The second of three events to celebrate the launch of our new print issue on “Punishment”: www.thephilosopher1923.org/pr...
Since its inception, Australia’s policy of mandatory indefinite detention of people seeking asylum has had bipartisan support and has been grossly exploited for political gain during elections; various periods in contemporary Australian politics have witnessed how both political parties compete to reinforce and expand draconian and racist border policies with the support of the mainstream media, and with few major legal or constitutional obstacles.
In 2013, a year after graduating from university, Elahe Zivardar was forced to flee her country and seek asylum in Australia. Instead of receiving safety, she was exiled by the Australian government to the remote and impoverished Pacific island nation of Nauru and held there for six years. Since being released, Zivardar has worked closely with scholar-activist Omid Tofighian. Tofighian had travelled to Manus Island many times (he was eventually blacklisted, refused entry, and deported as a result of his work) and has extensive knowledge about Australia’s onshore and offshore detention industry. In this event, they will discuss how their collaborative work seeks to raise awareness, expose a corrupt and cruel system, and help to destabilise a system designed for oppression, domination and submission.
Omid Tofighian is an award-winning lecturer, researcher and community advocate, combining philosophy with interests in citizen media, popular culture, displacement and discrimination. He is affiliated with the School of the Humanities & Languages, University of New South Wales, Australia; and the School of Law, Birkbeck College, University of London, UK. His publications include Myth and Philosophy in Platonic Dialogues (Palgrave 2016); the translation of Behrouz Boochani’s multi-award-winning book, No Friend but the Mountains: Writing from Manus Prison (Picador-Pan Macmillan2018); as co-editor of special issues for journals Literature and Aesthetics (2011), Alphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Media (2019) and Southerly (2021); and co-translator/co-editor of Freedom, Only Freedom: The Prison Writings of Behrouz Boochani (Bloomsbury 2023).
Elahe Zivardar is an award-winning Iranian artist, architectural designer, journalist, and documentary film maker. She currently lives in Arizona, United States, where she obtained refugee status in 2019. After fleeing Iran, she was detained on the remote island of the Republic of Nauru for attempting to seek asylum in Australia from 2013 to 2019. During her detention in Nauru, she was highly active in using photos and video to document the horrific treatment and conditions endured by people seeking asylum and imprisoned offshore. An artist using diverse techniques including painting, photography and documentary filmmaking, Zivardar seeks to depict and raise awareness on how refugee, stateless and migrant minorities are treated throughout the migration process, especially at borders. In addition to her artwork, she is active as an advisor to international refugee rights campaigns and organizations in Australia, the UK, and US.
Website: shakibaproductions.com