Acknowledgement of Country//

Headlines//

Belgium’s Colonial Crimes with Geneviève Kaninda, Part 1

Content warning: This interview covers distressing topics including forcible child removal, racism and sexual violence. If you to need to speak with someone for support you can call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732, Lifeline on 13 11 14, and the Suicide Callback Service on 1300 659 467. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander listeners can also call 13 YARN on 13 92 76 and Yarning Safe'n'Strong on 1800 959 563.

We hear part 1 of a two-part interview with Geneviève Kaninda, Brussels-based Policy and Advocacy Officer at the African Futures Lab, on the Brussels Court of Appeal's landmark decision earlier this month to recognise the Belgian State's responsibility in abducting and racially segregating biracial Métis children under its colonial rule of what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The DRC was subjected to brutal colonisation by Belgium from 1908 until it gained independence in 1960, and the struggle for justice and reparations by Mètis children of Congolese mothers and Belgian fathers has been waged across several decades both in Belgium and in the Great Lakes countries of the DRC, Burundi and Rwanda. African Futures Lab is an independent research and advocacy institute that aims to raise global awareness of racial injustice across Africa and Europe and to empower civil society actors and public and private entities to demand justice and achieve reform.//

Femicide in Australia with Sherele Moody

Content warning: This interview covers distressing topics including sexual and gender based violence, violence against First Nations women and children, and racism. If you to need to speak with someone for support you can call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732, Lifeline on 13 11 14, and the Suicide Callback Service on 1300 659 467 (all 24-hour hotlines). LGBTQIA+ listeners can also call QLife on 1800 184 527 between 3PM and midnight, and people under the age of 25 can call Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander listeners can also call 13 YARN on 13 92 76 and Yarning Safe'n'Strong on 1800 959 563 (both 24 hours).

Sherele Moody joined us to discuss her work mapping femicides in so called-Australia, unpack mainstream media coverage of gender based violence and analyse the silencing of impacts of gendered violence on First Nations women and children. Sherele has over 20 years of experience reporting across a range of areas for some of Australia’s major media companies. Sherele is also the founder and operator of The RED HEART Campaign and has been documenting the killing of women and children since 2015. Please consider supporting The RED HEART Campaign by making a donation here. 

A vigil organised by theThe Australian Femicide Watch to remember, mourn and celebrate Victorian women lost to violence in 2024 will be held on Saturday, December 14 from 4-6PM at the Darling Gardens rotunda, Clifton Hill.//

‘The Left's Problem with Palestine’ with Abdaljawad Omar, Part 2

We listened to part two of a talk given by Palestinian scholar and theorist Abdaljawad Omar during the early October 2024 teach-in 'The Left's Problem with Palestine', co-convened by CUNY for Palestine and Grad Center for Palestine. In this talk, Omar presents a critical analysis of the Western left's reflexive condemnation of Palestinian resistance both in relation to October 7th 2023 and more broadly, and the implications of this disavowal for the possibility of the West's genuine engagement with anticolonial struggle. You can watch the full talk and an extended discussion between Omar and Jodi Dean here.//

Elijah Kose’s Hands with Grace Dlabik and Dan Elborne

Naarm-based artists Grace Dlabik and Dan Elborne join us to talk about the upcoming debut exhibition of works by Grace's son Elijah Kose, a collection of sculpture works produced in collaboration with Dan and titled Hands. Grace is an Austrian/Hungarian and Papua New Guinean woman from Lavaipia clan of Lese Oalai, and Motuan clan Botai of Hanuabada, and she is the founder and creative director of BE. Collective and BE. ONE. a grass-roots international collective that forges artistic opportunity and pathways for underrepresented creatives. Dan is a visual artist whose primary working material is clay, which he utilizes for long-form installation-based projects and sculptural series building work on intersecting foundations for memory, time, labour and materiality. 

Hands opens on Elijah's birthday, Sunday 15 December, 12-3PM at Art Haus Gallery on Wurundjeri Country, 20 Old Warrandyte Road, Donvale.//