Accent of Women

What are the prospects for democracy in a country whose economy is in freefall, where millions face poverty and food insecurity, and where violence is increasing at an alarming rate? On today’s program we’ll discuss the coup in Myanmar, one year on. Today’s guest is Debbie Stothard, the founder of the Alternative ASEAN Network on Burma – she is based in Bangkok, and has worked on Burma solidarity...

Tonga is facing an unprecedented disaster from the massive volcanic eruption that occurred on Saturday January. It covered the Pacific nation in ash, triggered a 15-metre tsunami that destroyed almost all homes on two small islands and damaged undersea communications cables, largely cutting off the country. The Tongan people are in an urgent process of recovery and clean up, and to tell us what is...

Today is our first show for 2022, and it’s with heavy hearts that we farewell a friend and supporter of this show, a staunch Gooniyandi Woman, Viv Malo. Today’s show is dedicated to Viv, and features her voice on 3CR and at rallies and demonstrations around this country. But first, a bit about Viv.

On today’s program, we look at women climate warriors across the world, and the work that they are doing in relation to fighting against the tide of environmental destruction, for the survival of the planet.

In the last week, the Federal Court has heard a case for the extradition of a Sydney nanny back to Chile to face charges of Crimes Against Humanity during the Pinochet dictatorship of 1973 to 1990. Adtriana Rivas is accused of kidnapping seven communists during the Pinochet era, and is implicated in their torture and murder. Rivas was a part of the infamous Chile National Intelligence Directorate,...

Today on Accent of Women we turn our focus to Sudan. On October 25, the Sudanese military carried out a coup, announcing the dissolution of the power-sharing Sovereignty Council and the transitional government. It arrested Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and declared a state of emergency. Since that time, there have been massive street protests, in fact, it is a revolutionary situation on ground the...

Today on Accent of Women we turn our focus to the Philippines.  The current President, Rodrigo Duterte is facing charges by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity.  These charges arise from Duterte’s War on Drugs that has seen over 20,000 people extrajudicially murdered in the streets.  There’s an ever growing COVID crisis, spiralling the existing economic crisis out of contr...

In response to the massive Israeli military assault on Gaza in May, Palestinian workers organised a general strike that swept across the West Bank, Israel and Gaza. In solidarity, thousands of workers worldwide joined in a “Block the Boat” campaign that prevented Israeli ships from docking in a number of international ports.  These recent events pose the question for solidarity activists – How do...

On today’s program, we look at the worsening humanitarian crisis and civil war in Myanmar. Since the military coup against Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party in February 2021, there have been 5042 attacks that either targeted civilians or causued harm to them. The COVID pandemic is out of control with thousands of people dying everyday, and the exact amount of COVID being impos...

On 6 September, 6 Palestinian prisoners escaped from the heavily fortified Gilboa prison in Israel, sparking a wide scale man hunt and eventual capture of these political prisoners. Despite their eventual capture and torture by Israeli authorities, the event has been called The Great Escape across the world, Israel has been left humiliated by its lax security, and Palestinians have become embolden...

Amidst South Koreas fourth wave of COVID, spurred on by the Delta variant, the Korean workers have upped their industrial action in opposition to the level of overwork in some industries, but the Government’s desire that people bear the personal cost of the pandemic. Koreans are opposing the social distancing measures, and say that COVID has highlighted the inadequacies of the public health system...

The Texas state law, passed last May, imposes the so-called “fetal heartbeat” rule adopted by half a dozen states previously, which effectively prohibits abortion after about six weeks of pregnancy—before most women even know they have become pregnant. From 1 September, this law takes effect. It creates criminal penalties against health professionals, as well as allowing any citizen in the country...

Malaysia's new Prime Minister, Ismail Sabri Yaakob, was sworn in on Saturday 21 August, after the resignation of the former Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, and his entire cabinet, less than 18 months in office. The resignation came amidst infighting in Yassin’s coalition cost him majority support. But Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob faces an uphill task in uniting a polarised society and reviv...

On Tuesday 17 August, the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan two weeks before the U.S. was set to complete its troop withdrawal after a costly two-decade war. Since then, we have seen footage of desperate Afghanis trying to flee that country, amidst threats of death by the Taliban. To help us analyse the collapse of Afghanistan, we talk to Farkhondeh Akbari, a human rights activist and researcher...

76 years ago, on the 6th and 9th of August, the USA military dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The two bombings killed around 175,000 people with another 90,000 dying by the end of the year due to radiation injuries. Some 5 years after these bombings, a global anti-nuclear armaments campaign emerged and in 2007, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Wea...

This is our concluding episode - Budour Hassan is Palestinian socialist feminist and journalist and a legal researcher for the Jerusalem Center for Legal Aid and Human Rights. She talks about the latest Israeli assault on Palestinians, the role of women in the Palestinian resistance, the feminist movement against gender violence, solidarity with women prisoners, Abolitionist Feminism, and the need...

Budour Hassan is Palestinian socialist feminist and journalist and a legal researcher for the Jerusalem Center for Legal Aid and Human Rights. She talks about the latest Israeli assault on Palestinians, the role of women in the Palestinian resistance, the feminist movement against gender violence, solidarity with women prisoners, Abolitionist Feminism, and the needed regional and global socialist...

Budour Hassan is Palestinian socialist feminist and journalist and a legal researcher for the Jerusalem Center for Legal Aid and Human Rights. She talks about the latest Israeli assault on Palestinians, the role of women in the Palestinian resistance, the feminist movement against gender violence, solidarity with women prisoners, Abolitionist Feminism, and the needed regional and global socialist...

Gunnai, Gunditjmara and Wiradjuri man Raymond Noel Lindsay Thomas died during a police pursuit on June 25, 2017. The inquest into his death commenced on Monday 5 July – 4 years later. Joining me on today’s show to talk about the inquest, and Aboriginal deaths in custody, is Aboriginal activist and co-founder of the Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance, Dtarneen Onus Williams.  Dtarneen starts her...

Derek Chauvin, the police officer that murdered George Flloyd sparking a global uprising, was sentenced to 22 years imprisonment for second degree murder. Neither Chauvin’s conviction nor his sentencing propelled the Black Lives Matter movement forward. Black men and women across the United States continue to experience police brutality including murder – so where to for the movement? On today’s p...

It’s been about 18 months since the World Health Organisation declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. Most nation states have been left to resolve the health, and consequent economic crisis on their own. And some states have fared better than others.  In India, daily COVID transmissions exceed 400,000, and it is commonly held that this is a gross underestimation. Tragic scenes of rivers filled with d...

There are currently Presidential elections on foot in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Though these elections may make absolutely no difference to the lives of Iranian women, it still provides an opportunity to look at this part of the world. Today’s interview was conducted by Dr Elham Naeej, an academic in Iranian studies at UNSW. She interviews Dr Claudia Yaghoobi about women’s oppression in Iran.

The current Israeli offensive against Palestine in 2021 began on 10 May, making it the deadliest offensive since The Gaza war of 2014, named Operation Protective Edge. Since that date, Palestine’s death toll exceeds 200, mostly women and children, while Israel’s is currently around 10 – also including women and children. There have been mass solidarity protests across the world, and on today’s pro...

2021 is the 30 year anniversary of the delivery of the findings of the Royal Commissioner into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. Since March this year 5 number of Aboriginal people have died in custody across the country. Ending Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, reducing the over representation of Aboriginal people in custody, is still a demand for social movements in Australia. With all this in the backg...

The brutality of the military dictatorships in Myanmar and Thailand have continued with further arrests, use of water cannon and live ammunition in the streets. Last week’s show reported on the international solidarity campaign that has started against the militarisation of these two countries, with activists from Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Indonesia, Finland a...