Hello dear friends and listeners!
Thanks as always for supporting the Radio Reversal podcast. It's been a busy few weeks for me as I try to catch up on a bit of a podcasting backlog in between endless games of peek-a-boo with my distressingly wriggly almost-9-month-old baby, and trips to Barrambin and the Goori Camp Embassy to support the ongoing struggle to protect Aboriginal land and the right of Turrbal people to practice their culture and conduct ceremony on their homelands.
If you haven't been following, Barrambin (also called Victoria Park) is a large parcel of green space in inner city brisbane which has been proposed by the state government as the site for a massive new Olympic stadium and other related infrastructure. This development will see the destruction of huge swathes of green space as well as the desecration of a site of deep spiritual and political significance for Aboriginal people.
Over the past week, we've seen hundreds of people heading to the park to support the Goori Camp Embassy which was established earlier this year as a direct challenge to the enclosure and destruction of this place by the Olympic committee. You can read more about the origins of the Goori Camp Embassy in this excellent piece by Kihi Toka Bond: https://substack.com/home/post/p-199313720
On Friday last week, many embassy supporters were arrested or forcibly moved on from the site by hundreds of queensland police and council workers. Tents, sleeping bags, food and essential items as well as items of cultural significance were confiscated and destroyed during the attack on the Goori Camp Embassy. Occupants of the embassy were given almost no warning before the attack by QPS and the Brisbane City Council. By the end of the weekend, supporters had flocked back to provide material encouragement and protection for the sacred fire as a final stand against the enclosure of this important Aboriginal land.
Now, almost a week on, the fire has been re-established outside of the enclosure zone that was violently erected on Sunday evening by the Olympic Committee after they took control of the site (and which continues to be policed by QPS and Brisbane City Council). People are invited to help support the Goori Camp Embassy as they steadfastly refuse to give up their sacred responsibility as custodians of this land and its waterways. If you want to keep up to date, follow the Goori Camp Embassy on instagram or chuck them some money to help keep the fire burning.
This week on the Radio Reversal podcast I'm sharing two lovely interviews from the RR archive that I wanted to give a second life here on the podcast.
Episode 26: Poetry in times of crisis w. Maria Van Neerven
In February this year, I was lucky enough to chat with Mununjahli poet and writer Maria Van Neerven about her debut poetry collection Two Tongues. We talked about the way that the legacy of colonial violence continues into the present; a persistent cycle that haunts Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families and communities. And Maria reflected on the power of poetry as a vehicle for sharing her truth and claiming back her family's voice in the face of the omnipresent threat of repression, disappearance, and dispossession. A powerful conversation about a brilliant poetry collection. You can find Two Tongues in most bookstores, or via the University of Queensland Press website.
Episode 27: Radiance in Pain and Resilience w. Dr. Samah Jabr
In this episode, I share a conversation that I recorded with Palestinian pschiatrist, psychotherapist and writer Dr. Samah Jabr when she was in so-called australia in 2025 touring her new book, Radiance in Pain and Resilience: the Global Reverberation of Palestinian Historical Trauma. In this interview, Dr. Samah and I talk about her work as a clinical psychiatrist in occupied Palestine (predominantly in Jerusalem and the West Bank) and the insights and reflections that she draws from her experiences working with Palestinians experiencing psychiatric distress. Dr. Jabr explains:
"I was exposed to western practices which assume that psychiatric problems are mainly individualistic; that they are about the dysfunction of the person. I didn't learn much about healing collective trauma or responding to structural oppression that is negatively influencing people's mental health. So I had to start thinking and theorising and practicing in Palestine the things that might be more relevant to the context in which I work. So it is actually praxis because we theorise, we reflect on our reality, we put it into action, and then we revise and improve our theorisation depending on our results.
I thought that the kind of work and theory that is generated from Palestine might be relevant to other people working with racialised, marginalised groups, or to other people in the Global South living with the legacies of colonisation. (...) This book is the result of this praxis."
And a reminder that if you're interested in getting more involved in the struggle for Palestinian liberation, make sure you've signed up to the Justice for Palestine Magan-djin mailing list here: https://justice-for-palestine-magan-djin-brisbane.mailchimpsites.com/
There's a big weekend of events to get involved with for those of you in Magan-djin: join us this Saturday 6th June for the River to the Sea Fun Run, helping to raise money for JFPs high court challenge regarding Queensland's absurd new prohibited expression laws; and on Sunday, head along to JFPs Upskill Day to build capacity for the struggle ahead.
And as always, a request that if you like what we're doing here at Radio Reversal and you have the means to join us as a paid subscriber, we'd appreciate your support! We've just opened up paid subscriptions after over a decade of producing Radio Reversal on 4zzz, and we're hoping that with some funds at our backs we can push the project even further. PLUS...our first 50 subscribers get a bonus RR merch pack including stickers, zines and posters - so jump over and upgrade to a paid subscription now!
Yours in solidarity,
Anna (for Radio Reversal)
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