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Submission to the Royal Commission on

Antisemitism and Social Cohesion - April 2026

Submission on behalf of Global Reconciliation by Paul Komesaroff, Suresh Sundram and Paul James.

Australia Myanmar Institute

The aim of AMI is to create and strengthen sustainable, multi-sectoral, collaborative applied research and capacity building partnerships between Australia and Myanmar, to the mutual benefit of Australian and Myanmar institutions and in a manner that effectively manages capacity constraints in Myanmar, and with the ultimate aim of advancing social and public welfare in both countries. The Institute will do this by facilitating Australian institutions in strengthening the capacity of research, public policy and implementation in Myanmar through collaborative partnerships.

 Amongst other initiatives, AMI hosts regular conferences, seminars, workshops and events in Australia and Myanmar, according to member interest, provide a hub for resources, networking and collaboration, and facilitate Myanmar partner leadership and priority-setting.

Link: https://www.palaver.com/books

SHIRIN: A Novel

Taqi Bakhtyari

A new Australian novel tells the story of a young Hazara woman who risks everything to challenge both the Taliban and her community’s mores, with author Taqi Bakhtyari drawing on his own experience of exile and discrimination.

SHIRIN: A Novel (Palaver 2026) follows the courage of Aghai, a Muslim Hazara girl who dares to love beyond rigid boundaries and questions the unyielding decrees that govern her world. Her spirit, kindled by the ancient verses of Omar Khayyam, dances on the edge of rebellion, seeking freedom in a world scarred by violence, domestic tyranny and the erasure of memory.

Grounded entirely in real events, the story draws on acts of persecution against Hazara civilians to explore the tensions of minority life in multicultural societies, both in Afghanistan and Australia.

See website for image. Link:  https://www.palaver.com/books#/shirin-a-novel/

PRAXIS Australia is a leading Australian and International Health Promotion Charity (NFP) education and training provider. 

These training offers are regarded as a benchmark for researchers, clinical trials, and healthcare professionals in Australia and internationally.

PRAXIS is successfully building the confidence, competence and capability of the clinical trials, medtech, research and ethics sectors.  We are achieving this by collaborating with government, industry, academia and advocacy organisations across the sector.

FAST AGAINST STARVATION

Famine is now widespread in Gaza. Fast Against Starvation is a call to action, inviting people from all walks of life to undertake a personal fast in solidarity with the people of Gaza. Each person chooses the form and duration of their fast. By adding their name to a public roll of participants, they join a growing collective witness to the shared human tradition of fasting as a moral and spiritual response to suffering.

This project draws on the fasting traditions of Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism, and the secular movements of resistance, such as those led by Mahatma Gandhi. It honours fasting as a statement of compassion and moral urgency, of shared humanity, of protest, prayer and hope.

 We will all be fasting in different ways, but our action will be an expression of mutual solidarity seeking a politics of that brings the violence to an end.

Photo by Emad El Byed on Unsplash

https://www.fastagainststarvation.org/

Stories from the war on Gaza

A collection of reports from Palestinian journalist Ruwaida Amer.

Edited by Paul Komesaroff and Sally Gardner.

Ruwaida is a teacher and journalist in Gaza. She comes from a refugee family displaced at the formation of Israel. The first eight years of her life were lived in a refugee camp in Khan Yunis in Gaza. When the camp was razed by the IDF in 2000, Ruwaida’s family moved to an agricultural area, Al Fukhari, east of Khan Yunis. She and her elderly parents have been displaced several times during the current invasion. When possible, Ruwaida has continued to teach her students and to publish her reports from Gaza in news outlets including Al Jazeera, The Electronic Intifada, +972 Magazine, Slate Magazine, abc News International and Middle East Eye throughout the past two years. Palaver is grateful for permission to provide these stories as a free PDF.

An interview with Ruwaida by Maria Lammerding can be found here: https://welcomemerchant.substack.com/p/writing-amid-the-rubble-life-and

Senior paediatricians and child health experts appeal:

Please help stop the war on children in Gaza

5 April, 2024

GR and MAPW endorse this call from distinguished paediatricians and child health professionals. Please share this letter with your MP or Senator and ask for decisive action to end the war on children in Gaza.

Read more…

A new forum on “Ethics in geopolitical conflicts”

Join in Global Reconciliation’s aidXchange conversation

The Unsent Condolences

Palaver announces its imminent launch of The Unsent Condolences https://www.palaver.com/books#/unsent-condolences/

This extraordinary book of poetry, the second from New Zealand-based former Hazara Afghan refugee poet and journalist, Abdul Samad Haidiri, cuts deeply into the body and psyche of a young man seeking home against terrible odds of injustice.

Palaver is owned by Global Reconciliation for the publication of new books unlikely to be taken up by mainstream media.

Towards a Common Good in Sri Lanka

Lionel Bopage appointed Global Reconciliation Fellow

We are delighted that Lionel Bopage has joined Global Reconciliation to undertake the “Towards a Common Good” project. Global Reconciliation has been enthusiastic about the task of rebuilding communities in Sri Lanka, fractured due to the armed conflict, the pandemic and economic and political crises. Building on our "Seeds of Renewal" initiative, and working with multiple partners in Sri Lanka, this project supports the establishment of a series of cooperative green spaces that can be used to grow food or share experiences and memories, providing both a practical and a symbolic measure to assist healing fragmented communities. The spaces act as a “commons”, contributing to rejuvenating nature and the spirit.