Think Again Jennifer Borrell & Jacques Boulet

For this Radiothon fund-raiser special, 11 guests from the past year talk about their work in activism, community development, social analysis and creating a better future.  

Heading toward the next election cycle, Jennifer and Jacques lament the state of public discourse, with superficial polarised positions reflected through the lethal triangle of two main parties and the mainstream media.To address this they raise issues of where we are going as a society, including migration, racism, housing, universities, wage-poverty, AUKUS, and the downward spiral of certain 'democracies' worldwide.

Jennifer speaks with Lew Zipin who has had a career in education programs and been a union activist across three Australian universities. He talks about some devastating trends that have taken hold of our universities over the past two or three decades, invoking a few concepts of Karl Marx that seem more relevant than ever.One such concept is the 'alienation' that academic staff experience when the potentially meaningful social contributions of their labours are instead exploited by universities for competitive advantage.ReferencesBourdieu, P. (1986). The forms of capital. In J. Richardson (Ed.), Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education (pp. 241-258). Greenwood.Bourdieu, P. (1993) The Field of Cultural Production: Essays on Art and Literature, New York: Columbia University Press.Brennan, M. (2010) ‘Dividing the University: Perspectives from the middle’, in J. Blackmore, M. Brennan and L. Zipin (eds) Re-positioning University Governance and Academic Work, Rotterdam: Sense Publications, pp 115-132.Brennan, M., McPherson, A., Zipin, L. Rudolph, S., Rogers, B., Barron, R. & Woods, A. (2020). The Growing Urgency of Attending to the State of Education Research in Australian Higher Education. Report to the AARE Executive and Members from the Working Party, ‘Protecting and Extending Research in Education in Australia'. https://www.aare.edu.au/news/report-of-the-working-party-on-supporting-educational-research-is-now-available/ Bunda, T., Zipin, L. & Brennan, M. (2012) ‘Negotiating university “equity” from Indigenous standpoints: A shaky bridge’, International Journal of Inclusive Education, 16(9): 941–957.Engeström, Y, Virkkunen, J, Helle, M, Pihlaja, J & Poikela, R (1996), ‘The change laboratory as a tool for transforming work', Lifelong learning in Europe, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 10-17. Evans, G. (2023). Problematising knowledge and practices of Occupational Health and Safety in a small factory. A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Education, UniSA Education Futures. Marginson, S. (2002) ‘Towards a politics of the Enterprise University’, Arena 17-18, 109-136.Marginson, S. & Considine, M. (2000) The Enterprise University: Power, Governance and Reinvention in Australia, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Marx, K. (1964). Economic and philosophic manuscripts of 1844. International Publishers.Marx, K. (1976/1867). Capital, volume 1. PenguinSennett, S. (2006), The culture of the new capitalism, The Castle Lectures in Ethics, Politics, and Economics, Yale University Press. Zipin, L. (2006). ‘Governing Australia’s universities: The managerial strong-arming of academic agency’, Social Alternatives, 25(2): 26-31Zipin, L. (2010) ‘Situating university governance in the ethico-emotive ground tone of post/late times’, in J. Blackmore, M. Brennan and L. Zipin (eds) Re-positioning University Governance and Academic Work, Rotterdam: Sense Publications, pp 147-162Zipin, L. (2019) ‘How Council-Management Governance troubles Australian university labours and futures: Simplistic assumptions and complex consequences’, Social Alternatives 38(3): 28-35.Zipin, L. & Brennan, M. (2003) ‘The suppression of ethical dispositions through managerial governmentality: A habitus crisis in Australian higher education’, International Journal of Leadership in Education, 6(4): 351-370.Zipin & Brennan (2023). Affective labour pains of academic capitalism in crisis. In D. Nehring & K. Brunilla (Eds.), Affective capitalism in academia (pp. 21-46). Policy Press.

Jacques and Jennifer talk about another scandalous case of neo-colonial excess - the human rights crimes against the population of a newly independent country, Mauritius, and the people of its territory in the Chagos Archipelago. As part of a secret deal between Britain and the US, they were illegally deported to make way for a US military base. The connections with and similarities between 'terra nullius' in Australia, the removal of Palestinians from their lands and the 'empty lands' lie in Chagos/Mauritius are there for all to see.... anticipating AUKUS in another way? ReferencePhiippe Sands 2022, The last colony: A tale of exile, justice and Britain's colonial legacy, London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson.

Jacques talks with academic and peace and environmental activist Dr Marty Branagan who is Convenor of Peace Studies at the University of New England. Marty has been assisting the 'Bendigo Three' activists, protesting the ongoing investments by the NAB in fossil fuels exploitation; brought to court for 'trespassing'; he wrote a 'Defence of Duress' in their support (see the June issue of New Community journal for an account of this - ncq@borderlands.org.au). ReferenceMarty Branagan's new book 'The Cultural Dimensions of Peacebuilding'  will be available from Anthempress in August this year. In the book, Marty details 'aspects of cultures, including language, films, journalism, political economics, museums, education, parenting, gender, artistic activism, and spirituality, which can contribute to either more violent societies or more peaceful ones. Solutions-oriented, it aims to inspire deep understanding and reflection, empowerment, and grassroots action in cultural spheres.'https://anthempress.com/humanities-literature-and-arts/the-cultural-dimensions-of-peacebuilding-epub

Jennifer talks with Jorge Jorquera who is a Councillor at Maribyrnong Counil and Coordinator of Borderlands Cooperative.Jorge tells how he came to Australia with his family as an infant in the wake of the military coup in Chile in 1973, and the brutal regime that followed. In his early teens he joined the Labor Party for a time, before it took a turn to the right, bringing in various neo liberal 'reforms' in the 1980s. His life of social action since then has included student politics, and work with unions and community organisations.He believes that social change is inevitable, while we still have to work collectively for the form that social change takes. Currently inspiration can be found in the solidarity that young people and university students are showing with the Palestinian people in Gaza. Music: Righteous Ones by Blue King Brown; Milkumana by King Stingray Community announcement:The future of community development: a morning tea conversation with Peter Westoby10:30am Saturday 25 MayBorderlands Cooperative30A Pickett Street, Footscray