How many stories about refugees have you heard, read or watched in the media in the past week? Five, ten, twenty? No doubt plenty where refugees are the subject, but of those stories, how many have been told by the refugees themselves?
So often in today’s media, the voice of refugees and migrants is not their own. Their stories are told for them, not by them, and for all the talk of empowerment, freedom of speech and indeed freedom in general, it seems to go forgotten that true empowerment comes from having a voice of your own.
Luckily, in amongst the major media outlets there are smaller groups, run by activists and the refugees and migrants themselves. It’s here, in the community radio stations and podcast domain that change is happening. It’s here that stories are being shared, awareness is being raised and important discussions are taking place. It’s here that refugees are given a platform to make their voices heard.
Aran Mylvaganam – host of Tamil Manifest 3CR, Founder of Tamil Refugee Council.
A powerful voice in Melbourne and the wider community, “Tamil Manifest is all about Tamil’s telling their own story.”
For Aran, who arrived in Australia as a refugee in 1997, fleeing the genocide that saw his own brother, cousins and friends killed before him, the program has been a way to raise awareness of the horrors occurring in his homeland.
Aran first became involved with Tamil Manifest in 2008, on the back of the killings that saw tens of thousands of Tamils murdered by the Sri Lankan army.
“When these killings were taking place, I thought ‘how can I sit back and do nothing?’ I wanted to be involved, I wanted to help the people in some way, especially when I know what’s going on down there,” he explains.
“Tamil Manifest was a way to get our story out there.”
Over the years the program has provided many things to the Tamil community – a channel to connect with other oppressed groups, a platform to share their stories and most importantly, a voice.
“Everybody in my community comes with some sort of trauma and for them to see 5 or 10 people listening to their story and sympathizing, it helps immensely. That’s something that they’ve never experienced before,” says Aran.
“I found it quite empowering too, to know that I can share my story and there are people willing to listen to it.”
“The radio station helps us in some ways to overcome our past experiences. We have come to realise that we’re not alone when it comes to the problems that we face in our homeland.”
Tamil Manifest has also helped to attract broader attention to the Tamil cause, resulting in assistance from outside parties, one of those being well-known journalist Trevor Grant.
Grant’s involvement, Aran explains, helped Tamil Manifest to tackle the Sri Lankan Government’s propaganda unit that is in effect in the Australian media.
“They’re super talented when it comes to tackling any sort of attention we get in the media so we always struggled to overcome that,” he explains.
“With Trevor Grant’s involvement, an experienced journalist with all the networks behind him, all of a sudden we were in the front pages of the Fairfax Media… the Herald Sun was talking about us. Journalists were writing about our campaign, not just about the cricket. It was a wonderful moment for us.”
“We’d finally cracked the Sri Lanka government propaganda unit. And Tamil Manifest was at the heart of it.”
Then and now, this powerful freedom of speech the program affords his community is something Aran finds invaluable.
“In my country journalists are targeted so I’m glad that while we have got all sorts problems with our government and human right abuses in Australia, we have at least got the freedom to get involved in citizen journalism,” he says.
“I’m happy that I have some sort of voice in this country and I try to use this voice to the best of my ability. I try to use it to help get a voice for oppressed people around the world.”
Celine Yap – Refugee Radio 3CR
For Celine Yap, providing a place for refugees to share their stories, their way, has always been the most important thing.
“Letting refugees speak for themselves gives them their person back,” she explains.
“It says: you have the right to talk about yourself and tell people what you think. Everyone’s speaking for you – have your say.”
“You have to bring their humanity back and get people to view them as people.”
Facilitating this hasn’t always been easy though. Not from a refugee or migrant background herself, Celine explains that even as an activist, she’s always been concerned as to whether activist’s voices are taking over those of refugees.
“The intro to the show clearly says ‘Refugee Radio is the voice of refugees’ and I take that really seriously,” she says.
“It’s not a platform for my voice or for activists voices – it’s a place the refugees to come and tell their own story in their own words.”
Now, returning to the program it after a 9-month volunteering stint in the Philippines, Celine has felt the need to step back.
She’s recruited two new hosts, both refugees, from Iran and Sri Lanka to take over the show.
“They know a lot more and have more connections with refugees who are dying to tell their story,” she explains.
“There’s nothing more powerful than someone telling their own story, and those stories need to be broadcast if we’re going to try and change the minds of people.”
Sarah and Maya Ghassali – Refugees on Air podcast, SYN
16 year old twins Sarah and Maya Ghassali use their podcast Refugees on Air, as a way to educate and change community perspectives of refugees.
“The podcast amplifies the voices of refugees and gives them a platform to share their stories and successes. It’s a matter of giving people a new perspective, to let them know that refugees are actually people,” explains Sarah.
Through sharing their stories, the pair hope they can help to combat the often one-sided portrayal of refugees in the mainstream media.
“We both realised at the same time that refugees are spoken about but they’re not spoken to, and we want to change that,” says Maya.
“We want to remind people of refugee’s humanity. They’re just people and they’re filled with dignity, love and emotion. You can’t just alienate them because of what you see on the media.”
“We want to offer a new perspective, to hopefully shift people views a little bit.”
Migrating from Syria on a skilled working visa in 2012, the twins say that the podcast has also been way for them to feel more confident sharing their own story.
“Interviewing different people from different backgrounds and seeing how inspiring they are really made us more brave,” says Sarah.
“We were hesitant to share our story at the start, but doing this made us more courageous and made us want to share our own experiences.”
They’ve also received supportive feedback from people they’ve interviewed, which has reaffirmed the importance of what they’re doing.
“When we interview people, they feel like they’re important, they feel like their story needs to be listened to. When they tell us that I’m like ‘yes we’re doing the right thing here,’” explains Sarah.
It’s sharing these individual stories, she says, that really helps people to see refugees in a different light.
“They’re are often talked about as a big group, but refugees are individuals, they’re separate people.”
“The podcast is about sharing refugees own stories and making people see them as individuals. We want to educate people about what’s actually going on and give refugees back their humanity.”
Read the article on Issuu here.
