Paradigm Shift, 4zzz fm 102.1, Fridays at Noon, 15 January 2016

1. Rebranding West End
2. BHP Mining Disaster in Brazil
3. Free Mojan
4. West Papua Independence
5. Dundalee Day / Free Denzel

Last week we heard a lot of songs so this week we are going to hear words.

Also, it was good to tune in from afar to hear Andy with some old hands from Paradigm Shift’s early days, Eliza and Cybele. Cybele would have to be 4ZZZ youngest announcer starting out before she was one year old (admittedly with some fairly limited insights into what is happening in the world, don’t we all) and now nearly 5. We hope that Eliza and Cybele will return one day.

Over the summer on Paradigm Shift, Andy and I have been doing some interviews which we thought we would play today. They do not fit any theme as we normally do but give perspective on current events that we think are important. They include:

Rebranding West End
A recent announcement of a plan to “re-brand” West End’s Boundary St was met with surprise and controversy – surprise because despite claims of “extensive consultation” few residents or businesses in West End had heard anything about it, and controversy because of the involvement in the plan of development company, Payce.

Andy  spoke to Erin Evans from the West End Community Association and Leo Tsimpkas from the West End Traders Association about the re-branding.

Comment: So there you have it … the argument comes down to whether to support a big supermarket in West End, at least that is what the real estate agent says. One of the best aspects of some inner city surburbs in Melbourne is the absence of big shopping centres in favour of what they call strip shopping. You can walk, cycle or drive along and go to whatever shops you need. You are not contained indoors in an air-conditioned controlled selling space run by a huge multinational corporation. Places you can only get to by car.

Brisbane lacks the alternative to this, strip shopping, except in places like West End. In my suburb, developers are putting up a huge new residential complexes to block the sky. Coles and Woolworths supermarkets are already in place and no doubt will grow when people move in. People say small business in Coorparoo is dead but what it be like when the multinationals take over? We don’t even have a community voice like West End Community Association.

Song – View from a Wooden Chair by Jumping Fences

BHP Mining Disaster in Brazil
Our last item dealt with the crisis for small business in West End we go now to the crisis in big business. Paradigm Shift reporter, Hectoria, spoke with the chairman of the board of BHP Billiton, Jac Nasser, about Brazil’s biggest environmental mining disaster.

Song – Corcovado (Quiet Night, Silent Stars) Joachim Gilberto, Astrud

Free Mojan
In August 2015, Yeronga State High School student and Iranian asylum seeker Mojgan Shamsalipoor was moved to Darwin’s Wickham Point detention centre. The move came without warning and shocked her teachers, fellow students, and her Brisbane based husband.

The Queensland Teachers Union and especially Mojgan’s teachers at Yeronga State High have been leading the campaign to have her brought back. On Tuesday, teachers at Yeronga went on strike in an attempt to pressure the government into action for Mojgan and for all asylum seeker children.

Andy  was at Yeronga State High School.

Comment: Currently there are four refugee women in Brisbane Immigration Transit Accommodation, three Somali and one Iranian – all who have been assaulted, raped or abused in some way in detention on Nauru. The Federal Government has not lived up to its duty of care to those women.

Article 14 – Tony Mockeridge

West Papua Independence
Each year on December 1st, the people of West Papua and their supporters around the world mark Papuan independence day.

On the 1st of December 1961, West Papua announced its independence from the Netherlands. Within two years though it had been incorporated into the still new nation of Indonesia.

The date is a day of protest for Papuan people, who demand a referendum on independence.

Andy spoke to some of the different voices present at the Brisbane demonstration.

Dundalee Day / Free Denzel
Dundalee Day is a commemoration that is held every year in Post Office Square by Brisbane’s Aboriginal community on the 5^th January. I was there and heard this moving plea by Morris Mikelo speaking up for his 11 year old son, Denzel who was bashed in Wacol Detention Centre two days before Christmas. In the lead-up to Morris’s speech you can hear Morris’s grandmother talking with an aboriginal film crew in Musgrave Park prior to the 1982 Commonwealth Games Land Rights protests. Jenny Mickelo is supported by her friend Mona Hart.

Lets listen to what they have to say:

Comment: I have just heard this morning that Denzel has been placed back in detention. 11 year old children should not be placed in detention, they need a safe place to go and preferably with their aboriginal family.

Song
A Novidade – Gilberto Gil – Acoustic (1994).

Gilberto Gil after many years of struggle against military dictatorship in Brazil end up as Minister for Culture in the left wing Lulla government. Here is his song A Novidade