Introduction
A series of podcasts from 3CR Community Radio’s Earthmatters program about activism and the arts. Click on each heading to listen.
The Desert Pea and The Frontier Wars March on Anzac
The Australian frontier wars were a series of conflicts fought between Indigenous Australians and white settlers during the Brittish colonisation of Australia.
Hear from two activists who decided eight years ago to make banners that remember the frontier war conflicts and join the Anzac march on Anzac day in Canberra to be met by a police line. Now the march has become an annual event attended by hundreds of people with similar actions springing up in other parts of Australia.
Hear Hazel Davies: a florist activist who tells the story of the desert pea as an indigenous blood flower, the native equivalent of the red poppy as a symbol of the Frontier Wars. Hazel is teaching others to make Desert Pea wreaths to commemorate the Frontier Wars.
We show to the public that here is a desperate need to tell the truth about the colonisation of this country and the devastation wreaked upon First Nations Peoples. We need to remember those who defended their rights to their country; who volunteered to fight for their country in modern wars, despite being treated as second class peoples.
Sovereign Union
Creative Dissent: the pen (and voice) is mightier
In this episode we’re listening to poets, spoken word artists, activists and musicians who are changing hearts and minds with their art. Movements for change and justice come alive in the mouths of artists, and it’s a well known fact that a perfectly delivered rhyme can impart understanding in a way that a lecture never can.
The themes in this episode range from colonialism, climate change, Aboriginal sovereignty, nationalism, nuclear disaster, direct action and love on the frontlines.
The Sound of Change
The climate is changing, and so is our world. But what does that sound like?
Anja Kanngieser and Daniel Jenatsch’s ‘A story of extinction’ is a sonic story meditating on climate change, the anthropocene, and capitalism.
Katharine Round and Leah Borromeo of Disobedient Films teamed-up with composer Jamie Perera to create ‘Climate Symphony’, a one minute composition sonifying climate change. Anita Makri from Sci Dev.net spoke to Katherine and Leah about the project.
The Art of the Matter – Activism and the Arts
This 2015 episode includes interviews with arts and media maker Alex Kelly, science communicator Joe Duggan, and activist Chris Garrard about the role of the arts in identifying the crises we are in and moving us towards action.
Environmental Defenders: Writing and Fighting for the Environment
In the second part of this episode creative writer and teacher Tony Birch discusses exploring his own and others’ Indigenous experience and philosophies to understand First Nations’ resilience to environmental and social change and how that might encourage the broader community to respond and adapt.
Sydney College of the Arts: Here to Stay
Within the broader context of the corporatisation of higher education, visual art colleges are under attack. The University of Sydney is planning to slash its College of the Arts; deleting courses, sacking 60% of staff and closing the Callan Park campus.
The students aren’t sitting on their hands. A vibrant movement of staff, students and supporters has sprung up. One tactic has been a live-in occupation of the College’s administration building, lasting 65 days. Listen in on the day it was broken up by police, as students regroup and fortify for the next step to save SCA.
Knitting Nannas against gas,coal and greed
30 Knitting Nannas are in action, dressed in black and yellow with placards “No New Coal” on the verge of busy road; Industrial Drive in Newcastle, right next to the massive Newcastle coal export terminal. They sing and wave; cars honk encouragement. This is just one of the Knitting Nannas adventures Nannas Gally and Carol tell of in this episode which covers the national phenomena and how to join in.
Explore Further
- Cheeky and Disorganized: Nannagogy and the Knitting Nannas
- Climactic Podcasts On Climate Grief and Resilience
- Disability Visibility: Stories and Podcasts
- Australian Radio Shows by and for People with Disability
- Podcasts About Decolonisation, First Nations Justice and Invasion Day
- Climate Organizing Shorts Podcast: Conversations with Climate Organizers
- People’s History of Australia Podcast
- Commons Conversations Podcast
- Faces of Change: Podcast by Marshall Ganz
- Changemakers Podcast
- For the Win Podcast
- Feminist podcasts we can’t stop talking about
- How to Create your own Podcast
- Creative Activism: Start Here