ARAN Conference 2018

Politics and Protest
The Fight for Refugee Rights

The Australian Refugee Action Network
Second National Conference

The conference was held Melbourne on Saturday and Sunday  July 7-8  2018.

Reports
Report from ARAN National Committee June 2018
2018 ARAN Conference Report

Presentations
1. Attracting Media to your actions: Wes Cusworth
2. CASPA Catholic Alliance for People Seeking Asylum: Glenn Jessop
3. Creative Activism Workshop: Nicola Paris CounterAct
4. Establishing and Building Activist Groups: Jan Govett RAR
5. Lobbying & letter writing workshop: Linda Cusworth
6. Meeting with MPs: Linda Cusworth
7. Planning for Palm Sunday Walk: Kerry Phillips
8. Social Media Digital Activists: Mums4Refugees
9. Tips for Writing Letters to Newspapers: Linda Cusworth
10. Tips for Writing to Politicians: Linda Cusworth
11. Tools for the Campaign Planning Toolkit: Samuel Dariol

Meet the 2018-19 ARAN Committee

Angelica Panopoulos (Refugee Action Collective Victoria RAC Vic)
Azlan Petra (Co-opted)
Christian Bashimbe (Co-opted)
Clare Forbes (Grandmothers Against Detention of Refugee Children  GADRC)
Elizabeth Lang (WA Collective)
Emmanuel Kondok (Community of South Sudanese and Other Marginalised Areas  CSSOMA)
Jan Govett (Rural Australians for Refugees  RAR)
Marie Hapke (Refugee Advocacy Network  RAN)
Meg Clark (Canberra Refugee Action Committee Canberra RAC)
Peter Robson (Darwin Asylum Seeker Support and Advocacy Network DASSAN)
Rachel Silber (Melbourne Youth for Refugees).

Read the  2018 Conference recap from CASPA (Catholic Alliance
for People Seeking Asylum).

Conference Resolution
Carried by ARAN Conference 8 July 2018.

Conference program
Download the full program here as either double sided A4 or A5 folded version.

The Australian Refugee Action Network conference
was open to anyone interested in refugee activism and advocacy.

Conference dinner was a Tamil Feast

Opening Address: Julian Burnside human rights and refugee advocate and documentary maker (Border Politics) will talk about the effects on our society of adopting ideas that reject humanity and undermine democracy.

Panel Discussion: Political Context and Challenges for the Campaign for Refugee Rights with Dr John Minns ANU, Najeeba Wazefadost advocate and former refugee, Emmanuel Kondok NSW Community of South Sudanese and Other Marginalised Areas group (CSSOMA) and Southern Hope Community Organisation, and former refugee and Shen Narayanasamy GetUp!’s Human Rights Campaign Director.

Panel Moderator: Corinne Grant Human rights advocate, lawyer, media personality and comedian.

ARAN 2018 Conference Program
The conference program will include opportunities to:
• Reflect on the current context and political environment
• Consider campaigning priorities and strategies
• Sharing success stories
• Share knowledge and skills
• Networking discussions; faith communities, unions, students and
LGBTI communities
• Informal networking.

Workshops with short presentations and sharing between participants:
• Protests, actions & vigils: RAC Vic, Adelaide Vigil, and others
• Lobbying politicians and letter writing Linda Cusworth (CRAG)
• Raising community awareness and changing attitudes ASRC Conversations for
change: Burhan Zangana (RCAN)
• Creative activism and using social media: workshop lead by Counteract
• Campaign planning: workshop lead by Sam Dariol Refugee Council of Australia
• Media strategies: Wes Cusworth refugee advocate and former journalist
• Sharing your story to influence others: workshop lead by Centre for
Multicultural Youth, with Zaki Haidari
• Establishing and building activist groups: presenters Jan Govett (RAR), Dulce
Munoz (Mums for Refugees), Sophie Singh (Canberra RAC).

Discussion on the role of ARAN in strengthening the campaign for
refugee rights.

Election of ARAN Committee
The ARAN Committee is elected by delegates from the member groups – each member group is invited to nominate voting delegates and candidates for election to the Committee.

ARAN member groups were requested to:
• Nominate two delegates to vote in the election to choose the ARAN Committee
members for 2018-19. Delegates will need to be present at the Conference
session on Sunday morning (8 July)
• Nominate one or more candidates to stand for election to the Committee (noting
that the Committee only one representative from any member group may be
elected).

Note: Delegates may also be candidates. Candidates will need to provide a brief
statement about why they are standing for election to the ARAN Committee.

Ideally candidates will be present at the election session, but candidates may be elected in absentia.

Enquiries: contact ARAN.

Read the report of ARAN’s first national conference held in 2017.

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