This realistically is the modern age of the modern internet, Social media statistics from 2020 show that there are 3.43 billion social media users worldwide, and this considerable number is only growing. That equates to around 45% of the current population (Statista, 2020). And then, I scarcely thought it by force was challenging time to initiate my advocacy to fight for the rights of the international students in Australia during COVID-19 Pandemic. My advocacy was constantly inspired by a specific quote of Mahatma Gandhi which is “In a gentle way, you can shake the political world.” In this manner, I critically consider these wordings as my strength throughout my journey which reflects the positivism and power to initiate.
The birth of the Facebook Group: Don’t Forget About US: International Students
By heart being a social work student, I thought it was time to put my learning into action and apart from that, I also couldn’t stand still and remain an observer while the host country (Australia) denied help to the international student during the current pandemic. I actively started involving myself in the advocacy which was independent, spontaneous and the greatest personal plight for me was being unknown to any of the social support networks for international students in Australia. Thus, I thought it would be a brilliant idea to create a social media group, especially on Facebook because it is a pre-existing social network, familiar to most of us, wider coverage, and easier platform to use.
Using change.org as a means of the online campaign: Don’t Forget About US: International Students
The sound idea behind the petition for me is to collect maximum number of supporters through the help of support media through the help of support media. My objective was to reach out to many international students and therefore keeping that idea in mind, I started an online petition on change.org to pressurize the decision-makers of the Australian Government. I was experienced to get support in such a short period for a while and unfortunately, it lacked the support of the international students, promotion and budget which really had slowed down my petition.
Building a Support Network:
I. Friends
I typically had to work from scratch. I teamed up with my classmate Gaurab Gurung, and he is very resourceful person, he was willing to support therefore, we eagerly discussed in the same tone and agreed we will provide continuity to our advocacy. Our prime target has habitually been towards pressurizing the government and universities so that the student can get a tangible form of humanitarian relief during the COVID-19 situation in the foreign country. Gaurab properly introduced another member to our group. His name is Jenen Nepal. From there, we typically had a continuous and long conversation, and we eagerly discussed the effective strategy, our specific demands to put forward and positively identified the valuable resources which could fuel our effective advocacy.
II. Collaboration with other Facebook group and active members
The Facebook group known as International Student Support COVID-19 was also advocating and aiding the students by providing them with the discussion hub and information sharing. Gaurab produced efforts to talk to the administrator of that group, and he was able to connect with the members of the International Student Support COVID-19 which further helped us both to identify each other’s way of carrying out advocacy, idea sharing and exchange. A group chat was formed which consisted of students from various states and universities who were concerned and they were volunteering to uplift the condition of the international student during COVID-19 pandemic.
III. Taking help of media(Media campaign)
Our team member was able to talk to SBS Nepali and we urged them to disseminate the information on our ongoing advocacy including university’s effort to aid the vulnerable international students. We didn’t plan to seek any publicity, but we aimed to pressurize the stakeholders through media campaign.
Please click here for the original link.
IV. Organization and Connecting with Community leaders
I instantly realized that writing the legitimate emails to the local community leaders, political parties, president of different student union and senator would aid towards my effective advocacy.Like so, I typically started writing the emails. I also initiated the conversation with the president of the National Student Union, Australia, i was typically aiming to collaborate and support whoever was speaking on behalf of the international students. The other team member initiated their initiation to instantly connect to the diverse university’s official representatives, help network and local community organization. Apart from that, I also direct the independent inquiry to Australian Human Rights Commission about the fundamental rights of the international student during the pandemic. They emailed me back with the promotional link(website) which was not enormously helpful.
In this possible manner, I was incapable to narrate an independent story of an international student, but i felt like my passionate advocacy was naturally directed for bigger purpose. Therefore, I intentionally dropped the idea and stopped the communication with AHRC. I also contacted the president of the National Union of Students, Australia to extend our support and to appreciate their efforts to support the international student. My team also talked with immediate past President Bijay Sapkota and members of CISA to get the information and follow-up their side of advocacy. We were experienced to contact Study Melbourne’s representative as well to extend our level of advocacy. I emailed The Greens and Senator Mehreen Faruqi‘s office regarding the condition of international students and how their support towards the welfare of private renters and international students could support thousands of vulnerable temporary visa holders. I know that someone who represents the voice of many people can aid us(international student) with our rights.
v. Supporting other Campaigns
During my advocacy, I promoted different online petition through the Facebook group and one of the successful one was by UNION NSW and the data was read and shared by Senator Kristina Keneally in the parliament.
Screenshot of the survey taken by Union NSW which was informally promoted through my Facebook group.
Source: Senator Keneally Facebook page
After Prime minster, Scott Morrison announced there would be no direct help offered by the Australian Government to the International student because the warranty of financial capacity of the international students to live and study in Australia. Ultimately, Morrison expressed his government would prioritize citizens over the international student, and he said indirectly in his speech “time to go home” to the forced international students.
Video Source: 9 News Sydney
The shift from my advocacy towards providing information, mutual aid, emergency relief informal referral and emotional support after the Australian government’s announcement.
Providing information: I along with my team was providing information through our Facebook group so that international students would not miss out on the significant information and buildup. Government policy constantly changes and I experienced that the more impact the COVID-19 virus was created, the more helping hands were offered. In this fashion, my particular aim was to deliver all the information together and funnel it into a platform which was our Facebook group “Don‘t Forget About US: International Students.” I along with my team was providing information through our Facebook group so that international students would not miss out on the significant information and buildup.
Emergency Relief: My primary aim was to connect the disadvantaged student with the services that already existed and many organizations are eligible to assist the temporary resident. Thus, connecting student with those agencies is portrayed by me as an informal referral.
Advocacy: Advocacy against discrimination of service provided by different education agents who are the leading part of Australian Education Business and in the name of helping students, they were setting obligations and discarding other students who didn’t process through them. That was double standard set by the various agencies in which I advocated and informed them about their discriminating criteria on eligibility of specific relief that they were providing. For example: An education agency here in Melbourne(name not mentioned) was only helping those student who enrolled to the University and collages through the agency which remains discriminatory practice.
Many of them are solely inspired by money that exists in the Australian education system which influences many international students to enroll in each year. Below is the flow chart I have made to better understand how an international student gets enrolled and his finances are invested towards the betterment of the Australian government and the first door/gatekeeper is the education agent in this profitable system.
Emotional Support: I extend my arms to all the students who seek for emotional support, I managed my time to talk to them and I even referred some students to the other friends who had undertaken Mental health first aid training.
Latest Update:
Victorian Government has announced relief package to support all the international students struggling in Victoria.
I would love to conclude my advocacy in this phase because from my standpoint government has somehow addressed the issue and it’s a win-win situation, both for government, university, other bodies(refer to the diagram above) and more importantly to the international students. The whole journey had been remarkable and fruitful for myself and many others. I would merely love to thank my personal friends who had enthusiastically supported me during the creative process. I will continue performing some of the supportive activities in the approaching days.
Different Dimension 
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