Networks of Solidarity: On the Airwaves

Networks of Solidarity is a series of four monthly online talks co-organised by artist/organiser Kate O’Shea and writer/researcher Enya Moore from the Just City Collective, which aims to strengthen transnational networks of solidarity and deepen awareness of place-based struggles that reverberate from Dublin 8 to Gadigal Country (Sydney, Australia). Four interconnected and overlapping sessions entitled Between our Minds; In the Roots; Through our Stories and On the Airwaves will feature presentations and performances from invited artists, activists, community workers, designers, academics, researchers, writers, and filmmakers based largely in Ireland and Australia. This event series is supported in part by a Dublin City Council Revenue award granted to Create.

On the Airwaves

An online talk that invites radio producers, performers, community workers and podcasters to discuss opportunities afforded by the spoken word in building communities.

Guests: Huna Amweero, Ainle Ó Cairealláin, Raphael Olympio, Dr. Krini Kafiris

Facilitator: Fionnuala O’ Connell

Alternative media is an important mode of communication for building communities and social movements. On the Airwaves invites radio producers, performers, community workers and podcasters to discuss the opportunities afforded by the spoken word. This event will share insights to radical broadcasting and community radio on Addison Road in Marrickville (Sydney), the history of occupied radio in Athens (Greece) and podcasting and spoken word from Cork (Ireland).

From West Belfast but living in Cork, Ainle Ó Cairealláín is the managing director of the personal training facility and movement space ACLAÍ in Cork city. ACLAÍ was founded in 2013 to provide an alternative take on health and fitness, integrating quality movement training, professional coaching, and social get-togethers as a way to promote physical and mental health, and community spirit. The ACLAÍ project has tested the boundaries of what a small local business can achieve both locally and internationally with the recent opening of a community based gym in the Aida Refugee Camp in the West Bank, Palestine. Ainle also hosts the Rebel Matters Podcast, releasing regular episodes with activists, artists, and scallywags from all walks of life since 2017.

Huna Amweero is a Black Arab screenwriter and radio producer born in so-called Australia (Sovereignty Never Ceded). While she has worked in commercial radio and other predominantly white stations, Huna prefers to speak on her work at Radio Skid Row 88.9FM, a community radio station with a nearly 40 year history of radical broadcasting. Building on the station’s legacy of centering the most marginalised, Huna’s focus at Skid Row has been creating jobs, training programs and bringing Skid Row’s rich history into the digital space. She is the current President of Radio Skid Row’s board and hosts a weekly radio show (Sunday 10am) called WHERE WE AT which spotlights Black diaspora perspectives and community building in Sydney. As a screenwriter, Huna’s work aims to unravel oppression while embracing the fictional freedom of allowing marginalised characters to play out their imperfections on-screen. Production begins in late 2020, on her first feature Puff (Causeway Films) co-written with visual artist Del Kathryn Barton. Huna’s non-fiction writing was recently published in the book Arab, Australian, Other (PacMacmillan, 2019). As a screenwriter, Huna is represented by Cameron’s Management.

Dr Krini Kafiris is a trainer for sustainable organising and gender/media related issues, a researcher and activist. She is currently developing and delivering training for activists, artists and grassroots groups on sustainable organising, which focus on the use of storytelling and reflective practices in envisioning and working for alternative futures. She is also writing a book on radio, sound and space during the Greek crisis for Durty Books (Ireland) which explores how occupied Greek state radio (2013-2015) worked to shape the social imaginary, in particular, narratives of the crisis and understandings of public broadcasting. She has developed and executed trainings for grassroots groups, media professionals, civil servants and UNDP-ACT staff, participated in autonomous feminist groups, activist radio and the solidarity economy in Greece, and taught media/communications/cultural studies at British, Cypriot and Greek universities. She is a founding member of Aesthetix of Empowerment – an international feminist training/research collective, a member of the LivingCommons (Ireland) and the Transnational Institute of Social Ecology (TRISE). She holds a DPhil in Media and Cultural Studies from the University of Sussex.

Raphael Olympio is a Cork-based artist who enjoys dabbling into various genres to explore his versatility. He considers himself to be a rapper but depending on the message he uses other genres to express himself. His music is driven by stories that reflect where he is in life, the challenges in his life and the community that he is a part of. He is also a healthcare worker, Occupational Therapy Student at University College Cork, and youth mentor at the Cork Migrant Centre, Nano Nagle Place where he does workshops with young people, helping them to express themselves creatively.

Fionnuala O’Connell is Liberian Irish. She is an artist who uses her artform as an innovative medium to raise awareness and to promote social justice. Fionnuala is currently a Youth Project Worker at the Cork Migrant Centre, Nano Nagle Place, working to support young people. She grew up between Liberia and Ireland, a life that has shown her the inequalities that exist and also the resilience, love, strength, creativity of people to not settle for what is, but what could be.

Both Raphael and Fionnuala, formerly known as planting seeds have come together in various projects in which they create dialogues evoking emotions and recreating social injustices through a plethora of scenarios by manipulating their vocals as a key instrument. They are now known as Rage against the heart.