Immigrants and Exiles

Same Face, Same Race: Greeks and Italians (The Niki Baras Interview)

Hello, and welcome to Immigrants and Exiles; a series of chats recorded at the Beachcomber Café in St. Kilda between me, Walter, and my friend Moreno, the sons of Italo-Australian migrants. Today we chat with Niki Baras, a long-standing friend of Moreno’s. Over the years, they’ve been colleagues – translators and interpreters – and share an affinity as intellectuals. Niki has also worked as an academic, a union organizer and a workplace activist. She’s a force of Nature.
Music: an extract from ‘Extinction Rebellion’ by Walter Musolino & Davide Musolino.

'Ukraine' Maria falls in love with Italy, the Mother of Exiles.

You’re listening to Immigrants and Exiles; a series of chats recorded at the Beachcomber Café in St. Kilda between me, Walter, and my friend Moreno. In part two of the episode dedicated to ‘Ukraine’ Maria – sorry, Maria, we know you’re really Russian – we reflect some more on twenty-first century Italy as a modern destination for new migrants, but also on why Italian cemeteries can be so welcoming and why Australia shouldn’t simply be accepting of newcomers but should also be acceptable to them: that’s right, acceptable to them.
Music: an extract from ‘Leningrad’ by Walter Musolino & Davide Musolino.

9: The Diatribe or Fighting Back: a Strategy against Stereotypes

In this two-part episode, Walter meets Franco Cozzo at the dentist, Moreno asks whether Franco Cozzo ate spaghetti, Walter has an argument with Bob Maguire, and Moreno prefers Ted Whitten to Franco Cozzo.

8: Emigration: a Psychology and a Psychosis

In this episode, we talk about what drives people to emigrate, other than war and natural disasters, Wuthering Heights gets a mention and we ask you what your parents and grandparents told you about why they came here.

7: Crimes and Punishments: the Penalty for not being English

In this episode, we discuss Australia’s shallow political culture and the complicity of migrants in promulgating terra nullius.

6: Repatriation: Trick or Treat?

This time we discuss an issue that our parents struggled with all their lives, namely: Italy or Australia? Did they do the right thing in coming to Australia?

4: No Place like Home

This time we talk about bullying, neighbourliness and illegal immigrants.

2: Secrets of our nearest and dearest

In this episode Walter and I talk some more about our parents, rats as big as cats,  whether Walter was conceived on a ship, his fascination  with broad beans and how both of us received a $1500 gift.

5: The Boom-Bust Cycle: Misery-Marvel-Misery

This time we talk about Australian girls in the 1960s, our experiences in Little Italy, in Carlton in  the 1970s and, finally how a visit to Italy can hurt.

3: The Spice of Life: Heartache and Strong Stomachs

In this episode Walter and I talk about why you should open a chain of travel agencies, something magnificent that Mussolini did, picking grapes in Mildura and a dramatic overnight trip from the city to a tobacco farm in country Victoria.