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"Our duty as Jewish youth is paving the way for ourselves. Sometimes we may feel alone . . . But the most important thing is for us as youth to pave the way for ourselves, to take action, to speak out. Even if it's hard or difficult.” As American Jewish college students head back to their campuses this fall, we talk to three leaders on AJC's Campus Global Board about how antisemitism before and after the October 7 Hamas terror attacks revealed their resilience and ignited the activist inside each of them. Jonathan Iadarola shares how a traumatic anti-Israel incident at University of Adelaide in Australia led him to secure a safe space on campus for Jewish students to convene. Ivan Stern recalls launching the Argentinian Union of Jewish Students after October 7, and Lauren Eckstein shares how instead of withdrawing from her California college and returning home to Arizona, she transferred to Washington University in St. Louis where she found opportunities she never dreamed existed and a supportive Jewish community miles from home.  *The views and opinions expressed by guests do not necessarily reflect the views or position of AJC. Key Resources: AJC Campus Global Board Trusted Back to School Resources from AJC  AJC's 10-Step Guide for Parents Supporting Jewish K-12 Students AJC's Center for Education Advocacy Listen – AJC Podcasts: The Forgotten Exodus: Untold stories of Jews who left or were driven from Arab nations and Iran People of the Pod:  Latest Episodes:  War and Poetry: Owen Lewis on Being a Jewish Poet in a Time of Crisis An Orange Tie and A Grieving Crowd: Comedian Yohay Sponder on Jewish Resilience From Broadway to Jewish Advocacy: Jonah Platt on Identity, Antisemitism, and Israel Follow People of the Pod on your favorite podcast app, and learn more at AJC.org/PeopleofthePod You can reach us at: peopleofthepod@ajc.org If you've appreciated this episode, please be sure to tell your friends, and rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Transcript of the Interview: MANYA: As American Jewish college students head back to their campuses this fall, it's hard to know what to expect. Since the Hamas terror attacks of October 7, maintaining a GPA has been the least of their worries. For some who attend universities that allowed anti-Israel protesters to vandalize hostage signs or set up encampments, fears still linger.  We wanted to hear from college students how they're feeling about this school year. But instead of limiting ourselves to American campuses, we asked three students from AJC's Campus Global Board – from America, Argentina, and Australia – that's right, we still aim for straight A's here. We asked them to share their experiences so far and what they anticipate this year. We'll start on the other side of the world in Australia. With us now is Jonathan Iadarola, a third-year student at the University of Adelaide in Adelaide, Australia, the land down under, where everything is flipped, and they are getting ready to wrap up their school year in November.  Jonathan serves as president of the South Australia branch of the Australian Union of Jewish students and on AJC's Campus Global Board. Jonathan, welcome to People of the Pod. JONATHAN: Thank you for having me. MANYA: So tell us what your experience has been as a Jewish college student in Australia, both before October 7 and after. JONATHAN: So at my university, we have a student magazine, and there was a really awful article in the magazine that a student editor wrote, very critical of Israel, obviously not very nice words. And it sort of ended with like it ended with Death to Israel, glory to the Intifada. Inshallah, it will be merciless. So it was very, very traumatic, obviously, like, just the side note, my great aunt actually died in the Second Intifada in a bus bombing. So it was just like for me, a very personal like, whoa. This is like crazy that someone on my campus wrote this and genuinely believes what they wrote. So yeah, through that experience, I obviously, I obviously spoke up. That's kind of how my activism on campus started. I spoke up against this incident, and I brought it to the university. I brought it to the student editing team, and they stood their ground. They tried to say that this is free speech. This is totally okay. It's completely like normal, normal dialog, which I completely disagreed with.  And yeah, they really pushed back on it for a really long time. And it just got more traumatic with myself and many other students having to go to meetings in person with this student editor at like a student representative council, which is like the students that are actually voted in. Like student government in the United States, like a student body that's voted in by the students to represent us to the university administration.  And though that student government actually laughed in our faces in the meeting while we were telling them that this sort of incident makes us as Jewish students feel unsafe on campus. And we completely were traumatized. Completely, I would say, shattered, any illusion that Jewish students could feel safe on campus. And yeah, that was sort of the beginning of my university journey, which was not great. MANYA: Wow. And that was in 2022, before October 7. So after the terror attacks was when most college campuses here in America really erupted. Had the climate at the University of Adelaide improved by then, or did your experience continue to spiral downward until it was addressed? JONATHAN: It's kind of remained stagnant, I would say. The levels haven't really improved or gotten worse. I would say the only exception was maybe in May 2024, when the encampments started popping up across the world. Obviously it came, came to my city as well. And it wasn't very, it wasn't very great. There was definitely a large presence on my campus in the encampment.  And they were, they were more peaceful than, I would say, other encampments across Australia and obviously in the United States as well. But it was definitely not pleasant for students to, you know, be on campus and constantly see that in their faces and protesting. They would often come into people's classrooms as well. Sharing everything that they would like to say. You couldn't really escape it when you were on campus. MANYA: So how did you find refuge? Was there a community center or safe space on campus? Were there people who took you in?    JONATHAN: So I'm the president of the Jewish Student Society on my campus. One of the things that I really pushed for when the encampments came to my city was to have a Jewish space on campus. It was something that my university never had, and thankfully, we were able to push and they were like ‘Yes, you know what? This is the right time. We definitely agree.' So we actually now have our own, like, big Jewish room on campus, and we still have it to this day, which is amazing.  So it's great to go to when, whether we feel uncomfortable on campus, or whether we just want a place, you know, to feel proud in our Jewish identity. And there's often events in the room. There's like, a Beers and Bagels, or we can have beer here at 18, so it's OK for us. And there's also, yeah, there's bagels. Then we also do Shabbat dinners. Obviously, there's still other stuff happening on campus that's not as nice, but it's great that we now have a place to go when we feel like we need a place to be proud Jews. MANYA: You mentioned that this was the start of your Jewish activism. So, can you tell us a little bit about your Jewish upbringing and really how your college experience has shifted your Jewish involvement, just activity in general? JONATHAN: Yeah, that's a great question. So I actually grew up in Adelaide. This is my home. I was originally born in Israel to an Israeli mother, but we moved, I was two years old when we moved to Adelaide. There was a Jewish school when I grew up. So I did attend the Jewish school until grade five, and then, unfortunately, it did close due to low numbers. And so I had to move to the public school system.  And from that point, I was very involved in the Jewish community through my youth. And then there was a point once the Jewish school closed down where I kind of maybe slightly fell out. I was obviously still involved, but not to the same extent as I was when I was younger. And then I would say the first place I got kind of reintroduced was once I went to college and obviously met other Jewish students, and then it made me want to get back in, back, involved in the community, to a higher level than I had been since primary school.  And yeah, then obviously, these incidents happened on campus, and that kind of, I guess, it shoved me into the spotlight unintentionally, where I felt like no one else was saying anything. I started just speaking up against this. And then obviously, I think many other Jews on campus saw this, and were like: ‘Hang on. We want to also support this and, like, speak out against it.' and we kind of formed a bit of a group on campus, and that's how the club actually was formed as well.  So the club didn't exist prior to this incident. It kind of came out of it, which is, I guess, the beautiful thing, but also kind of a sad thing that we only seem to find each other in incidences of, you know, sadness and trauma. But the beautiful thing is that from that, we have been able to create a really nice, small community on campus for Jewish students.  So yeah, that's sort of how my journey started. And then through that, I got involved with the Australsian Union of Jewish Students, which is the Jewish Student Union that represents Jewish students all across Australia and New Zealand. And I started the South Australian branch, which is the state that Adelaide is in.  And I've been the president for the last three years. So that's sort of been my journey. And obviously through that, I've gotten involved with American Jewish Committee.  MANYA: So you're not just fighting antisemitism, these communities and groups that you're forming are doing some really beautiful things.  JONATHAN: Obviously, I really want to ensure that Jewish student life can continue to thrive in my city, but also across Australia. And one way that we've really wanted to do that is to help create essentially, a national Shabbaton. An event where Jewish students from all across the country, come to one place for a weekend, and we're all together having a Shabbat dinner together, learning different educational programs, hearing from different amazing speakers, and just being with each other in our Jewish identity, very proud and united. It's one of, I think, my most proud accomplishments so far, through my college journey, that I've been able to, you know, create this event and make it happen.  MANYA: And is there anything that you would like to accomplish Jewishly before you finish your college career? JONATHAN: There's a couple things. The big thing for me is ensuring, I want there to continue to be a place on campus for people to go and feel proud in their Jewish identity. I think having a Jewish space is really important, and it's something that I didn't have when I started my college journey. So I'm very glad that that's in place for future generations.  For most of my college journey so far, we didn't have even a definition at my university for antisemitism. So if you don't have a definition, how are you going to be able to define what is and what isn't antisemitic and actually combat it? So now, thankfully, they do have a definition. I don't know exactly if it's been fully implemented yet, but I know that they have agreed to a definition, and it's a mix of IHRA and the Jerusalem Declaration, I believe, so it's kind of a mix. But I think as a community, we're reasonably happy with it, because now they actually have something to use, rather than not having anything at all.  And yeah, I think those are probably the two main things for me, obviously, ensuring that there's that processes at the university moving forward for Jewish students to feel safe to report when there are incidents on campus. And then ensuring that there's a place for Jewish students to continue to feel proud in their Jewish identity and continue to share that and live that while they are studying at the university.  MANYA: Well, Jonathan, thank you so much for joining us, and enjoy your holiday. JONATHAN: Thank you very much. I really appreciate it.  MANYA: Now we turn to Argentina, Buenos Aires to be exact, to talk to Ivan Stern, the first Argentine and first Latin American to serve on AJC's Campus Global Board. A student at La Universidad Nacional de San Martin, Ivan just returned to classes last week after a brief winter break down there in the Southern Hemisphere.  What is Jewish life like there on that campus? Are there organizations for Jewish students?  IVAN: So I like to compare Jewish life in Buenos Aires like Jewish life in New York or in Paris or in Madrid. We are a huge city with a huge Jewish community where you can feel the Jewish sense, the Jewish values, the synagogues everywhere in the street. When regarding to college campuses, we do not have Jewish institutions or Jewish clubs or Jewish anything in our campuses that advocate for Jewish life or for Jewish students.  We don't actually need them, because the Jewish community is well established and respected in Argentina. Since our terrorist attacks of the 90s, we are more respected, and we have a strong weight in all the decisions. So there's no specific institution that works for Jewish life on campus until October 7 that we gathered a student, a student led organization, a student led group.  We are now part of a system that it's created, and it exists in other parts of the world, but now we are start to strengthening their programming and activities in Argentina we are we now have the Argentinian union with Jewish students that was born in October 7, and now we represent over 150 Jewish students in more than 10 universities. We are growing, but we are doing Shabbat talks in different campuses for Jewish students. We are bringing Holocaust survivors to universities to speak with administrations and with student cabinets that are not Jewish, and to learn and to build bridges of cooperation, of course, after October 7, which is really important. So we are in the middle of this work. We don't have a strong Hillel in campuses or like in the US, but we have Jewish students everywhere. We are trying to make this grow, to try to connect every student with other students in other universities and within the same university. And we are, yeah, we are work in progress. MANYA: Listeners just heard from your Campus Global Board colleague Jonathan Iadarola from Adelaide, Australia, and he spoke about securing the first  space for Jewish students on campus at the University of Adelaide. Does that exist at your university? Do you have a safe space?  So Hillel exists in Buenos Aires and in Cordoba, which Cordova is another province of Argentina. It's a really old, nice house in the middle of a really nice neighborhood in Buenos Aires. So also in Argentina another thing that it's not like in the U.S., we don't live on campuses, so we come and go every day from our houses to the to the classes. So that's why sometimes it's possible for us to, after classes, go to Hillel or or go to elsewhere. And the Argentinian Union, it's our job to represent politically to the Jewish youth on campus. To make these bridges of cooperation with non-Jewish actors of different college campuses and institutions, as I mentioned before, we bring Holocaust survivors, we place banners, we organize rallies. We go to talk with administrators. We erase pro- Palestinian paints on the wall. We do that kind of stuff, building bridges, making programs for Jewish youth. We also do it, but it's not our main goal. MANYA: So really, it's an advocacy organization, much like AJC. IVAN: It's an advocacy organization, and we are really, really, really happy to work alongside with the AJC more than once to strengthen  our goals. MANYA: October 7 was painful for all of us, what happened on university campuses there in Argentina that prompted the need for a union? So the impact of October 7 in Argentina wasn't nearly as strong as in other parts of the world, and definitely nothing like what's been happening on U.S. campuses. Maybe that's because October here is finals season, and our students were more focused on passing their classes than reacting to what was happening on the Middle East, but there were attempts of engagements, rallies, class disruptions and intimidations, just like in other places. That's why we focused on speaking up, taking action. So here it's not happening. What's happening in the U.S., which was really scary, and it's still really scary, but something was happening, and we needed to react. There wasn't a Jewish institution advocating for Jewish youth on campus, directly, getting to know what Jewish students were facing, directly, lively walking through the through the hallways, through the campus, through the campuses. So that's why we organize this student-led gathering, different students from different universities, universities. We need to do something. At the beginning, this institution was just on Instagram. It was named the institutions, and then for Israel, like my university acronym, it's unsam Universidad national, San Martin unsam. So it was unsam for Israel. So we, so we posted, like every campaign we were doing in our campuses, and then the same thing happened in other university and in other universities. So now we, we gathered everyone, and now we are the Argentinian Union of Jewish students.  But on top of that, in November 2023 students went on summer break until March 2024 so while the topic was extremely heated elsewhere here, the focus had shifted on other things. The new national government was taking office, which had everyone talking more about their policies than about Israel.  So now the issue is starting to resurface because of the latest news from Gaza, So we will go where it goes from here, but the weight of the community here, it's, as I said, really strong. So we have the ability to speak up.  MANYA: What kinds of conversations have you had with university administrators directly after. October 7, and then now, I mean, are you, are you communicating with them? Do you have an open channel of communication? Or is are there challenges? IVAN: we do? That's an incredible question there. It's a tricky one, because it depends on the university. The answer we receive. Of course, in my university, as I said, we are, we are lots of Jews in our eyes, but we are a strong minority also, but we have some Jewish directors in the administration, so sometimes they are really focused on attending to our concerns, and they are really able to to pick a call, to answer back our messages, also, um, there's a there's a great work that Argentina has been, has been doing since 2020 to apply the IHRA definition in every institute, in every public institution. So for example, my university, it's part of the IHRA definition. So that's why it was easy for us to apply sanctions to student cabinets or student organizations that were repeating antisemitic rhetorics, distortioning the Holocaust messages and everything, because we could call to our administrators, regardless if they were Jewish or not, but saying like, ‘Hey, this institution is part of the IHRA definition since February 2020, it's November 2023, and this will be saying this, this and that they are drawing on the walls of the of our classrooms. Rockets with Magen David, killing people. This is distortioning the Jewish values, the religion, they are distortioning everything. Please do something.'  So they started doing something. Then with the private institutions, we really have a good relationship. They have partnerships with different institutions from Israel, so it's easy for us to stop political demonstrations against the Jewish people. We are not against political demonstrations supporting the Palestinian statehood or anything. But when it regards to the safety of Jewish life on campus or of Jewish students, we do make phone calls. We do call to other Jewish institutions to have our back. And yes, we it's we have difficult answers, but we but the important thing is that we have them. They do not ghost us, which is something we appreciate. But sometimes ghosting is worse. Sometimes it's better for us to know that the institution will not care about us, than not knowing what's their perspective towards the problem. So sometimes we receive like, ‘Hey, this is not an antisemitism towards towards our eyes. If you want to answer back in any kind, you can do it. We will not do nothing.  MANYA: Ivan, I'm wondering what you're thinking of as you're telling me this. Is there a specific incident that stands out in your mind as something the university administrators declined to address? IVAN: So in December 2023, when we were all in summer break, we went back to my college, to place the hostages signs on the walls of every classroom. Because at the same time, the student led organizations that were far left, student-led organizations were placing these kind of signs and drawings on the walls with rockets, with the Magen David and demonizing Jews. So we did the same thing. So we went to the school administrators, and we call them, like, hey, the rocket with the Magen David. It's not okay because the Magen David is a Jewish symbol. This is a thing happening in the Middle East between a state and another, you have to preserve the Jewish students, whatever. And they told us, like, this is not an antisemitic thing for us, regardless the IHRA definition. And then they did do something and paint them back to white, as the color of the wall.  But they told us, like, if you want to place the hostages signs on top of them or elsewhere in the university, you can do it. So if they try to bring them down, yet, we will do something, because that this is like free speech, that they can do whatever they want, and you can do whatever that you want. So that's the answers we receive.  So sometimes they are positive, sometimes they are negative, sometimes in between. But I think that the important thing is that the youth is united, and as students, we are trying to push forward and to advocate for ourselves and to organize by ourselves to do something. MANYA: Is there anything that you want to accomplish, either this year or before you leave campus? IVAN: To keep building on the work of the Argentinian Union of Jewish Students is doing bringing Jewish college students together, representing them, pushing our limits, expanding across the country. As I said, we have a strong operations in Buenos Aires as the majority of the community is here, but we also know that there's other Jewish students in other provinces of Argentina. We have 24 provinces, so we are just working in one.  And it's also harder for Jewish students to live Jewishly on campus in other provinces when they are less students. Then the problems are bigger because you feel more alone, because you don't know other students, Jews or non-Jews. So that's one of my main goals, expanding across the country, and while teaming up with non-Jewish partners.  MANYA: You had said earlier that the students in the union were all buzzing about AJC's recent ad in the The New York Times calling for a release of the hostages still in Gaza.Are you hoping your seat on AJC's Campus Global Board will help you expand that reach? Give you some initiatives to empower and encourage your peers. Not just your peers, Argentina's Jewish community at large.  IVAN: My grandma is really happy about the AJC donation to the Gaza church. She sent me a message. If you have access to the AJC, please say thank you about the donation. And then lots of Jewish students in the in our union group chat, the 150 Jewish students freaking out about the AJC article or advice in The New York Times newspaper about the hostages. So they were really happy MANYA: In other words, they they like knowing that there's a global advocacy organization out there on their side? IVAN: Also advocating for youth directly. So sometimes it's hard for us to connect with other worldwide organizations. As I said, we are in Argentina, in the bottom of the world. AJC's worldwide. And as I said several times in this conversation, we are so well established that sometimes we lack of international representation here, because everything is solved internally. So if you have, if you have anything to say, you will go to the AMIA or to the Daya, which are the central organizations, and that's it. And you are good and there. And they may have connections or relationships with the AJC or with other organizations. But now students can have direct representations with organizations like AJC, which are advocating directly for us. So we appreciate it also. MANYA: You said things never got as heated and uncomfortable in Argentina as they did on American college campuses. What encouragement would you like to offer to your American peers?  I was two weeks ago in New York in a seminar with other Jewish students from all over the world and I mentioned that our duty as Jewish youth is paving the way for ourselves. Sometimes we may feel alone. Sometimes we are, sometimes we are not. But the most important thing is for us as youth to pave the way for ourselves, to take action, to speak out. Even if it's hard or difficult. It doesn't matter how little it is, but to do something, to start reconnecting with other Jews, no matter their religious spectrum, to start building bridges with other youth. Our strongest aspect is that we are youth, Not only because we are Jewish, but we are youth. So it's easier for us to communicate with our with other peers. So sometimes when everything is, it looks like hate, or everything is shady and we cannot see the light at the end of the tunnel. We should remember that the other one shouting against us is also a peer. MANYA:. Thank you so much, Ivan. Really appreciate your time and good luck going back for your spring semester. IVAN: Thank you. Thank you so much for the time and the opportunity.  MANYA:  Now we return home. Campus Global Board Member Lauren Eckstein grew up outside Phoenix and initially pursued studies at Pomona College in Southern California. But during the spring semester after the October 7 Hamas terror attacks, she transferred to Washington University in St. Louis. She returned to California this summer as one of AJC's Goldman Fellows.  So Lauren, you are headed back to Washington University in St Louis this fall. Tell us what your experience there has been so far as a college student. LAUREN: So I've been there since January of 2024. It has a thriving Jewish community of Hillel and Chabad that constantly is just like the center of Jewish life. And I have great Jewish friends, great supportive non-Jewish friends. Administration that is always talking with us, making sure that we feel safe and comfortable. I'm very much looking forward to being back on campus.  MANYA: As I already shared with our audience, you transferred from Pomona College. Did that have anything to do with the response on campus after October 7? LAUREN: I was a bit alienated already for having spent a summer in Israel in between my freshman and sophomore year. So that would have been the summer of 2023 before October 7, like few months before, and I already lost some friends due to spending that summer in Israel before anything had happened and experienced some antisemitism before October 7, with a student calling a pro-Israel group that I was a part of ‘bloodthirsty baby killers for having a barbecue in celebration of Israeli independence. But after October 7 is when it truly became unbearable. I lost hundreds of followers on Instagram. The majority of people I was friends with started giving me dirty looks on campus. I was a history and politics double major at the time, so the entire history department signed a letter in support of the war. I lost any sense of emotional safety on campus. And so 20 days after October 7, with constant protests happening outside of my dorm, I could hear it from my dorm students going into dining halls, getting them to sign petitions against Israel, even though Israel had not been in Gaza at all at this point. This was all before the invasion happened. I decided to go home for a week for my mental well being, and ended up deciding to spend the rest of that semester at home. MANYA: What did your other Jewish classmates do at Pomona? Did they stay? Did they transfer as well? LAUREN: I would say the majority of Jewish students in Claremont either aren't really–they don't really identify with their Jewish identity in other way, in any way, or most of them identify as anti-Zionist very proudly. And there were probably only a few dozen of us in total, from all five colleges that would identify as Zionists, or really say like, oh, I would love to go to Israel. One of my closest friends from Pomona transferred a semester after I did, to WashU. A few other people I know transferred to other colleges as well. I think the choice for a lot of people were either, I'm going to get through because I only have a year left, or, like, a couple years left, or I'm going to go abroad.  Or I'm just going to face it, and I know that it's going to be really difficult, and I'm only going to have a few friends and only have a few professors I can even take classes with, but I'm going to get through it. MANYA: So have you kept in touch with the friends in Pomona or at Pomona that cut you off, shot you dirty looks, or did those friendships just come to an end? LAUREN: They all came to an end. I can count on one hand, under one hand, the number of people that I talked to from any of the Claremont Colleges. I'm lucky to have one like really, really close friend of mine, who is not Jewish, that stood by my side during all of this, when she easily did not need to and will definitely always be one of my closest friends, but I don't talk to the majority of people that I was friends with at Pomona. MANYA: Well, I'm very sorry to hear that, but it sounds like the experience helped you recognize your truest friend. With only one year left at WashU, I'm sure plenty of people are asking you what you plan to do after you graduate, but I want to know what you are hoping to do in the time you have left on campus. LAUREN: I really just want to take it all in. I feel like I haven't had a very normal college experience. I mean, most people don't transfer in general, but I think my two college experiences have been so different from each other, even not even just in terms of antisemitism or Jewish population, but even just in terms of like, the kind of school it is, like, the size of it and all of that, I have made such amazing friends at WashU – Jewish and not –  that I just really want to spend as much time with them as I can, and definitely spend as much time with the Jewish community and staff at Hillel and Chabad that I can. I'm minoring in Jewish, Islamic, Middle Eastern Studies, and so I'm really looking forward to taking classes in that subject, just that opportunity that I didn't have at Pomona. I really just want to go into it with an open mind and really just enjoy it as much as I can, because I haven't been able to enjoy much of my college experience. So really appreciate the good that I have. MANYA: As I mentioned before, like Jonathan and Ivan, you are on AJC's Campus Global Board. But you also served as an AJC Goldman Fellow in the Los Angeles regional office this summer, which often involves working on a particular project. Did you indeed work on something specific?  LAUREN: I mainly worked on a toolkit for parents of kids aged K-8, to address Jewish identity and antisemitism. And so really, what this is trying to do is both educate parents, but also provide activities and tools for their kids to be able to really foster that strong Jewish identity. Because sadly, antisemitism is happening to kids at much younger ages than what I dealt with, or what other people dealt with.  And really, I think bringing in this positive aspect of Judaism, along with providing kids the tools to be able to say, ‘What I'm seeing on this social media platform is antisemitic, and this is why,' is going to make the next generation of Jews even stronger. MANYA: Did you experience any antisemitism or any challenges growing up in Arizona? LAUREN: I went to a non-religious private high school, and there was a lot of antisemitism happening at that time, and so there was a trend to post a blue square on your Instagram. And so I did that. And one girl in my grade –it was a small school of around 70 kids per grade, she called me a Zionist bitch for posting the square. It had nothing to do with Israel or anything political. It was just a square in solidarity with Jews that were being killed in the United States for . . . being Jewish.  And so I went to the school about it, and they basically just said, this is free speech. There's nothing we can do about it. And pretty much everyone in my grade at school sided with her over it.  I didn't really start wearing a star until high school, but I never had a second thought about it. Like, I never thought, oh, I will be unsafe if I wear this here.  MANYA: Jonathan and Ivan shared how they started Jewish organizations for college students that hadn't existed before. As someone who has benefited from Hillel and Chabad and other support networks, what advice would you offer your peers in Argentina and Australia? LAUREN: It's so hard for me to say what the experience is like as an Argentinian Jew or as an Australian Jew, but I think community is something that Jews everywhere need. I think it's through community that we keep succeeding, generation after generation, time after time, when people try to discriminate against us and kill us. I believe, it's when we come together as a people that we can truly thrive and feel safe.  And I would say in different places, how Jewish you want to outwardly be is different. But I think on the inside, we all need to be proud to be Jewish, and I think we all need to connect with each other more, and that's why I'm really excited to be working with students from all over the world on the Campus Global Board, because I feel like us as Americans, we don't talk to Jews from other countries as much as we should be. I think that we are one people. We always have been and always will be, and we really need to fall back on that. MANYA: Well, that's a lovely note to end on. Thank you so much, Lauren. LAUREN: Thank you. MANYA:  If you missed last week's episode, be sure to tune in for my conversation with Adam Louis-Klein, a PhD candidate at McGill University. Adam shared his unexpected journey from researching the Desano tribe in the Amazon to confronting rising antisemitism in academic circles after October 7. He also discussed his academic work, which explores the parallels between indigenous identity and Jewish peoplehood, and unpacks the politics of historical narrative.  Next week, People of the Pod will be taking a short break while the AJC podcast team puts the finishing touches on a new series set to launch August 28: Architects of Peace: The Abraham Accords Story. Stay tuned.  

The Australian Union of Jewish Students (AUJS) organised a solidarity event in Melbourne University where students were standing up to demand physical and psychological safety.

Ben Davison looks at the established research which shows the NO campaign is leveraging misinformation and a global network of disinformation campaigners.  In a shock admission Ben admits that he agrees with Phil Coorey and Chris Kenny that the No campaign has become a grab bag of grievances. The disability royal commission report has been handed down with 222 recommendations from over 10,000 submissions.  Ben looks at how it intersects with the current NDIS review and why reform will take time but is urgently needed. Mike Pezzullo has stood aside while there is an investigation into his conduct by the public service commissioner.  Ben discusses why there needs to be an investigation, who this man is and what influence he has been wielding over our lives. Ben also give a shout out to the leader of the Australian Union movement, Sally McManus, for her being named the 4th most powerful person in Australia.  You can join your union at australianunions.org.au/wow   

Ben Davison gets under the hood of the minimum wage decision, the cuts the bosses wanted and how millions of Australian's will be better off as a result of the work of the Australian Union movement.  If you're not already a member join now at australianunions.org.au/wow because unions have won an 8.6% increase in the minimum wage, a 5.75% in award wages and unionised workers get paid an average of 26% more! The RBA governor said that we need more people to live in each "dwelling" during his senate estimates appearance and Ben breaks down why that's such a gaffe and how The Greens Party spokesperson against Labor's housing policy used his appearance on Insiders today to effectively double down on the conditions that lead economists to the idea that the housing crisis won't be solved with more housing anytime soon. Ben Roberts Smith lost his defamation trial this week.  Ben explores what the trial was about, what it means Ben Roberts Smith probably did, why it impacts our view of the defence force and how this demonstrates that billionaire and corporate owned media fuels, feeds and festers toxicity for its own purposes.   

Australian Union rugby player, James O'Connor joins Jonny this week to walk us through his learnings from his phenomenal and at times misunderstood career so far. One of the most talented players of his generation, he gives us an incredible insight into the highs and lows of his career. Having played stints in London, Manchester and Toulon before returning to Australia he has encountered challenging moments on and off the pitch to go with the amazing ones and is happy to open up about them. James talks about the immense importance of listening to his body and constantly seeking for his truth. Absolute willingness to accept and relax and the courage to stay true to passion and excitement plays a big part in this episode.

Australian Union rugby player, James O'Connor joins Jonny this week to walk us through his learnings from his phenomenal and at times misunderstood career so far. One of the most talented players of his generation, he gives us an incredible insight into the highs and lows of his career. Having played stints in London, Manchester and Toulon before returning to Australia he has encountered challenging moments on and off the pitch to go with the amazing ones and is happy to open up about them. James talks about the immense importance of listening to his body and constantly seeking for his truth. Absolute willingness to accept and relax and the courage to stay true to passion and excitement plays a big part in this episode.

Ben Davison takes a look at the Morrison Inquiry's role in safeguarding our democracy, the Robodebt Royal Commission's role in safeguarding our social democracy and Sally McManus's ideas to get wages moving again. Start by joining your union at australianunions.org.au/wow The government has announced an inquiry into Morrison's shredding of democratic convention to be conducted by a former High Court judge and Ben looks at why the Morrison supporters are squealing. The Robodebt royal commission has been announced and Ben discusses why this needs to be a watershed moment for how we think about citizens in need of support. Sally McManus, leader of the Australian Union movement, and Jennifer Westacott, head of the Business Council of Australia, were on Insiders debating proposals for bargaining reform, skills development and migration settings ahead of the Jobs and Skills Summit. Even Westacott admitted that workers on collective agreements get paid better! Ben looks at some of the fake arguments that get used against collective bargaining and ow Michaelia Cash might have given us an unintentional insight into how the Coalition was deliberately keeping wages low. Don't forget you can become a supporter of the podcast at www.buymeacoffee.com/weekonwednesday and get every episode emailed to you along with interesting links.

Van Badham and Ben Davison have COVID!  But that doesn't stop them from examining how a decade of Liberal/National government gave Morrison the chance to stack out various Australian institutions, ranging from the ABC to the Reserve Bank. While many appointments across government may have been on merit the uniform ideological background of people on the Reserve Bank Board have many people questioning the recent demands by the Governor of the RBA for workers to wear more pay cuts and suggesting a return to the board of a strong worker voice.  Just as Fraser, Hawke and Keating appointed the head of the Australian Union movement to the board of the Reserve Bank many are now calling for Sally McManus, or at least someone with a labour market understanding, to be appointed.  If you think worker's should wear the costs of higher profits but should get decent pay rises and want one for yourself join your union at australianunions.org.au/wow Van gives a background on where "long march through the institutions" comes from and Ben gives a rant about "If I was reserve bank governor."  Did we mention they both have COVID? COVID hasn't gone away.  Van and Ben have it and discuss how, after a lull, the numbers of infections, hospitalisations and deaths are again rising.  Wear a mask, get vaccinated, stay safe. The good news is that the Albanese Labor Government has signed up to a 43% reduction in emissions by 2030.  In a move that brought together stakeholders from across the environment, labour and business sectors Labor has set out an achievable ambition for real climate action. It might be a shorter episode but we'd never forget to acknowledge our Cadre and Extend the Reach supporters who Van reads out by name every episode.

Johnny Allen is a seminal figure in alternative arts and culture in Australia, and a recognised pioneer of the event industry, often referred to as the ‘Father of Events' in Australia.He published and edited Masque national magazine of the performing arts from 1965 to 1968, and wrote The Entertainment Arts in Australia published by Paul Hamlyn Sydney in 1968. In the early 1970s he ran the indy music venue The Arts Factory in Surry Hills.In 1972, as Cultural Director of the Australian Union of Students, he established a national touring circuit including activists such as Ralph Nader, Spike Milligan, Phil Ochs, Ron Cobb and Richard Neville. In 1973 he produced the Nimbin Aquarius Festival with Festival Director Graeme Dunstan.After spending time in the US in the mid-1970s, he returned to Sydney and ran the Paris Theatre opposite Hyde Park, producing the first gay film festival, Images of Gays in 1978. He went on to start the radical performance collective Cabaret Conspiracy, the Gay Theatre Company, and Palms Cabaret in Oxford Street.In 1985, he directed the 25th Anniversary Mattara Festival of Newcastle, and went on to direct that city's celebrations of Australia's Bicentenary in 1988, including the State Music Festival, the Royal Visit of the Queen and Prince Phillip, and The Longest Birthday Party on the Newcastle Foreshore, awarded Best Australia Day Event of the Bicentennial year. He returned to Sydney in 1989 as Event Manager for the Darling Harbour Authority, positioning it as ‘where Sydney celebrates' with an annual program including major celebrations of Australia Day and New Year's Eve.Now semi-retired, Johnny continues to practise event management, coordinating the cabaret program for the Sedition Festival in 2019, the Golden Mile Gallery exhibition of gay history in 20 shopfronts in Oxford Street as a feature event of the Oxtravaganza program for Mardi Gras in 2020, and gay cultural history exhibitions for Mardi Gras in 2021 and 2022. He is a board member of the proposed queer museum project Qtopia Sydney, a consultant to the State Library queer exhibition in 2023, and is currently preparing a major gay cultural program for Sydney WorldPride in 2023.Next Thursday June 16th he is presenting a Queer themed evening of events at the Powerhouse Museum - up late! The evening is part of the IDEAS program for the VIVID festival - now enthralling patrons across Sydney. Johnny joined STAGES to discuss this event - and a life-time creating memories.The STAGES podcast is available to access and subscribe from Whooshkaa, Spotify and Apple podcasts. Or from wherever you access your favourite podcasts. A conversation with creatives about craft and career. Recipient of Best New Podcast at 2019 Australian Podcast Awards. Follow socials on instagram (stagespodcast) and facebook (Stages).www.stagespodcast.com.au

Van Badham and Ben Davison break down Morrison's re-election platform of wage cuts, job cuts and raids on retirement on the very day the Morrison government has delivered the worst wage figures in more than 20 years. With profits up, sales up, CEO pay up, the cost of living going up and Morrison demanding workers wear a $4,000 pay cut Van and Ben ask the question; "How can Morrison be promising to cut wages, cut jobs and raid people's retirements but still be in with a chance of winning this election?" Ben breaks down why the raid on retirement is bad housing policy and bad economics. The Australian Union movement has had a big win with working people on award rate winning 10 days of paid family and domestic violence (FDV) leave.  After a decade of the "we won't campaign successfully expanding paid FDV  leave through many agreements with big employers, unions have won the right for more than 2.6 million award workers. If you want to make sure your workplace is safer, your wages higher and your job more secure join your union at australianunions.org.au/wow Van breaks down the real life implications of not having access to paid leave when experiencing intimate partner violence. As the polls tighten the lines between a re-elected, wage cutting, job cutting, retirement raiding, anti-women Morrison government and an Albanese led Labor government have become even clearer in the final week of the campaign.  Albo used his final National Press Club Address to reiterate his commitment to extending FDV leave to all workers, supporting wage increases, doing more to stop deaths from COVID, end the Morrison era rorts and introduce a federal ICAC. The election is on Saturday and Van Badham and Ben Davison will be hosting a live watch along broadcast.  Links and details on all Week on Wednesday social media and through the support page (www.buymeacoffee.com/weekonwednesday) And the good news is about rats being purged from an Australian island...maybe an omen? As always we give shoutouts to all our Cadre and Extending the Reach supporters too!

Ben Davison looks at Morrison's explanation that his debate response to a mother who's child has had their NDIS support cut that he was "blessed to not have had to go through that" was about the difficulties in navigating the NDIS, rather than a comment about children with a disability.  Even if we take Morrison at his word it is, at the very least, a condemnation of his own failure to properly deliver the NDIS.  Plans have been cut by an average of 4%, appeals to the AAT have doubled, foreign private equity backed unregistered and unregulated "platforms" that "connect" workers and participants in, what has been described as, digital sham contracting arrangement are taking 14% margins out of the tax payer funded system.  As the campaigns head into the Northern Territory it is timely to remember that HALF of NDIS plans in the NT have been cut in the last six months. Insiders discussed in detail the failures of the Morrison government on the Solomon Islands and Ben explores how Morrison spent the end of the week setting up another pork barrel program while refusing to answer questions about Australia's largest foreign policy blunder in the pacific for over 70 years. Barnaby Joyce was the Insiders guest from the government and he made it clear that their only plan is to let multinational corporations sell our resources overseas.  While sitting in Gladstone, where people have to fly to Brisbane to get medical treatments as billions of dollars of resources depart the docks, Barnaby was asked what the government's plan for the future "If they want to buy it we will sell it" was his response. This ideologically lines up with the findings of two major pieces of work from the Australian Union movement this week.  The ship building company Austal received a Morrison campaign visit and a $124M contract after having been found to underpay its workers. The union, ETU, won the money back but Morrison wouldn't even acknowledge the request for safeguards to prevent this from happening again on government funded projects. The ACTU released research showing that while 100 countries put limits on the use of "fixed term contracts" Australia is not among that group of 100 nations and that casuals in Australia are being paid up to $350 LESS than ongoing workers doing the same job. Ben urges everyone to join their union at australianunions.org.au/wow and to put the Liberals last (with a brief explanation of how the ballot papers work)

Van Badham and Ben Davison take a long look into whats happened in aged care now that Morrison has had the Aged Care Royal Commission findings for over a year.  Hundreds have died, minister Colbeck cannot guarantee that funding for nutrition was spent on food, nursing homes don't always have a nurse, minimum care times are not being met and the workers need a 25% pay increase just to get a liveable hourly wage.  But unions have taken up the issue with a claim to lift wages to $30 an hour, have nurses in nursing homes, have staff to resident ratios and ensure people are feed more than $6 a day worth of slop. The Australian Union movement also released a report this week called "Morrison Missing: A record of his failure for working women".  The report shows how under the Morrison government 2 out 3 working women have faced sexual harassment at work, women are paid nearly $500 a week less than men, retire with half as much as men and are more likely to experience insecure work, unemployment and homelessness. The report coincided with the union movement bringing a case for paid family and domestic violence leave in the workplace commission.  While employer lobby groups were happy to contest the claim no employer was willing to put their face to opposing a paid day off for the victims of family and domestic violence. While the Australia Services Union has asked Qantas to get rid of some outdated gender bias uniform laws, Tony Abbott has been spouting American right wing talking points that "gender whispering" is basically why Putin has invaded Ukraine. It is not.  Putin has invaded Ukraine because he believes in a fascist ideology espoused by one of his advisors and praised by people like Steve Bannon. Putin's War in Ukraine has highlighted how his far right ideology has been supported by bad faith actors in the west and is based on a written doctrine of fascism, "Greater Russian" rule over large parts of Europe and the "destruction" of "liberalism" While the war is not going to plan for Putin it has unified democracies against his authoritarianism in some interesting and unexpected ways while also having devastating economic consequences for Putin and his cabal of oligarchs. The flooding disaster in south east Queensland and northern NSW has claimed 10 lives and left over 50,000 properties without power.  Van and Ben rail against the failure of Morrison and Dutton to understand the role of government in supporting people in a time of crisis while praising the selflessness of the volunteers and community members on the front line. Plus there is good news about Guinness and carbon capture!  And as always we give a shout out to our supporters, you can check out the supporter page at www.buymeacoffee.com/weekonwednesday

Van Badham and Ben Davison dive into the mess of Scott Morrison's ideology and the Boy Prince Dom's unenforceable COVID policies as the politics of material reality, that is millions of Australian's having COVID, being exposed to COVID and being too sick to go to work, starts to bite into both NSW based Liberal Party leaders.  Shelves are bare, businesses cannot function, economic activity is collapsing and the truism is being proved: To have a healthy economy you need healthy people. With workers being sick and exposed to COVID Morrison intends to use national cabinet to try and water down workplace safety protections while the Australian Union movement and leader Sally McManus have call on Morrison to abandon his plans and instead focus on more rapid antigen tests, masks and support for workers to stay safe and small businesses to function. Ben takes us through the state by state numbers, the impacts across industries and some of the more "interesting" policy approaches, while Van gets theoretical guns blazing against two political leaders who have chosen ideological blindness just when more Australian's than ever are experiencing the lived reality of COVID. In a late breaking addition Ben and Van look at whether Novak Djokovic was not only lying about his COVID situation but asks the question; Were Djokovic's tests altered?  Information published by German news outlet Spiegel questions the legitimacy of Djokovic's claims through an examination of public information, timelines and testing records.  https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/novak-djokovic-were-the-results-of-his-positive-pcr-test-manipulated-a-cf3e7344-e98f-4fc3-8bb3-7727d4795e97  Good news out of Germany, where rapid antigen tests can be bought from vending machines and despite KFC running out of some chicken products there is good news in the form of plant based alternatives! Plus we give shout outs to our first wave of Cadre and Extending the Reach supporters from our supporter page: www.buymeacoffee.com/WeekOnWednesday 

On the 11th of February, 1990, Nelson Mandela, the leader of South Africa's outlawed resistance movement, the African National Congress (ANC) was released from prison after 27 years of incarceration. Later that year, Mandela arrived in Melbourne, Australia, a part of his global tour to thank those who had supported the ANC in its fight against Apartheid. Australia's Unions were amongst the first organisations to recognise and support the ANC's struggle, and Mandela never forgot it. This speech delivered by Mandela at the Melbourne Town Hall on the 25th of October, 1990, is a special moment in the history of the Australian Union movement. ______________________________________________________________ * You can now email us with your comments, story ideas, tip-offs, flip offs, and questions - otjpodcast@protonmail.com *On the Job is made by Australian Unions. More about On The Job podcast Need help with working conditions? Call Australian Union Support Centre - 1300 486 466 About the hosts Sally Rugg - @sallyrugg Francis Leach, ACTU - @SaintFranklySupport the show: https://www.onthejobpodcast.com.au/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Van Badham and Ben Davison examine how Scott Morrison's decision to fly to Sydney for father's day weekend, at tax payer expense across two closed borders, was compounded by the sleight of hand photo used on his social media and speaks to his continued poor judgement in the wake of his trip to Hawaii, the family pub crawl around Cornwall and his decision to deal with the politics, rather than the substance, of his party's "women problem". The Women's Summit, Morrison's attempt to make the rolling scandals and systemic mistreatment of women in Australia under his leadership go away, has been slammed by Grace Tame, Brittany Higgins, Victorian and Queensland Ministers as well as groups advocating for women fleeing domestic violence.  Brittany Higgins wasn't an invited delegate, even though in many ways she was the catalyst for the summit, and the Australian Union movement was invited at all.  Van looks at how this summit continues the Morrison approach of dealing with the politics rather than the problem, the sense of disappointment that comes from Morrison's refusal to impliment all 55 recommendations of the Respect@Work report and the baffling new human rights commissioner appointment that was announced, while the summit was on, who grace Tame described as "a grave mistake." COVID continues to ravage Australia with more deaths than at any point in the pandemic except when it got loose in commonwealth regulated aged care.  Australian Unions have joined the push to increase vaccination rates with a new campaign as the rate of full vaccinated Australians still sits just over 30%. The good news is the trial of electric scooters in Ballarat and a zero emissions Premier League game between Tottenham and Chelsea happening this month!

SBS Yiddish report with Alex DafnerThe Jewish Community Council of Victoria has elected Dr Andre Oboler, as its new President to replace the retiring Jennifer Hupert who held the position for the past six years.Two disappointing cases of antisemitic and neo-Nazi behaviour by prominent Australians, one a heart surgeon, the other a TV celebrity chef, were reported last week, with the former issuing an unreserved apology to those involved and the Jewish community in general.The Australian Union of Jewish Students (AUJS) condemned the University of Sydney’s Student Representative Council for repeating the antisemitic behaviour for which the UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was suspended for recently, by their passing a motion defending the former UK Labour leader.The Gandel Philanthropy’s Australian Yad Vashem Foundation was awarded the Australian Bolder Philanthropy Award for their Holocaust Education Program, which funds 35 teachers annually to complete an intensive course about the Holocaust at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem and then enables them to set-up Holocaust Education projects in schools back in Australia.

The Melbourne Jewish Care Victoria’s Hannah & Daryl Cohen Family Home for the elderly continued to suffer from the impact of Covid-19 infections in the state this week, with the death of a second elderly resident, but the number of infected residents fell to 8 and 16 staff were also infected with the virus.The Australian Union of Jewish Students (AUJS) filed an official complaint with the University of Technology (UTS) in Sydney, after the university’s Students for Humanity club shared Instagram and Facebook stories calling Zionism inherently antisemitic and accusing Zionist mercenaries of planting bombs in Jewish buildings in Iraq and Egypt in the early 1950s in order to convince the local population to leave for Israel.The Rabbinical Council of Victoria is holding talks with representatives of the Victorian Government to plan and prepare the Jewish Community of that state for the observations and worship over the High Holy Days, which begin on the 19th September 2020.

A scene at the Aquarius Festival, Nimbin, 1973. Flickr/Harry Watson Smith, CC BY-SA, CC BY-SAToday, Trust Me, I’m An Expert brings you a special episode carried across from another Conversation podcast, Essays On Air. In the north-east corner of Australia’s most populous state of New South Wales is a small former dairying and banana farming community. Today, however, that village is unrecognisable. Nimbin is now widely acknowledged as Australia’s counter-cultural capital, a sister city to both Woodstock in New York State and Freetown Christiania in Denmark. Among Nimbin’s tourist attractions today are its Hemp Embassy and the annual Mardi Grass festival in early May, which argues for the legislation of marijuana for personal and medicinal use. The village’s transformation from a rural farming community to its present form can be traced to 1973, when Nimbin became the unlikely host of the Aquarius Festival – a counter-culture arts and music gathering presented by the radical Australian Union of Students. A scene from the Aquarius Festival in Nimbin, 1973. Flickr/harryws20/Harry Watson Smith, CC BY Why is Nimbin the way it is? These social and political origins of the commodified hippie culture on display today in Nimbin have become less apparent to visitors and more recent migrants to the region. Visitors, especially those arriving on bus tours, tend to shop, buy coffee and leave again. To counter this, the Nimbin Tourism Office commissioned me in 2016 to produce an app-based audio walk to promote a deeper engagement for tourists with the town and help answer the question: why is Nimbin the way it is? Here’s a snippet: Local voices on how the 1973 Aquarius Festival changed Nimbin forever. Jeanti St Clair, CC BY2.44 MB (download) The audio walk, an adapted version of which features on today’s episode of Essays On Air, was published onto the GPS-enabled mobile phone app Soundtrails. Soundtrails is owned by The Story Project, an Australian organisation focusing on oral history-based audio walks and they’ve published more than a dozen such walks in regional Australia. A scene from the Aquarius Festival in Nimbin, 1973. Flickr/Harry Watson Smith/harryws20, CC BY Anyone with a smartphone can access it by downloading the app and the Nimbin audio walk and following the route through the village’s streets and parklands. Headphones provide the best experience. The stories I share with you today are excerpts from the Nimbin Soundtrail and are drawn from consultations and interviews with more than 60 Nimbin residents, Aquarius Festival participants and Indigenous elders. Here, I’ve tried to reconnect the past and the present to make clear how Nimbin became the counter-cultural capital that it is. And the caveat is that many of the events in this documentary walk happened more than 40 years ago. I’ve recognised that memories have merged with other retellings that evolved over the years and the definitive truth is perhaps unavailable. Any version of Nimbin’s counter-culture will be an incomplete history. The nine months it took me to gather these stories and make some sense of how they fitted together were rewarding. And while there are some who might dispute the accounts of what happened in these stories, others agree that it’s a fair record of Nimbin contemporary history. The full Nimbin soundtrack can be heard by downloading the Soundtrails app and listening here. And if you are ever in the area, I invite you to take a day out, visit and listen to the stories in town. A crowd at the Nimbin Hotel during the Aquarius Festival, Nimbin, 1973. Flickr/Harry Watson Smith, CC BY New to podcasts? Podcasts are often best enjoyed using a podcast app. All iPhones come with the Apple Podcasts app already installed, or you may want to listen and subscribe on another app such as Pocket Casts (click here to listen to Essays On Air on Pocket Casts). You can also hear us on PlayerFM or any of the apps below. Just pick a service from one of those listed below and click on the icon to find Essays On Air. Additional audio Recording and editing by Jeanti St Clair from Southern Cross University. This podcast contains excerpts from the Nimbin Soundtrail, used with grateful permission from The Story Project/Soundtrails. See the app for the walk’s full credit list. Selections of original music from the Nimbin Soundtrail by Neil Pike. Excerpt from Deke Naptar’s Culture, Culture from Necroscopix (1970-1981), Free Music Archive Fair Use Excerpts: Nimbin Mardi Grass 2018 parade ABC, Vietnam Lottery, 1965 Pathé Australians Against War 1966 ABC, This Day Tonight, anti-Vietnam War Moratoriam, 1970 Gough Whitlam policy speech, 1972 It’s Time, ALP campaign song, 1972 Snow by David Szesztay Jeanti St Clair would like to again thank Lismore City Council and Nimbin Tourism for commissioning the Nimbin Soundtrail, and all the many contributors to the audio walk. Additional reading/listening Nimbin Soundtrail Image Lead image from Flickr/harryws20/Harry Watson Smith/, published under Creative Commons. Correction: An earlier version of this article included a caption that described the 1973 Aquarius Festival as the “first”. In fact, it was the first Aquarius Festival in Nimbin, and followed other Aquarius festivals that had taken place on university campuses. Jeanti St Clair has consulted in the past for Soundtrails as an associate producer. She was paid by Lismore City Council to produce the audio walk. She does not have any ongoing financial benefit from Soundtrails or Lismore City Council.

A scene at the Aquarius Festival, Nimbin, 1973. Flickr/Harry Watson Smith, CC BY-SAIn the north-east corner of Australia’s most populous state of New South Wales is a small former dairying and banana farming community. Today, however, that village is unrecognisable. Nimbin is now widely acknowledged as Australia’s counter-cultural capital, a sister city to both Woodstock in New York State and Freetown Christiania in Denmark. Among Nimbin’s tourist attractions today are its Hemp Embassy and the annual Mardi Grass festival in early May, which argues for the legislation of marijuana for personal and medicinal use. The village’s transformation from a rural farming community to its present form can be traced to 1973, when Nimbin became the unlikely host of the Aquarius Festival – a counter-culture arts and music gathering presented by the radical Australian Union of Students. A scene from the Aquarius Festival in Nimbin, 1973. Flickr/harryws20/Harry Watson Smith, CC BY Why is Nimbin the way it is? These social and political origins of the commodified hippie culture on display today in Nimbin have become less apparent to visitors and more recent migrants to the region. Visitors, especially those arriving on bus tours, tend to shop, buy coffee and leave again. To counter this, the Nimbin Tourism Office commissioned me in 2016 to produce an app-based audio walk to promote a deeper engagement for tourists with the town and help answer the question: why is Nimbin the way it is? Here’s a snippet: Local voices on how the 1973 Aquarius Festival changed Nimbin forever. Jeanti St Clair, CC BY2.44 MB (download) The audio walk, an adapted version of which features on today’s episode of Essays On Air, was published onto the GPS-enabled mobile phone app Soundtrails. Soundtrails is owned by The Story Project, an Australian organisation focusing on oral history-based audio walks and they’ve published more than a dozen such walks in regional Australia. A scene from the Aquarius Festival in Nimbin, 1973. Flickr/Harry Watson Smith/harryws20, CC BY Anyone with a smartphone can access it by downloading the app and the Nimbin audio walk and following the route through the village’s streets and parklands. Headphones provide the best experience. The stories I share with you today are excerpts from the Nimbin Soundtrail and are drawn from consultations and interviews with more than 60 Nimbin residents, Aquarius Festival participants and Indigenous elders. Here, I’ve tried to reconnect the past and the present to make clear how Nimbin became the counter-cultural capital that it is. And the caveat is that many of the events in this documentary walk happened more than 40 years ago. I’ve recognised that memories have merged with other retellings that evolved over the years and the definitive truth is perhaps unavailable. Any version of Nimbin’s counter-culture will be an incomplete history. The nine months it took me to gather these stories and make some sense of how they fitted together were rewarding. And while there are some who might dispute the accounts of what happened in these stories, others agree that it’s a fair record of Nimbin contemporary history. The full Nimbin soundtrack can be heard by downloading the Soundtrails app and listening here. And if you are ever in the area, I invite you to take a day out, visit and listen to the stories in town. A crowd at the Nimbin Hotel during the Aquarius Festival, Nimbin, 1973. Flickr/Harry Watson Smith, CC BY New to podcasts? Podcasts are often best enjoyed using a podcast app. All iPhones come with the Apple Podcasts app already installed, or you may want to listen and subscribe on another app such as Pocket Casts (click here to listen to Essays On Air on Pocket Casts). You can also hear us on PlayerFM or any of the apps below. Just pick a service from one of those listed below and click on the icon to find Essays On Air. Additional audio Recording and editing by Jeanti St Clair from Southern Cross University. This podcast contains excerpts from the Nimbin Soundtrail, used with grateful permission from The Story Project/Soundtrails. See the app for the walk’s full credit list. Selections of original music from the Nimbin Soundtrail by Neil Pike. Excerpt from Deke Naptar’s Culture, Culture from Necroscopix (1970-1981), Free Music Archive Fair Use Excerpts: Nimbin Mardi Grass 2018 parade ABC, Vietnam Lottery, 1965 Pathé Australians Against War 1966 ABC, This Day Tonight, anti-Vietnam War Moratoriam, 1970 Gough Whitlam policy speech, 1972 It’s Time, ALP campaign song, 1972 Snow by David Szesztay Jeanti St Clair would like to again thank Lismore City Council and Nimbin Tourism for commissioning the Nimbin Soundtrail, and all the many contributors to the audio walk. Additional reading/listening Nimbin Soundtrail Image Lead image from Flickr/harryws20/Harry Watson Smith/, published under Creative Commons. Correction: An earlier version of this article included a caption that described the 1973 Aquarius Festival as the “first”. In fact, it was the first Aquarius festival in Nimbin, and followed other Aquarius festivals that had taken place on university campuses. Jeanti St Clair has consulted in the past for Soundtrails as an associate producer. She was paid by Lismore City Council to produce the audio walk. She does not have any ongoing financial benefit from Soundtrails or Lismore City Council.

Will Tracey assistant secretary of the MUA speaks about the Web Dock Melbourne dispute: what happened and finally a victory in a dispute that looks like many of the anti union anti worker behaviour that has been a hallmark of 2017.Finally we talk with Josh Cullinan the Secretary of the newest Australian Union the Retail, Fast Food Workers Union (RFFWU), after it’s first year of operations.

To many the name Kevin Bracken is a new one in regards 9/11 Truth. The reality is that Kevin has been a champion of the 9/11 Truth cause since 2006 by disseminating information throughout the Victorian Union Movement and the Maritime Workers Union of Australia. He has distributed DVD's, shown films and shared information regularly with his associates and the people of Melbourne and he achieved motions calling for a new investigation from both the Victorian Trades Hall Council where he is the President and the Victorian branch of the Maritime Union of Australia of which he heads as Secretary. Kevin has also attended numerous conferences on 9/11 and has been the facilitator of such in Melbourne, Australia. Over the years Kevin and I have developed a close working relationship, both striving for the truth 9/11 to come out to bring end to the wars and to get our rights back that have been eroded since 9/11!This is the motion passed on the 28th of March of 2008 at the VTHC;"That this meeting of VTHC Executive Council calls for a thorough, independent enquiry into the tragic terrorist attacks of September 11.The events of that day have been used to start pre-emptive wars "that will not end in our lifetime". They have been used to attack civil liberties and legal principles that have been the cornerstone of civilized communities. There is an urgent need to reassess the way we view the world after September 11 and we call for proper investigation into the events around that day.On the 20th of October 2010 Kevin was asked to ring into ABC 774 Mornings with John Faine although Faine disputes this. This was following an email that was sent to Faine by Kevin questioning 9/11 in the context of Australia's ongoing support of the Afghanistan occupation. After the recent Australian Election it was demanded by the Australian Greens in a "balance of power" deal that the Australian involvement in the Afghan War be debated in parliament in it's first sitting. This debate had been going on this week and it was the first time any such debate had happened since 9/11, which is simply outrageous.This interview by Faine was possibly the most biased ever heard in Australia on radio broadcast by the tax payer funded Australian Broadcasting Corporation. This attack by Faine of Bracken's questioning the 9/11 events included a torrent of ad hominem slurs and an absolute refusal to discuss any evidence that the events were anything but what we have been told by our governments. A reasonable explanation of what happened and also with attached audio can be found here.  This story titled "Trades Hall president Kevin Bracken Stands by his 9/11 Conspiracy" has been reported all around the world and included a poll which started off running at around 50/50 asking if Kevin's questions about 9/11 were "reasonable" but has continued to move in his favour ending up at the time of writing these notes at 75% in favour of Bracken.Kevin has received literally thousands of thank you's from around the world for his brave stance for 9/11 Truth! Standing his ground even after being directly verbally bashed by the Prime Minister of Australia Julia Gillard saying he was "stupid and wrong" and having his own leadership comrades buckle at the knees if the face of unfounded ridicule. Rather than running for cover Kevin with his chin in the air has reiterated his position defying any to debate him on the issue! As usual all media presstitutes have refused, as there is obviously "no debate to have".  It seems that the vast majority of the public disagree and would like to see such a debate but none of the so called "journalists" dare to tread such a path.  Interesting to note that John Faine is now complaining that the ABC has been swamped by 9/11 activists and it may take the ABC many weeks to deal with the massive amount of complaints and comments they have received. Many of these I know to be formal as I have received many courtesy copies of the complaints to the ABC accusing them of breeching their charter and broadcast policy.The battle for 9/11 Truth is far from over and as long as the fools in power maintain their policy of occupation of Afghanistan they will remain exposed and at risk of criminal prosecution due to the lies of 9/11. Lets hope it comes soon or they realize and stop the bloodshed.