Brisbane Free University

Friends!

Get your diaries out and get ready to join Brisbane Free University for a special lunchtime webinar focused on CHALLENGING COLONIAL COPAGANDA. On Thursday 25th July from 12.30pm – 2pm we’ll be bringing together four dedicated First Nations writers, educators & nerds-on-the-frontline to dig into all things “copaganda” – how the state uses media and the arts to justify and launder systems of policing and incarceration; how stories about policing get circulated in ways that normalise some forms of violence as necessary to “protect” (some of) us from other forms of violence; and how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and other over-policed and targeted people have worked to challenge and disrupt colonial copaganda for generations.

Over the course of this discussion, we’ll dig into the role that propoganda has always played in enabling and sustaining regimes of policing and prisons, particularly in the colony. We’ll look at the way that ideas about race, gender and class are circulated to justify police repression and violence, and the strategies that communities have used to disrupt, undermine, and challenge colonial copaganda in all its forms. This webinar will be an essential resource as we head into yet another election cycle dominated by a racialised moral panic about “youth crime.”

The webinar will run from 12.30pm – 2pm and you will need to register with an email address to join in. You can register here.

PANEL

Veronica Gorrie is a Gunai/Kurnai woman who lives and writes in Victoria. Her first book, Black and Blue (2021), won the 2022 Victorian Premier’s Prize for Literature and the 2022 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Indigenous Writing, as well as being shortlisted for the 2022 Douglas Stewart Prize for Nonfiction and the 2022 ABIA Small Publishers’ Book of the Year.

Dr Amy McQuire is a proud Darumbal and South Sea Islander woman from Rockhampton in Central Queensland. She is an Award-winning journalist & co-hosts the investigative podcast “Curtain: the Podcast” with Yuin lawyer Martin Hodgson. Amy’s work interrogates the role of media in reproducing violence against Aboriginal women, specifically looking at the cases of disappeared and murdered Aboriginal women and girls. She completed her PhD into media representations of violence against Aboriginal women at the University of Queensland & HER DEBUT NON-FICTION BOOK “Black Witness: The power of Indigenous Media” was released this month through UQP.

Professor Chelsea Watego (formerly Bond) is a Munanjahli and South Sea Islander woman raised on Yuggera country. she is an Indigenist health humanities scholar, prolific writer and public intellectual. Her scholarship has drawn attention to the role of race in the production of health inequalities AND SHE IS WORKING TO BUILD a new field of research in INDIGENIST HEALTH HUMANITIES; one that is committed to the survival of Indigenous peoples locally and globally, and foregrounds Indigenous intellectual sovereignty. She is a founding board member of Inala Wangarra, a Director of the Institute for Collaborative Race Research, a co-Host of Let’s Talk – Black Knowing on TRIPLE a murri country, and mum to five beautiful children. Her debut book Another Day in the Colony, published by UQ Press, was released in November 2021 and longlisted for the stella prize in 2022.

A/Prof Amanda Porter is a YUIN lecturer, researcher and community advocate based at Melbourne Law School. SHE researches processes of criminalisation and racialisation in policing, with a special interest in police powers and police accountability law. Her recent and current research projects examine: the history of the police and police unions, the history of Aboriginal community safety/defence mechanisms, deaths in police custody, near misses, missing and murdered Indigenous women and children, strategic litigation and the politics of Indigenous refusal in the justice context.

The discussion will be moderated by the Brisbane Free University, and we will also be celebrating the release of Dr. Amy McQuire’s debut non-fiction book “Black Witness” as well as Ronnie Gorrie’s second book, “When Cops are Criminals.”

If you have any questions or want to send in questions for the panel to discuss, please post up here or get in touch with me (Anna) at anna (dot) carlson 26 (at) gmail (dot) com.

We will send out a recording of the webinar to everyone who registers, so make sure you register even if you’re not sure you’ll be able to make it. We will also be re-broadcasting the full discussion via Radio Reversal on 4zzz & Let’s Talk – Black Knowing on Triple A Murri Country. After the event, we will be transcribing the discussion and compiling a zine with excerpts from the discussion. If you’d like to be part of that process, please get in touch with us at brisbanefreeuniversity (at) gmail (dot) com.

Accessibility
We will have closed-caption transcription available for the zoom call, but we know that the subtitles are not always perfect. We will be providing an edited and corrected transcript of the discussion to participants after the event, so please register even if you won’t be able to listen in live.
If there are any other accessibility issues that are likely to make it difficult for you to participate in the event, please contact Anna on 0457 920 154 so that we can work out a way to meet your needs!

Hello Brisbane Free University!

Apologies for the slow update here, but we figured it was time to bring you a bit of an update about some of the work that we have been doing under the banner of Brisbane Free University as part of the Students for Palestine UQ camp at the University of Queensland.

For the past 3 weeks, we’ve been organising weekly and twice-weekly lunchtime teach-ins, on Wednesdays and Fridays. We began on Wednesday 8th May, with a brilliant talk from Dr. Amy McQuire & Nick Chesterfield on media complicity and settler colonialism in so-called australia and Palestine. Then, on Wednesday 15th May, we welcomed Uncle Shane Coghill, Remah Naji & Malaak Seleem for to commemorate the 76th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba with a discussion on the connections and linkages between colonial invasion on this continent and in Palestine.

On Friday 17th May, we worked with Jonathan Sriranganathan to bring together a session titled “Nakba to Mullivaikkal: genocidal parallels from Tamil Eelam to Palestine”, marking the 15 year anniversary of the horrific Mullivaikkal massacre in Tamil Eelam; an event materially and ideologically connected to the current atrocities in Raffah. This discussion saw Eelam Tamil speakers & Palestinian organisers reflect on the parallels between their struggles for justice, and the importance of building deeper solidarities across communities experiencing the violent legacies of European colonisation and imperialism.

If you missed these discussions, never fear! All of them have been recorded, and we will be releasing these materials as part of a podcast in the coming weeks. If you’d like to get access to those resources when they’re uploaded, head to substack and subscribe to Radio Reversal: https://radioreversal.substack.com/

UPCOMING TEACH INS

FRIDAY 24th MAY, 2.30pm – 3.30pm
LUNCHTIME TEACH IN #4: Learning from the struggle: reflective writing & zine-making workshop with Lamisse Hamouda, Anna Carlson & Jonathan Sriranganathan

WEDNESDAY 29th MAY, 12.30pm – 1.30pm
LUNCHTIME TEACH IN #5: Direct Action – Theory, Practice & Lessons from the struggle

THURSDAY 30th MAY, 12.30pm – 1.30pm
LUNCHTIME TEACH IN #6: Anti-zionist Jewish liberation movements & the broader history of anti-racist struggle with Dr. Liz Strakosch & Dr. David Singh

FRIDAY 31st MAY, 12.30pm – 1.30pm
LUNCHTIME TEACH IN #7: ZINE-MAKING WORKSHOP FOR COLLECTIVE ENCAMPMENT ZINE

ACTIVIST TOOLKIT WORKSHOPS

SUNDAY 2nd JUNE, 9am – 4.30pm

Event details: https://www.facebook.com/events/2559642017569050

Join us for a full day of workshops, discussions & participatory planning as we share skills and strategies for the struggle ahead.

WORKSHOP PROGRAM

8.45am: Arrive, settle in, grab tea & coffee

9am: Opening discussion with Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander and Palestinian Elders (organised by the Institute for Collaborative Race Research)

10am: Honouring and amplifying personal histories of anti-colonial struggle (organised by Lamisse Hamouda & Brisbane Free University)

11.30am: Lived experience leadership & solidarity building workshop (organised by Justice for Palestine Magan-djin, Brisbane Free University & Jonathan Sriranganathan)

12.45pm – 1.30pm: CATERED VEGETARIAN LUNCH

1.30pm: Action Planning: strategy, safety, security & solidarity (organised by Grassroots Action Network, Action Ready & Brisbane Free University)

2.45pm: Resisting disposability & burnout: building cultures of care (organised by Meanjin Solidarity Fund, Brisbane Free University & Grassroots Action Network)

4pm: Using art and community events as tools for liberation (organised by Justice for Palestine Magan-djin, Magan-djin Creatives for Palestine, Jonathan Sriranganathan & Brisbane Free University)

5pm: Closing discussion, informal chats & where to from here?

—
ACCESSIBILITY

This is an all-ages event, and we welcome children to join us in the space (and the struggle). We will have a dedicated kids space set up, with volunteer child-minders on site to care for children near the main camp.

If possible, please let the wonderful volunteers from Mums for Palestine know if you’re planning to bring children along and if they have any specific support needs.

The UQ Student Encampment is an outdoor space that is highly ventilated. We encourage participants to socially distance wherever possible, and we will have masks and hand sanitiser available on the day. We encourage people to wear masks if possible, and to take as many measures as possible to reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19 or other viruses.

There are fully accessible bathrooms located in the library near the encampment. The camp is on a grassed area with relatively firm ground that is accessible for most mobility devices. At this stage, we do not have AUSLAN interpreters available. If this will make the event inaccessible for you, please email brisbanefreeuniversity at gmail dot com.

DETAILS

This one day workshop is intended to be a bit of an experiment in collective education & strategy-building. The goal of this full day workshop is to build deeper and stronger connections between people who are working towards the shared goal of Palestinian liberation, as well as building our collective organising capacity & deeper strategic thinking for the many interconnected struggles ahead.

We hope that this might also serve as a way to develop a deeper, shared understanding of the political ecosystem that we’re working within, and to forge stronger links and connections between people engaged in different kinds of work.

We are running this workshop within the student encampment at the University of Queensland in order to support their continuing, resolute stand and demands for accountability, transparency and divestment.

There are a range of individuals, collectives and organisations involved in organising parts of this workshop, including Brisbane Free University, the Institute for Collaborative Race Research, Students for Palestine UQ, Justice for Palestine Magan-djin, Meanjin Solidarity Fund, Grassroots Action Network, Anti-Poverty Network Qld, Action Ready, Jonathan Sriranganathan, Mums for Palestine & Magan-djin Creatives for Palestine (and others!).

And of course, a reminder that all of this organising, theorising & agitating around justice for Palestine is happening in the context of continuing colonisation on this continent. We recognise the rightful owners and custodians of the lands on which we live and work, and we honour the unceded and omnipresent sovereignty, presence, and power of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples across the continent. We know that colonialism is a global system that must be defeated everywhere if it is to be truly transformed.

This means that we aim to ensure that all of the work we do to struggle against colonial violence in Palestine is grounded in our commitment to anti-colonial, Indigenist struggle here. This workshop is part of the ongoing work of learning how to do this. We aim to learn from and respect the radical traditions of anti-colonial, anti-racist, feminist, queer and anti-capitalist resistance that have been led by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people on this continent. We invite all participants in these workshops to reckon with and attend to their own relationships to these lands, and the responsibilities and obligations that flow from them.

If you want to keep up to date with broader events happening around so-called brisbane, we recommend the following newsletters and groups:

BREAD (Brisbane Radical Events & Activist Directory): https://breadbne.substack.com/

Sign up to receive the Justice for Palestine Magan-djin Newsletter here.

Our comrade and co-organiser Jonathan Sriranganathan has also been offering reflections on the protest movement and upcoming events, which you can get delivered to your inbox if you subscribe here: https://www.jonathansri.com/

Head along to a Treaty before Sports meeting at Jagera Hall on Monday evenings, to connect with and support the work that Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance & the Brisbane Aboriginal Sovereign Embassy are doing to get land rights and justice for First Nations people back onto the global agenda: https://www.instagram.com/treatybeforesports/

Subscribe to Dr. Amy McQuire’s excellent substack for longer analysis and reflection on pressing issues of justice and liberation: https://www.blackjusticejournalism.com.au/

And make sure you’re listening to and supporting independent, community controlled radio stations like 4zzz and Triple A Murri Country to get news and media that isn’t shaped by the colonial capitalist forces that mould platforms like Facebook and Instagram.

We’re biased, but some of our go-to shows (among MANY, MANY OTHERS!): Let’s Talk on Triple A Murri Country: https://triplea.org.au/programs/lets-talk/; Radio Reversal on 4zzz: https://4zzz.org.au/program/radio-reversal; Paradigm Shift on 4zzz: https://4zzz.org.au/program/paradigm-shift; Only Human on 4zzz: https://4zzz.org.au/program/only-human; Culture Vultures on 4zzz: https://4zzz.org.au/program/culture-vultures; Souljah Sisters on 4zzz:https://4zzz.org.au/program/soul-jah-sistars; Eco Radio on 4zzz: https://4zzz.org.au/program/eco-radio; Workers Power on 4zzz: https://4zzz.org.au/program/workers-power; Tranzmission on 4zzz: https://4zzz.org.au/program/tranzmission; Locked In on 4zzz: https://4zzz.org.au/program/locked-in

Hello Brisbane Free University!

If you’ve maneuvered your way to this site, you might have noticed that things here are a little out of date. But never fear! The Brisbane Free University project is still going strong – we are just a little behind on our digital administration.

If you’re new to the BFU project, we are a community political education project based in so-called brisbane. The Brisbane Free University began in 2012, co-founded by Fern Thompsett, Briohny Walker & Anna Carlson in a carpark under the old Westpac Bank in West End. Initially, the BFU primarily involved free, public lectures, discussions and workshops hosted in public spaces. Now, the project has expanded to include other collaborative projects, including research collectives and a regular radical reading group.

While we work on overhauling our website, please get in touch with us directly if you’re looking to get involved, or want to learn more about any of the following projects!

The BFU Radical Reading Group

The most consistent part of the Brisbane Free University at present is our radical reading group. The reading group meets fortnightly in Woolloongabba on Thursday evenings from 6pm – 8pm. We select texts for the following year as a group, and we share the responsibilities of facilitating discussions, providing readings, and recording audio versions of the texts we are engaging with.

We have four sessions remaining in 2023, and we will be creating our reading list for next year in late November. If you’re interested in getting involved in the radical reading group, please get in touch with us at brisbanefreeuniversity @ gmail (dot) com and we will send you details about how to get involved. If you’re on facebook, the easiest way to stay up to date is to join the private group: “Brisbane Free University Radical Reading Group”. You’ll be able to see all of the events for each reading group, as well as find copies of the reading materials for each week.

Brisbane Free University Activist Research Collective

In addition to public events and reading groups, BFU members also work collaboratively on independent research projects and collaborations with local artists, activists groups and community organisations. We have collaborated with artists on public installations, and we frequently overlap with our sister project Radio Reversal on 4zzz.

If you’re interested in learning about some of the longer term research collaborations that we are part of, or if you’d like to be involved, please get in touch with us at brisbanefreeuniversity @ gmail (dot) com.

Brisbane Free University public events

The BFU remains committed to regular public events, but in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic it has been more challenging to organise regular public lectures and workshops. We plan in 2024 to work towards some other political education projects, including short courses, workshops & symposiums.

If you’re interested in being involved with organising or attending any events, or supporting the Brisbane Free University in any other way, please get in touch with us at brisbanefreeuniversity @ gmail dot com.

What? Panel discussion and community forum

When? 5.30pm – 7.30pm Friday 24th September, 2021

Details:
Brisbane Free University is collaborating with Fern Collective and Jonathan Sri, Councillor for the Gabba to host a public discussion on the housing crisis and the strategies, possibilities and limits of agitating for more just housing on stolen land.

Inspired by the research of ‘Housing Justice in Unequal Cities,’ https://unequalcities.org/about/ detailing the housing crisis and tenant organising across multiple global cities we are excited to hold a public discussion on the tensions, barriers, strategies and possibilities for housing justice here in Meanjin, and across so-called Australia.

Tenant rights here in Queensland are some of the worst in the world. With increasingly punitive measures against tenants, and landlords and property agents facing no accountability for evictions, people are too easily being forced into homelessness or precarious and unsafe housing situations. Folks already facing the exhausting toll of having to pay rent to non-responsive landlords, may also have to face racist, transphobic, ableist and discriminatory barriers or exclusion due to their ex-incarcerated or migratory status.

We are living in an unjust system which continuously benefits and maximises profit for those who own private property and upholds fictional colonial housing laws. Police, landlords, real estate agents and government departments coordinate to gentrify neighbourhoods and create an environment of easy eviction. We must then also create solidarity and organising capacity for tenants to resist such forces.

Through a combination of online interviews and live panelists from disability justice network, tenant union and anti-eviction organisers, First Nations activists and ex-incarcerated folk, we hope to dive in deep into the intersections of housing justice, colonisation, incarceration and state violence.

The event will begin at 5.30pm with a Welcome to Country from Uncle Shane Coghill, and a political introduction to this region. We’ll then hear from Councillor for the Gabba Ward Jonathan Sri, contextualising the current housing crisis and the need for urgent organising and strategising around housing in Meanjin.

At 6pm, we’ll start the panel discussion, facilitated by the brilliant Dr. Natalie Osborne, and including Uncle Shane Coghill, Associate Professor Chelsea Watego, Kevin Yow Yeh and Samantha Bond.

After the panel, we’ll open for a broad community conversation and Q and A with all the speakers, and then close with some words from an organiser from the South East Queensland Union of Renters (SEQUR).

Accessibility information

We will have a live-stream of the event with AI transcriptions provided after the event.

AUSLAN interpretation will also be provided.

A table with light snacks and drinks will also be provided.

Childcare available on site with an experienced childcare worker, and children are welcome to participate in the event in whatever way they would like.

From the front footpath there is a straight and flat path to the front door. The entrance has a double door – accessible to wheelchairs and other mobility devices. The hall has a large open space, so wide distances will be provided between chairs and rows. There are no stairs. The toilets are left to the entrance of the hall. There is a separate disabled toilet.

The venue can be accessed by bus routes 199, 60 and 192. Limited street parking is available. There are no car parks onsite.

If you need any further information regarding the venue feel free to send a message or call 0434728442

DETAILS:

What? Public lecture & community discussion

When? 6pm – 7.30pm, Tuesday 14th July

Where? On the grassy oval at Raymond Park, near the Pineapple Hotel.

We will also livestream the event via the Brisbane Free University facebook page.

This discussion will take place on the unceded lands of the Yuggera and Turrbal people. We acknowledge their Elders past and present, and the powerful lineage of political organising and theorising that continues to this day. Sovereignty over these lands has never been ceded.

Who? All welcome! Completely free.

Those watching on the livestream are also encouraged to send in their questions and discussion points. We will have an organiser watching the page throughout and sharing comments with the speakers and participants in the park.

Children are welcome to come to this event, and their participation is encouraged! There will also be dedicated child minding by an experienced childcare worker. Please message Brisbane Free University on facebook, or email brisbanefreeuniversity at gmail dot com if you would like child minding support, so we have an idea about numbers.

***
Speakers:
Dr. Sarah Keenan
Sarah Keenan works at Birkbeck Law School, University of London, where she co-directs the Centre for Research on Race and Law. Her research and teaching are at the intersection of legal and political theory, geography and post-colonial studies. Her monograph Subversive Property: Law and the Production of Spaces of Belonging was published in the Routledge Social Justice series in 2015.

Boe Spearim
Boe Spearim is a Kooma, Murawarii and Gamilaraay community organizer, born in western Sydney and raised on the Southside of Brisbane.

Boe has been involved in community radio since 2012 volunteering at 4zzz on the Indigi Briz program then later studying and completing a cert 3 in media broadcasting at 98.9fm where Boe found employment after leaving the station and then coming back in 2017 Boe began hosting Let’s Talk a talkback program that discusses issues that affect First Nations people. This year Boe started and created a podcast called Frontier War Stories each episode Boe will speak with different Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people about research, books and oral histories which document the first 140 years of conflict and resistance. These times are the Frontier Wars and these are our War Stories.

Before finding his passion in radio Boe got involved in activism at the Brisbane Aboriginal Sovereign Embassy which was established in March 2012 in Musgrave Park.

Philip Marrii
Philip Marrii is a Ngarabul and Wirrayaraay Murri from the so called New England region. Philip is a writer, historian and campaigner, and is passionate about language and cultural revival, protecting country by any means necessary and putting Aboriginal land in Aboriginal hands.

The discussion will be facilitated by Jonathan Sri and Liz Strakosch. Jonno is a Meanjin-based writer, poet, musician, community organiser and the current city councillor for the Gabba Ward. Liz is a political theorist, academic, community organiser and writer.

The space!
In solidarity with the protests of the people incarcerated by the Immigration Department in the Kangaroo Point Hotel, and alongside the work of Refugee Solidarity Meanjin in blockading the compound to prevent any of the men being forcibly removed, Brisbane Free University is temporarily reconfiguring as a Blockade Free University, to co-host a series of panel discussions and public conversations about the politics of representation, racial violence, borders and prisons, and other colonial strategies of racial control, surveillance and governance.

This event!
Following on from our last lecture on the ethics and politics of representation in art and activism, this week we’re grappling with law and power. How does law create carceral systems like borders and prisons? What is the Australian border? How is it produced and reproduced through legal, social, political and cultural processes?

The discussion will go for around an hour, but we encourage everyone to head over to the Blockade afterwards and continue the community reflections.

We will abide by COVID-19 social distancing restrictions. As of last Friday, restrictions have lifted to enable groups up to 100 people to gather in public spaces. This venue is outdoors, and it is relatively easy to distance socially. Please bring hand sanitiser, and we recommend wearing masks. If you cannot attend due to your health, please watch via the live stream and post your questions and comments in the thread.

Accessibility:
The venue is a park.
There is an all-access bathroom with a changing table.
We will try to provide some comfortable seating from the Blockade, but if you can bring your own chair, that would be ideal.
Children are welcome to come to this event, and their participation is encouraged! There will also be dedicated child minding by an experienced childcare worker. Please message the page if you would like child minding support so we have an idea about numbers!
We will not have an AUSLAN interpreter available.
We can provide transcripts from the event on request.

What? Panel discussion and community conversation

When? 6pm – 7pm, Tuesday 30th June, followed by open discussion and Q and A.

Where? On the grassy oval at Raymond Park, near the Pineapple Hotel.

This discussion will take place on the unceded lands of the Yuggera and Turrbal people. We acknowledge their Elders past and present, and the powerful lineage of political organising and theorising that continues to this day. Sovereignty over these lands has never been ceded.

Why Raymond Park?
In solidarity with the protests of the people incarcerated by the Immigration Department in the Kangaroo Point Hotel, and alongside the work of Refugee Solidarity Meanjin in blockading the compound to prevent any of the men being forcibly removed, Brisbane Free University is temporarily reconfiguring as a Blockade Free University, to co-host a series of panel discussions and public conversations about solidarity and complicity, representation and racial violence, borders and prisons, interrogating overlapping colonial strategies of racial control, surveillance and governance.

***
The panel:
Kristy-Lee is a First Nations Actor, Writer and Broadcaster. Member of WAR, BASE & Creator of Voices of the 3%.

Aleea Monsour is a Lebanese Australian artist and community theatre practitioner from Brisbane, Queensland. She is passionate about the power of theatre and the arts as an agent for change and being able to engage with people from all walks of life. She is personally inspired to engage with the stories of communities and in particular the voices of women and young people in theatre and art.

Rachel Choi is a film producer and lawyer. She is currently in post-production on her first feature PARIS FUNERAL, 1972 which was shot on Super16 with non-actors in Australia, France and Italy. In making this film and processing the deeply felt learnings along the way, Rachel has become preoccupied with relational filmmaking and documentary ethics. She is interested in art, community engagement and social justice and has explored ways to contribute in these areas, sometimes having the magic opportunity to combine them all.

Anisa Nandaula is a nationally recognised spoken word poet, play writer, educator and published author. She is the 2016 Queensland Poetry slam champion and runner up for the Australian poetry slam championships. In 2017 she published her first book Melanin Garden and won the XYZ Innovation in Spoken Word Prize. Anisa is also the co-founder of the arts collective Voices of Colour which creates spaces for migrant, refugee and first nations artists to share their work.

Facilitated by Muhib Nabulsi, a Meanjin-based writer, scholar and member of the Palestinian diaspora, and current facilitator of the BFU radical reading group.

***

This event!
We’re kicking off this series of BFU talks with a broad discussion about representation: in politics, art, protest and beyond. How and why do we tell stories? Who gets to be an expert? What are the ethical implications of representing other people and other struggles? And how might thinking critically about representation give us tools for reflecting on solidarity, complicity, and liberation?

The discussion will go for around an hour, but we encourage everyone to head over to the Blockade afterwards and continue the community reflections.

We will also livestream the event via the Brisbane Free University facebook page. We will endeavour to keep up with comments on that stream and pose questions on behalf of the online viewers.

Accessibility information:
The venue is a public park.
There is an all-access bathroom with a changing table.
We will try to provide some comfortable seating, but some participants may need to sit on the floor. Please let us know if you need comfortable seating and there is none left.
Children are welcome to come to this event. We do not have dedicated child-minding, but we are happy to welcome all input from children in attendance.
We will not have an AUSLAN interpreter available.
We can provide transcripts from the event on request.

When? Thursday 21st March, 6pm – 7.30pm

Where? QUT Gardens Point, Lawn (Near entrance to the Goodwill Bridge and Riverstage)

We gather on the unceded lands of the Yuggera and Turrbal peoples. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging, and to all First Nations communities across the country.
What?
An interactive installation by artist Shelley Cheng, this work explores experiences of otherness as collected from people who grew up Asian in Australia.

After an introduction from the organisers, BFU will break off to host a short reading group. Depending on numbers, we will either gather in a small group or break into smaller groups to read and discuss three short essays / memoir style pieces from the zine that accompanies this installation. The reading group discussion will run informally prior to the panel discussion, from around 5.30pm – 6pm.

Then, we’ll come back together for a panel discussion with three of the contributors: Shelley Cheng, Michelle Dang and Yen-Rong Wong from 6.15 – 7pm.

We’ll wrap up formal proceedings around 7pm, but there’ll be plenty of time for casual conversations about the topic afterwards.

More details:
About Shelley:
Shelley Cheng is a multi-disciplinary artist who lives on the stolen Aboriginal land of the Jagera and Turrbal peoples. They have exhibited throughout Brisbane in local cafes, shops, pop-up art spaces and artist-run initiatives. Shelley’s art also appears in political campaigns, community events, and fundraisers. They are currently undertaking an artist residency through Visible Ink while completing her undergraduate studies at QUT in Law (Honours)/ Journalism. Shelley is interested in prison abolition and transformative justice.

This project is presented as a part of Brisbane City Council’s Temporary Art Program 2019, produced by Metro Arts and people.artist.place, and made possible through the support of QUT Life and Curiocity.

BFU friends!

We have two upcoming events to kick off the new year and settle into the BFU rhythm for 2019.

1. BFU Reading Group – Reading List discussion and planning chats

Details:

When? 6pm – 7.30pm, Thursday 31st January 2019

Where? 19 Dornoch Terrace, West End (The Book Merchant Jenkins, second-hand-bookshop)

What? On the cusp of our third year as a radical reading group, I reckon we should kick off with a big ol’ planning meeting. Let’s get together in our beautiful new second-hand bookshop home (on the corner of Dornoch Tce and Hardgrave Road, in West End) to sip tea, eat bickies, and have a proper chat about what we want out of reading group this year.

If you’re keen to join the reading group this year, or to continue, have a bit of a think over the next couple of weeks about what you’d like to read together this year. What kinds of things do we want to read? How much should we try to get through? Should we read less or more than we have been over the past two years? Should we read different sorts of things? More fiction? More poetry? More films? Should we change the structure a bit week-to-week? And practically speaking: how often do we want to meet? How/do we want conversations to be facilitated? How structured / unstructured would we like the group to be? Is the new location appropriate?

If you’re new to reading group and feel like you’d like to come along, this will be a great introduction to the group, and a good chance to have a bit of a say in how you reckon the reading group should run! And if you’ve been coming for a while, or on-and-off, and you’ve got some niggling concerns, bring those too! We’re all making this space together, and all ideas are welcome!

After this early meeting, some of us will duck away and write up a reading list for the year as usual, which we’ll publish sometime in the next few weeks when the group starts properly. But for now, come along with your ideas for the year, ready for a classic reading group catch-up!

We acknowledge that we gather on the unceded lands of the Jagera and Turrbal peoples. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging, and to all other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities across Brisbane. Sovereignty over this land was never ceded.

See facebook event:

https://www.facebook.com/events/273357896678122/

2. Public discussion & Picnic: Where to for Brisbane Free University?

When? 4pm – 5.30pm, Saturday 9th February 2019

Where? Bunyapa Park, cnr Thomas and Vulture Streets, West End

What? Public Discussion & Planning Meeting!

We acknowledge that we gather, organise and work on unceded Jagera and Turrbal land. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging, and to all other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities across Brisbane. Sovereignty over this land was never ceded.

So: to kick off 2019, we reckon it’s high time for a big ol’ chat about what we all reckon Brisbane Free University should look like this year! To that end, I think we should have an organising meeting / public discussion / community picnic on Saturday 2nd February 2019 from 3pm – 4.30pm to talk about how we hope to see the free uni develop this year and into the future.

Do you think there’s still a need for a free education project like BFU in Brisbane? Do you think public lectures are a good format? Should we shake it up a bit? Do you have a workshop you really want to give? A course you wanna teach? A one-off lecture or public discussion? Think we should be collaborating more with other activist groups? Maybe we should make a zine together, or do something else entirely!

BFU is just over 6 years old, and we reckon it’s time to check in to see where this space should go in the future. We’re open to any suggestions, and we’d love to build something together out of what’s already here in our community 🙂

So, if you’ve been a regular attendee of BFU, or just a casual bystander, or if you’ve never heard of it before – you’re all welcome! We’d love to hear from you. Come along, share some food, get involved!

Accessibility information for this event:
The venue is a park. The event is child-friendly, and we welcome families to attend. However the park is not fenced and there will not be a separate space for children. We can provide some engagement materials (drawing supplies etc) on request.
This venue is wheelchair accessible, although much of the park is grassed
There is an accessible ambulant toilet with a change-table.
We will primarily be sitting on the grass, but we can try to organise some folding chairs if necessary. Please let us know if you need us to bring you a chair.
An Auslan interpreter will not be present.
Very limited First Aid will be available on site.

ALL WELCOME! Completely free!

See facebook event:

https://www.facebook.com/events/328843427842942/

When? 6pm – 8pm, Tuesday 2 October, 2018.

Where?  University of Queensland Anthropology Museum, Michie Building, St Lucia 4067

What?  Public lecture & panel discussion:

Adani: A Defining Moment for Indigenous Rights in Australia? 

Adani’s Carmichael mine, if it proceeds, will cause untold destruction to Wangan and Jagalingou country. With this threat, families from across the Wangan and Jagalingou nations are fighting to defend their internationally recognised rights to oppose the Carmichael mine from proceeding on their homelands. Their legal and political campaign has garnered global attention and exposed the racial discrimination embedded in the Australian settler colonial state. The battle continues, in the courts and on the streets. The future of Adani’s proposed mine and its potential devastation to Wangan and Jagalingou country remains unknown.

This battle against the Adani mine represents a defining moment in Australian history. Whether this moment will be harnessed to progress the cause of Indigenous rights and self determination – including for Wangan and Jagalingou – remains to be seen.

This panel discussion, bringing together some of the country’s leading thinkers and front line campaigners, will examine Australia’s love affair with coal. It will examine the flaws in the current legal and political system that consistently prioritises large scale, highly destructive developments rather than Indigenous sovereignty, land rights, the rights of nature and the rights of communities, and which allows the sidelining and silencing of Indigenous rights and interests. Nowhere is this more evident than in the current governments’ support for opening up the Galilee Basin in Central Queensland, including to establish Adani’s mega Carmichael mine project. We are watching this play out despite the reality of dubious coal economics and climate constraint, and the energy transition that is well underway.

SPEAKERS!

Introduction to the space and Acknowledgment of Country: Uncle Sam Watson

Facilitator and MC: Emily McConochie
Emily is a Wakka Wakka woman from ancestors who walked the South Burnett and Mary Valley Regions. She studies Development Practice at UQ and her passion and scholarship centres around decolonising community and social work practices, by learning from the work of our elders who preserve the traditions of custodianship and stories that keep our young people and communities strong.

Panel

Murrawah Johnson
Youth Spokesperson Wangan and Jagalingou Traditional Owners Council, Activist of the Year (Ngara Institute) and on the 50 Grist list – acknowledging her place amongst the world’s best and brightest fighting for the planet.

Dr Michelle Maloney
Co-founder and National Convenor Australian Earth Laws Alliance

David Ritter
CEO Greenpeace Australia Pacific, and author of The Coal Truth: The Fight to Stop Adani, Defeat the Big Polluters and Reclaim Our Democracy

Prof John Quiggin
Prominent Australian economist and UQ Vice Chancellors Senior Research Fellow

Snacks and drinks from 6pm. Discussion from 6.30pm – 8pm.

ALL WELCOME. COMPLETELY FREE. 

We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the lands on which we gather, and we pay our respects to Elders past, present and future and to all other First Nations people and communities in Meanjin. Sovereignty over these lands was never ceded.