“ Everything is real about it. It’s not scripted, it’s not fake. It’s what we’ve been through, and we are just telling everyone,” Binasa Beslagic says honestly.
Beslagic is one of the numerous Melbourne teens involved in the anti-knife crime initiative, Live No Fear, and she has no problem disseminating the project’s message with a hard-hitting force.
“ Everything is real about it. It’s not scripted, it’s not fake. It’s what we’ve been through, and we are just telling everyone,” Binasa Beslagic says honestly.
Beslagic is one of the numerous Melbourne teens involved in the anti-knife crime initiative, Live No Fear, and she has no problem disseminating the project’s message with a hard-hitting force.
“It’s a big issue nowadays and it’s really important for my generation,” the youth states. “There are so many stabbings and I’ve known a lot of people who have been through the experience.
“Everyone around me wants it to stop; it’s just that some people are too shy or scared to say it. But, we are involved in this. It’s our generation that’s suffering and we all want to be involved.”
Formed out of a collaboration between the Department of Justice, Mushroom Marketing and The Salvation Army 614 Bus, Live No Fear now has two successful projects under its belt. Spreading the simple message of put down the knives and live no fear, the initiative has produced a song, also entitled Live No Fear, and their more recent creation, a short film. “We were quite limited actually in where we could film it and how we could film it, because we couldn’t have access to all areas and also we didn’t want the wrong idea to be sent out,” Beslagic explains of the film.
“We finally came up with the concept that fear is irrational and tried to show it in a way that wasn’t all about blood, or grotesque actions.”
The result: a short clip just shy of three minutes, with an uncomplicated storyline but an undoubtedly powerful statement. And it is all delivered with a good dose of professionalism – Animal Kingdom actor Sullivan Stapleton mentored and directed the entire project.
But is Live No Fear making a difference? “Every single one of us that has been involved in this project has felt fear,” Beslagic reveals, referring to the group’s experiences prior to the initiative. “When we were walking down the streets all we would think was ‘am I allowed to walk through the streets, am I looking at someone too much, is someone staring at me, am I in the wrong area?’ It’s a big fear that surrounds you.
“I’ve known a couple of friends at school, one of them got stabbed and he was on the news,” she continues, now sharing her own personal tales. “Then, just before the second project started, around the corner of my house a guy my age was in a brawl and he got stabbed to death. These things always happen.”
Now however, it is a somewhat different story. As a broad societal issue, the problem of knife crime still exists. But beneath the surface, small yet significant changes are occurring. “I know a fair few people who do carry knives and I’ve spoken to them and they have seen the film clip and heard the song.
”A couple of them have actually stopped carrying knives and to me, one person is better than no people at all. As long as one person changes, that’s what really matters.
“I have had a fair amount of good feedback on it. It’s not even just older people, it’s a lot of people and they are saying that it actually is quite good. They are saying that it’s not cheesy, it’s not fake, it’s really what we think and what happens. Both projects really do quite a good job,” she maintains.
What’s more, it is not only the youth who were directly involved who think so. The arm of The Salvation Army supporting Live No Fear, Melbourne Project 614/Bus 614 has been witness to improvements, especially among the young people that they work with.
“It’s been a really fantastic tool to educate and inform young people around this issue,” Brad Ellis from The Salvation Army Melbourne Project 614 enthuses. “And it has had a great affect on the young people that we work with on the bus as well.”
The Salvation Army Melbourne Project 614 works with Melbourne’s homeless and marginalised individuals by providing support, food and housing, with an additional youth bus, Bus 614, which acts as a youth centre on wheels. And, according to Ellis, the Live No Fear message is really resonating with the youth he frequently interacts with.
“The more it’s out there, the more young people are spreading it around virally via the song being on the website and using those kind of tools to get this message out. It is a really good way to just get people thinking about this stuff and it’s beginning to really sow the message.”
So the message is out there and it appears to be guiding people in the right direction. But, the project is not over yet. Next on the cards for Live No Fear is an appearance at Another World, the underage music festival, on Monday, November 1.
Pez and members of The Real Truth (the group who kicked off the project with the Live No Fear single) will be spending time at the festival in the Live No Fear marquee to hang out, have fun and share their experiences.
And to Ellis, this is all good news. He believes that it is a project like Live No Fear that will truly allow for the message to be heard.
“I think these kinds of initiatives and programs, we need more of them. They are so important and I think it allows young people to express themselves,” he states, animatedly. “Often people just assume things and a lot of the time they don’t go to the person, or the young person, that’s dealing with these really difficult issues to ask why it is happening. I think that this kind of program, or this kind of set up, the Live No Fear theme, allows for those people to have a say.”
Help show your support for Melbourne youth opposing knife violence and check out livenofear.com.au now to hear the LIVE NO FEAR single or to watch the music video and the short film. Plus, you can download the Live No Fear song itself for free at beat.com.au
Want to see The Real Truth in person? Then grab yourself some tickets for Another World. Tickets are on sale now through Ticketek: ticketek.com.au or 132 849. The festival features Bliss N Esso, The Getaway Plan, The Amity Affliction and more at Hisense Arena on Cup Eve, Monday November 1.
For more information on The Salvation Army Melbourne Project 614/Bus 614 head to salvationarmy.org.au/order614
