Welcome to our latest Borderlands Newsletter, June 2025. To subscribe or unsubscribe email jorge@borderlands.org.au.
While there is always good happening around us, it’s sometimes difficult to be comforted by it, especially so in this late, late capitalism we inhabit, among the barbarity that it breeds.
In the United States, the House Republicans just passed a multitrillion-dollar tax and spending package, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act”. The total cost of the bill’s revenue-slashing is likely to come in at $3.8 trillion over ten years. It’s a giveaway to oligarchs, mostly a handful of capitalists, the ten richest of which increased their wealth by $365 billion, in just the last year. Elon Musk alone managed to make a cool $186 billion of this.
It has become commonplace to use Gramsci’s words as the best shorthand to describe our times: “The crisis consists precisely in the fact that the old is dying and the new cannot be born: in this interregnum, morbid phenomena of the most varied kind come to pass.”
The global oligarchs no longer have even the slightest inclination to take us along for the journey. The idea of progress died long ago, buried under the march of neoliberalism. The propaganda of personal success is limited to the Society of the Spectacle. Instead of narratives of hope, and promises of achievable dreams, we get justifications for genocide.
In an article from earlier this year, Idées-forces, Perry Anderson made the case for the continuing importance of ideas in making political change. His conclusion, “Ideas incapable of shocking the world are incapable of shaking it.” More than ever, we need such radical and inspiring ideas …
Hopefully, we in Borderlands can provide our tiny bit of inspiration. We certainly aim for the REGENERATING COMMUNITIES Conference to provide an important platform for such thinking and imagining.
Here’s some of what’s been happening around the place …
River Ramble for Reconciliation
The inaugural River Ramble for Reconciliation was held on Sunday 1 June, 2025, starting at Grimes Reserve.
As part of Reconciliation Week, more than 130 people turned up to the inaugural River Ramble for Reconciliation. We met at Grimes Reserve along the Maribyrnong in Footscray, where we had a Welcome to Country and Yarn with Bunurong, Tyereelore and Trawoolway man, Robert Ogden, before walking along the Maribyrnong and returning to Grimes Reserve.
It was a wonderful and inspiring event, bringing together some of the many people in our community in support of the Reconciliation journey to Treaty and beyond.
The event was organised by Justice Action Maribyrnong & supported by Borderlands Cooperative, Reconciliation Victoria & ANTaR Victoria. Get in touch with Justice Action Maribyrnong (JAM) to be an active part of this reconciliation journey.
Racism and the Police shooting in Footscray
At 9pm on the evening of April 17, Abdifatah Ahmed, a Somali man experiencing a mental health crisis, was shot dead by police outside the Coles supermarket on Albert Street in Footscray.
Sadly, this was a largely predictable outcome …
Only hours earlier, that same Thursday, Borderlands Co-operative posted the following on Instagram …
Policing Footscray: The bad, the bad & the ugly
Footscray can look forward to celebrating Easter with a heavy police presence: “Uniform police, the Public Order Response Team and the Dog Squad will be out in force in Footscray over the coming weeks, as Victoria Police runs a series of operations in the area.” (Vic Police)
It’s a lucky thing Jesus isn’t walking the Footscray mall!
Instead of tackling homelessness, mental health and poverty, we can look forward to intimidation and racial profiling. As everyone knows, if you are African you are 8 times more likely to be searched than if you are white; your 5 times more likely to be searched if you are Middle Eastern/Mediterranean; 4 times more likely if you’re Pacific Islander; and 11 times more likely if you are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (year old statistics from the Centre Against Racial Profiling).
Footscray needs community, housing and health and social services, not intimidation.
As Dr. Berhan Ahmed, Africause CEO, said of this latest police operation:
“How many more of these moments will we face? We cannot afford a future defined by continued ‘shows of force’. What we truly need is a show of hope, care, and community investment. Leadership must come from all levels—including local council. As ratepayers, we are watching our properties sit vacant for years. Without appropriate, timely action, the situation will only worsen. It’s time for collaborative, community-led solutions that restore trust, safety, and vibrancy to Footscray.”
Abdifatah Ahmed was suffering the pains of a world increasingly unequal and unjust.
As the chief executive of Westjustice, Melissa Hardham, said:
“It’s using law and order to resolve complex social problems, underpinned by a lack of accessible and safe housing, lack of access to mental health and other services, and people not having their material needs met, along with structural racism.” [The Saturday Paper].
Friday April 18 Vigil for Abdifatah
The following evening Footscray locals organised a vigil outside Coles Footscray. Organisers and Dr Berhan Ahmed from Africause spoke, calling for an independent inquiry into the police shooting and voicing their opposition to the use of policing to tackle issues of poverty, homelessness, mental health and exclusion .
Community Rally Calling for Justice for Abdifatah
On the Tuesday (April 22) following the police shooting, members of the African-Australian community organised a protest calling for justice … Hundreds marched through the streets of Footscray …
Sunday May 4 Fundraiser for Abdifatah
Thanks so much to the Footscray Hotel Choir!!! A beautiful evening of song and solidarity – raising funds for the family of Abdifatah Ahmed.
The West Unites Against Racism
Borderlands is supporting this important community gathering and march. Footscray has a rich history of multiculturalism, and supporting communities who have faced racist discrimination, victimisation and marginalisation. Right now many people in our multicultural community are suffering these pressures: growing imprisonment rates, expulsions from schooling, mental health issues, homelessness and social and economic marginalisation.
Let’s unite against racism!
Data centres are popping up everywhere in the West – and we should probably be taking notice
Written for The Westsider by Peter Gartside, Borderlands Co-operative Board Member & Coordinator of the Footscray Community Garden & Learning Place …
In February this year a company called CDC announced the construction of a data centre in Laverton ‘set to generate thousands of local jobs and inject more than $2.7 billion into the economy during construction’. Federal, state and local government representatives welcomed this seemingly impressive development.
Great news for the West, right? Well, maybe. Firstly, how many people know that there are already at least half a dozen data centres in our patch? In fact, pretty soon there will be four within a tight 3 km2 area in Maribyrnong, all close to residential areas. Behind the clean, anonymous, high-tech facades, what do we really know about data centres?
Read the Full Article at The Westsider
Footscray Community Garden Open Day
Despite the weather, we had a great turnout for our first Open Day on the 26th of April. It was nice to welcome Katie Hall MP, as well as Maribyrnong City councillors Samantha, Cuc, Elena, Bernadette, and the City Mayor, Pradeep. We also got the opportunity to show off the garden to Liz Evans, representing our funders, the West Gate Neighbourhood Fund. Special thanks are due to The Suspects for the great music, the Bluestone Toy Library for entertaining the little ones, Saskia for the photos, and to our amazing volunteers.
We made a tidy sum for the coffers from our coffee bar, sausage sizzle and seedling stall. That will come in very handy now the funding has been spent and we will be looking for other sources of income to keep the Garden and associated projects going.
We met lots of new faces and people wanting to volunteer, and there was a strong feeling that we should do this again in 6 months time!
Peter Gartside, Coordinator Footscray Community Garden & Learning Place
Yooralla Workshops at the Footscray Community Garden & Learning Place
Monday 26 May marked the sixth and final session of a very successful pilot program with Yooralla Disability Services. We went down to the Yooralla Learning Hub in Hyde Street to listen to Ana, Monique and Vincent present what they’d learned over five fortnightly sessions in the Footscray Community Garden and Learning Place.
Each session the group with their support workers Soula and Sheryl had been along to the garden to learn about a different aspect of the work of growing veggies. They prepared beds, planted seeds to propagate in the greenhouse and planted out seedlings. They helped to harvest tomatoes and basil. They tidied the raised beds and fed the garden waste to the compost bays. Each week they took photos and assembled these into a wall display and a powerpoint slideshow.
They each researched a plant that would be right for the season, and could grow in a pot or growbag. We gave them a growbag to plant their choice – lavender, thyme, pansies and carrots – and we delivered their growbags to Yooralla to say thank you for their hard work.
We hope that this small pilot will serve as a model for working with other community groups so that we continue to develop the ‘Learning Place’ side of the garden project.
Maribyrnong City nature strip campaign
A group of local Maribyrnong residents, including members of the Green Guerilla Group and Permaculture Out West, are continuing the campaign started 5 years ago to change the nature strip planting policy of Maribyrnong City Council.
The Green Guerillas was set up five years ago by Maribyrnong residents who want to improve the environment and promote a sense of community by working on re-greening projects. The Guerillas have been campaigning to change the nature strip policy since their beginning. In 2023 they ran a big petition campaign on behalf of Seddon resident Deborah Harding, who Council had threatened with huge fines for her nature strip planting.
Another petition was started as part of the consultation process around the new draft policy. Unfortunately, the draft policy Maribyrnong Council released in 2024 did not address any of the key petition demands:
1. Allowance for permit-free naturestrip planting within given guidelines (provided by Council and consistent with similar guidelines adopted by other local government areas in Melbourne).
2. A simple online permit application and timely process of applications for naturestrip plantings that do not meet the permit-free guidelines.
3. A commitment to desist from retrospectively enforcing permits on existing naturestrip gardens unless there is a safety concern submitted with Council.
4. No insistence that renters require landlord clearance before proceeding with naturestrip works or permit applications.
The campaign continues, with the hope that as part of the Maribyrnong Council review of bylaws this year, Council will do away with the current bylaw (37c):
Obstructions on Roads and Council Land: A person must not, without a permit, landscape a nature strip.
For more information and updates go to the Maribyrnong Nature Strip Campaign Webpage
Rally for Palestine outside Daniel Mulino’s Office May 1 2025
In the lead up to the federal elections, Palestine solidarity groups from Maribyrnong, Brimbank, Hobsons Bay and Wydnham helped organise a rally protesting one of the many Labor MPs who have been enablers of apartheid, genocide and war crimes.
“The Australian Government has legal and moral obligations to prevent and intervene in genocide yet it continues to ignore those responsibilities. Instead of funding and supplying weapons to alleged war criminals, we demand leaders who prioritise human rights and the needs of the community like housing, healthcare and education,” said Shifrah Blustein, spokesperson for Maribyrnong 4 Palestine.
“Daniel Mulino has helped normalise a catastrophe in which more than 100 children are being killed or injured every day. You can’t do that and still claim to be acting in the public interest. He needs to stand down,” said Rula Paterson, spokesperson for Brimbank 4 Palestine.
A big thanks to all our speakers and everyone who showed up for Palestine with your keffiyehs, your flags, your signs, your banners, your voices, your moral clarity and your unwavering will.
We will continue to take action and speak up and strengthen this movement in the inner western suburbs until Palestine is Free.
Forum series – Religion & Social Justice
On May 1, Borderlands organised another one of its regular Gatherings for Solidarity, on the topic of Religious Faith & Social Justice. Speakers included Reverend Canon Nigel Pope (St John’s Anglican Parish Footscray), Sarah Barini (Activist & Organiser), Nick Wight (Indigenous Ministries Australia Coordinator), and Reverend Prashant Bhonsle.
The evening involved a rich conversation about the meaning of religious faith in the context of a world growing in inequality and injustice. Below are some of the comments from the contribution to discussion made by Rev’d Canon Nigel Pope …
As we engage in this conversation about religious faith and social justice, it is crucial to recognize that, in the Judeo-Christian tradition, faith and justice are deeply intertwined. Faith is not merely a set of beliefs or rituals, but a call to action that cannot be separated from the pursuit of justice in the world. This tradition (Judeo-Christian ) compels us to stand with the marginalized, the poor, and the oppressed…
Finally, both Gutiérrez and Francis emphasize that the poor are not just the recipients of charity; they are agents of transformation. God is at work in the lives of the marginalized, and it is often from the margins that we learn the deepest lessons about faith, resilience, and justice. The Church must listen to the voices of the oppressed, for it is through them that God’s transformative power is revealed.
Go here for the full contribution.
Superblocks
Big thanks to Nina Sharpe, Regen Streets Convenor, for inviting us to a conversation and Melbourne CBD walk with Salvador Rueda.
Salvador Rueda is director of the Urban Ecology Agency of Barcelona. Salvador was the coordinator of the renovation and revitalisation programmes in the Ciutat Vella (Old City) district of Barcelona, and also drew up the Sanitation Plan of Catalonia and the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona Waste Management Plan. He was the Director of the Urban Environment Department of the Generalitat (Government) of Catalonia and was a member of the European Union Expert Group on the Urban Environment from 1994 to 2000. As director of the Urban Ecology Agency of Barcelona since it was founded in 2000, he has been working on a number of strategic projects aimed at reorienting cities towards a more sustainable model, including the Superblocks.
New home for the Baai Alkebu-lan African Library Arts and Cultural Centre
Baai Alkebu-lan (House of Africa) has moved from Pickett Street to a much larger warehouse space on Moreland Street, in Footscray.
Baai Alkebu-lan was founded by Magang Reech, and was first housed on Pickett Street in Footscray.
Recently ABC News ran a story about Baai Alkebu-lan …
“It’s a place where we can breathe and be immersed in our culture,” Baai Alkebu-lan’s founder Magang Reech says.
The 30-year-old says he established the library out of necessity — after struggling to find books that reflected his African heritage and to combat negative stereotypes about his community.
“It’s a place to learn about our stories — not the ones … being already told by others, but by our own people,” he says …
Mr Reech says part of the reason he established the library is to counter damaging narratives and stereotypes about the African community.
“There’s a lot of racism that we cop … on a daily basis, when I’m getting petrol, people judging me when I’m doing whatever, people just judge us,” he says.
He hopes to challenge peoples’ perceptions of his community through history and culture.
“This is not a place just for Africans, it’s also for the wider Australian community to come and learn and work with us,” he says.
Better Buses Campaign
Elyse and the Sustainable Cities Collective reporting on the Better Buses Campaign …
When I first met Syeda at a transport forum back in 2022, she was one of the only people calling for bus reform for her area, the Mt Atkinson estate which sits about half way between Footscray and Melton.
We decided to reach out to some more folks in her community, and contact their local MP for to discuss the issue.. and the rest is history.
After 2 years of working alongside the local community running forums, bus marathons and more in a sustained community campaign, it was announced in this budget that a bus is coming to their area! The state government has announced it will fund $20 million toward a bus route from Tarneit Station to Rockbank Station via Mt Atkinson, an estate that otherwise has no public transport.
However…
While we are full of joy for the Mt A community, this announcement still leaves most communities in the west high and dry with no way to get around.
The reality is that this budget remains in line with Labor’s piecemeal approach to bus reform. While we do want to celebrate the small wins, residents across the west are getting tired of waiting for Labour to implement its Bus Reform Plan.
Instead of one bus at a time, which leaves residents waiting years for buses to actually start running, a wider transformational network reform from the winding, convoluted routes into a fast, frequent and connected grid is what is really needed in the west.
All we asked for out of this year’s budget was $27 million (or 0.7% of the amount that they just announced in their ‘public transport blitz’), to get bus reform started in Melbourne’s west.
Clearly, cost is not the issue, it is purely a matter of political will.
So how much longer will communities in Melbourne’s West be kept waiting for Better Buses?
For more info go to the Better Buses Campaign Page.
ABCD Training Tour: Borderlands Session
An invitation to be part of a community development conference in Victoria, October
We would like to invite you and members of the organisations you work with, to be part of the Regenerating Communities Conference. We hope that the conference will be an opportunity to reconnect, make new connections, share our stories and discuss needs and possibilities.
In a time of intersecting crises—ecological collapse, political discord, rising inequality, and increasing social disconnection—community development is more critical than ever. Communities face relentless challenges: cost-of-living pressures, attacks on diversity and inclusion, amplified anxieties, and growing isolation. But alongside these struggles, we see resistance, solidarity, and renewed efforts to rebuild relationships, reclaim agency, and care for one another and the natural world.
This gathering is about strengthening that hope. A space for regeneration!
If you have a story, project, problem or conversation you would like to share at the Conference, we encourage you to SUBMIT A PROPOSAL FOR A CONFERENCE SESSION.
You can REGISTER here for the Conference. For more information you can email Seng on info@regeneratingcommunities.net, or ring Jorge on 0416 200 922. Alternatively, you can go to the Conference website regeneratingcommunities.net.
STOP PRESS
3CR Radiothon in June
It’s been about 6 years (in June 2019) since Jennifer (Borrell) and Jacques (Boulet) started Borderlands’ Think Again radio program on 3CR Radical Community Radio station, weekly on Friday mornings at 10:00-10:30 a.m. (and repeated on Monday mornings at 6:30 a.m.). We’ve meanwhile ‘done’ about 300 programs, they’re all ‘podcasted’ and accessible for free on the 3CR website or via your preferred podcast app (https://www.3cr.org.au/thinkagain/) … Well over 130,000 ‘hits’ have landed on the lot of them in all those years in addition to the ‘live’ listeners (via 855AM on your dial; via the 3CR website or digitally).
We talk about things that ‘matter’ and invite listeners to together with us ‘think again’ and beyond and a bit ‘deeper’ and more informed about what is usually offered by mainstream and social news media … We also often interview people who are in the middle of what makes the news and who are best placed to offer more background and lived truth to the economic, local and global political, social and ecological justice issues, cultural and educational issues … in short, anything which matters and deals with living and living conditions…
3CR Radical Radio has been around since the mid-seventies and has played a unique role in connecting communities and giving voice to critical perspectives. Together with all other 3CR programs, need to raise a whopping $275,000 to keep the station afloat and with YOUR help, we know we can. Borderlands’ Think Again program is expected to contribute to that… No donation is too small (or too big!), 3CR is ‘Your/Our Station, Your/Our Voice’ and we look forward to YOUR donation during June. And as you donate, please let 3CR know that your contribution is on behalf of the Borderlands ‘Think Again’ program listeners and supporters…
Thanks a lot!
Jennifer and Jacques
Donate online: https://www.3cr.org.au/donate
In person: Our reception is open Monday to Friday, 9am – 5pm. Visit us at 21 Smith Street, Fitzroy, VIC 3066. By post: Post your cheque/money order made out to Community Radio Federation Ltd to PO Box 1277, Collingwood, VIC 3066. By phone: Call 03 9419 8377 during business hours (Monday – Friday 10:00 am – 6:00 pm) to pay by credit card.
You can also pay directly into our bank account: Community Radio Federations Donations Account
BSB: 313 140 Account Number: 1205 9465
NOTE: If you pay by Direct Deposit you need to notify us of your payment via email (link sends e-mail) so we can send you a tax-deductible receipt and allocate your donation correctly.
Webinar: Spirituality of cooperation & economic change
The Australian Cardijn Institute’s next webinar is at 7pm AEST on 10 June 2025. ACI is partnering with 888 Cooperative Causeway in Melbourne to mark the United Nations International Year of Co-operatives.
The webinar will explore an often-overlooked thread in the co-operative movement: its deep and ongoing connections with faith communities.
The Spirituality of Co-operation and Economic Change – A Surprising Tale highlights how co-operatives, as one of the oldest forms of what is often now called social enterprise, have long intersected with spiritual traditions to bring about social and economic transformation. From energy to finance and environmental action, communities of faith continue to play an integral role in shaping ethical and collective responses to today’s most pressing challenges.
Join us to explore how faith traditions have influenced, and continue to inspire, co-operative efforts across Australia and beyond. Our panellists bring lived experience and deep knowledge of faith-based co-operative initiatives, offering both historical context and contemporary relevance:
Stefan Gigacz (Secretary, Australian Cardijn Institute): on the co-operative roots of the Young Christian Workers (YCW) movement in Australia
Nashat Qadan (Director, Islamic Co-operative Finance Australia Limited): on Islamic finance and its co-operative future in Australia
Rob Stewart (Member, 888 Co-operative Causeway): on Catholic Social Teaching and the call to climate action through local energy initiatives.
Time will be allowed for Q&A and open discussion.
This event is proudly co-hosted by 888 Co-operative Causeway and the Australian Cardijn Institute. All proceeds from ticket sales will support the ongoing work of both co-operatives in building a more just, democratic, and sustainable economy.
Come along to hear this surprising and inspiring story of faith and co-operation—past, present and future.
