The world's attention is focused on War in Iran and across the Middle East, but less attention is being paid to the people who will have to uplift their lives and seek refuge in other countries because of the bombs.

Mona Bani knows this journey as her family were refugees from Iran decades ago. In this podcast - that was recorded in 2024 - she tells the story about how her family's journey to seek refuge, and the community they created and the challenges they faced let her to establish a different kind of support service for refugees in the UK.

This is a story of a community working out how to support and lift itself up in a context of heightened anti-immigrant politics. There are powerful lessons about the role of community leadership in providing community services, and there are also insights for how communities can provide a response to the rise in authoritarian anti-immigrant policies escalating across the world.

For more on ChangeMakers check us out:

Via our Website - https://changemakerspodcast.org (where you can also sign up to our email list!)

On Facebook, Instagram, Threads - https://www.facebook.com/ChangeMakersPodcast/

Blue Sky Social - changemakerspod.bsky.aocial & amandatattersall.bsky.social

On LinkedIn - Amanda.Tattersall

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alex Kelly has been involved in climate and Indigenous campaigning and social change for decades - with a focus on communications, storytelling and the arts. She has long taught people about how to communicate their messages in the media. But in January 2026, she found herself at the centre of unprecedented bushfires then flooding in regional Victoria - and used her skills to project a message about disaster and climate change.

In this episode we explore what she learnt from her experience on the frontline, and what her experience can teach others about how to communicate and link our personal experiences and testimony to bigger public causes and issues when talking to the media - and when telling stories more generally.

For more:

Alex's website and project archive https://echotango.org/

The Unquiet Collective - Alex's film and impact home https://unquiet.com.au/

The Things We Did Next speculative futures project https://www.thethingswedidnext.org/

Economic Media Centre - free spokesperson training https://www.economicmediacentre.org/

The Point op-ed on disaster levy: https://thepoint.com.au/opinions/260115-harcourt-fires-show-need-for-disaster-levy

350.org post on resilience https://350.org/wildfires-building-community-resilience/?r=AU&c=OC

Duty of care & lived experience spokesperson resources https://docs.google.com/document/d/14OWJxTJ8y08iouwxg2E4MIsATT7Vv_Xtey4mpekgfXQ/edit?tab=t.0

Bushfire Survivors for Climate Action Lived Experience Guide to Climate Campaigning https://static1.squarespace.com/static/60ee407ec551f135b5c1a9a8/t/66e0e408260d51146efd7c06/1726014473102/Lived+Experience+Guide+to+Climate+Campaigning+2024.pdf

Documentary Accountability Working Group https://www.docaccountability.org/

For more on ChangeMakers check us out:

Via our Website - https://changemakerspodcast.org (where you can also sign up to our email list!)

On Facebook, Instagram, Threads - https://www.facebook.com/ChangeMakersPodcast/

Blue Sky Social - changemakerspod.bsky.aocial & amandatattersall.bsky.social

On LinkedIn - Amanda.Tattersall

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We talk with Michael Bradley who has taken on Murdoch as well as defending the rights of refugees about what it takes to be a lawyer and a change maker at the same time. He shares his 20 year journey from conventional law to a different kind of lawyering that he has now practiced for 17 years at Marque Lawyers – and how he now centres his legal practice around relationships.

He also shares a few war stories of how he has used the law to fight for justice, including the battle against Lachlan Murdoch’s attempt to sue Crickey for defamation.

Whether you are a lawyer or you are a lawyer sceptic – there is something powerful in Michael’s dissection of the legal profession and his identification of a different way to practice the law.

This was first released in April 2025.

Via our Website - https://changemakerspodcast.org (where you can also sign up to our email list!)

On Facebook, Instagram, Threads - https://www.facebook.com/ChangeMakersPodcast/

Blue Sky Social - changemakerspod.bsky.aocial & amandatattersall.bsky.social

On LinkedIn - Amanda.Tattersall

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.