September 26, 2020
I follow the novelist A.R. Moxon on Twitter, where his political takes routinely bring genuine insight, wit and moral rigor to the increasing beserkery of our times. But he recently posted an observation, or prediction, that I found I couldn’t agree with, much as I would have liked to.
September 26, 2020
Itinerant, globe-trotting journalist, Andre Vltchek died this week, fittingly while still in motion, careening through an exotic city on the far side of the World. But then for Andre the World had no sides, he lived on the whole of it.
September 25, 2020
Exposing Lies of the Empire (PT. Badak Merah Semesta, 2015) first introduced me to André Vltchek’s remarkable journalism, weaving together unforgettable narratives of Western imperialism and capitalistic fundamentalism. He’s widely considered one of the world’s most gifted thinkers, and even though I did not personally know him, I always looked forward to reading his articles.
Vltchek in Kenya during Al-Shabaab standoff
Labeled the media “trial of the century,” WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s extradition hearing is currently taking place in London—although you might not have heard if you’re relying solely on corporate media for news. If extradited, Assange faces 175 years in a Colorado supermax prison, often described as a “black site” on US soil.
September 23rd, 2020
Stephen Lewis seems to want Palestine to disappear. The latest example in a long history of anti-Palestinian activism is his claim that Canada’s anti-Palestinian voting record at the UN didn’t contribute to its defeat for a seat on the Security Council.
September 24, 2020
On Wednesday the trap sprang shut, as Judge Baraitser insisted the witnesses must finish next week, and that no time would be permitted for preparation of closing arguments, which must be heard the immediate following Monday. This brought the closest the defence have come to a protest, with the defence pointing out they have still not addressed the new superseding indictment, and that the judge refused their request for an adjournment before witness hearings started, to give them time to do so.
23 September 2020
On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published new guidelines acknowledging that the virus causing COVID-19 is primarily transmitted through small airborne particles. This admission implies that people occupying poorly ventilated areas such as classrooms, meat packing factories, production lines, churches, grocery stores, etc., are at risk of acquiring COVID-19 if someone else in the room with COVID-19 is contagious. Airborne particles, unlike respiratory droplets, can linger in the air and concentrate throughout an enclosed room.
David J. Sencer CDC Museum in Atlanta, GA (Wikimedia Commons)
September 21, 2020
It’s been quite a week here in Oregon. I know there are plenty of other horrors happening in the world. The invisible ones are the worst. Like tens of millions of children in the US going to bed hungry every night in recent weeks, or the tap water in Flint and Gaza continuing to be undrinkable, or the many people every night in Yemen and India dying alone at home of disease, knowing it’s pointless to go to a hospital that has no medicine and no equipment.
Photograph by Nathaniel St. Clair
September 22, 2020
Julian Assange is not on trial simply for his liberty and his life. He is fighting for the right of every journalist to do hard-hitting investigative journalism without fear of arrest and extradition to the United States. Assange faces 175 years in a US super-max prison on the basis of claims by Donald Trump’s administration that his exposure of US war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan amounts to “espionage”.
We can report that the skies over South East England have been swarming with Spitfires and Hurricanes this month. Is there a war on? Well, yes.
September 24, 2020
Welcome back to Gorilla Radio’s continuing efforts, NOT broadcast live from CFUV Radio in the basement of the Student Union Building at the University of Victoria, but emanating live-to-tape via Skype from our home-based … studios on this date, September 18th, 2020.
It’s clear, the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic has changed the way we all live. While questions about how long-lasting a change that will be are moot, what we should be asking is:
“How do we make the most of these forced changes, and now choose better ways of living?”
Dahr Jamail is a recovering
journalist and author whose latest book, ‘The End of Ice: Bearing
Witness and Finding Meaning in the Path of Climate Disruption’ is a
vital guide to both understanding these turbulent times, and the
possibilities they present.
Dahr’s latest project is ‘The Changing Earth: Indigenous Voices From Turtle Island’ a collaboration with indigenous scholar, Stan Rushworth that promises to, “present, via powerful and intimate encounters, the perspective of Indigenous peoples of the United States and Canada on the Earth’s climate and interrelated Covid-19 emergencies.”
Dahr Jamail in the first half.
And; are there any among you listening not worried about the state of the natural World; any unaware of the collapsing populations of insects, birds, and fish both great and small? And, are there any left who believe it’s not too late to avert climate disaster? Well, I’m sorry to be the one to tell you: “Yes, it IS too late, baby”. But, just because we’ve passed the point of being able to preserve “our way of life” doesn’t mean we can’t still live full and meaningful lives.
Jennifer Abbott is an internationally renowned, award-winning documentary filmmaker. Her latest film, premiering at the imminently opening Vancouver International Film Festival, ‘The Magnitude of All Things’ is a deeply personal and poignant film that, “explores the emotional and psychological dimensions of the climate crisis and the relationship between grief and hope in times of personal and planetary change.”
Jennifer Abbott in the second half.
And; CFUV Radio broadcaster and host of Plant Powered Radio, Janine Bandcroft will be here at the bottom of the hour with the Left Coast Events Bulletin of some of the good things to be gotten up to in and around our town in the coming week. But first, Dahr Jamail and Covid, climate and other interrelated emergencies.
Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, airing live every Thursday between 11-Noon Pacific Time. In Victoria at 101.9FM, and on the internet at: http://cfuv.uvic.ca. He also serves as a contributing editor to the web news site, http://www.pacificfreepress.com. Check out the GR blog at: http://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.ca/
September 23, 2020
OffG is shocked to hear that Andre Vltchek, a long-time contributing author and friend of the site, died yesterday in Istanbul.
September 22, 2020
The American Southwest is witnessing a horrific and inexplicable phenomenon, likely due to the climate crisis: hundreds of thousands of migratory birds are dying off. The birds seem to be just "falling out of the sky," as The Guardian reported.
September 21, 2020
The sweeping $348 million aid package, which includes funding for healthcare, direct cash assistance, and even psychosocial support, runs in stark contradiction to a long-held US policy of sanctions on Venezuela.
September 21, 2020
In March 2015, Bill Gates showed an image of the coronavirus during a TED Talk and told the audience that it was what the greatest catastrophe of our time would look like. The real threat to life, he said, is ‘not missiles, but microbes.’ When the coronavirus pandemic swept over the earth like a tsunami five years later, he revived the war language, describing the pandemic as ‘a world war’.
