Culturalista is a collaborative project that publishes the diverse voices of Australia in a printed and online zine that reaches thousands of people throughout Australia.
In the current issue of Culturalista many contributors emphasise the need for a change in Australian attitudes and perceptions to create a more humanitarian society. Politics is seen as a key realm through which this society could be realised, but equally important, if not more so, is the potential for individuals and communities to create change...
For any enquires please contact Dustin via
Email: info@culturalista.org.au
Mobile: 0428 358 272
Homecoming by Bita Ria
There was a plane full of Iranians waiting to be checked out. I had never seen so many Iranians in my life - all coming home. The queue was long and after what took a lifetime our passports were stamped. I was nervous. Why was I nervous? Hadn't I revised this moment a thousand times in my head all these years in diareh ghorbat?
I thought they might confiscate my book The Chasers. The cover featured John Howard in a chador. What if they thought I was making fun of them? I had the book tucked in my laptop's back pocket. Our luggage was scanned. I'm in the land of the 'axis of evil', I thought to myself, but somehow I feel more at home than ever.
They didn't even bother going through our stuff, The man signaled that we are cleared to go through. There were crowds of people looking at us from behind the glass: some were tracking our progress on TVs in the waiting area. We were watched. I remembered my research paper on surveillance – I knew it was true but being in it was something else.
There's no escape now, no nice Australian official to save my ass if I get myself into trouble. I had come on an Iranian passport.
And with these mixed thoughts I entered the land of my past, the land of my ancestors and where the world began...
