Radical Australia

Nov 26 2024 379 ep. 57

Radical Australia Podcast artwork

Listen in as host Joe Toscano yarns with a different guest each week about their experience in movements and campaigns for progressive social change.

Copy RSS

Subscribe on Podcast Addict

Sean Bedlam

We heard about Sean Bedlam through his clever and humorous Instagram account, but we didn't realise he is a fully-fledged comedian, so that explains a lot. He grew up in war veteran Chelsea from '68 owards and reckons he is one of life's great big losers. That puts him in great company! Sean reckons he has been masking his autism his whole life, but he only got diagnosed a couple o

Alexander Brown

Alexander Brown joins us on the blower from Wollongong this week. He got his radical history education and began his political activities in the 90's, around the time of Howard's election. Who hasn't heard that before! Alexander has had a strong connection with Japan and its radical activists in his life, ever since he went to high school there for a year. He taught English in Toky

CUDL: Tahlia and Felix

Tahlia and Felix join us this week from CUDL: the Community Union Defence League. Since 2019 they have been handing out home-cooked meals to anyone who needs one on the steps of the State Library, every single Sunday from 3pm to 6pm. Call them on 0480 039 002 if you would like to help out or find out more. CUDL began life in Adelaide as support to a CFMEU worker, with the community

Em Collard

Em Collard is a super talented person who has already won two scholarships in their life to prestigious learning institutions. They have excelled in both sports and music, landing presently at Fitzroy Legal Service doing the important Night Service coordination while studying for their Juris Doctor. That's a law degree when you already have a degree - Em already has a Bachelor of M

Alison Harcourt

What a treat to have pioneering mathematics and statistics whizz, Alison Harcourt, join us on the show this week with her son, Pierre. Alison is 95 years old this year and only recently retired from lecturing and tutoring, a day before her 90th birthday. She really is an Australian treasure. Alison's life started in Colac where her father was a doctor. She remembers the declaration

David Boarder Giles

David Boarder Giles was born in Melbourne in the year of Reagan's election (1980), but his mother soon whisked him away to Disneyland and conservative California when he was 10. Boo. It took him a while to finally make his way back home. David witnessed many interesting cultural curios during his teenage years in the States, which probably informed his desire to eventually study an

Jack Brady

Jack Brady has done nearly everything there is to do in life, or so we think. From joining the Air Force at 17, to becoming a trainee dive master, an anthropologist and an English teacher in China. Let's throw in a comedian for good measure. Jack was born in Upper Ferntree Gully in 1970, but soon after their parents upped sticks and moved all the way north to Tewantin in Queensland

Tia Kasambalis

What a thrill to have the very talented Tia Kasambalis join us on the show this week. If you haven't heard of Tia, you have probably seen his artwork around the streets of Melbourne, in a newspaper, or maybe even on the telly sometime over the last few years. Tia is one of those talented artist-activists that make up the Workers Art Collective. Check it out. In the beginning, Tia w

Rosie Heselev

What a gun - Rosie Heselev. At 30, she is the founder of Australia's first national prison newspaper, About Time. The paper is intended to be a narrative shift about prison and prisoners, with the hope of it eventually being completely produced by peers. It is off to a great start, having just released its second edition. Rosie got to learn quite a bit about prison and the conditio

Sonia Randhawa

What a delight to have the lovely Sonia Randhawa on the show this week. Sonia is the current producer-presenter of 3CR's Wednesday Breakfast, but she has been around community radio a lot longer, starting up a pirate station in Malaysia some years back when she lived there with her Punjabi father and English mother who met in Liverpool in the 60s. Sonia spent her childhood between