Perth Indymedia

Anzac Day grows more sinister with each passing year. Once a dead letter of a day, ignored by most Australians, it grew spectacularly under the reign of John Winston Howard, and reached its apex of misplaced jingoism and 'national pride' in last year's centenary of the Gallipoli landings. To discuss exactly why the day has become so popular, Indymedia's Alex Whisson was joined by historian and author of In the Shadow of Gallipoli: The hidden history of Australia in World War I, Robert Bollard. #anzacday #war #australiannationalism #johnhoward #gallipoli #iraqwar

French people, mostly students have been rallying for more than a month against labor law reforms recently proposed by Labor Minister Myriam El Khomri. The French protests went under the #NuitDebout (Rise Up At Night)and has been compared to Occupy Wall Street of the United States and the anti-austerity 15-M or Indignados movement of Spain. The movement is centred at Paris's Place de la République, where protestors have held nightly assemblies following the March 31 protest. The movement has spread to dozens of other cities and towns in France and to neighbouring countries in Europe. Karun Cowper spoke to a participant in one of the "digital" commissions, a working group or committee that is working on the technology and digital tools of the movement, Juan Diosdado.

The history of Australia's relationship with Timor-Leste (formerly East Timor) is a long and sordid one. Decades of complicity by both Labor and Liberal governments alike in the Indonesian genocide there led to a great material prize - the carve-up of oil and gas in the Timor Sea. Post-independence for the fledging nation, not a lot has changed. Australian companies still take an unfair share of Timor-Leste's resources, and a large percentage of royalties flow to Canberra under the terms of the much-criticised 2006 Treaty between Australia and the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste on Certain Maritime Arrangements in the Timor Sea. But led by the Movement Against the Occupation of the Timor Sea, the people of Timor-Leste are fighting back against Australian bastardry and venality. Alex Whisson spoke to Tom Clarke from the Melbourne-based Timor Sea Justice Campaign. He began by asking him to explain exactly what made the oil and gas treaty between the two nations so unjust. #timorleste #timorsea #unconvention

Legendary writer and environmentalist Derrick Jensen chats to Ray Grenfell about his new book, 'The Myth of Human Supremacy', breaking identification with the dominant culture and the struggle for survival in the face of an impending global ecocide.

By the government's own admission its draft Perth and Peel Green Growth Plan would reduce the already endangered Carnaby's Cockatoos by a staggering fifty percent. Ray Grenfell chats to Marie Grey from the Urban Bushland Council to dissect the destructive plan and examine possible sustainable alternatives.

As the water crisis in Flint, Michigan continues to demand questions, Perth Indymedia speaks to Dr Adam Quinn, Senior Lecturer in international politics at the University of Birmingham, UK about how it reflects on the US political scene.

Ali Abunimah is a Palestinan-American journalist, a co-founder of The Electronic Intifada, and the author of several important books on the Israel-Palestinian conflict, including his latest volume The Battle for Justice in Palestine, published by Haymarket Books. A leading proponent of the one-state solution, Abunimah is currently on a speaking tour of Australia. Alex Whisson spoke to Nick Everett from Friends of Palestine WA to discuss why Abunimah’s visa had been delayed. UPDATE: Abunimah’s visa was granted the day after this interview went to air. He then faced the additional challenge of standing up to the Sydney University Administration, which backed down after initially cancelling his first Australian speaking engagement.

The Barnett Government has sold out on WA’s unique plants and animals according to the State’s lead forest conservation organisation, the WA Forest Alliance (WAFA). ‘The Government's Biodiversity Conservation Bill (listed for debate this week) will not protect our precious wildlife,’ said WAFA spokesperson Dr Jasmina Brankovich. '

Legendary rap group Curse Ov Dialect have been spitting their anarchic experimental hip hop since 1994. Ahead of their upcoming release, Twisted Strangers, Ray Grenfell spoke to Curse Ov Dialect MC Volk Makedonski.

We speak with Pia Mancini of the Open Collective on how this revolutionary new platform may be one of the keys to transforming democracy from the bottom up. https://opencollective.com/

We talk with young Perth Muslim activist Aisha Nancy Novakovic about the conference where she presented a paper on Radicalisation, Redemption and Loss: Insights into the Young Muslim Mind.

The Barnett Government is trying to push through legislation to curtail our right to protest. They want to make it an offence to carry a "thing" with the 'presumed' intention of impeding lawful activity. This incredibly vague wording has horrible implications for anybody fighting for what's right in Western Australia. Read it here: http://www.parliament.wa.gov.au/Parliament/Bills.nsf/1E00CF48C52EF57848257DF6000AA4DF/$File/Bill114-1.pdf As the United Nations wrote this week: “The Bill would grant police disproportionate and unnecessary powers to restrict lawful protests. ... It discourages legitimate protest activity and instead, prioritizes business and government resource interests over the democratic rights of individuals. The statement also warns that “The Bill will have the chilling effect of silencing dissenters and punishing expression protected by international human rights law." The Bill was introduced in February 2015, passed in the Upper House on Thursday 18 February 2016 without going to commi

We speak with the Rector of the Anglican parish of Darlington and refugee campaigner Father Chris Bedding on the recent offering of sanctuary to refugees by churches around the country as the federal government threatens the deportation of 267 refugees to abusive detention camps on Manus Island and Nauru.

In recent years we've seen a renaissance of the struggle for Aboriginal self-determination. From the rebirth of the Canberra tent embassy to our own Matagarup encampment and the ongoing campaign against deaths in custody, many valiant and self-sacrificing leaders have emerged. Brisbane-based Bogaine Spearim is one such champion of this new movement. We spoke to him on the eve of Invasion Day about a variety of pressing issues for our Aboriginal brothers and sisters. Indymedia veteran Alex Whisson began by asking Spearim to reflect on the value of Stan Grant recent viral speech. Tags: #Invasion Day #Bogaine Spearim #Stan Grant #Adam Goodes #Musgrave Park

We speak with veteran independent journalist and activist Tony Serve who, upon returning from abroad, had his phone and pin demanded of him, raising further concerns for journos and activists in the day and age of metadata retention laws and the ongoing erosion of our civil liberties.

We talk to Robert Eggington of the Dumbartung Aboriginal Corporation in the wake of the Federal Government's pledged $1 million to set up a "critical response" project to tackle Indigenous suicide in Western Australia. The Dumbartung Aboriginal Corporation has worked with the Aboriginal community at the grassroots level for 30 years in a wide ranging capacity. Preserving and teaching culture, being powerful and vocal advocates on Aboriginal issues, and working in countless ways to support the day to day struggle of Noongar peoples. This photo (courtesy of Dumbartung) is of a meeting with WA Premier Colin Barnett and Robert and Selina Eggington which took place in 2013 immediately following an important suicide crisis summit organised by Dumbartung. The summit exposed the horrific reality and impact of suicide for Aboriginal people in WA and the need for greater funding and support for grassroots Aboriginal organisation to help address the issue. Despite the tremendous and well recognised work over 30 yea

TPP update and forecast with NZ activist and trade unionist Edward Miller

We speak with Yarramun, blogger at http://black-australia.tumblr.com/ about her involvement in forcing

Katie's talk covers mental health issues and the importance of safe spaces and trigger warnings. This talk was recorded at the Institute for Critical Animal Studies Oceania 2015 Conference in Melbourne. You can find out more information about this conference here: http://www.criticalanimalstudies.org/conference-schedule/ You can find links to listen to other talks from the conference here: http://progressivepodcastaustralia.com/2015/08/14/108/ A shortened version of this talk was played on the 28th of December 2015 episode of RTR92.1FM Indymedia. You can listen to this episode at this link (just select 28th December episode on the little calendar on the left): rtrfm.com.au/shows/indymedia/

Kaliyugan Pathmanathan and Sarah Ross discuss the importance of the voices of refugees in the movement for refugees, strategies for effective refugee activism and who is to blame for harsh policies towards asylum seekers? Sarah Ross is an activist with the Refugee Rights Action Network: http://rran.org/ Kaliyugan Pathmanathan is Project Coordinator of Tamil Eelam Cricket. Kaliyugan had to leave Sri Lanka as a refugee to Australia himself and he co-founded this project in order to create a platform for the Tamil diaspora around the world to participate in national and international cricket competitions and also to bridge the gap between newly arrived Tamils in the local community and the pre-existing Tamil community: https://soundcloud.com/perth-indymedia/tamileelamcricket www.tecricket.com/ facebook.com/TamilEelamCricket You can read Tad Tietze's article 'Why We Shouldn’t Blame Voters For Our Appalling Asylum Policies', which was referred to during the interview, here: https://newmatilda.com/2014/07/14/why