Women on the Line

Well, as this is Women on The Line's final show for 2024, I thought we might cover a significant event in the world – the election of Donald Trump.  Today's guest is Socialist Feminist, Andrea Bauer, who is based in Seattle and has been involved in a wide range of campaigns particularly for working women’s rights and for reproductive rights for women, trans and gender diverse folks.

On this week's episode we hear from Becky Goncharoff, Executive Director and Co-Founder of Radical Grandma Collective, an international and intergenerational solidarity effort supporting environmental justice activists in North east Thailand. Becky talks about the grandmas that are fighting for justice, how weaving has funded the fight for reparations in the wake of a devastating legacy of gold mi...

This episode explores how colonial histories, global capitalism, and systemic domination shape Western Asia or the Mashreq (often condensed as the Middle East) (post)colonial realities and, consequently, how we talk about the region. Joined by activist-scholars Dr Lina Koleilat and PhD candidate Tasnim Sammak, we unpack how to discuss and analyse the political machinations in the Mashreq, particul...

On this week’s episode, we hear from Aunty Miliwanga Wurrben - Rembarrnga Traditional owner, healer and artist. Aunty Miliwanga recently spoke at a panel event called Voices from the Frontlines of the Climate Crisis, a community gathering held at the Koorie Heritage Trust on Sunday 24th November as part of the Middle Arm Roadshow. The Roadshow saw a group of Traditional Owners, community organiser...

In this episode, we speak with Ciara, a campaigner from Elbit Out of Victoria, a campaign opposing Elbit Systems' involvement in Victoria’s and Australia's industries over its defence ties with Israel and the US. We discuss Australia’s continued militarised path, rooted in colonial violence and alliances between war corporations, nation-states, and imperial powers that fuel genocidal campaigns, su...

On this week’s episode, we share moments from the Public Sector Workers rally that took place on Wednesday 30th October outside Parliament House in Naarm/Melbourne. Workers across the state rallied together to demand that the Victorian State government sanction Israel and not public sector workers; that they break all military, diplomatic and industrial ties with Israel as well as cancel the Memor...

On this week’s episode of Women on the Line, we speak with Manjusha and Anya about Temple of Desire, a Karma Dance production exploring themes of gender, feminism, rage, queerness and spirituality through the traditional dance form of Bharatnatyam, and featuring queer South Asian artists. Manjusha (she/her) is a South - Asian Australian woman who lives, works and creates on across unceded Wurundje...

 On this episode of Women on the Line we are commemorating 1 year since the genocide in Palestine escalated. Today on the show, we hear poetry, music and speeches from a vigil that was held on Monday 7 October this year, mourning the lives lost under genocide. The vigil was held in Narrm and we will hear poetry readings from Dr Michaela Sahar, an Australian-Palestinian writer and educator; Noor, a...

On this episode of Women on the Line we hear snippets from Scarlett Alliance’s ‘Debunking the Porn Panic’ webinar that was held on the 15th of August this year. The webinar was hosted by Jenna Love, sex worker and the Committee President of Scarlett Alliance, and featured guests Allan McKee, University Professor specialising in sexualized media ; Greta Degraves, sex worker and scarlett alliance’s...

On this week's episode of Women on the Line, we speak with Katie Sfetkidis, a multidisciplinary artist living and working on lands of the Wurundjeri and Boon Wurrung people, about her latest work - We the People x Yarra - a research project and community discussion about how community has historically driven social change.

This episode explores the impacts of repression, settler colonialism, and militarism in Kanaky (New Caledonia) ahead of Kanaky Invasion Day, September 24. The French colonised Kanaky in 1853.Since May 2024, the violent French occupation has intensified with increased military repression and significant deployment of French armed forces, raising concerns about the potential of genocide, the ongoing...

On this episode of Women on the Line we chat with Katia Schwartz about the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and its recent amendments excluding disabled people from accessing sex work services. We’re joined on the show by Katia who is a Deaf, professional erotic performer and career sex worker since 2008. She is also the National Programs Manager at Scarlett Alliance and on the Board of...

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander listeners, please be advised that this program includes references to state violence and colonisation. If you need to talk to someone about the issues covered in the program you can contact: 13 YARN (13 92 76) which is a dedicated 24/7 national crisis support line for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples Lifeline 13 11 17On this week’s episode we spea...

On this episode, we listen to part of a speech by Dr Samah Sabawi, award-winning playwright, author and poet from Gaza city Palestine who lives and works in Naarm, speaking at a Free Palestine Rally on the 11 August 2024. We then hear from Kaushi, a feminist and activist based in Thailand and one of the founders of the group Chiang Mai for Palestine. Kaushi talks about organising for Palestine in...

In this episode, we continue our conversation about the implications of AUKUS (part I was broadcast in May) with Professor Marianne Hanson, who is an Associate Professor of International Relations at the University of Queensland and co-chair of The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN).

On this episode of Women on the Line we’re looking at the experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women in prison as well as the current policies and systemic structures that focus on over-policing and criminalizing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and young girls. We first hear an excerpt from a press conference that followed the event ‘Truth Telling Yarns: Women in Prison...

In this episode of Women on the Line, we hear from Violet - a non-binary, queer activist from Myanmar currently based in Thailand. Violet tells us about their experience as a queer activist in Myanmar, the circumstances that forced them to relocate to Thailand, how the civil war has impacted the already marginalised queer community in Myanmar, and what they hope the future will look like for their...

On this week’s episode, we speak to Nina from Flat Out and the Formerly Incarcerated Justice Advocates (FIGJAM) Collective as well as Monique Hurley from the Human Rights Law Centre. We speak about their report, Ending state-perpetrated sexual violence in prisons, a Submission to the Australian Law Reform Commission’s Justice Responses to Sexual Violence: Issues Paper published in May 2024. More s...

 On this episode of Women on the Line we hear from sex worker artists Rogelio Ruckus, Kayla Tange, and Daphne Nguyen speak to the erotic labour of art, family and futurity. This panel was held as part of ‘The Whore Gaze’– an exhibition curated by Elizabeth Dayton and Kim Ye at the Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions. The exhibition showcased film, videos and a panel that celebrate the legacy of s...

 Trish Hepworth, Deputy CEO for the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) and Dr Sarah Mokrzycki, academic in children's literature and creative writing at Victoria University, speak to Frances about the Cumberland city council’s ban of same-sex parenting books in May this year, its reversal, and the importance of free access to information and diverse representation. This conversa...

On this week’s episode, we speak to Sanne de Swart, Coordinator of the Nuclear Free Collective at Friends of the Earth Melbourne, and has been part of the anti-nuclear struggle since 2011 when she joined the ‘Walk Away from Uranium Mining’ event in solidarity with Aboriginal people to push for a ban on uranium mining in Western Australia. With the Coalition’s power plan having thrust nuclear energ...

On this episode of Women on the Line, we head to the Pride In Protest conference ‘Provocations’, which was held on Gadigal Land earlier this month. On International Whore’s Day, June 2nd, Asian migrant sex workers, Damien, Bee and NaMon spoke at the ‘Asian Migrants Sex Workers against the Border Force, racism and deportation!’ panel. Today we hear a portion of the conversation with Bee and NaMon s...

For more than four decades, the Sahrawi people have lived in exile, primarily in refugee camps in the harsh conditions of the Algerian desert. Despite these challenges, Sahrawi women have emerged as the backbone of their communities, driving both day-to-day survival and the broader struggle for self-determination. In this episode, we explore these stories of resistance with Gaby Alamin, a Sahrawi...

According to a 2021 report by the Centre for Women’s Safety and Wellbeing, women on temporary visas experiencing family and domestic violence have been recognised as a particularly marginalised and at-risk cohort. On this episode of Women on the Line we speak with Peggy Kerdo, an experienced human rights lawyer practising mainly in immigration and refugee law, about working with clients on tempora...

On this week’s episode, we speak to Emily Duyên Đặng about her photovoice gallery project, Overcoming this Grief: Stories from Vietnamese women surviving family violence in Australia. Through photos and text presented in Vietnamese and English, these women share their experiences of migration, family violence and finding safety. In this conversation, Emily talks about her research into family viol...