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The 2025 Australian federal election has been called for May 3, 2025. Members of the 48th Parliament of Australia will be elected. All seats of the House of Representatives (150 compared to 151 in the previous election) and 40 of the 76 seats in the Senate will be contested.

Two exceptional thinkers and leaders, Sukhmani Khorana and Varsha Yajman join me on Pause to talk elections, media and civic literacy, disinformation, and the issues that impact the South Asian Diaspora.

Sukhmani Khorana is a Scientia Associate Professor in the School of Arts and Media at UNSW. Sukhmani has published extensively on migrant media, the politics of empathy and belonging, and self-representation for refugees. Sukhmani’s work on the Indian diaspora in Australia is considered foundational in the field.

Varsha Yajman is a speaker, podcaster, and advocate, with a keen interest in climate justice and mental health awareness. As a coordinator at SAPNA South Asian Climate Solidarity Network and a paralegal at Equity Generation Lawyers specialising in climate change litigation, Varsha actively engages in transformative work. Varsha's passion materialises in her podcast, "Not to be Controversial," designed to forge a community where young South Asians feel represented and empowered. In 2021, the Women’s Agenda acknowledged her as one of the 100 women resetting the world, and in 2022, Urban List recognised her as one of the 30 individuals poised to change the world by 2030.

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Gaza has been front and centre for many of us as we watched the decimation of a land and its people with horror and dismay, each of us wishing we could do more. More than the sharing, the bearing witness and the fund-raising.

On the cusp of a potential ceasefire, still hanging by a tenuous thread, it is our honour to have Dr Sanjay Adusumilli as a guest on this show. Dr. Sanjay was in Gaza on a medical mission. He is a General and Colorectal Surgeon from Sydney who is also a cofounder of the Global Medical Foundation Australia , a charity without any religious or political affiliation, that raises funds and provides medical services to third world countries. Each year Sanjay travels overseas to perform this work.

In this conversation, Dr. Sanjay takes us into the Al Aska hospital in Gaza, and gives us a glimpse into the horrific conditions he witnessed, the heartbreaking choices he was confronted with, and the exceptional medical students and Doctors of Gaza, each of them heroic in indescribable ways.

Learn more about the Global Medical Foundation Australia at www.gmfaustralia.org.au. Donate, sign up as a volunteer or simply share their work with others.

This is important, life-saving, life-affirming work and may it inspire each of us to do what we can, and a little bit more.

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At 2:30 am Brisbane time, I got a message saying as of now the professor is alive. Just another night in Gaza. A family goes to sleep, not knowing if they will make it to dawn. At a time of violence, at a scale that has horrified the world, along with protests, petitions, BDS, we simply bear witness. We listen to the stories of people who are living through the worst times of their lives and we are there with them, in whichever way we can be. Without enough bandwidth to get on Zoom, we improvised. It’s awkward maybe, this conversation with a phone and a computer, but it is the truth. A truth that humbles us, humanises us and renews our desire to stand with the oppressed. Free Palestine. May the new year bring hope and cheer, and an end to the horror. Long live the resistance.

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An extraordinary human being with an even more extraordinary story, Himanshu Kumar is an activist with a lifelong passion for social justice. In this conversation, he takes us through his days in Bastar, the unspeakable cruelty of the powers that be, his crusade to awaken people to the realities of corporate greed and its impact on ordinary lives, and most of all, to afford a life to dignity and centrality, to those deemed to live forever on the margins.
His is a message of hope and conviction, that is delivered with lightness and warmth of spirit, despite the many hardships and travails that his journey has encountered. An inspiration and an icon of peaceful resistance, we are privileged to have the visionary Himanshu Kumar as our last guest of the year.

For those interested, you can connect with him on his Facebook page and join him on his upcoming Cycle Yatra for communal harmony and peace in early 2025.

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I’m in conversation with historian, journalist, political commentator and Marxist thinker #vijayprashad on NRI Affairs. Vijay is the director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research and the author of forty books. Vijay is on a speaking tour across New Zealand and Australia.

p.s. I can’t say i agree with everything he said, and for sure, I don’t know enough. But this conversation will stay with me for a while. There were moments of connection over Palestine that i share with many people, strangers across the world. A shared helplessness and ache. After we stopped recording, I did read him a poem. In a world gone mad, perhaps it is the last refuge of the perplexed.

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Our guest on this episode is the extraordinary Sunita Viswanath, the co-founder and executive director of Hindus for Human Rights, that advocates for pluralism, civil and human rights in South Asia, Australia, the UK and North America.

From a childhood of transplantation from India as a migrant, to watching the ugly face of racism as a child in the UK, to a curious choice of study; mathematics and sociology, her journey is anything but typical.

Sunita says she doesn’t do well with boundaries.

Perhaps therein lies the seed of her empathy sans borders, the interconnectedness of the personal and political, and the relentless speaking of truth to power, unmoved by praise or censure.

In this episode, we trace early influences, her relationship to her faith, the passion and conviction that drives her advocacy, the honour and heartbreak of bearing witness to the horror unfolding in Palestine and explore what gives her the courage to pursue a path less trodden.

For all of us who often feel disempowered by the scale of violence in the world, the overwhelming hate and divisiveness, the unfairness of it all, the feeling of ‘what can one person do’, I present to you, the uncommon force of nature, Sunita Viswanath.

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My guest is the indefatigable Indu Balachandran, an independent candidate in the upcoming New South Wales Local Government election, standing for the Gordon Ward in Sydney's Ku Ring Gai Council.

With a track record in sustainability and over 20 years in leadership positions across housing, family services and first nation sectors, Indu brings the will and the skill to make a difference. She is also a passionate musician, actively engaged in community initiatives, received an Atlantic Fellowship (Oxford University), and was the recipient of the UTS Human Rights Award for Reconciliation.

We speak about her motivations and passions that led to her foray into politics, the hyphenated identity she carries, the challenges and opportunities for diasporic communities in Australia, and the work she would like to do for her constituency.

An enjoyable and insightful conversation with a change-maker who is indeed a force for good. Do watch, leave us your comments, and don't forget to subscribe!

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Bangladeshi-American academic, Dr. Farhana Sultana, professor at Syracuse University, and Indian political and social commentator who writes extensively for the Wire, Shuddhabrata Sengupta come together on Pause with Nandini to discuss Bangladesh, reimagined.

We cover the challenges and opportunities ahead for Bangladesh, its relationship with India, the protection of minorities, and the dangers and impact of misinformation and false narratives.

We also hear from Taposhi Dey Prapti, President of Jahangirnagar University Debating Club, Bangladesh, and Meghmallar Basu, President of the Student Union, Dhaka University, Bangladesh. They provide a riveting account of the student movement and the euphoric days that followed, marred by a coordinated disinformation campaign that threatened to destabilise the fledgling rebirth of a nation.

Thank you for listening! Watch all episodes of Pause with Nandini on https://youtube.com/c/NRIAffairs