Thursday 7 May 2020
In this special panel, a number of GSA student representatives make statements about the support we as a community can help tackle racism, and the duty we as a community all have to fight for inclusiveness on a grand scale.
These statements are as follows:
- Rachna, GSA CEO talks about how there is no place for this behaviour in society (16:33) reads out a statement by Kristen Hilton – the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commissioner (17:30), a statement by Devendra Singh – International Officer of the Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations (CAPA) (24:15) as well as a statement by Mr Chin Tan, Race Discrimination Commissioner (27:55)
- Emily Roberts, GSA President emphasizes that all students and communities have the right to feel safe at all times. (3:55)
- Archit Agarwal, UMSU’s International President talks about the impact of COVID-19 and how it has fueled and enabled racism, and why it is so necessary to work with the community to tackle this crisis. (8:17)
- Theodora Wong, GSA’s Council Member talks about the impact of COVID-related racism has made international students feel less welcome in society (13:20)
- Ivy Wang, GSA’s graduate representative from the Arts Committee talks about how the national response to COVID-19 has been a blight on the country’s principles of multiculturalism and togetherness and how there needs to be a return to this, in the form of support for international students (19:30)
- Madeleine Johnson, GSA’s General Secretary talks about how COVID-19 has exacerbated racism that has always existed within our society and how there are ways we can still support international students now (29:20)
- Leiah Kwong, GSA rep on the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music Student Support Committee talks about how it’s important to reach out to international students, and how the COVID racism isn’t just impacting international students but all people of culturally diverse backgrounds. (33:20)
- Vibol Hy, Project Officer talks about how to combat the cultural gap that has intensified due to racism (40:00)
- Sachetha Bamunusinghe, GSA Vice President talks about experiencing racism on a grand scale and how people South East Asian background are now harbouring fear about being in public and what needs to be done to improve the wellbeing of people impacted by COVID-induced racism (45:18)