Passionate speakers are quite often a stimulus for ideas. Catherine Keenan is now the Executive Director of the Sydney Story Factory a reality which would not have come about if it weren’t for a TED talk given by novelist and founder of 836 Valencia, Dave Eggers. Keenan wanted to bring a model of Egger’s writing centre for children to Sydney and in the process gave up her old life as a Sydney Morning Herald journalist for a new one. Keenan had no experience in teaching, the not for profit sector or running a business but that did not stop her in her tracks.

Keenan constantly drew inspiration and momentum from her own childhood and her love for writing and books. “It would be great thing to have a place where being a bookish kid who likes writing will always be a good thing, ” Keenan said.

“I was lucky enough to have teachers and parents that encouraged me and it set up the course of my life, ” she said.  Keenan hopes to inspire children to pursue their passion through The Sydney Story Factory. Already backed by some of Australia’s most reputable writers, it will open this year and will focus on providing a space where young passionate children can be published. In this way, Keenan hopes to change lives.

Dr Avnesh Ratnanesan is another esteemed individual that was motivated to make a change. Dr Ratnanesan abandoned his career in medicine after a realisation that it was not for him. His passion for film making eventually developed, with his first short film winning best directorial debut for an international short film in a film festival in LA.

Dr Ratnanesan wanted to make film making accessible to everyone, and from this belief, the idea of the Mobile Screen Festival was born. “I wanted to change the film industry, I wanted to change it for the better, ” he said.

His desire to help creatives in the film industry acquire paid work also led to the development of  Production Party, an online platform enabling those in the industry to pitch ideas for advertised projects.

At fastBREAK,  Dr Ratnanesan was not short of epic advice for young creatives in the audience. Dr Ratnanesan said, “Persistence is absolutely everything, I’m not the smartest guy in the world, I’m not the most creative, I don’t have the best ideas but one thing I do have is the attitude that I will not be outworked.”

“At the end of the day I’ll still be there chasing trying to find success, trying to find the opportunities, ” he added.

Kate Anderson also found herself chasing success in what was an epic adventure,  a ‘whirlwind of a time’ as a project coordinator of La Traviata, Handa on the Opera. The production involved an outdoor setting, fireworks and a giant chandelier, which attracted a great deal of publicity.

For Anderson, being involved in the logistics of what was marketed as an ‘epic new extravaganza’, involved a great deal of commitment and passion.

“From my perspective, coming into something, an event, where Australia has never staged anything or attempted anything like that before, in a venue that didn’t exist … was a huge risk and it brought with high expectations and challenges, ” Anderson said.

The driving force in pursuing this career path was an early curiosity with what was happening behind the curtain in productions. At now at only 24 years old Anderson has participated in an unprecedented production, which she could only describe as epic and amazing.

Sydney city’s inaugural poet,  Kate Middleton was also involved in an epic journey that lead to the idea for her upcoming book of poems, “Ephemeral Waters”. The title itself captures her eureka moment, where she was haunted by an offhand remark at a talk at the Centre of Australian Studies at Georgetown University. She was captivated by the study which found that there would be a 50% chance that by 2025 Lake Mead, a source of water for 17 million people, located on the Colorado River would be dry.

Middleton confesses she developed an obsession with the river. But obsessions take us to the craziest places on earth, she says. Middleton absorbed the history of rafting expeditions, and drove 15000 miles down the Colorado River, where she witnessed the most sublime views of the river.

It was here, Middleton gained a better understanding of where she wanted to take her poetry. “Inspiration for my writing nearly always comes from fear of some sort because unless you’re afraid you don’t need any courage, ” she said.

“I passionately believe poets have things to say about our world, ” she added.  She hopes her book will reignite discussion about the place of poetry in shaping our world.

Joshua Capelin’s documentary,  Find the Wind also pulled him into an epic adventure, which involved the exploration of eight winds in eight different countries. This idea stemmed from Capelin’s passion for exploring our relationship with nature. He believes there is an interesting dynamic at play, because we’re both embedded in nature but also distant from it.

These eight winds have their own myths and unique characteristics which impact the people that live with them.

But Capelin, pointed out that an idea is just a spark. The real work is in the writing and the research. The light bulb moment eventually lead him to working on the documentary which was epic,  because ”it felt so right.”

The speakers at this month’s fastBREAK left the audience with plenty of food for thought. Our own creativity and ideas can ultimately take us on epic adventures of discovery and change.

Vibewire and the Powerhouse Museum would like to thank our sponsors 2SER,  the Fetch Sydney and Black Star Pastry.

Join us on June 29 for ‘Stuffed’ the next installment in the fastBREAKseries. Still curious about what to expect? Click on this link for videos of past fastBREAK events. Don’t forget to like our Facebook page for regular updates and news on upcoming events.

The Novella Makes a Comeback

What’s a novella? Michelle Balogh explains and tells us how this literary form  is back into fashion. ‘The novella allows for a greater exploration of character and conflict than the short story without the complexity of a novel. Often intended to be read in a single sitting, novellas are able to transport the reader into a detailed fictional world without the commitment of days or even weeks required for a longer work.’ Seizure is holding a novella-writing competition where prize money is up for grabs.

Let’s Talk About Drugs

Drugs are a hugely pervasive in Australian society, so why aren’t we talking about them? Tom Langshaw asks this question in his article on the landscape of drug use (and abuse) in Australia. Tom suggests that ‘to find new solutions, we need to re-open the debate.’ We need to re-draw lines about what is acceptable or what’s not, and that maybe better solutions to our ‘drug problem’ would be found outside the legal system.

Unpicking the Collective Whinge

Australia isn’t doing so economically badly. Low unemployment, low inflation, steady growth – we’ve hitherto have avoided the worst of what the global recession has had to offer. Yet, confidence is low. Jessica Irvine says that this is because, ‘we are, as a nation, chucking a full-on, all-screaming, all-door-slamming teenage temper tantrum.’ She likens the major players in the economy (consumers and corporations) to teenagers who have maxed-out their credit cards and don’t like it when things don’t go their way. Government, meanwhile, is a parent who is trying to figure out what we want but are floundering.

World’s first Wikipedia town to launch in Wales

In cool news, A small Welsh town where English King Henry V was born is going to become a ‘wikipedia town’. What this means is that tourists will be able to use their smartphones to scan barcodes associated with attractions. When they do so, the relevant wikipedia page will pop up and they’ll learn all about the geographic site. The information will be delivered in the tourist’s native language. A wikipedia staff member said of the project, ‘If everyone shares the stories of their local area, we’ll have a much clearer understanding of the world we live in and that’s a powerful thing.’

Celebrities are Reading Your Tweets

Jess McGuire points out on Daily Life that on the other end of an @ reply is a real person. So, when you tweet to/about celebrities, there is a high chance that they will read it. She points out (with a lot of humour) that celebrities are real people, however difficult that is to remember, and  you should at least keep that in mind before unleashing a scathing account of their life in 140 characters. We should ask ourselves, ‘would we say it to their face?’

“I remember going through the Twitter feed after I was on Q & A and reading comments like ‘That girl’s pretty but she’d be prettier if she kept her mouth shut.’ …. The amount of abusive emails I got on my personal Facebook was just phenomenal.”

As Australians, we like to consider ourselves a progressive country in terms of equality and human rights. We like to consider the election of a female Prime Minister as a quantum leap forward for women’s equality. But instead, it has highlighted an ugly undercurrent of sexist sentiment in the Australian political media and the public psyche.

“It’s really easy for people to say we have a female Prime Minister, we have female Premiers. …….But the way they get treated in the media is so different… I think you can only really attribute that to sexism, ” says Haghdoosti.

Prime Minister Gillard’s haircut, appearance, relationship status and supposed lack of emotion have been the subject of intense scrutiny. In her article ‘Shacking up is hard to do: why Gillard may be leery of the Lodge’ Bettina Arndt criticized Gillard for choosing to be in a de facto relationship, stating that “her lifestyle choice may influence other women into making big mistakes about their lives, ”. And in 2006 Paul Toohey, from the Daily Telegraph, spent an entire article lamenting Julia Gillard’s fashion, hair and makeup, quoting one commentator who believed that the Prime Minister should be given a bigger allowance for clothing. Surely there are more important ways to spend tax payer dollars Mr Toohey?

Young human rights activist Samah Hadid is appalled.  “The fact that our prime minister is criticized just because of her gender is disgusting.” Like Haghdoosti and Prime Minister Gillard, Samah Hadid has also been attacked after appearing in the Australian media, even being called a ‘bitch’, ‘trot’ and ‘devil’ after her appearance on Q & A.

“As woman and a female activist I’ve copped a lot of abuse online, ” Hadid says.

How is it possible that, in the twenty first century, intelligent and successful young women can be attacked simply for being female?

Politicians and public figures will undoubtedly face harsh criticism from the media and the public. However, it is when this criticism moves from evaluating ideas to criticising an individual’s gender or femininity that the line between mere criticism and sexism is crossed. Throughout their school lives, young girls are constantly told they, as females in twenty first century Australia, have the ability to do everything that their male peers do. They can be mechanics, astronauts, soldiers or even the Prime Minister. But after witnessing the vilification of women in the Australia political sphere who would want to?

Image by Jaque Tseng

As it stands, women currently represent less than 30% of voices in Australian parliament and if this outdated attitude towards female leaders goes unchecked we can hardly expect this unfortunate statistic to improve. Even political activist Anna Rose conceded on her blog that: “there’s absolutely nothing about being a female politician that appeals to me, apart from being able to influence climate change policy – which I can continue to do from outside the party system.”

So, how do we move forward and create a future where women are able to have their voices heard without the fear of being attacked for simply for being a female?

“It starts by acknowledging that there is a serious problem…….with women and men speaking up and saying that this is actually wrong, ” says Samah Hadid.

Sara Haghdoosti also believes that dialogue is the key to overcoming this problem.

“We need more voices. We need more thought out feminist campaigns to do a better job engaging the mainstream…..Creating a space for these conversations to happen, ”

Despite their negative experiences, both Hadid and Haghdoosti are determined to continue to speak out on the issues they are passionate about and encourage other women to do the same.

Vibewire wants the conversation to start HERE. Throughout the month of May we will be focused on discussing issues affecting young women in Australia and throughout the world. We want to know what you think. Do females in the Australian political media get criticized unjustly simply because of their gender?

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Sara Haghdoosti is head of Community Campaigns at GetUp Australia and has recently launched Community Run - an online campaign platform. She is a climate change activist and has also started a blog, Tehran via Sydney,  advocating for democracy in Iran.

Samah Hadid is a a campaigner and activist for social justice and women’s rights. She has represented Australian youth both nationally, at events such as the Prime Minister’s 2020 Summit, and internationally at the United Nations. Samah’s next project will be the launch of Call It Out -an online mechanism to stamp out and address homophic, racist and sexist comments online.

]]> http://vibewire.org/2012/05/female-phobia-in-political-media/feed/ 0 http://vibewire.org/2012/05/overview-asylum-seekers-refugees/ http://vibewire.org/2012/05/overview-asylum-seekers-refugees/#comments Wed, 16 May 2012 22:02:14 +0000 Depita Rahim http://vibewire.org/?p=518476 Media coverage regarding asylum seekers tends to revolve around the issue of boat people and how we should stop them, find out the real issues being missed by the media and what can you do to help asylum seekers?

The term asylum seeker refers to ‘a person who has fled their own country and applied for protection as a refugee’. And what is a refugee? According to the United Nations Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, ‘a refugee is a person who is outsides their own country and is unable or unwilling to return due to a well-founded fear of being persecuted because of their:

• race
• religion
• nationality
• membership of a particular social group or
• political opinion.

Basically an asylum seeker refers to anybody seeking protection but their claim for refugee status has not been verified whereas a refugee has been officially recognised by a government as meeting the criteria of a refugee as defined by the U.N. Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. This was all found on the Australian Human Rights Commission website.

In the midst of political debate over how strictly we need to control our borders from boat arrivals, it seems that people have forgotten Australia’s obligations as a signatory to the U.N. Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. As a signatory, Australia should provide help to asylum seekers regardless of how they arrive in Australia.

Asylum seekers aren’t illegal arrivals as under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights a person has the right to seek asylum in another country. Asylum seekers often arrive without the necessary or correct documentation to apply for a visa to legally enter Australia. And this does not only refer to boat arrivals.

The Politics Around Asylum Seekers
The problem with Australian politics in relation to asylum seekers is that politicians can’t seem to move past the idea that our primary concern should be stopping boat arrivals.

Australians are accepting of refugees and asylum seekers. However, due to the nature of our political debate on the issue it seems that the way asylum seekers arrive in Australia plays a significant role in how we view those asylum seekers.

John Howard said it best when he declared, “We will decide who comes to this country and the circumstances in which they come.” This comment encapsulates how the political focus has been on trying to stop asylum seekers who arrive by boat as they are considered to be “queue jumpers”.

Asylum seekers arriving by boat (Photo: The Daily Telegraph)

Yes there is a need to stop people smugglers exploiting asylum seekers but current policy ends up punishing asylum seekers (by detaining them) for using the services of people smugglers.

The asylum seeker process is not organised, there is often no line for asylum seekers to “wait in” and/or the asylum seekers do not have the time to wait for a valid visa to enter Australia.

Arriving by boat should therefore not be viewed as illegal and as of 2010, 95 per cent of asylum seekers arrived by plane, meaning that it is only a minority of asylum seekers who use the services of people smugglers out of desperation.

The fact is the majority of asylum seekers are eventually given refugee status, so our focus should not be on stopping them but rather how we should help them after experiencing such traumatic events.

Issues Faced by Asylum Seekers
Asylum Seekers face several problems once they have been given refugee status in Australia. As so much of the political rhetoric is focused on stopping asylum seekers from arriving in Australia these issues are rarely highlighted in the media.

Issues such as housing, employment, language, education, etc. are all significant factors which make life harder for asylum seekers who are already vulnerable from their experiences of war, persecution, and the process of gaining asylum seeker status.

Media stories have incorrectly stated that refugees get better benefits than Australian citizens when in fact most suffer considerable hardships.

Refugees only get about 90% of the basic Centrelink allowance through the Asylum Seeker Assistance Scheme at $405.84 a fortnight.

Language barriers and limited or no education makes it difficult for asylum seekers to get sufficient work to sustain themselves within Australia.

There aren’t many statistics on the number of asylum seekers who struggle to find sufficient housing or end up homeless in Australia. It has been estimated that around 70 per cent of asylum seekers struggle to find stable housing.

What’s Being Done About It?
There are a vast number of organisations working both Australia-wide and locally to help provide support to asylum seekers. These organisations are run by thousands of volunteers. Donate, volunteer, or find out more about these organisations.

Nationwide:

• The Refugee Council of Australia
• Australian Red Cross 
• Together for Humanity Foundation

In NSW:

• Asylum Seekers Centre (Surry Hills)
• ALIV (Volunteers at Villawood Immigration Detention Centre)
• Anglicare Sydney
• Auburn Diversity Services Employment Mentoring Program 
• Australian Afghan Hassanian Youth Association
• Bridge for Asylum Seekers Foundation (Sydney)
• Friends of STARTTS (Western Sydney)
• House of Welcome (Western Sydney)
• Refugee Mentoring Project (RMP)
• St Vincent de Paul Society Assisting Refugee Kids (SPARK)
• Sudanese Settlement Program – Equatoria Community and Welfare Association (Western Sydney)
• Sydney Multicultural Community Services
• Welcome to Australia (Part of Mission Australia)
• Young Christian Workers (Parramatta)

In Qld:

• Brisbane City Council 
• Refugee Claimants Support Centre
• Romero Community Centre

In VIC:

• Australian Karen Foundation
• Victoria’s Volunteering Portal
• AMES Volunteer Program
• Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (West Melbourne)
• Asylum Seekers Assistance Project (South East Melbourne)
• Centre for Multicultural Youth – Volunteer Tutors for Refugee and ESL Young People
• Ecumenical Migration Centre (Fitzroy)
• Fitzroy Learning Centre (Fitzroy)
• South Eastern Region Migrant Resource Centre – Volunteer Tutors for Homework Support Programs
• Springvale Community Aid & Advice Bureau (Springvale)
• Sudanese Australian Integrated Learning Program (SAIL)

In SA:

• Migrant Resource Centre of South Australia

In ACT:

• Australian Catholic Migrant and Refugee Office

In WA:

• CASE for Refugees Inc.
• ASeTTS 

Asylum seekers and refugees should not be considered a problem to Australians. We are morally obligated to help asylum seekers out and they should not be punished while we try to stop illegal immigrants from exploiting the system.

 

Feature Image: beth0302

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Image courtesy of ruifernandes on flickr

For the average australian reader, ‘novella’ isn’t exactly a part of day to day vocabulary. But over the course of literary history the form has had its fair share of major success stories and chances are you’ve read a novella without even knowing it.

The most concrete definition of a novella is that it is a work of fiction somewhere between a short story and a novel in length. The exact length, however, is up for debate, some definitions capping the word length at a mere 40, 000, whilst others reach as high as 70, 000 (which is why some novellas have been passed off as novels). But debate over length aside, what are the characteristics of a novella?

The novella allows for a greater exploration of character and conflict than the short story without the complexity of a novel. Often intended to be read in a single sitting, novellas are able to transport the reader into a detailed fictional world without the commitment of days or even weeks required for a longer work. Blog Temporary Infinity praises the novella for its powerful brevity, ‘changing someone’s life in a three volume epic doesn’t compare to changing someone’s life in 30, 000 words.’

In fact, some of the most famous stories in the English language were published as novellas. George Orwell’s Animal Farm, Truman Capote’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness all check in at less than 40, 000 words. To put that into perspective for those of us who don’t count words as we lie snuggled under a doona with a book, J.K Rownling’s Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone sits at  76, 944 and J.R. Tolkein’s Lord of the Rings Trilogy at 455, 000. So compared to the fat books that crowd the shelves of Dymocks’ the works of Orwell, Capote, Stevenson and Conrad were really quite short. The introduction to the original edition of Jekyll and Hyde reads, ‘The novella is one of the richest and most rewarding of literary forms… it allows for more extended development of theme and character than does the short story, without the elaborate structural demands of the full-lenth book. Thus it provides an intense, detailed exploration of its subject, providing to some degree both the concentrated focus of the short story and the broad scope of the novel.’

Image courtesy of cdrummbks on flickr

So if the novella is so special why does it exist in such obscurity? During the 20th century the novella fell from favour for economic reasons. The simple fact is that in a book store, spine-size does matter, as narrow books struggle to capture attention. Moreover, buyers often look for the best print-per-dollar ratio, tentative to spend big on little works. Karolina Sutton of major Australian literary agency Curtis Brown says that she would never try to market a short work as a novella, ‘For me the word denotes a lesser genre. if you pitch a book to a bookseller as a novel, you’re likely to get more orders than if you call it a novella.’

But that’s all starting to change. The publishing industry is in a state of turmoil as ebook sales rise and bookshops begin to disappear. Emerging writers need not fear, people are still reading, but they’re doing it in different ways and traditional concerns over publication length are becoming less and less relevant. As novellas offer the same opportunity to become immersed in a story as novels, but without the time commitment, they seem to perfectly complement our 21st century attention spans. Penning a novella might not just be a solution to word-count anxieties and plot preoccupations, it could be the ticket to great literary success.

Got an idea but need some motivation? Seizure, a launchpad for innovative young authors and editors has just launched Viva La Novella, a search for invigorating new fiction. ‘If you sometimes think that novels are just obese novellas, ’ says Seizure, ‘you’re on our wavelength. And since we are theme-lovers this time we are challenging all writers to tackle the theme: ‘Origin’. You can take this as the start of a series, the genesis of a character, a history or a myth.’ Submissions are open for works 20-50, 000 words in length and will close in November with the winner gaining publication and prize money.

Recent public debate about Australian politics has in a large part focused on the Prime Minister’s leadership capability.

Is she a good leader? Is she being given a hard time because she is a woman? Should her gender matter?

Prime Minister Julia Gillard

Regardless of where one’s personal views fall on the political spectrum, it cannot be denied that Julia Gillard’s appointment as Australia’s first female Prime Minister in 2010 was an historic moment in our nation’s history. For the first time, it firmly moved women’s political participation and leadership discussions from around the dinner table to the Cabinet table.

Young women from all corners of the country suddenly had a vision of themselves as the future Prime Minister and had living proof that it was possible within their lifetimes.

I’m not for a minute suggesting that just because Australia has its first female Prime Minister it is in some way a silver bullet when it comes to solving gender inequality issues in Australia.

In fact, less than 30 per cent of our elected representatives are women despite more than half our population being female. At the last Federal election the number of women elected actually decreased. This is hardly setting a shining example for the young Australian women who will be the future leaders of our nation.

The fact is women represent a large portion of voters and their power in the public process shouldn’t be underestimated. That being said societal inequalities when it comes to gender in Australia continue to exist.

Gender inequality has real costs, not just for women but for society as a whole. The pay gap in Australia alone costs our economy $93 billion each year.

While the recent Fair Work Australia decision on Equal Pay was a step in the right direction, it was only the first step of many more which are necessary.

Today, female graduates in Australia still earn $2, 000 per annum less than male graduates on their entry to the workforce, on average women will earn 17.2 per cent less than men throughout their working life, and women will retire with half the amount of superannuation. This is despite more women than men having completed Bachelor and Postgraduate degrees.

The 2011 Global Gender Gap Report from the World Economic Forum puts Australia at the top of the list when it comes to women’s educational attainment. However, the same report lists Australia as 76th in the world for wage equality.

When people talk about gender inequalities, fundamentally, what needs to change are our attitudes to the issue of gender equality.

Female leaders at International Women

One of my first experiences of gender inequality in the workplace was as a young, eager graduate fresh out of university.

My male friend and I had just moved to Sydney to take up graduate positions in what at the time I considered to be my dream job. To say I was ecstatic when I received an offer is an understatement. I immediately accepted the salary and conditions without question. It wasn’t until years later that I discovered Steve had actually negotiated his salary and ended up with nearly $10, 000 more than I did.

We had the same qualifications, the same experience and were entering the same position, but the pay gap would only continue to grow as we progressed in our careers.

I’d like to say we’ve forged ahead as a society, but unfortunately gender inequalities in the workplace continue to exist and those that will be most affected in future are the youth of today.

Today, less than a third of our politicians are female, just 13.5 per cent of board directorships in the top ASX 200 companies are held by women, and on average women retire with half as much super as men. A total of 65 boards in the ASX 200 still do not have any women at all.

The truth is that voluntary targets for increasing women’s participations across these sectors have been in place for several decades and figures show they are not working. It is time that as a community we acknowledged the limitations of the target system and looked at other ways to increase the participation of women at senior levels.

In Australia, the debate surrounding mandatory quotas and the word ‘quota’ itself has become entirely confused and has too often tainted the conversation. The United Nations instead talks about ‘temporary special measures’. These are measures that are taken in special circumstances where discrimination and bias has occurred and is a solution applied on a short-term basis to redress a particular issue. At one level this is what we know publicly as quotas. However, when we think about them as being temporary, special and specific measures to redress an inequality, suddenly people stop having such a strong reaction to the idea.

I am unashamedly in favour of temporary special measures. What I’d like to see is the debate in Australia to change towards a recognition that we do need to introduce these temporary special measures by 2014, if the voluntary targets and the progress that we’re all hoping for still hasn’t been achieved.

It cannot be denied that gender is and should be a factor in Australian leadership, regardless of the type of industry. Not addressing this issue in any meaningful way only serves to undercut the decades of achievements made by the feminist movement – a point on which I hope we can all agree.

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The situation in Australia is more complex than these campaigns suggest. By the time Australians turn 20, 37% of us have already tried illicit drugs. That figure is just below 60% for Australians at the age of 40. But as Sydney Morning Herald columnist David Marr notes, “our enthusiasm for taking drugs does not translate into fervour for drug law reform.” The vast majority of us would actually like to see harsher punishment for those caught pushing recreational drugs, and support for legalising them doesn’t even reach double figures.

The contradictory message we’re sending is: drugs are bad, but not for me. As long as I take them in small doses. And only every so often.

It’s the first of many hypocrisies involved in the issue. Officially, the ‘War on Drugs’ was declared in 1971 by Richard Nixon, and has formed a loose rhetorical thread on which to hang our arguments for law enforcement. In 1985, Australia adopted the National Drug Strategy (NDS), with a view to reducing drug availability, preventing the uptake of drugs, and minimising the harms involved. John Howard took up the cause when in 1997 he declared his policy would be ‘Tough on Drugs’.

Just say no to drugs.

Australian politicians have been largely silent on the issue ever since, except for the odd occasion on which an Australian is caught trying to smuggle drugs in from South-East Asia. Then they come out of the woodwork, and their sense of moral outrage is well and truly sparked.

In its purest sense, the War on Drugs is about public administration, law and justice. With these goals in mind, how well has this approach fared? In June 2011, the Global Commission on Drug Policy released a report stating that the ‘war’ has failed. This group of former heads of state and UN leaders made the point that in the last ten years, cocaine use has increased 27%, and cannabis 8.5%. This has led to “devastating consequences” for individuals and societies around the world.

One of the first problems with this ‘war’ is that the enemy is not always clearly defined. The supply chain involved is immensely difficult to unravel, especially in a globalised world where it weaves in and out of national borders. Not only are the bad guys hard to pin down, but so are the good guys – as we’ve seen, a culture of fear and moral panic does not eradicate drug use, but merely pushes it underground. And so the gulf between our public and private attitudes deepens even further.

Seriously, just say no.

If we can’t effectively reduce supply or demand, our aim must be to minimise the harms. How can we go about this when the issue is so tightly wrapped in moral rather than scientific rhetoric?

As the Global Commission’s report recognised, law enforcement should not be the default response. In many cases it has proved actively detrimental, costing time, money and lives.

Young people are at the centre of this problematic picture. According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, there are substantially higher levels of drug use among youth than older age groups. Because there’s a high demand, we are also more likely to gain criminal convictions for minor drug offences. To complicate things even further, society tends to stigmatise those who are hard drug users, or addicts – many of whom come from disadvantaged backgrounds.

This means that young people are invested more heavily in the outcome than other sectors of the community. Forget the unconvincing, trivial classes you took in high school Health class – the way we talk about drugs, and create government policy, has a flow-on effect. In Australia, the social cost of illicit drug use was $8.2 billion in 2004-05.

To find new solutions, we need to re-open the debate. To do that, we need to start talking – about the line between problematic and non-problematic substance abuse, the complex cycles of demand and supply, and the funding of health and social interventions to minimise harms. Only then can we understand our limits – should Australia de-criminalise drug use? Should we look to overseas models like Portugal, which made drugs legal in qualities consistent with personal use in 2001, and hasn’t looked back? How do medical cannabis and heroin fit into the picture?

Earlier this year the non-profit body Australia21 released a report from a roundtable discussion of scientists, police, social workers, doctors, students and directors of public prosecution pleading for change on a national level. The report argued that after 15 years of relative silence throughout politics and the broader community, it is time for a sensible and serious debate on the issue.

As the report noted, public debate will only be activated at a political level when there is strong community groundswell, which does not currently exist. Now that we have a large body of evidence at our disposal, we can push for greater scrutiny and review of the alternatives. Only then can we start the slow, incremental path towards reform.

Whether we like it or not – and whether we take drugs or not – we will all need to be part of this conversation.

X Media Lab is giving you the opportunity to workshop your projects with some of the world’s leading new media experts in Sydney from June 7-9. X Media Lab is calling for submissions for its annual Global Media Ideas summit, being held as part of the Vivid Sydney 2012 festival of light, music and ideas.

Director of X Media Lab, Megan Elliott said “We’re seeking outstanding projects across social media, digital music, computer games, animation, mobile applications, video, interactive entertainment and content and web applications.”

Sixteen project teams would be selected to receive one-on-one mentoring, elite consultation, feedback and advice tailored to the specific needs of their individual projects.

In the past,  X Media Lab has helped nurture the digital media offerings of ABC’s Rage, The Chaser, The Loop and 99 dresses. Now is your chance to put your creative ability on display.

The summit includes a Pro-Day Conference at Sydney Opera House on 8 June followed by an intensive two-day creative workshop at the Museum of Contemporary Art for selected project teams to work directly on their project ideas with a mix of internationally renowned mentors.

Where: Sydney Opera House

Pro Day Conference: Friday 8 June

The Lab: Sat 9 – Sun 10 June

Purchase your tickets here.

Participants will have unparalleled access to some of the world’s most successful digital media pioneers, entrepreneurs and creatives, including founding member of the Atari Research Lab, the Apple Multimedia Lab and Lucasfilm Interactive, Michael Naimark, co-writer/director of Happy Feet, Warren Coleman and the woman dubbed “the Oprah of the web”, Corvida Raven.

If you think you have what it takes, nominate your project now.

]]> http://vibewire.org/2012/05/x-media-labs-global-media-ideas-summit/feed/ 0 http://vibewire.org/2012/05/top-reads-7/ http://vibewire.org/2012/05/top-reads-7/#comments Fri, 11 May 2012 04:20:35 +0000 Erin Stewart http://vibewire.org/?p=518671 Top Reads recaps the best posts on Vibewire over the last week and some of the best of the rest.

Unique from other networking groups, Inspiring Women proactively works to create business between members. We help women like you develop both personal and business relationships, in which you can learn and advance.”

Describe yourself in 3 words:

Focused, Passionate Sensible.

What is your life motto?

Focus on the future; don’t dwell too much on the past.

When did you start pursuing your career and how long did it take to become successful?
Inspiring woman wasn’t something I pursued, it pursued me. Many years ago I was working in a business enterprise centre, one that helped businesses. During that time I got calls from women asking if there were groups for networking – there weren’t. I got sick and had to stop everything and eventually I recuperated and I decided I’d start running Inspiring Woman as a hobby part-time.
That was back in 2005 and it was pretty much successful from the day it started, it supported the community and husbands encouraged their wives to come.

How many hours did you dedicate to pursuing your dream?

Lucky I described myself as focused. I can put as little as 10 hours a week or 60. I’m very good at compartmentalizing when deadlines are due and staying focused when projects are on.

Describe how difficult the business is?

I don’t find the business difficult, but like anything when you make it look easy, it’s actually not…so maybe it’s more difficult than I think. Each year the challenges change. At the moment there are a lot of networking groups around, so my focus is to ensure we’re not just ‘another networking group’.

What is the mistake that taught you an extremely valuable lesson?

I’m a believer in treating people how you wan to be treated. I have a trusting nature. I think the issue with that has been that sometimes I have trouble saying no.

What is the best piece of advice you have been given to date?

Remember to teach things in many different ways and don’t move on until the person understands it. A long time ago, while working as the first female planner in the Gas industry, a senior employee reminded me that I was once brand new, when I was wondering why this person could do this particular task. As you become more experienced you don’t even think about how you had to think things through when you were beginning. You might say something that could totally deflate someone…it’s easy to think that the person is stupid, but maybe you’re not explaining it right.

In your mind do you think that formal training is essential?

Depends what education you mean. I mean I have no degrees; my tertiary education was in graphic design, which has
nothing to do with what I’m doing now. However, when starting a business I took myself off to community colleges to learn business planning and financials – and was an avid reader, but not everyone’s like that. So yes, for some things I think you need training and not just wing it as some tend to do.

Do you think having a mentor is important? How would you go about getting one for this industry?

Yes, considering I run mentoring programs, yes, mentors very important – if you want one. I’ve watched some fascinating changes in people that have found the right mentor. It’s great to have that different style of thinking. A good mentor will question you and question your boundaries.

What are some steps emerging talent can take to start/further their career?

I think when you are really good at something it normally stands out. If you are in a career you enjoy, your peers should notice and hopefully management will notice your talent and it should be nurtured. Listen to that (if you agree) and nurture it. Go out and get some further training or find someone who is successful in that industry and find out how they got there. Be curious, that’s important.

What kept you going when you felt like giving up?

There have been times when I thought, what the hell am I doing? Every time I have thought that I have got a sign that has just been extraordinary; it confirmed to me without doubt to keep going. Recently there was a lot of health issues in my family, which I thought might’ve meant less time doing what I loved and doing more time caring. I found myself thinking maybe it’s time to let go, and that night I got two of the most amazing testimonials, one saying that if it hadn’t been for what you do, my business would never have been where it is now – that feeds me and fires me on every time.

Do you believe that ‘making it’ is about luck and being in the right place at the right time?

I think you make your own luck. There’s that old saying that goes, “the harder I work the luckier I get”. Maybe for 0.05% it has been luck involved, but I haven’t met anyone like that. I think for the most part it’s because they’ve put themselves in the right places and worked hard. Sometimes you don’t know what you are looking for and if you happen to be lucky and hear a conversation or sit next to somebody…I’ve seen that happen so many times that I know that’s not just luck. Also…When you’re feeling you’re lowest that’s when you need to get out…in so many of my networking events I’ve heard woman say, “I wasn’t going to come out tonight” and that night they met someone, they sat next to somebody who could help them.

Monica Kade is the director of Career Confessions and Inspirational Speaker, Gen Y Expert Coach, and Mentor for Discovering Passion, Purpose and living your Best Life. Monica has interviewed over 150 Australian & International Entrepreneurs, Executives & Celebrities on how they got to where they are in their career. The website Career Confessions, is 12 signature questions designed to inspire action in our readers and guide them in the direction of their dream career. Her mission is to inspire action and facilitate change in individuals and help them live their life passionately at their best.

For further guidance or any questions, check out: careerconfessions.com.au or email mk@monicakade.com