended the rally, including music from the the Riffraff Radical Marching Band, stopping traffic and trams at the corner of Brunswick Town Hall.//
Angelica Ojinnaka is a youth development advocate, researcher, and speaker. She served as the 2022 Australian Youth Representative to the United Nations, as well being involved in a number of projects and organisations. You can typically find her speaking, facilitating, or shaping change on social inequalities experienced by children and young people, mental health, youth civic and economic participation, and cultural rights on national and global forums. She joins us today to chat about the importance of investing in authentic youth voices, youth participation in mental health sectors, and advocacy.//
Then we are joined by Ruth Nyaruot Ruach and Idil Ali. Ruth is the Future Reset Project Producer at Footscray Community Arts & creative producer at Next in Colour. She’s multidisciplinary artist, cultural curator and community arts worker. Nyaruot uses art to understand herself, explore elements of her surroundings, heal, liberate herself and validate her blackness. And Idil is a proud Somali woman raised by the East African community in the Carlton flats. A settler on unceded Wurundjeri land, Idil embeds her belief in freedom, sovereignty and resistance into her work as a creative, youth practitioner and community organiser. You can find out more about the event this Sat 24th of June 1pm - 3pm at NGV Ian Potter Centre Free Entry - https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/program/ancestral-words///
Professors Judith Bessant and Rob Watts, both based at RMIT University's School of Global, Urban and Social Studies, join us to discuss the youth-led Make It 16 campaign to lower the voting age in Australia, which launched on the 13th of June at Parliament House in Canberra. Drawing on their research into young peoples' political participation, Judith and Rob will unpack why expanding voting eligibility is not just important but increasingly in line with young peoples' appetites for political engagement. Judith Bessant writes in the fields of sociology, politics, youth studies, policy, media-technology studies and history. She was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia in 2017 for 'Significant service to education as a social scientist, advocate and academic specialising in youth studies research'. She also provides advise to government and non- government organizations. Rob Watts teaches policy studies, politics, the history of ideas, and applied human rights at RMIT University. He is a founding member of the Greens Party in Victoria, a founding editor of the journal Just Policy (1994-2006) and established the Australian Centre for Human Rights Education at RMIT University in 2008.//
Event: This Friday June 23, Oral History Victoria is hosting a symposium themed “Oral History Across and within Communities”. The event coincides with Refugee Week and is open to all members of the community interested in hearing about the way life stories are collected, preserved and experienced.//
The guest speakers are: Dr Andre Dao, from the ground-breaking Behind the Wire oral history project which recorded the first-hand experiences of people detained by the Australian government after seeking asylum in Australia. These human stories became an award-winning podcast, The Messenger. He’ll be joined by Dr Jordana Silverstein, co-author of the recently released impact report, Getting My Dignity Back. She’ll be talking about -just how meaningful and validating it can be, to share one’s story and create an oral history. Our fellow Breakfast presenter - Claudia Craig - will also be making an appearance at the Symposium! Claudia will be talking about the role of community radio in creating and sharing the oral histories of diverse communities.//
