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?

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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