Race Matters

From the rivers of Peru, the mountains of Gyeonggi-do, to the Cumberland Highway, exploring what it means to be and live and remember in relation to place.Our first episode in collaboration with abolitionist youth organisation Yung Prodigy, after a mentorship exploring radical radio from the roots up. Two debut works by Lucy Norton and a newfound colalbroation between Leya and Sehej Kaur Sehmbhi. The many sounds, textures and frays that tether us to place, family or memory.SOIL was a radio mentorship designed for young people through the model of liberatory radio and community-centred wellbeing. It spanned 6 workshops, shared meals, new friendships and audio ventures.𖡼 Thank you to our teachers Aunty Angeline Penrith, Tanya Ali, Darren Lesaguis, Sara Khan, DOBBY, Tan Safi, Dr Nakad.𖡼 Program co-dreaming and coordination by Lil Barto, Maia Onyenachi ⁠and Shareeka Helaluddin with support from Natalie Chiappazzo𖡼 Digital Coordinator and video editor Yvonne Hong𖡼 Artwork by Leo Tsao𖡼 Documentation by Samantha Haran ⁠𖡼 Additional broadcast support by Samantha Haran, Yvonne Hong, Prinita Theverajah𖡼 SOIL has been made possible by City of SydneySee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Extreme music for people with extreme experiences.Noise is a genre that can be misunderstood as anti-social and harsh, but for our guest producer artist Carmen Mercedes Gago Schieb aka Society of Cutting Up Men (S.C.U.M); it’s been a vital source of place-making and connection.Alongside artists Rosa / Making Out and Yvette Ofa Agapow, she brings us an interstate perspective on the purpose of noise in the face of identity politics, and the possibility of noise as a transmission for freedom.This episode was produced by Carmen Mercedes Gago Schieb with creative direction and final audio production by Shareeka Helaluddin. Image of Carmen by Valerie Joy, songs courtesy of the artists. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A bittersweet send off to Executive Producer Shareeka Helaluddin who has metamorphed Race Matters into the ever abundant, ever expansive program that it is. Previous producers Darren Lesaguis and Tanya Ali bear witness to Shareeka's shepherding of the show, bringing to mic the unheard and the unseen. Also hearing from six of the Race Matter's current producers, Sara El Younghun, Toobs, Joannie Lee, Sehej Kaur, Yvonne Hong and Samantha Haran who reflect on the legacy of Shareeka, and her embodiment of anti racist community organising though radio as craft.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We know that what we do today is intiamtely connected with what has been done before.  Samantha Haran and Tim Worton reflect as kinfolk on their journey with Race Matters, and expanding into their queerness. They pay tribute to the episodes and producers that drew them into community, and challenged them into evolving and unfurling their embodiment of queerness in so called Australia, as two young queer people of colour. With reverence and gratitude to those who created space for us here: Tanya Ali, Darren Lesaguis, Sara Khan, Rhyan Clapham, Georgia Mokak & Shareeka Helaluddin. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sehej Kaur and Wen Pei Low share a tender and vulnerable episode about their friendship and celebrate queer and crip kinship together. They share stories of navigating sterile, western medical systems and how they found and held each other through it all. They dream of crip futures that move beyond simply surviving and toward thriving. Sehej reads a poem by Dom Kelly that is titled “an elegy for a crip friend (thank you alice). You can find it here https://www.instagram.com/p/DRHzspHEYGq/?img_index=4 You can find Wen Pei on instagram @_waterclover. This podcast was edited by Prinita Thevarajah.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

"We have been doing this because we love our people”Joannie Lee and Sara El Youghun welcome Moh, a community builder and organiser from Myanmar to talk about her peoples’ fight for freedom, self-determination and justice from brutal military imperialism. Together they talk about taking pride in our solidarity and what it takes to keep our collective movement for liberation alive and interconnected. We honour the people fighting on the ground in Myanmar and look to them to hold steadfast here in this colony. The people of Myanmar will not be forgotten. You can check out more info here: https://www.facebook.com/events/s/all-in-one-piece-movement-sydn/4291906044463956 Many thanks to Janey Li for producing this episode and our beloved Executive Producer, Shareeka Helaluddin for all her support. Podcast mixed by Janey Li. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

"I want it to feel like you're in my living room including the chaos" On today's show, Alicia Zhao and Bruce Koussaba (of Liberation Cinema) are in conversation with the brilliant and staunch organiser of Miya Miya Film Club, Karim Nasser. Miya Miya is a grassroots, community film screening space, carved out as a gathering place for discovery, dialogue and connection - centred around cinema from the SWANA region. Together, Alicia, Bruce and Karim talk about why these independent microcinema spaces matter, how they reshape possibility, and act as a conduit for building a more expansive creative scene in so-called Sydney. Learn more about Miya Miya here: Website: https://www.miyamiyafilmclub.com/ Instagram: https://instagram.com/miyamiyafilmclub Next event: https://www.miyamiyafilmclub.com/upcoming-events/i-cant-think-straight This episode was produced by Alicia Zhao and Bruce Koussaba, with support from Samantha Haran. Podcast production by Shareeka Helaluddin. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

To be able to truly envision better world—not just in vague outlines, but vividly in all its colour and brilliance, so much so that you begin to taste on it on your tongue—is the first step to making revolution. A special collaboration with R.T. Samuel takes us on a journey through their deep and abiding love of speculative fiction, and the possibilities in holds for liberatory world-making, particular Dalit futurisms. RT is a Dalit cultural producer working between London and New Delhi, and a co-editor of the speculative fiction collection, 'The Blaft Book of Anti-Caste SF.' In conversation with different writers from the anthology including Rahee Punyashloka / Artedkar and Hameedha Khan; RT roams across a range of South Asian histories of oppression and resistance, and explores how science fiction can up open new ways of seeing the world.Learn moreThe Blaft Book of Anti-Caste SF: https://www.blaft.com/products/the-blaft-book-of-anti-caste-sfFollow RT's work via their instagramAnti-caste SF is available locally in-person or online through the Magenta HouseThis piece was produced by R. T. Samuel with additional sound design and supervision by Shareeka Helaluddin.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How do we sustain ourselves for the revolution?  Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah is a multi award-winning novelist, human rights advocate, lawyer and sociologist researching Arab & Muslim social justice movements, Islamophobia and the war on terror. Yvonne Hong and Sara El Youghun are joined by Randa in conversation about the release of her new book Discipline, unpacking the daily reality of what it is to reconcile living in a world that dehumanises and censors you as a Palestinian.  Randa speaks about the power of creative fiction and the imagination to change the world; finding joy, discipline and building spaces we can nourish each other to be able to appreciate what are we fighting for, not just what we’re fighting against. You can order Discipline here from UQP. Special thanks to Sarah Valle for helping coordinate the interview, Shareeka Helaluddin, Samantha Haran and Alicia Zhao for producing this episodeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How do we rely on each other and take ownership of our collective liberation? Sehej and Janey take us through sites of DIY culture and alternative economies. From ad-hoc sound systems in Bengal, a sound tower in Palestine, to enclaves and car parks of Wentworthville; exploring ecologies of repair and world building in refusal of extractive colonial power. Together they remind us that the way we mend and repair fosters our ability to relate to, care for and sustain each other. Works mentioned -- Club Chai HOT CUE Installation ScoreGaza Sound Tower (Minaret)West Bengal Sound System Heart ArmourSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.