2024 Edition 5 by Farrago Magazine

FARRAGO

Acknowledgement of Country

by Oskar Martin

Oskar Martin is a Bundjalung and Kamilaroi student at the University of Melbourne. He is the current Indigenous Students’ Representative on UMSU Students’ Council.

With 2024 coming close to ending, it is important to acknowledge and recognise what this year has brought us as Indigenous people.

2024 has seen repeated attacks on our people. Only recently in the Northern Territory election, the Country Liberal Party won by a landslide, running on a campaign to clean up and fix the supposed issue of youth crime. The Liberals in the Northern Territory have now proposed new draconian laws that would see a crackdown on blackfellas in the Northern Territory, similar to the crackdown the Northern Territory Intervention brought in 2007.

The Liberals are seeking to lower the age of criminal responsibility to 10 years, reintroduce truancy officers to punish our families, introducing harsher bail laws, and increase the power of the police to surveil, intimidate, beat up and kill our people and children. This comes at a time when law and order campaigns in the Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia and across the country have ramped up, with governments and right wing groupings calling our children criminals, calling for our children as young as 10 to be locked up.

And what have the so called progressive Labor governments have done in response to this? They have and continue to fuel the fire that burns the hopes and dreams of our people and children. A month ago the Victorian Labor government abandoned its promise to lift the age of criminal responsibility to 14. Alongside this, they increased bail restrictions to lock up more of our children and even brought in electronic monitoring. Despite Labor’s proclaimed progressiveness on Aboriginal rights and self-determination, their actions show who they are: racist enemies of Aboriginal people.

The situation for our people is bleak—what has happened in Victoria and in the Northern Territory are only a few examples illustrating the horrible reality we live under Australian capitalism.

But yet it would be remiss to not acknowledge and recognise the resistance and hope we have seen in the past 10 months: resistance and hope in the mass Palestine movement across the country. As we have seen for the past 10 months, Israel has committed a mass genocide of Palestinians and continues its onslaught in the Gaza Strip and in the West Bank. However, ordinary people have not sat on the sidelines watching this unfold. In our hundreds of thousands we have protested against the genocide, showing our solidarity with Palestinians, criticising and shaming our country’s and government’s complicity in the ongoing genocide.

As an Aboriginal man, the solidarity between our people and Palestinians has been highlighted week after week, not only in our shared oppression, but in our shared resistance. We have not allowed our oppressors to trample over our lives with no fight back; we instead stood up and fought in hope and determination, believing that we can live in a better world. And people of various backgrounds have taken up this solidarity and resistance. Indigenous and non-Indigenous people have said enough is enough—no more genocide and destruction; we fight for a world where Palestinians are not killed with impunity and Aboriginal children are not locked up and hunted down by police.

So I say to everyone reading this, let us acknowledge the oppressive rule the capitalist system inflicts upon us. But let us acknowledge the resistance for the past 10 months that opens the door to a better world for all Indigenous people, and for all people on this world.

The Media Department pays respects to the Traditional Owners of the lands on which Farrago is published. We acknowledge that sovereignty has never been ceded. Always was and always will be Aboriginal land.

Contributors

Editorial

General Secretary

Enzhe (Kevin) Li

GSA President

Ethan Chou

Clubs and Societies

Azalea Rohaizam and Hanny

Teja

UMSU Welfare

Divyanshi Sati and Joshua Stagg

(UMSU10001) Introduction to Student Politics

Mathilda Stewart

UMSU passes motion calling for a ceasefire in Gaza following legal controversy

Mathilda Stewart

Federal government’s proposed enrolment cap set to slash international student intake at University of Melbourne

Ibrahim Muan Abdulla

2024 UMSU Election

Results: Another Year, Another Community Sweep

Mathilda Stewart & Joel Duggan

30CM

Sophie He & Jessica Fanwong

The Return of Pan

Pluto Cotter moment of weakness stolenchampagne pompeii stolenchampagne

Oh, baby, with your pretty face–

Stephen Zavitsanos

This is not a love poem

NImrada SIlva

Rigours

NImrada SIlva

SCENT MEMORY

Isaac Thatcher

When Is My Birthday?

Aaron Agostini

Pulse of Time

Charlotte Ang

I’m In Love With 1,6-Dichloro-1,6-dideoxy- -D-fructofu-ranosyl-4-chloro-4-deoxy-α-galactopyranoside

Aaron Agostini

Out at sea

E.U. Wood

Umbilical Noose

Astara Ball

lorde knows: love and resistance are synonyms

Anni Fender

Woven from the streams of Thibaw

Nay Chi Nway

If I had to coin a word

Michelle Yu

NON - FICTION

Who is Controlling Women’s Birth Control?

Shuangshuang Xie

Row Zero

Jesse Allen

Greetings From Utropiia

Fergus Sinnott

You’ve Found Heaven, Now What?

Jayden Alexander

Bridging The Distance: A Journey Back to Perth

Megan Nicole Yin

Retiring the Olympic Dream

Elizabeth Browne

We Are Not Teaching Empathy

Chiaki Chng

The Bard, Brunswick, and the Bitter Joys of Australian Coffee

Claire Le Blond

Omnis-phóbos (or) the fear of all: Mycophobia, the fear of fungi and mushrooms

Wildes Lawler

The “Chasing That Feeling” Diaries: Life is Not a Fairy Tale

Lani Jaye

Odds & Ends

Ashlea Banon

All Aboard

Rashdan Mahmood

Featured photography

Shun Fukui

Stephen Zavitsanos

Lara Prust

Laiken Jackson

Farratography exhibition

Stephen Zavitsanos & Weiying (Irene) Lu

Editor’s Choice Awards

People’s Choice Awards

Fodder Artist Interviews

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Gunjan Ahluwalia

Jessica Fanwong

Joel Duggan

Kien-Ling Liem

COVER

Adam Dinh-Vu

MANAGERS

Angela Nacor

Disha Mehta

Emily Hope

Harrison George

Hayley Yeow

Lauren Williams

Nathan Pham

Phoebe Sava

Ruby Weir-Alarcon

Stephen Zavitsanos

Weiying Lu

CREATIVE

SUBEDITORS

Aditi Acharla

Ailene Catherine Susanto

Amelie Staff

Bronte Lemaire

Charlotte (Charli) Davies

Cushla (Cush) Scanlan

Danielle Holden

Emily Ta

Fantine Banulski

Felicity Smith

Fergus Sinnott

Hallie Vermeend

Isaac Thatcher

Jo O’Connell

Kartiya Ilardo

Kaz Bueman

Mary Hampton

Matthew (Matt) Chan

Olivia Brewer

Sophie He

Veronica Kwong

Wei Si (Erica) Liu

Yu Zhong

COLUMNISTS

Ashlea Banon

Claire Le Blond (MUSC)

Lani Jaye

Olivia Camillin

Rashdan Mahmood

Sabine Pentecost

Wildes Lawler

CONTRIBUTORS

Aaron Agostini

Annabell Fender

Astara Ball

Charlotte Ang

David Surace

E.U.Wood

Isaac Thatcher

Jack Sam

Jessica Fanwong

Laiken Jackson

Lara Prust

Megan Nicole Yin

Michelle Yu

Nay Chi Nway

Nicholas Short

NImrada SIlva

Owini Wijayasekara

Pluto Cotter

Shuanshuang Xie

Shun Fukui

Sophie He

Stephen Zavitsanos

stolenchampagne

ILLUSTRATORS

Agustin Coscolluela

Amber Liang

April Park

Chelsea Pentland

Emma Bui

Felicity Yiran Smith

Georgia Bartholomeusz

Grace Hamilton

Harriet Chard

Indigo Jessell

Jennifer Nguyen

Lauren Luchs

Lee Chan

Leilani Leon

Letian (Lydia) Tian

Maleea

Mel

Ngochan Lam

Tina Tao

Thomas Weir-Alarcon (Cowry) Yanche Wang

NON - FICTION SUBEDITORS

Ailene Catherine Susanto

Amelie Staff

Aroma Imran

Asimenia Pestrivas

Audrey Goodman

Bella Farrelly

Chamathka Rajapakse

Chelsea Browning

Emily Macfarlane

Emma Berg Kaldbekken

Isaac Thatcher

Isobel Connor-Smithyman

Janice Hui

Layla Zain

Lilly Sokolowski

Maddie Barron

Madeline Barrett

Mary Hampton

Momoka Honda

Neera Kadkol

Rebecca Ramos (Becca)

Samson Cheung

Sheriline Lay

Srihari Mohan (Harry)

Stella Mcdonald

NON - FICTION STAFF WRITERS

Ayva Jones

Chiaki Chng

Elizabeth Browne

Elizabeth Pham

Fergus Sinnott

Jayden Seah

Jesse Allen

Ledya Khamou

Maria Quartel

Rashdan Mahmood

Srihari Mohan (Harry)

Zoe Quinn

PHOTOGRAPHY

Alain Nguyen

Chatarina Hanny Angelita

Teja

Nirmalsinh Bihola

Piper Jones-Evans

Yurong Xu

REPORTERS

Alan Nguyen

Anastasia Scarpaci

Annie Karkaloutsos

Arjun Singh

Ayva Jones

Billie Davern

Buena Araral

Chelsea Browning

Ravin Desai

Romany Claringbull

Sam Irvine

Sana Gulistani

Finley Monaghan-Mc Grath

Hanane Seid

Ibrahim Muan Abdulla

Mathilda Stewart

Meagan Hansen

Mia Jenkins

Pryce Starkey

RADIO FODDER PRODUCERS

Anushka Mankodi

Dom Lepore

Isolde Kieni-Judd

Jack Loftus

Tom Weir-Alarcon

SATIRE

Aaron Agostini

Alexia Shaw

Eden Cater

Jasmine Bills

Jonathan Chong

Lucinda (Lucy) Grant

Oscar Marks

SOCIAL MEDIA

Duy Dang

King Shi

Larissa Brand

Thanh Thanh An Quach

Alan Nguyen

VIDEOGRAPHY

Christina Arthur

Deidre Chloe

Nirmalsinh Bihola

EDITORIAL

Jessica:

One word to sum up this edition is: flash. Everything in this edition pretty much came together within 12 hours and with writers dropping out because it is that time of the year for the first time we are short of pieces instead of having too many. This edition was compiled at the same time as the Below Earth Anthology and the division of attention meant double the labour and workload. So I’m really proud that we were able to pull 2 zines together understaffed and under resourced as we are — and I even finally managed to contribute to Farrago again — designing 2 pieces and co-writing one wacky very random flash fiction. Enjoy edition 5!

Kien-Ling:

Caught in the snares of midsem assignments and chaos, the delay of Edition 5 is only tradition for us four Farrago editors at this point. It’s a headache getting it together, but seeing it in print for the first time will always be the highlight of my month, and I’ll miss that feeling when my term ends. There’s much to say about what we’ve accomplished since Edition 4: a very successful Farratography exhibition, our 72-hour Radiothon (never again), and a very heart-warming Radio Fodder screenprinting workshop. I say this every edition, but I’m continuously proud of our staff writers and columnists for defeating writer’s block every month (I’m sure you all dread my emails), and I’m always thankful for the love and effort all our contributors put into the magazine.

Joel:

We’re coming out of UMSU election season and, while things haven’t really changed that much, it is a symbol of the beginning of the end of our time as Farrago Editors. At time of writing this, we have a bit over two months. I’ll probably need to do some more reflecting on that later, but for now I am attending a Student Media Conference that myself and other editors from across Australia have spent like eight months organising and it is almost time to party, which must take priority.

Gunjan:

It’s hard to believe we’re almost at the finish line—5/6 editions done and only two months left. It’s definitely a mix of emotions. I’m excited about whatever’s coming next, but I also feel a bit of fear about losing a sense of belonging to this community that’s been such a big part of my life recently. I’m going to miss the late nights, the launch parties, and the unboxing of a new edition, hoping and praying the printer doesn’t mess up the spine (again).

A huge thank you to everyone involved! See you in the final edition.

This magazine is made from 100% recycled paper. Please recycle this magazine after use.

Farrago is the newspaper of the University of Melbourne Student Union (UMSU). Farrago is published by the General Secretary. The views expressed herein are not necessarily those of UMSU.

If you want to raise an issue with the union and with the university, please contact the President and General Secretary. president@union.unimelb.edu.au secretary@union.unimelb.edu.au

General Secretary Enzhe (Kevin) Li

Hey Unimelb, it’s been a while—or maybe not so long if you just picked up another copy of Farrago and is just flipping through to procrastinate or have something to read for lunch. Hopefully the semester has treated you better than it did me! Coming back from the last report, Not much has happened from the Uni side: … There are updates on a number of things, from special consideration changes (including the three day extension trials and AEAs) which we are heavily involved with in terms of advocacy, the new university canteen initiative which came as a result of the tireless advocacy of Welfare and International. Hopefully we will see more done on this front. There’s a huge amount of constitutional, regulation and policy changes taking place at UMSU. Far too much to summarise here, the last paper circulated to council gave a bit of coverage regarding this but feel free to attend future CRPWG sessions! If you are one such councillor or just an interested student, feel free to reach out to learn more and potentially partake. This callout seems particularly relevant given how many councillors, voting or OBs, and randoms on reddit seemed to “know” about things that supposedly did or did not happen and pontificate about governance and regulations without ever attending. Last but very much not least! Mid-autumn is here and the event is bigger than ever thanks to having a large number of groups, students clubs, and the Uni on side collaborating. Enjoy the mooncake, workshops, stalls, performances and the food!

GSA has been quite busy these past couple of weeks with carrying out our Annual Graduate Art Prize ceremony, Mid-Autumn festival festivities, Women in Tech Speaker Series and our other regular well-being events. We’ve also revamped our Policy & Advocacy webpage to reflect our ongoing projects and past campaigns, please go check it out!

Additionally, I’m excited to announce that GSA is hosting our inaugural Future Careers Expo this October! We’re bringing together industry partners from a wide range of fields, emphasizing faculty collaboration and an interdisciplinary approach. This is a fantastic opportunity for graduate students to connect with future colleagues, ask questions, and explore the possibilities that await you beyond your academic studies.

Clubs and Societies

Azalea Rohaizam and Hanny Teja

Hey legends!

The C&S department is in full swing during this AGM seasons, and we’ve made tremendous progress.

First up, the C&S department has implemented a new Club Affiliation Process that will make it easier for new clubs to get affiliated. We’re also at the final stages of developing the grievance procedure! And for our new club execs, we’ve got inductions planned in the next couple of weeks to prepare them for their new roles.

Lastly, the C&S Department has also planned Clubs Council on the 14th of October at 2 PM! If you are eligible and keen to join the C&S Committee, this is your chance to nominate yourself.

GSA President Ethan Chou

UMSU Welfare

by Divyanshi Sati and Joshua Stagg

UMSU Welfare remains active and thriving as we near the end of 2024. Union Mart is expanding, Welfare Brunches are aiming to serve more students, and we are advocating on the cost of living and harm reduction. Our team has prepared some of the following highlights since the last edition Farrago.

UNION MART GOES 5 DAYS AT PARKVILLE

As of week 7, Union Mart has officially opened on Tuesdays at the Parkville campus alongside our continued pop up at Southbank. This has been a goal the Welfare Office Bearers and Committee have been fighting for all of 2024. For now, we are only opening to 50 students at Parkville on Tuesdays due to stock shortage, but we will be pushing for 150 by the end of the semester.

VOLUNTEER NETWORK

The greatest strength of the UMSU Welfare Department is our volunteer network. We have now reached over 400 volunteers including roles such as Manager, General Attendant, Delivery Driver, Admin, Marketing, Newsletter and more. In 2024, we ran a large-scale volunteering training with over 50 new volunteers attending to learn about the Points System, Reserve Fund, Rostering etc.

We would like to take this chance to recognise the incredible work of Filia Cahyadi and Sonika Agarwal. They are instrumental to our department.

We will be continuing the tradition set in Semester One and hosting a large awards evening in week 12 to celebrate our volunteers.

(UMSU10001) Introduction to Student Politics

by Mathilda Stewart

‘Community’, ‘Stand Up!’, ‘Rebuild’? If I didn’t know better, I’d think these were the names of noisy corporatised Pentecostal megachurches, or maybe outpatient rehab programs. Alas, they’re but another tedious and soul-sucking extracurricular campus pursuit—student politics!!

With the 2024 UMSU Election having taken place in Week Seven of Semester 2 and the subsequent shifts in the stupol landscape, what better time to become acquainted with Unimelb’s resident political factions?

Key terms

Stupol (stew-pol) – The noisy and bizarre playground of maladjusted undergraduates and JD students, student politics comprises the activities, politics and culture of the representative bodies for Australian tertiary students. Many stupol hopefuls enter the fray with a commendable dedication and desire to make their peers’ lives better, and may even live out these principles, yet the uncomfortable truths of stupol can lead it to devolve into barrages of factional vitriol and abuse.

Headkicking aside, the sheer amount of unpaid labour involved in any serious stupol career is certainly reflective of the general level of privilege often necessitated for such a pursuit, as well as the character of student representation often found within campus bodies. For some who partake, student politics serves as a springboard for a career into parliamentary politics. Many student representatives, irrespective of faction, are already employed in some capacity as staffers to Federal and State MPs in the Labor Party (Australia’s centre-left party, affiliated with trade unions who constitute the party’s many subfactions), the Greens (Australia’s progressive party, to the left of Labor), and Liberal Party (Australia’s centre-right party), while untold numbers of their predecessors have gone on to lead successful parliamentary and party careers themselves.

Hack - An overly enthusiastic stupol participant, usually showing greater loyalty to their faction than any personal or political conviction.

Headkicking - A ticket’s headkicker is generally understood as the ‘whip’, tasked with enforcing discipline and ensuring attendance.

Faction - A group of students forming an ideological alliance, usually above the campus level. Within Labor, subfactions are often made up by members of particular trade unions.

Ticket - A politically unified group of students who runs in campus elections, often affiliated with a faction.

Key bodies

UMSU (um-soo) – The University of Melbourne Student Union has been around in some form or another since 1884, with the stated purpose of providing representation and services for all Unimelb students. UMSU student representatives consist of:

- Student’s Council is UMSU’s board of directors and highest decision-making body, responsible for setting the strategic direction of the organisation through voting on policy and budgeting at fortnightly meetings.

- Office Bearers (OBs) oversee the various departments of UMSU (e.g. Welfare, Media, Women’s), responsible for running campaigns, publications, collectives and whatever else Students’ Council authorises.

- Committees are multi-member bodies that exist for all departments except Media, generally responsible for authorising the expenditure of that department. While a ticket may hold an office, they can be rendered powerless if they fail to hold a majority in their departmental committee.

Outside of the student representative departments, UMSU is staffed by a small army of professional staff members working across divisions of Communications, Marketing & Events (CME), Legal & Advocacy, Arts & Culture, and People & Community, all overseen by the Office of the CEO, who is appointed by Students’ Council.

2024’s election saw the highest voter turnout from students since UMSU’s incorporation in 2005, with over 7000 ballots submitted—a significant improvement upon last years’ 4917. As overall percentages of the total student body however, these figures still pale in comparison to decades prior, when membership of UMSU was compulsory for all enrolled students.

Yet with $7.5 million per year in SSAF funding to its name, UMSU is no small fish in the Unimelb pond.

NUS (en-you-ess) – The peak representative body of Australian tertiary students, the NUS is responsible for lobbying and advocacy, as well as their two annual conferences, aptly named EdCon and NatCon. Education Conference, held this year in Perth, is a platform to discuss various campus projects and host policy debates. National Conference, held every December at a Victorian campus, is the NUS’ annual general meeting where delegates decide policy for the year and vote on the following years’ representatives.

Key players

Community for UMSU

Since their first appearance in the 2020 UMSU election, Community has risen to prominence as the dominant political player on campus, a status they will retain going into 2025.

Where once Community was a broad church with a strong contingent of Grassroots Independents and other bases of support among their leadership, those days are seemingly long gone. Community leadership is now decidedly dominated by the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA) subfaction of Labor Right, although they continue to run a number of non-factional representatives on their ticket. Coming from the right wing of the Labor Party, Community pride themselves on a particular brand of centre-left pragmatism that usually manifests as a focus on service provision, such as Union Mart and large-scale events, and working with the University to push reform, particularly diversity and inclusion.

Left Action

Left Action, the electoral sobriquet of Socialist Alternative, is a ticket of revolutionary Trotskyists in the particular political tradition of Cliffism—you’ve probably run into one outside of Arts West or the Baillieu Library, or maybe outside the State Library at a rally hawking a copy of their in-house publication, Red Flag. Left Action’s vision for student unionism is almost purely activist, tending to prioritise political campaigns and long-term movement building around issues such as free

education, anti-imperialism and socialist internationalism. Recently emerging as a stronger political force in UMSU politics, deals with Community in 2022 and 2023 granted Socialist Alternative access to the offices of Education (Public) and Environment. However, with this deal having died prior to this year’s elections, Left Action instead allied themselves with newcomer ticket, More!.

Stand Up!

Stand Up! is a longstanding force in UMSU student politics as the ticket of the Labor Left faction. In 2023, they ran as a coalition with the Transport Workers Union (TWU), a Labor Right subfaction. The traditional MO of Stand Up! has been to try to find a balance between promoting student life and pursuing left-wing political goals. Labor Left frequently espouse the virtues of a “two-pronged approach” to student unionism, believing that lobbying and activism are both necessary for achieving change.”

One of UMSU’s strongest factions during the 2010s, Stand Up! have performed poorly in the last few UMSU elections. Their Left/TWU coalition fell apart earlier this year, leading to the creation of Activate and More!, which ran as separate tickets in the 2024 election.

Activate

Activate is a coalition controlled by Labor Left, which began after Stand Up!’s split this year. Activate features candidates from the Unimelb Greens Club and student activists from Unimelb for Palestine, who were responsible for the Gaza Solidarity Encampment on South Lawn last semester. Activate won Queer and Clubs and Societies Offices, and three Students Council positions. Activate has continued the Stand Up! strategy of running on both student issues, such as extension policy reform, and explicitly left-wing political stances, such as support for pro-Palestine campaigns.

More!

More! for UMSU was born out of Stand Up’s dissolution in 2024 and is dominated by members of TWU. Notably, at this year’s UMSU election, More! nominated three candidates with proven connections to the Melbourne University Liberal Club and the Liberal Party. The candidates’

nominations were mysteriously later withdrawn. While this iteration of More! might be new, the brand has been around for a long time. Historically, their priorities have been a largely apolitical focus on grassroots mobilisation, promoting clubs and collectives, and expanding UMSU events and activities. However, with this version of the ticket being led by members of TWU, the ticket’s claim to independent status is perhaps not as firm as it may have been back in the 2010s.

Rebuild

Rebuild, the chosen alias of Unimelb’s Young Liberals, currently holds no offices, and two seats on Students’ Council. Significantly, however, in 2024 they hold five of seven committee positions within the Clubs & Societies department, an arrangement which has proven difficult for this years’ Stand Up! OBs.

Rebuild tend to pitch their politics as a more moderate and sensible alternative to that of the other factions, advocating for a depoliticisation of the student union in favour of pure service provision. They have also consistently run on a platform to extend the free tram zone, a classic UMSU election promise that so far has not panned out.

Independents

This year, the Burnley Campus and Indigenous Office Bearers were both held by small-i independents. A non-factional alliance of students running under the name of Independents for Student Democracy (ISD) previously had minor representation within

UMSU, but their ticket had ostensibly fallen apart by 2023. However, their independent spirit and Southbank affiliations lived on in Southbank Students! For UMSU, who claimed the Southbank Offices in 2023, and have since gone on to rebrand as Independents or Southbank Student Democracy (ISSD) in 2024. Let no one forget Independent Media (IM), the resident ticket organised by members of the Media Collective, who traditionally hold the Media Office (and thereby run Farrago) and usually a single seat on Students’ Council. The Media Collective democratically preselects its candidates for the Media Office, keeping it out of the hands of factional tickets in order to maintain student media’s independence and pluralism.

Concluding remarks

Since 2020, UMSU elections have been increasingly decided by a network of inter-factional non-competition agreements and sub-factional alliances, most of which came to an end in the lead-up to the 2024 election. With this web of deals now fractured, the political fabric of the union has somewhat diversified, yet ultimately Community have still come out of the fray with a strengthened mandate to lead.

Disclaimer: Mathilda Stewart is an incoming UMSU Media Officer for 2025, elected on the Independent Media ticket in the 2024 UMSU elections. She is not a member of any political faction, group or party, on campus or otherwise.

UMSU passes motion calling for a ceasefire in Gaza following legal controversy

by Mathilda Stewart

The University of Melbourne Student Union (UMSU) has on 1 August passed a motion stating its position on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, having rescinded a previous motion in February of this year after a protracted legal saga.

The new motion, UMSU Stance on the War in Gaza, outlines the union’s support for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, an end to the blockade of aid entering the region, and reparations to be made for the reconstruction of Gaza, while reiterating UMSU’s constitutional opposition to all forms of violence and accordingly condemns violence perpetrated by the Israeli Defence Forces and Hamas.

The motion came after two weeks of online consultation with the student body about their stance on the issue, which heard concerns about possible impacts on the safety of Jewish students, but found overwhelming community support for UMSU's proposed motion to stand in solidarity with Palestine.

The consultation process initiated almost two years after a controversial motion, UMSU Stands with Palestine – BDS and Solidarity Policy, passed in April 2022, which called for the University to boycott Israeli institutions and academics who support the Israeli oppression of Palestinians, and for divestment from corporations involved with Israel. The University subsequently distanced itself from UMSU and condemned the motion, stating it did not reflect the views of the University.

The original BDS motion prompted a legal case from postgraduate Law student Justin Riazaty which was expected before the Victorian Supreme Court in April of this year. However, UMSU reached an out-of-court settlement and rescinded the motion in February.

UMSU President Disha Zutshi notes that as part of the consultation process, UMSU sought feedback

from the Jewish Students Society on campus and from Unimelb for Palestine, the activist group that led the Gaza Solidarity Encampment. UMSU also plans to engage with community bodies in future matters relating to the war in Gaza, including the Jewish Community Council of Victoria, the Jewish Council of Australia, and the Australian Palestine Advocacy Network. Zutshi also recognises the overreach of the University by choosing to prosecute 21 students involved at the Arts West/Mahmoud’s Hall sit-in with general misconduct trials, emphasising that UMSU provided advocacy and legal services to students prior to their hearings. “Students have the right to peaceful protest and the right to speak up when something’s going wrong,” says Zutshi.

UMSU CEO Sara Pheasant said that, following the issuing of general misconduct notices, UMSU wrote to Vice Chancellor Duncan Maskell, urging the University to withdraw the allegations and arguing that threats of suspension or expulsion represented a fundamental breach of students’ right to peaceful protest and assembly. Zutshi reports that she has been in negotiations with the University regarding the potential impact of planned protest actions on students during upcoming graduation ceremonies, recalling incidents last year where students were removed from the stage and denied access to their academic transcripts.

While University management has ruled that gowns must be worn over keffiyehs, there has yet to be a decision on how they will respond to individual students’ protests at graduation. Zutshi cited the importance of student expression and right to peaceful protest. “As a union, we’ll always be on the forefront of standing with students.”

Federal government’s proposed enrolment cap set to slash international student intake at University of Melbourne

by Ibrahim Muan Abdulla

The federal government’s proposed international student caps announced in early September would see the University of Melbourne’s international student intake limited to 9300 next year.

With the University having expected 11,000 international students to enrol in 2025 compared to 10,400 in 2024, this cap would reduce international student intake by 18% and cost the University $85 million next year.

"The consequences of the proposed cap will become clearer in the weeks ahead. However, there is no doubt that they will be significant and damaging for the University,” says Acting Vice Chancellor Nicola Phillips.

"The proposal to arbitrarily cap international students at universities puts [Australia’s diplomatic and social success] at serious risk – it will harm all students, domestic and international, and jeopardise the sector’s reputation and long-term sustainability,” says Phillips.

Federal Education Minister Jason Clare has defended the cap, citing it as a necessary measure to return net migration to “pre-pandemic levels.”

"This is about setting up the system in a better and fairer way so it's not only a lucky few universities that benefit but the whole sector," says Federal Education Minister Jason Clare.

“It should not just be the big metro unis that benefit from international education.”

The Group of Eight

Data from the Department of Education indicates that four out of eight universities in the Group of Eight (Go8) face having international student numbers capped, prompting backlash from affected universities.

“The Group of Eight remains implacably opposed to international student caps for the damage they will do to the sector and the nation,” says Go8 Chief Executive Vicki Thomson.

The Go8 have taken particular aim at the government’s National Planning Level target, which would cap nationwide international student intake at 270,000.

“This policy was bad yesterday and it is bad today – the unexplained number gives us no comfort.”

Aside from the University of Melbourne, the Australian National University faces a cut of 14.5% from 3,972 international students in 2023 to 3,400 students in 2025.

The University of Sydney, which has a proportion of 46% international students, will face a 7% cap from 12,790 international students in 2023 to 11,900 in 2025.

Similarly, the University of New South Wales faces a 14% cap on international students which will see its current enrollment of 11,075 decrease to 9,500 international students in 2025.

The Go8 universities have seen significant caps on the number of international students they can enrol in the coming year, however, the most significant slash in international student numbers is at Federation University Australia, which will see its international student numbers cut by 52% from 2,306 to 1,100 students.

While a number of Universities have their international student numbers capped, Monash University and the University of Adelaide have both received a cap with a 20% increase in international student numbers compared to 2023 from 8,310 to 10,000 and 3,155 to 3,800 respectively.

However, the most significant increase in the international student cap of 517% was given to Charles Sturt University, from 162 international students in 2023 to 1,000 students.

Looking at the financial impact University of Melbourne Acting Vice Chancellor Nicola Phillips predicts a revenue loss of $85 million in 2025, with “flow on impacts” for years to come.

International student fees have in recent years become the second largest source of income for Australian universities, accounting for over 30% of their income, behind government funding.

“How exactly can we deliver [for future students] in the midst of a tail-spinning downward spiral of core funding?” says Universities Australia Chair Professor David Lloyd, accusing the government of underfunding universities for decades.

The international student cap, which strips away a significant portion of income for universities, would likely have severe implications for meeting the goals set by the government of increasing national tertiary qualification attainment from 60 to 80% among working age Australians by 2050.

Reaching this benchmark would require educating a million additional students in the coming decades which is the “equivalent of creating a new institution the size of Monash University every two years,” says Lloyd.

Speaking at the senate inquiry, University of Western Sydney’s Vice Chancellor Professor George Williams stated that he was “frankly shocked” by the details of the cap.

“The formula is deeply flawed, deeply random and arbitrary… It will have perverse unintended consequences and cause great damage.”.

A history of migration policy targeting international students

This is not the first time that the Australian government has prompted backlash for policy changes affecting international students. Earlier in the year, migration expert Abul Rizvi raised concerns over the new system for judging visa applicants, which he described to be “unfair and unsustainable” as it resulted in delays in visa processing times from weeks to months, and a record decline in visa approval rates for international students. As a result of lack of consistent rationale in the approval and rejection of visas, international students were left with extensive delays, often missing orientations and the first few weeks of classes during the first semester. The ambiguity surrounding the approval and rejection of visas has been described as “racist and detrimental to Australia’s hard-won status as a global leader in higher education” in international media. Student visa rejections become most prominent among Southeast Asian students, especially students from India and Pakistan. Students from India had only 64% of their applications approved compared to 84.6% in 2022/2023, and Pakistani students recorded a severe drop in visa approval rates from 91% in 2022/2023 to 34% this year. Universities Australia Chair David Lloyd has called out the government for “willfully weakening” the economy with the announcement of international student caps and of using international students as “cannon fodder in a poll-driven battle over migration.” "International students are intrinsic to our purpose as a University and to the breadth, diversity and vibrancy of our University community and its work. We will continue to do everything that we can to make sure that the University of Melbourne remains a destination that international students will want to choose well into the future” reassured Vice-Chancellor Professor Nicola Phillips in a public statement released by the University.

2024 UMSU Election Results: Another Year, Another Community Sweep

by Mathilda Stewart and Joel Duggan

In one of the most contested elections in modern UMSU history, and with around 7000 ballots cast, this year’s student elections represented a marked and welcome departure from recent trends of electoral disengagement. Coming off a year of historic protests against the University’s relationships with weapons manufacturers connected to the Israeli government, Palestine was a strong electoral focus for several tickets. Socialist Alternative were quick to claim the name of “Left Action - Free Palestine” for their ticket, while multiple candidates from Activate bore connections to Unimelb for Palestine, the activist group behind the Gaza Solidarity Encampment.

The cost-of-living crisis was also at the front of many voters’ minds, with a rapidly expanding Union Mart having demonstrated the power of student unions to alleviate food insecurity.

But even with this intense political backdrop, student life concerns remained on the agenda.

For Community, a digital student ID and the new student bar were spruiked as key planks of their platform. For Activate, cheaper campus food and fairer extensions were priorities. For More!, the focus was on a bigger clubs budget and more free food and drinks. And as usual, Rebuild ran on extending the free tram zone.

While the more explicitly political platforms of Activate and Left Action saw moderately strong voter support, it seems the student body has once again vindicated the electoral importance of incumbency and prioritising student issues, delivering Community another year in leadership.

This year’s elections were delivered by Above Quota Elections, who appointed Stephen Luntz (affectionately called “Sluntz”) as the Returning Officer, with Patrick Clearwater and Jaime Adam as Deputy Returning Officers, responsible for overseeing the electoral process and enforcing the rules and regulations.

Office Bearers

While the last two elections saw the three major tickets of Community, Stand Up! and Left Action engage in non-compete deals for UMSU offices which effectively predetermined the outcomes, this year intensifying rivalries between the factions meant that the vast majority of offices were contested by at least three tickets. However, all this divorce seems to have led to, for the moment, a Community monopoly on almost all OB positions, granting them what is arguably their first completely legitimate, stand-alone democratic mandate. Community has maintained what will now be their third consecutive year of dominance in the executive, once more claiming President and General Secretary. New competition has done little to dampen the strength of their margins.

With their marriage of convenience ending this year, Community has also successfully run their own people for Education (Public) and Environment, claiming them from Left Action

Activate has managed to nab the Queer Office from Community and retained Stand Up!’s control of Clubs & Societies—one of the few offices not contested by Community. However, they have lost Stand Up!’s recent mainstays of the Women’s Office and Education (Academic) Office to Community. Despite contesting the majority of positions, More! and their newfound comrades in Left Action were ultimately unsuccessful in securing an office. In the world of non-factional tickets, Independent Media will go on to hold the Media Office for its eighteenth year. Independents for Southbank Student Democracy (ISSD) have won the Southbank Offices largely uncontested, while independent Baela Stumpf Tinsley was elected unopposed to the Burnley Office. Independent candidate Noah Kellett was also victorious over Left Action for the Indigenous Office in both a by-election for the remainder of 2024 and for the 2025 Office.

Students’ Council

While Community have retained eleven seats on Students’ Council, the end of their deal with Socialist Alternative has seen them lose the two seats dealt out to members of their caucus by Left Action. This represents an overall weakening, albeit small, of Community ’s grip on Students’ Council, the key decision-making mechanism of the student union.

Most autonomous seats elected by restricted constituencies were secured by Community, with the exception of Indigenous Students’ Representative, claimed by Left Action, and Southbank Students’

Representative, which was claimed by ISSD Stand Up! splinter tickets More! and Activate have scored one and three Council seats respectively, representing an improvement on Stand Up!’s showing last year.

Independent Media, while falling short of the quota for a councillor on first preferences alone, managed to retain their one seat after preference distribution. Rebuild has lost one of their two seats, failing to improve upon their subpar performance since debuting in 2022.

Committees

Community once again have maintained the upper hand in departmental committee results, holding a controlling majority in seven of nine committees. Activate holds at least two positions on eight of nine committees, with More! and Left Action seeing

representation on five and two committees respectively. ISSD have packed the Southbank Students Committee with their candidates uncontested, while singular independents were elected to the Burnley Students Committee and Indigenous Students Committees.

NUS Delegates

While NUS delegates are elected via tickets, what matters in reality are the federal-level factions each candidate caucuses with; Community is affiliated with the SDA sub-faction of Student Unity (the Labor Right), More! is affiliated with the TWU sub-faction of Student Unity, Activate is affiliated with National Labor Students (Labor Left), Left Action is affiliated with Socialist Alternative, and Rebuild is affiliated with the

Australian Liberal Students Federation In contrast to their broader electoral success, the SDA have lost one of their four delegates, while the Liberals lost their singular delegate. With National Labor Students and Socialist Alternative each picking up a delegate, going from a total of one each two each, there seems to have been a small leftward shift in the demographics of Unimelb’s NUS picks.

University Council

Unlike most other positions which are decided during this election period, University Council is not an UMSU body but rather the University of Melbourne board of directors. One student sits on the Council and is elected every two years, with the idea being that they will represent student interests on the board. It is run through UMSU elections largely out of convenience.

Current UMSU General Secretary Enzhe (Kevin)

Li of Community was provisionally elected to University Council, provided that he is approved by the University. Li ran on a platform of promoting diversity and inclusion, and pushing for greater accessibility of University governance. Coming in a relatively close second was Unimelb for Palestine member Reham Elzeiny, who ran with Activate on a platform of pushing the University to disclose their ties with and divest from weapons manufacturers.

What happened during election week?

Election week kicked off with rain and hail, prompting some to take to phonebanking in what was certainly a creative interpretation of the Returning Officers’ first ruling, issued the prior Friday, expressly forbidding bulk electronic communications. Yet, ballot privacy and overbearing campaigners bullying students into voting proved once again to be the ROs’ most significant concern. In a ruling issued Monday evening, campaigners were forbidden from talking to students looking at their phones or attempting to convince students to vote in front of them. Speaking on Friday evening after ballots closed, RO Stephen Luntz again recommended a return to paper voting, despite the costs and logistical challenges, in

order to preserve the privacy and security of ballots. While incidents of physical aggression were avoided this year, Farrago received a concerning number of reports of bullying and harassment of varying degrees of severity, subsequently proliferated across social media. While student politics is evidently important, it’s probably not worth the toll it takes on participants’ mental health. Farrago wishes everyone would be nicer to each other. �� On a more positive note, Farrago wishes to extend a special shoutout to More! Man—surely one of the week’s strongest soldiers—and expresses their grave disappointment that Independent Media went to the effort of purchasing a Farra-Gorilla suit but seemingly not finding someone who could bother to wear it.

What happens now?

The simple answer—much the same. Students who have been satisfied with UMSU’s services and political direction in 2024 will probably continue to be satisfied, while those who have been dissatisfied will probably continue to be dissatisfied. With another year in power, Community have prominent plans to invest further in a growing Union Mart, with the expansion of its operations to five days a week clearly the ticket’s proudest achievement this year. Considering that 2024 Welfare OB Joshua Stagg has been elected President, advocacy around Union Mart and cost of living will likely be even more on UMSU’s agenda next year.

However, if the influx of new tickets and growing interfactional competition indicates anything, it is that there are many who have issues with UMSU’s governance and politics in 2024. Community’s detractors have taken particular aim at the ticket’s support for rescinding an earlier BDS motion in the face of legal pressure, their broader emphasis on service provision over activism, and what some perceive as a technocratic disposition that has undermined the ability of student movements to mobilise through UMSU (particularly via Special General Meetings).

We will see what becomes of the ticket’s other policy commitments—goals such as a digital student ID and better, more equitable work opportunities for students through Students@Work and Careers Fair are certainly possible to carry out, but also require cooperation on the University’s end, which is never a guarantee.

Students’ Council will likely remain a largely unproductive series of shouting matches where Community allows Socialist Alternative to bring a handful of ideological motions promoting left-wing campaigns to the floor while the majority of the room stays quiet, and many of the internal machinations of Council remain opaque to students. (It is perhaps noteworthy that no major ticket seemed to incorporate measurable steps towards greater transparency as a key plank of their policy platform.) Some of the newcomer tickets will likely try to capitalise upon their limited influence to try and build for the years to come, but it remains to be seen whether they will grow enough to break the now three-year streak of Community dominance.

Mathilda Stewart is a Deputy News Editor of Farrago and was elected unopposed as a Media Officer on the Independent Media ticket in the 2024 UMSU Election.

Joel Duggan is the News Editor of Farrago and an UMSU Media Officer, elected on the Independent Media ticket in the 2023 UMSU Election.

They are not members of any political faction, group or party, on campus or otherwise, and are both too personally fulfilled to be involved in student politics beyond the Media Department.

by Sophie He and Jessica Fanwong

You forgot the ground existed. The ground forgot you too. You stopped casting shadows and contented yourself to aimlessly float. You weren’t floating particularly high, just a little more than 30 cm above the ground. But this was actually advantageous. When you were on the ground, you weren’t very tall. Now, you come in at a cool, standard 180 cm. You often have whole conversations with people who don’t even notice that you are floating. Often, they just remark on your slightly-above-average height and leave with a cheerful farewell, their gazes not once dropping down to your floating feet.

Floating is an art. Just ask any balloon. Or balloon artist. Once you’ve lost a centre of gravity, it takes all your muscles to stay upright. And upright seems like a trifling business when you have no centre of gravity. It takes all your muscles to stay upright. So, you’ve got great muscles now. Particularly your pectorals. But sometimes you feel like your bones are still too heavy and are weighing you down. Recently, you’ve been going about town, donating these excess bones to struggling Halloween shops.

“Take them!” You insist when the kindly old owner refuses. “Take them and display them in your window. Think – real bones! How dreadfully spooky! Take them! I don’t need them – I float.”

“But what if,” he asks, “what if you return to the ground one day? Have you seen what happens to blob fish when they’re dragged to the surface?”

You assure him if that were ever to happen, however unlikely it may seem, you would gladly return to

the deep sea to live with the fish. Besides, why would you ever return to the ground? With a white sheet over your head, and cornflour ectoplasm dribbling behind you, you have the perfect ghost Halloween costume. What a classic! The old Halloween shop owner shrugs and accepts the femur you’re offering.

Now that you’ve lost a few kilos, you suddenly feel so light, like you could soar with the birds! That being said, you’re still no more than 30 cm off the ground. After all, you don’t have feathers. So, in the dead quiet of a bucolic night, you sneak into a chicken farm, hoping to accrue enough feathers to fly. You begin to roam the countryside as a crazed chicken-plucker, descending in the night like a swarm of locusts, so that when the new day dawns, bewildered farmers are left staring at their coops of stark-naked chickens. It never occurs to you that chickens can't fly. Floating in your inner-city apartment, surrounded by tons of flightless feathers, you finally despair. Wobbling in the air, you shakily bend your gelatinous knees, reach down with your emaciated arms. You have beautiful oak floors. You’re a model renter who’s never once scratched them up. The oak floors which are matted with dust. You try to touch them, but your feet refuse to descend below those terrible 30cm. It’s then that you realise there will forever be 30 cm between you and the ground. You’ve remembered that the ground exists. But the ground continues to forget you.

The Return of Pan

by Pluto Cotter

Content warnings: mentions of death

A new adventure awaited. The city I loved was Now lost.

Discarded ruins of The life I had been forced to live, A catastrophic nightmare For which I will forever be responsible.

Rubble of grey behind me, Expanses of bumpy green before me. The rolling hills would Grasp me in their folds, Hold me safe, Present me with a new life.

The remnants of the city Would decay And fade away. The memories Will disperse, become A single speck.

My life will not remain One not worth living. A life of mundane human work That I have been punished with For Eons.

My penance has been paid, The humanoid work Is no longer working. I will return to my place–The God Of The Wild. My brethren will not hold me In a grey, slated jail.

I am

The God of the Wild. The Creator of Forests. The Nurturer of Nature.

All that contends will see The ashy rubble of their homes And the destruction Of human creation.

I think I’ll move on and create something new–A new forest. That conceals the horrors of human hands And takes from Those who have worked to destroy My lands.

The mortal beings have Ruined a world, A beautiful natural expanse That I cultivated, That I loved, That I birthed for their pleasure.

When I threatened their destruction My brethren Sent me here to live As one of them. I remember who I am, I remember What I am capable of.

Several thousand mortal deaths, A billion more to go until My earth can be redeemed Can be led To the vibrant state It once was.

I am Within the trees. I am

The sprouting leaves. I am More than just powerful.

I am Pan.

moment of weakness

by stolenchampagne

it’s easier to keep my distance than to admit i miss you, because that’s a sort of weakness, isn’t it? to stay away for so long, to push you away when you held out a hand, to repeatedly betray your trust and hate you for my faults and still want you on those nights when i feel particularly vulnerable; it’s a shameful feeling, one i hate, one i’d burn out of my soul if given the opportunity to, forfeiting my life and your sanity in the process, and i don’t know how to cope with this distance and that’s a dangerous admission, i know, with outcomes i cannot predict and that fucking terrifies me, so it’s easier to write this here, in a little part of the world that i know you won’t have access to. maybemaybe one day

i’ll gather the courage to show you, written on that website of mine i know you once read religiously, the one that you no longer care for, and maybe we’ll be plagued by regrets for the words we chose to leave unsaid, but it’ll go both ways, won’t it? it always went both ways, didn’t it?

by stolenchampagne

Content warnings: references to death and fire

i can think of the ash that coats your hands, your lungs, as you lay here preserved in time, as i sit upon these crumbling stones, weathered with the passage of eras long gone and the undisturbed continuity of the world, and i think back to the panic you must have felt flooding your veins, the horror and fright firing your neurons, the hysteria of your people setting your molten eyes ablaze as you stared at the ribbons of orange that would decimate you in one panoptic wave, vulcan’s breath fossilizing your bones, smothering your screams as though they never existed, and it is arrogant of me to imagine, to dare transcribe a tragedy i can never know onto this notebook’s pages, but i cannot stop thinking about the erraticism of nature and the decisive hand of fate, and how if these collective forces will it, the ghosts of the past could rise and consume me whole with no one to hear my cries, just as there was no one to hear yours.

Oh, baby, with your pretty face–

by Stephen Zavitsanos

Oh, baby, with your pretty face–Tell me in one word that you’re tired of it all And I will stop everything at once. With the nod of my head–cats will not meow, Rain will not fall, Cuts will not scab, Tears will not dry.

Oh, baby, with your pretty face–Allow me morning breath lips And eyebags I may slip into. Baby, contort your pretty face And become my gossamer, Become my gossamer, Become something solid, even–

Oh, baby, tell me you’re a poet But a barista for the moment. Tell me it’s only a matter of time Before your words will mean something. Oh, baby, pass through me. Let it pass whenever.

Baby, oh, let it be felt. In a stanza or a text Let it be felt. Oh, dry eyes and goodbyes–Let it be felt today.

Oh, baby, pretty your face And dissolve into me.

This is not a love poem

by NImrada SIlva

There will be no metaphors about stars or blue skies or soft sounds that seas make at night

There will be no mention of sunflowers or orange slices still cold in my mouth

You won’t find mentions of songs written by delusional fools

This will be a clean poem

A proper poem

A non-sentimental, no-nonsense sort of business

It will be about trees that hold you and wrench sadness out your chest like a sponge wrenches out soapy water

It will be about warm teas in my cold hands, and strangers in libraries that made me smile That offered me scraps and pieces of conversation and oh – I held onto them as if they were bits of gold nuggets this poem will be about how we go on on and on and on even if at times we think we cannot

See — it was not a love poem I did not mention you – not even once And how could it be a love poem without some shadow of you ?

Rigours

by NImrada SIlva

“Only the young, he thought, could withstand the rigors of love…but there was no telling Harmon anything. There is no telling anyone anything when they have been infected this way.”

- “Starving” in Olive Kitteridge (by Elizabeth Strout)

Isn’t it strange how it plays out at times I wonder if we really choose anything at all I mean you go on for so long thinking so vehemently there is a ‘good’ path and another one and you think if you are smart and you think it all through you meditate and draw up a list then you will be safe isn’t that what anyone wants?

The path of least resistance we want our lives to be the same as it was the day before and the day after that

We feel proud of ‘control’ of never being uncertain never not knowing how it will play out

Still, I remember something Murakami said about how we don’t live in a world of measuring balances and protractors and sometimes no matter how hard we think we can never be sure of how choices unfold sometimes we cannot know if one path is ‘better’ or worse until many moons afterwards

Frankly I am tired of fighting this so there it is

I’ve said it

I want you and I am not afraid of consequences And I know someday four weeks or four months from now it might dissipate you might get tired, or we will find it cumbersome

But I’m afraid my heart is a stubborn thing I can’t help it

So, I’ve accepted it because time is finite, and I don’t want to waste it all worrying because it’s awfully difficult to fall in love with anything

Let alone an actual person and mostly because nothing else seems to matter when you smile like that, and I know all things end someday

But in the meantime, can’t it be beautiful?

When Is My Birthday?

by Aaron Agostini

Content warning: brief references to drug use

you don’t like Lana Del Rey. you don’t like me. you love me. and you and you can never seem to find the write words to tell me. too bad. not one to right your own story. clearly.

so, instead, you tell me that you like Lana Del Rey. that you love Lana Del Rey. that you are obsessed with her. because I told you I liked her, because I told you I loved her, months ago.

as months went by and I moved away you kept thinking of me. of how much you love me. of how much I love her. of how much we could have loved her. Together. if we were still Together.

so you keep thinking of her, of me, and now at 2 am you can’t text me to say I love you— that would strike too raw a chord.

instead you text me: “I miss you,” “Everyone here is fake,” and “I’ve been obsessed with Lana Del Rey recently. I just love her.”

her, in this instance, being just another pretty voice in your ear. one that doesn’t feel so far away. one that’s right in your airpod. always on your mind. hands wrapped firmly around your cracked phone, cranking up the volume, rubbing the handrails on trains, sweating, dreaming about heroin. you’d be lying if you said you weren’t sick of it.

you tell me you like her. you tell me you love her. you tell me you are obsessed with her. but what you cannot tell me is the name of a single album.

you shrug. on that note, tell me again, When is my birthday?

Pulse of Time

by Charlotte Ang

Morning breaks the quiet

With the vigour found in sunrays against frost, In fresh rain on dry crops; nevertheless Praised by the hopeful farmer.

Days follow days, follow nights.

‘Follow us’ the treetops sing. Becoming, bathing, welcoming Under the arms of a golden canopy.

Like the petal unfurling, Curtains open on wide windows, Welcoming morning whispers, Accompanying the likes of sunrays and morning dew.

Heads twist and bloom in evergreen Trodden amber underfoot, Their necks pinched by muddy nails, Tossed behind bent backs to the friend of The Sunray.

‘The love I long for is natural, Yellowed brick built on forgotten hills.’ Says The Sunray To The Cat.

Eternally embraced, The lovers are warm, welcoming, whispering, Shouting lest they lose their lovers kiss; Found cheek to cheek, arm around waist.

And like The Sun to its lover, I return to where I am best fit, I return to the ray of my own. In the depth of my own making, I wait.

It is to my own making that I am the women before me, Found underground, or in my home, Holding my children by the hand.

The depth of this river I wade Surfaces sunk gold among reeds. Unsunk stories of gold and river-shone Jewellery passed from grandmother to mother.

A young girl, grandmother, would play ‘Til sunset leaves tense kisses on her neck, By the river inlet, by the coast, By her childhood home.

Rings crafted from dry reeds, And placed in a rough dress pocket With a handful of cream sand To be passed to the desk of her father.

Rings that now reside in gold, Around the finger of the man she loved, The worker, the miner, The provider for her children.

Picked at by time, Brown rings circle red in the eroded banks of the river, Until all that was left was gold to hang from her neck, Complimented by my daughters, and the daughters after mine.

Now, the river of my grandmother Dries up around me, Baring its only treasures to its visitors, for The promise of consecration.

The river; found too late to be saved, Condemned to forget, to be forgotten. Receive her rings one day soon, In a letter signed by grandmother…

The ring wrapped around my finger, In the hand against your chest, Beating to the trickle of rain returning to the earth And the sun returning to rest.

In darkness, fog falls to wipe the rouge from cheeks, Alongside the dust collected from the day. Carry it downstream tonight, In cloudy, coloured currents.

In darkness,

The last petal will fold, and clench, And brace for the chill That follows sundown.

Winds will pick up in waves. They will carry tides of cool, lingering kisses

On breezy, soil scented air

Through closed eyes and empty lungs.

Leave the window by your bed ajar In the hopes of catching one of those waves. Forget-not the day gone, But remember the days to come.

Dew, turns to frost; to dew once more, Seduced by the trees to linger Longer than seasonal fruits, And leave dancing shadows on ill-lit lawns.

That curtain, wide, catches the light. The moon grins to the sparkling sky. She lets out a sly wink And welcomes Herself back to the night.

Howl to the moon, Little Cat, But then sit quietly Till the return of your lover.

Declare to the unknowing Your intentions to wait. Wait, for the break of silence, For what you know comes next.

Night to day, ancient and forever, Whom never recognise each other, nor the first glimpse of a new day; Nor the beating pulse of love; Nor the beating pulse of time.

I’m In Love With 1,6-Dichloro-1,6-dideoxy- -D-fructofuranosyl-4-chloro-4-deoxy-α-galactopyranoside

by Aaron Agostini

I love the way you walk into my office, like you're lost or something, all big grin, like a hug I can smell with my eyes. You tell me my thighs are starting to hurt, bruising even, from the rental harness— we should really buy our own at this point. We’ve certainly climbed enough rocks to justify it. Maybe a pair of climbing shoes as well. Perhaps then we’d be better at getting on top of things.

Why is it that it’s always directly after the moment has passed we discover the perfect quip to respond: would you like me to kiss them to make it feel better? Something fun. Something flirty. Something I’m not: a person who feels confident stepping into a new grocery store.

Doesn’t have to Google it first to make sure they don’t close in half an hour. Doesn’t get mad when people walk too slow. Doesn’t get mad at getting mad when people are walking too slow. Takes deep breaths all the time, not just when things are starting to slip away. Likes to have fun— you know, the only lie I ever told anyone was that I like to have fun.

Mr. Sore Thighs once told me he’s never had a panic attack before. He was concerned, like it was a bad thing, like, as in, should I be worried? No, princess. No one should ever be worried. But, nonetheless, here we are.

Out at sea

by E.U.Wood

Out at sea, the monotonous waves stretch beyond their visible end. With time, humanity is driven to follow its path. Land erodes, life decays back into the earth from which it sprung—but not the sea. The same horizon was beheld by the explorers of bygone eras, ploughing ahead into the rough unknown. Our descendants shall witness these seas too, unchanged. The waves thrash against one another for eternity, existing outside of time and the continual progression of everything known. One is inclined to wonder if the waves exist outside of our perception of them. Perhaps they emerge from a void bordering the visible end, being disassembled and reclaimed as they once again slip from our field of vision. Everything that exists is contained within this visible circle. All that is, may be consumed by hungry eyes scouring the horizons, the perfect circle of patterned waves. Does the drop of existence travel through the surrounding emptiness, bringing light to the darkness for a moment before returning to darkness faster than the light’s arrival?

Or perhaps the drop of reality remains stationary in the darkness as the void passes by, wishing so deeply to crush the borders and absorb all that is contained within. The horizons, destined by the laws of nature to never meet, speed towards you in the centre of it all. Quickly, the horizons approach. Existence loses the battle of attrition against the emptiness trying to swallow it. Have you ever seen anything like it? Stretch your hands out to each side and touch the opposite ends of the horizon. Is the border between your world and the abyss soft? Do your fingertips pass straight through the light into the darkness behind it? Suppose there is no feeling outside our little circle of compressed horizons. No matter; the end is near. The horizons begin their march, converging on us and our existence. Imagine it: blissful, the passing border uniting our bubble with the empty plane. We will simply disappear. Here it comes. You won’t feel a thing; there will be nothing. Close your eyes. Darkness—but conscious. Slowly, open your eyes. The visible ends restored to their limits, hugging a distant speckle of land.

Umbilical Noose1

by Astara Ball

Content warning: mentions of blood and reference to death

Last night I had a nightmare. I sat in a pool of blood…nowhere to move, no way out. Transfixed, paralysed, all I could do was behold what was before me; I watched you dig your fingers into my belly button and you tear me apart.

Seduced by Glutton you had no tenderness to impart. I urged you to devour me allowed your gaze within my womb but you were encircled by blood’s army and led to your tomb I witnessed a fleshy cord string you up and pull you apart I ached to be rid of us – no trace in the gallows of my heart. Its echoing chambers and the courses that we chart, dragged us through a labyrinth and back to the gruesome start most vile of all our birthplace

1 Nirvana, ‘Heart Shaped Box’, In Utero, 1993. “Meat-eating orchids forgive no one just yet/ Cut myself on angel hair and baby’s breath/ Broken hymen of Your Highness, I’m left black/Throw down your umbilical noose so I can climb right back.”

Woven from the streams of Thibaw

by Nay Chi Nway

Content warnings: mentions of death, blood, war, conflict and murder 6:19 p.m.

The sky has turned blue-black, transforming the paddy fields into a long stretch of fluid silhouettes, oblong and shimmering with tints of green. The crows utter their last cries as they return to their nests. On the horizon, a thin strand of sunlight still remains.

Thiha waits at the bus stop. The bus stop is not really a bus stop but a flickering lamp post, a clay water pot and a large tamarind tree, its lanky limbs and pinnate leaves swaying with ease. It is here that the farmers crowd around on market days to send off their harvests into the city, wrapped in newspaper, plastic and braided husks. Here, the children staying at inner-city boarding schools are dropped off on the weekends. Here, she, Nyein, would arrive from her workplace at the Yangon railway office every evening between 6 pm to 6:45 pm.

It is here that he comes to see her every day. Here that he feels the grounding warmth of her skin against his as they walk together, hears the easing timbre of her voice, and thinks: now my day is complete. And it is here, tomorrow morning, where he will be getting on the first bus before daybreak to head off to faraway lands.

6:22 p.m.

Today has not been different from other days: the weather is warm and humid, the children are shouting as they run home for their meals, and there is a low breeze that makes the trees sway. If Thiha allows himself he could be reassured by the illusion of normalcy. But last night’s conversation, among other things, weighs heavily on his mind, and the wait that is usually peaceful is filled with apprehension. He lights a cigarette and watches diligently as the smoke rises, wishing he could dissipate with it. “You are abandoning me,” is what Nyein had said yesterday evening, her back turned towards him as they stood in the dark. The night had been filled with uneasy silences: out of nowhere she had turned malicious, refusing to be touched, to be consoled, but it was this accusation that most caught him off guard. When the letter of conscription had arrived it had been alongside the destruction of their neighbouring town. It was she who had first told him to leave as they observed the debris—the scorched fields, the dust, the cattle, the deserted houses and shops that had been halved, quartered, or battered into irregular shapes. Her tone had been irrefutable yet gentle when she commanded: you have to leave and save yourself.

It was she who brought him supplies from the city centre and asked around for routes to the liberated zones, she who, in his frenzied panic over murder and bloodshed, assured him that all would be fine—and that they would be together again soon. Someday.

To have been shown so explicitly the depths of her desolation, and to be reminded that she was capable of weakness, evoked in him simultaneously a revulsion and a desperate urge to save her. He wanted to assure her of her safety in a collapsing world just as she had done for him, and the inability to do so with conviction made him unable to sleep.

Now, as Thiha watches the bus approaching in the distance, blowing up dust and sand, he wonders how he could possibly have so little to offer.

6:25 p.m. is when the bus stops beneath the tamarind tree, screeching as it comes to a halt. The interior is no longer crammed full of bodies, but the stench of sweat baked in midday Yangon heat has remained. Nyein exits the vehicle in a swift movement, clutching her bag in one hand and a neatly folded umbrella in the other. The fringes of her hair cling to her forehead and her longyi is slightly dishevelled, but he could tell that she had, as always, taken care when dressing herself in the morning. The sight of her looking up to meet his eyes makes the knot within his stomach momentarily unfurl. Despite everything, the nervousness retreats. Nyein does not move towards him immediately as he takes in the sight of her, but waits until the bus has left the station. Then she offers him a smile, earnest and unabashed in a way that tells him she is strong again, and it makes him unable to resist reaching his hand out to her. He touches her face with his palm, feeling the suppleness of her skin, the warmth of her flesh against his, the freeing solace that nothing else matters for a moment and that his day is complete.

“Tomorrow?” She asks.

“Tomorrow.”

“Will you call?”

“As soon as I get there.”

Then, after a long silence, she says: “Hold me.”

And he does, sensing the firmness of the earth beneath their feet as they stand close to one another, feeling the breeze against their skin, clutching her close to him with the gentleness of the streams in Thibaw.

If I had to coin a word it would be

If I had to coin a word

by Michelle Yu

If I had to coin a word it would be

seligadacious sɛləɡədeɪʃəs (adj)

Scrumidion ˈskrʌmɪdiən (n)

skrindilaprous skrɪndɪləprəs (adj)

Scrumidion ˈskrʌmɪdiən (n)

Scrumidion ˈskrʌmɪdiən (n) skrindilaprous skrɪndɪləprəs (adj)

Scrumidion ˈskrʌmɪdiən (n)

Scrumidion ˈskrʌmɪdiən (n) skrindilaprous skrɪndɪləprəs (adj)

skrindilaprous skrɪndɪləprəs (adj)

Scrumidion ˈskrʌmɪdiən (n) skrindilaprous skrɪndɪləprəs (adj)

skrindilaprous skrɪndɪləprəs (adj)

Scrumidion ˈskrʌmɪdiən (n) skrindilaprous skrɪndɪləprəs (adj)

skrindilaprous skrɪndɪləprəs (adj)

funvi fʌnviː (adj)

sehweh sɛwɛ (adj)

funvi fʌnviː (adj)

sehweh sɛwɛ (adj)

funvi fʌnviː (adj)

sehweh sɛwɛ (adj)

funvi fʌnviː (adj)

sehweh sɛwɛ (adj)

funvi fʌnviː (adj)

sehweh sɛwɛ (adj)

sehweh sɛwɛ (adj) funvi fʌnviː (adj)

sehweh sɛwɛ (adj)

sehweh sɛwɛ (adj) funvi fʌnviː (adj)

funvi fʌnviː (adj)

bronki brɒŋkiː (n)

schlin ʃlɪn (adj)

bronki brɒŋkiː (n)

tootoo ˈtuːtuː (adj)

schlin ʃlɪn (adj)

if I had to give them a meaning it would be