Wednesday, February 12, 2025

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Yves Engler, Ross Crockford February 12, 2025

This Week on GR

by C.L. Cook - GRadio.Substack.com

February 12, 2025
 
Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded February 12th, 2025

Exciting times for Canadians. After riding the wake of empires for better than four centuries we find ourselves at childhood's end, finally able to chart an independent course. And it's all thanks to Donald Trump! Yes, there's much to begrudge about him, but credit where's it's due; if not for the bellicose blatherskiting of Mammoth Mouth south we'd never leave the warmth of the metaphorical house. But what's to become of us if we do?

Yves Engler is a Canadian journalist, author, and activist. He's written thirteen books on and about the perfidy of Canada and its foreign policy; the latest - co-authored with Owen Schalk - is 'Canada’s Long Fight Against Democracy'. Recent among his many articles at YvesEngler.com examining the antithetical of all writ above is 'Feed the war machine to appease Trump is ruling class solution'.

Yves Engler in the first half.

And; Victoria City council has hatched another World Class scheme to divest you, via tax rises, of your nest egg, and those of the next seven generations. Yes, another "desperately needed" mega-project, replete with vague cost estimates, dubious social uptake, and a returning cast of characters best known from past fiscal planning fiascos. This time it's the aged Crystal Pool, a stone's throw from the erstwhile Memorial Arena, and in sight on tippy-toes of the one-of-a-kind Johnson Street Bridge.

Ross Crockford is an award-winning journalist, editor, author, civic activist and co-founder of the watchdog website, JohnsonStreetBridge.org. He's too recipient of a Western Magazine Award for business writing, the Jack Webster Award of Distinction for investigative reporting, and he's a National Magazine Awardee for sports writing. Ross is also a regular contributor to Victoria's Focus Magazine where his latest article, 'How much would it cost to fix Crystal Pool?' rings a familiar tone.

Ross Crockford and "A Pool Too Far?" in the second half.

But first, Yves Engler and The Quisling Option: Canada running out of running room.

 

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, broad/webcasting since 1999. Check out the Archive at GRadio.Substack.com, and the GR blog at: https://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com/ and on Telegram at: https://t.me/gorillaradio2024

 

Wednesday, February 05, 2025

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Andy Worthington, John Helmer February 5, 2025

This Week on GR

by C.L. Cook - GRadio.Substack.com

February 5, 2025

Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded February 5th, 2025
 

With its start, the 47th administration of the Republic is old again. President Donald Trump becomes in his belated second term the oldest man ever sworn into the office, yet despite this decrepitude Trump has begun once more with the energy and vigor of a much younger man, pre-emptively capitulating the nation's foreign policy before even reaching the President's Bedroom. But that's what a 100 or so million buckeroos buys Miriam Adelson in the fading days of Empire; a big fat Florida sunrise, reigning over Palestine's finish. Or so she would have it.

And the great orange maroon would also have America resemble more Adelson's Israel; making of its citizens an embattled enclave, surrounded by high walls, barbed wire, killer drones above, robot dogs below, and terrifying concentration camps for the Untermensch; to which end Trump has promised a revitalized Guantanamo Bay, made to hold 30,000 and more of "the worst of the worst", naturally.

Andy Worthington's an English journalist, activist, author, photo-historian, filmmaker, musician, song-writer and principle of The Four Fathers band, (who's album, 'Songs of Loss and Resistance' is now available). Andy is too a co-founder of the ongoing Close Guantánamo campaign, who's “First Wednesday” Monthly Coordinated Global Vigils returned to his native London and beyond today! Worthington's book titles include: ‘The Guantánamo Files: The Stories of the 774 Detainees in America’s Illegal Prison’, ‘Stonehenge: Celebration and Subversion’, and ‘The Battle of the Beanfield’. His articles appear at his website, AndyWorthington.co.uk, where he invites support as ever for the effort to Close - finally - Guantanamo.

Andy Worthington in the first half.

And; much was made in his first go-round of Trump's relationship with Vladimir Putin. Unlike Trump the Russian president has persisted since the former's departure, presiding over a war for much of the interim. It's been an unnecessary tragedy, the Trump entourage insists, that would never have happened had their man's tenure not been interrupted. So, what next then for Russo-American relations, and what's to become of... Greenland!?

John Helmer’s a journalist and author who’s spent decades living in and reporting from Russia. He’s the principle behind the web news site, Dances with Bears and has, as well as serving as advisor to governments at the highest level, too been a professor of political science, sociology, and journalism. Among his many book titles are: ‘The Man Who Knows Too Much About Russia,’ ‘The Lie That Shot Down MH-17, ‘Skripal in Prison,’ the first and perhaps only book to follow the Skripal saga from its beginnings, and now its freshly released sequel, 'LONG LIVE NOVICHOK! The British Poison that Fooled the World'. John's recent article at Dances with Bears, 'DUE NORTH – TRUMP OPENS THE WAR AGAINST RUSSIA FROM GREENLAND' offers a window on the prospects of our Northern near future.

John Helmer and Trump's explicit Polar expeditions in the second half.

 

But first, Andy Worthington and Gitmo Getting Back to its Roots.

 

Song: "Affordable"

Artist: The Four Fathers - ‘Songs of Loss and Resistance’

 

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, broad/webcasting since 1999. Check out the Archive at GRadio.Substack.com, and the GR blog at: https://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com/ and on Telegram at: https://t.me/gorillaradio2024

Wednesday, January 29, 2025

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Laith Marouf, David Rovics January 29, 2025

This Week on GR

by C.L. Cook - GRadio.Substack.com

 
January 29, 2025

Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded January 29th, 2025

Last week Lebanon's new President Joseph Aoun told UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres Israel must have withdrawn all its military forces from the south of the country - as stipulated in the November ceasefire agreement signed by Hezbollah, and the Lebanese and Israeli governments - by January 26th. That deadline came and went over the weekend and the Israeli military remains. More than that, the IDF never ceased, destroying civilian infrastructure, bombing houses, businesses, and vehicles throughout the 60 day ceasefire implementation period, and is now targeting civilians returning to their homes directly; killing and maiming much in the manner we have witnessed it do in Gaza and the West Bank.

For its part Hezbollah has allowed the peace process continue, but warns the parties supposedly policing the ceasefire against "testing its patience". Monday, Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem rejected any prolonging of the ceasefire implementation period as Israel insists saying, "We do not accept an extension, not even for one day."

Laith Marouf is a Beirut-based multimedia consultant, producer, and now frontline war reporter. He's the founder and Executive Director of FreePalestine.Video whose purpose it says is to provide coverage of the region, “…in the absence of media supporting the resistance forces in the English language due to the ban in the West.”

Laith Marouf in the first half.

And; it's not just foreign media being disappeared from Western discourse. Those here at home opposing perpetual war, capitalist corruption, and authoritarianism well-used to being absented from corporate presses, are now being erased too from the social sphere. But there's a difference between being unable to breach legacy media gatekeeping to get ones squeaks in on its platform and the insidious tactics deployed by the likes of Youtube, Facebook, Spotify and Twitter X.

David Rovics knows more than most the heavy, sometimes arbitrary hand of the censor; and he's all too familiar with the invidious sting of the Cancel Crowd. Both have conspired to wreck his increasingly social media-dependent musical career, and stifle his persistently pointed criticism of their noisome activities.

The Demonetized, Deleted, but not Disappeared David Rovics in the second half.

But first, Laith Marouf from Lebanon, where Israel's fire never ceased.

 

Song: Riot Dog

Artist: David Rovics

 

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, broad/webcasting since 1999. Check out the Archive at GRadio.Substack.com, and the GR blog at: https://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com/ and on Telegram at: https://t.me/gorillaradio2024

Wednesday, January 22, 2025

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Dave Lindorff, M.V. Ramana January 22, 2025

This Week on GR

by C.L. Cook - GRadio.Substack.com

 
January 22, 2025

Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded January 22nd, 2025.


You can pinch yourself, and give your head as many shakes as you like but it won't change the fact: You are indeed awake; Donald Trump is the president. No, you've not woken from a coma; or got caught in some sort of Sci-Fi time loop. Groundhog's Day is not real. What is real though is the Real Donald J. Trump; larger and orangier than ever, with no-one now left to stand in his way! So look out World! The King is returned; back to make the Empire great again, again.

But, and it is an enormous one, is the World big enough for both Trump and the rest of us?

Dave Lindorff is an Izzy Award-winning investigative journalist, author, and founder of the web news site, This Can’t Be Happening. Dave's book titles include: ''This Can't Be Happening! Resisting the Disintegration of American Democracy,' 'Marketplace Medicine: The Rise of the For Profit Hospital Chains,' 'Killing Time: An Investigation into the Death Row Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal,' and his latest, 'Spy for No Country: The story of Ted Hall, the teenage atomic spy who may have saved the world'. Dave's latest article at This Can't Be Happening's new Substack site is, 'Biden in Last-Minute Final Act as President Commutes Leonard Peltier Prison Sentence!' on the last act of the Biden presidency.

Dave Lindorff in the first half.

And; in a World beset by monstrous problems and seemingly intractable crises it's tempting to grasp at silver bullets; simple solutions to rid us of all our worries finally and at once. Such is the promise of nuclear power - and has been for generations - even as our challenges have changed, "atoms for peace" persist as the ready panacea, if only we'd pursue them.

M.V. Ramana is a scholar, author, and champion for peace. Professor at the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs at the University of British Columbia, where he serves too as the Simons Chair in Disarmament, Global and Human Security, Ramana is co-editor of the book, 'Prisoners of the Nuclear Dream' and author of, 'The Power of Promise: Examining Nuclear Energy in India', and the recently released, 'Nuclear is Not the Solution: The Folly of Atomic Power in the Age of Climate Change'.

M.V. Ramana and dispelling the illusions of a nuclear solution in the second half.

But first, Dave Lindorff and the second ascension of Donald Trump.

 

Song: ‘Blinken’s Last Press Conference

Artist: David Rovics

 

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, broad/webcasting since 1999. Check out the Archive at GRadio.Substack.com, and the GR blog at: https://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com/ and on Telegram at: https://t.me/gorillaradio2024

Wednesday, January 15, 2025

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Jeremy Kuzmarov, John Helmer January 15, 2025

This Week on GR

by C.L. Cook - GRadio.Substack.com

 
January 15, 2025
 
Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded January 15th, 2025.
 

For any who believed, (or hoped beyond hope) the years intervening his second coming would have mellowed the once and future American president, early indications are not encouraging. Donald Trump has thundered and threatened both friend and foe, promising his wrath will shake the pillars of the Earth to realize a New(er) World Order; come Hell and high waters. Or words to make that effect. For Canadians, Mexicans, Cubans, and Panamanians those promises are of immediate concern; but likewise for all who stand in the way of Empire's wavering hegemony.

Professor Jeremy Kuzmarov is a scholar, journalist and author, who writes for and serves as Managing Editor to Covert Action Magazine. Kuzmarov's book titles include, ‘Obama’s Unending Wars’, ‘The Russians Are Coming, Again’, (written with John Marciano) and his latest, ‘Warmonger. How Clinton’s Malign Foreign Policy Launched the U.S. Trajectory From Bush II to Biden’. Jeremy's most recent article at CAM is, 'Mass Incarceration Arose Out of Empire Building Across North America, Caribbean and Pacific'.

Jeremy Kuzmarov in the first half.

And; it's easy to forget almost three years along there was a time before the Russia-Ukraine war. But make no error, those weren't halcyon days; the absence of war did not make a peace. Instead, it was the period of War's long-slogging preparation; when falsity and treachery conspired to ready the conditions for the destruction of a nation. And that conspiracy continues.

John Helmer’s a journalist and author who’s spent decades living in and reporting from Russia. He’s the principle behind the web news site, Dances with Bears and has, as well as serving as advisor to governments at the highest level, too been a professor of political science, sociology, and journalism. Among his many book titles are: ‘The Man Who Knows Too Much About Russia,’ ‘The Lie That Shot Down MH-17, the lately released autobiography, ‘Dunce Upon a Time: A Life of Mistakes’, ‘Skripal in Prison,’ the first and perhaps only book to follow the Skripal saga from its beginnings, and now its freshly released sequel, 'LONG LIVE NOVICHOK! The British Poison that Fooled the World'.

John Helmer and spitting out the red, white, and blue pills in the second half.

But first, Jeremy Kuzmarov and counting down to The Donald's return.

 

Song: Here in the Matrix

Artist: David Rovics

 

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, broad/webcasting since 1999. Check out the Archive at GRadio.Substack.com, and the GR blog at: https://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com/ and on Telegram at: https://t.me/gorillaradio2024

Wednesday, January 08, 2025

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Peter Eglin, Dan Kovalic January 8, 2025

This Week on GR

by C.L. Cook - GRadio.Substack.com

 
January 8, 2025

Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded January 8th, 2025.

 

Listen. Hear.

And welcome to the first show of this new year, where despite Monday's news of a change of leadership in this Canada we unhappily pick up foreign policy where last left off with all Canadian institutional pillars four-square in support of Israel and its Holocaust initiated October 8th, 2023. But how can it be you may wonder, the renowned paragon of virtue, rule of law, universal human rights, etc. remains not just mute as the crime of the century unfolds, but actually assists and profits its prosecution?

Peter Eglin is author, co-author or co-editor of 7 books and numerous book chapters, journal articles, and sundry pieces published in magazines and the press. And while his book, 'The Montreal Massacre', co-written with Stephen Hester was short-listed for the Innis Prize for Best English-Language Book in the Social Sciences, the now retired Wilfrid Laurier University professor of sociology has not rested on his laurels, his latest book 'Analysing the Israel Effect in Canada: A Critical AutoEthnography' is freshly out, published by Routledge Press.

Peter Eglin in the first half.

And; Palestine is not the limit of Israel's atrociousness. Lebanon too is under its bombardment despite - or because of - the ceasefire deal entered into by Hezbollah and the Lebanese government, (such as it is). Monday, the former Israeli soldier currently acting as US special envoy to the Middle East, Amos Hochstein visited Beirut bringing threats of more bombing by Israel if Hezbollah didn't surrender the south of the country, (or words to that effect). Lebanon's presidential election is tomorrow, January 9th, and Hochstein told his hosts Israel's impatience with Hezbollah's evacuation was growing, and reminded acquiescence would still not guarantee a peace saying, “These commitments do not preclude either Israel or Lebanon from exercising their inherent right of self-defense, consistent with international law.” Naturally.

Dan Kovalik’s a lawyer, educator, labour, peace, and justice activist, democracy defender, journalist, author, and filmmaker. He’s just returned from Lebanon, talking to the people there and bringing their stories home to his fellow Americans.

Dan’s book titles include: ‘Cancel This Book: The Progressive Case Against Cancel Culture’ the “Plot to” series on American efforts to undermine the governments and economies of Iran, Venezuela, and Russia, ‘No More War: How the West Violates International Law by Using ‘Humanitarian’ Intervention to Advance Economic and Strategic Interest’, and his latest, ‘The Case for Palestine: Why It Matters and Why You Should Care’.

Dan Kovalik and ungodly goings on in the Holy Land in the second half.

But first, Peter Eglin and a Canadian Atrocity Tale.

 

Songs: The Siege of Kamal Adwan Hospital

Good Kurds, Bad Kurds

Artist: David Rovics

 

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, broad/webcasting since 1999. Check out the Archive at GRadio.Substack.com, and the GR blog at: https://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com/ and on Telegram at: https://t.me/gorillaradio2024

Tuesday, December 31, 2024

Gorilla Radio 2024 Year-Ender Show

This Year on GR

by C.L. Cook - GRadio.Substack.com

 
December 31, 2024

Welcome to Gorilla Radio, released December 31, 2024

 

Listen. Hear.

And welcome to the GRadio Year-Ender program. For many 2025 may be a Revolution-beginner year; so with that in mind, let's begin in song, for as Emma Goldman probably didn't say but would likely agree with the sentiment, "If I can't dance, I don't want to be part of your revolution."

:30 2:49 Macklemore - Hind's Hall

3:20 1:00 Blatherskite

Macklemore dedicated Hind's Hall to the campus protests in the United States; specifically the one at New York's Columbia University, where students occupied Hamilton Hall, renaming it Hind's Hall in remembrance of Hind Rajab the six year old girl deliberately murdered along with her entire family by Israel's occupation army in a gruesome, hours-long "stand-off" in Gaza. [Find the link at the GRadio.Substack.com for details on both the Columbia student occupation and the short life of Hind Rajab].

Israel's genocide cum Holocaust in Gaza has inspired other musicians, none more perhaps than David Rovics, who put out two albums of music, 'Notes from a Holocaust', a 20 song compilation on the horrors of Gaza all but disappeared by Spotify, and 'Jabaliya'. Songs from both have featured prominently here over this past year.

4:20 2:21 David Rovics - Song for the Houthi Army (Remix)

6:41 1:00 Blatherskite

As well as numerous interviews about the Holocaust being perpetrated by Israel and its sponsors in the West against Palestine, I too attended most of the weekly demos held in Victoria, and posted quite a few of them at GRadio. Here's a bit from the march/rallies held weekly on the lawns of the provincial Legislature and through the streets, typically consisting of between one and two hundred stalwarts who continued come rain, shine, wind, and snow.

9:40 5:00 Ape Goes to Victoria Gaza Solidarity March and Rally Day #365 October 5, 2024 - (In: 00:00... 5:05 OUT: "...start calling us terrorists.")

https://gradio.substack.com/p/ape-goes-to-victoria-gaza-solidarity-849

14:35 1:00 Blatherskite

Those marches and rallies for Gaza continue yet, 452 days later, but now include solidarity for those suffering the Israeli pogrom in the West Bank, the assassination campaigns, and wholesale bombing of civilians in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen.

As prolific as David Rovics is, that's more than any single bard, singer, and troubador can muster. Luckily, late in the year passing saw the reemergence of the The Protest Music Project. Begun as a feature of Kevin Gosztola and co.'s Shadowproof indy media organization that went into hiatus for most of 2024. According the them, The Protest Music Project is, "a response to the misplaced and false notion that bands or musicians are no longer making music that grapples with our present world or confronts pressing problems affecting humanity".

Here's the Protest Song of the Week, featured band, Godspeed You! Black Emperor's "SUN IS A HOLE SUN IS VAPORS" from their album, 'NO TITLE AS OF 13 FEBRUARY 2024 28,340 DEAD'.

17:00 5:31 Godspeed You! Black Emperor - SUN IS A HOLE SUN IS VAPORS

22:30 1:00 Blatherskite

It's Saturday, December 28th as I write; at this moment Kamal Adwan Hospital, the last hospital in Northern Gaza is burnt, set alight after weeks of bombing, sniping, and other attacks by Israel's military. Now, its courageous director, paediatrician, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya is captive, and what remains of the hospital occupied and being used as a military base by the invaders. As seen before, Israel's army considers hospitals and medical infrastructure targets, as it does doctors, nurses, ambulance drivers, patients, and those just seeking refuge from the onslaught.

I spoke just before Christmas last year with Canadian-Palestinian doctor, Tarek Loubani, before we learned of the horrors befalling other captive doctors at the hands of Israel. It is one of the most poignant interviews I can remember in the 25 years Gorilla Radio has been on the air, moreso now.

23:31 14:31 Tarek Loubani (In: 29:50 Out: 44:21 "...they could be.")

https://gradio.substack.com/publish/post/139963863

38:02 2:40 David Rovics - 'The Arc of Justice'

40:45 1:30 Blaytherskite

As mentioned, Israel's terror war of conquest has spread to Lebanon. The Entity frames its land grab as defensive, as ever, even as it carpet bombs Beirut, and erases entire villages in southern Lebanon, making of it a "buffer zone" for northern settlement. "Benjamin Netanyahu and his generals", I wrote in November, "promised they would "make a Gaza of Beirut" and they've been as good as their word. Israel has killed thousands and made more than a million people homeless in Lebanon; most of those through bombing attacks against highrise apartment blocks. And as with its obliteration of Gaza, Israel's "justification" for the civilian carnage is a hunt for members of Hezbollah, hiding it says beneath the flats and hospitals and other vital infrastructure, using the population as a human shield".

I spoke with Laith Marouf several times in 2024; the last time in late November. Laith is a Canadian-Palestinian living now in Beirut, where he's Executive Director of FreePalestine.Video, an independent news organization providing coverage of what it says is, "the absence of media supporting the resistance forces in the English language due to the ban in the West.”

42:20 8:35 Laith Marouf - Nov. 20, 2024 (In: 2:30 Out: 11:05 "...is gone.")

https://gradio.substack.com/p/gorilla-radio-with-chris-cook-laith-6be

51:30 2:00 Blatherskite

Since recording that with Laith in November, there's been dramatic changes in the situation in Lebanon. A ceasefire of sorts was signed between the governments of Lebanon and Israel, seeing Hezbollah agreeing to stop its attacks. Israel has, incidentally, broken the terms repeatedly so far without retribution from Hezbollah, or recrimination from its western partners.

And of course the government in Syria has fallen, bringing to an end the 50-plus year Assad family rule there. Astonishingly, Bashir al-Assad, in power as president since the year 2000, fled the country on a Russian jet as his army evaporated, surrendering the country to the head-chopping horde armed and aided by Turkey, Israel, and the western powers with hardly a shot fired. What this means for Syrians is clear, as marauding gangs of Hayʼat Tahrir al-Sham or HTS, the "Salafi-Jihadist transnational" terrorists formerly known as ISIS and Jabhat Al Nusra, Al Qaeda's branch outfit in Syria, are killing and chopping heads in the streets, but what losing its naval and air bases in Syria means for Russia is another question.

I spoke to John Helmer, principle behind the web news site, Dances with Bears about the stunning collapse of Syria and his then recent article, 'THE RUSSIAN GENERAL STAFF, KREMLIN DISCUSS HOLDING THE LATAKIA SANJAK TO DEFEND BASES — AGREE TO WITHDRAW UNDER TURKISH SAFE PASSAGE' a few weeks ago.

54:30 7:45 John Helmer (In: 2:05 Out: 9:50 "...in the Russian press.")

https://gradio.substack.com/p/gorilla-radio-with-chris-cook-john-374

59:00 1:00 Blatherskite/cart out

Of course and as usual, there was much more topic than time. Thanks to David Rovics, Grant Wakefield, and The Protest Music Project, and to Tarek Loubani, Laith Marouf, John Helmer, CJSF; and to all those supporting Palestine, a Happier New Year's for you all!

0:00 --:-- -0-

Wednesday, December 18, 2024

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Diana Johnstone, Caitlin Manning December 18, 2024

This Week on GR

by C.L. Cook - GRadio.Substack.com

 
December 18, 2024

Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded December 18th, 2024.
 
 

Chaos isn't the first thing that comes to mind while contemplating the immaculately coiffed and imperturbably poised figure of French president, Emmanuel Macron. But beneath that calculated, bureaucratic blandness, the long-serving Macron has lost nothing of the burning ardour of his former Minister of Economics, Industry and Digital Affairs self; perhaps explaining the hormonal turmoil his second administration has wrought for France's body politic.

Diana Johnstone is an author and journalist living in Paris and partaking for decades now the grand spectacle that is French and European politics. She served as press secretary to the Green Group in the European Parliament, and recounts the transformation of German Greens from peace to war party in her latest book, 'Circle of Darkness: Memoirs of a World Watcher'. Johnstone's other titles include: 'Fools’ Crusade: Yugoslavia, NATO and Western Delusions', and 'From MAD to Madness: Inside Pentagon Nuclear War Planning', co-written with her father, Paul H. Johnstone, and her essays on global affairs appear at ConsortiumNews.com.

Diana Johnstone in the first half.

And; Mexico's new president, Claudia Sheinbaum celebrated last week the first anniversary of the inaugural run of the Maya Train, the mega-legacy project of her predecessor and political mentor, Andres Manuel López Obrador. Among the many promises made of the line circling the Yucatan Peninsula tourism mecca - and its not yet completed connecting Interoceanic line - was an improvement in the lives of the people where it runs; but that's a hard sell in Chiapas State where, as my next guest points out, "displacements in villages, including Zapatista territories, as a result of armed confrontations, and the government indifference [and denial] to it", and an "astonishing increase in violence since the pandemic".

Caitlin Manning is an American filmmaker and active participant in the movements against patriarchy, racism and capitalism. She's author of 'Resistant Mexico', a series of films documenting resistance to "neoliberal economic expansion, and retention of cultural modes, methods, and memory in Mexico". Manning's articles and films can be found at her site, CaitlinManningfilms.com.

Caitlin Manning and the Maya Train's promise and perils for Mexico's people and ecology in the second half.

But first, Diana Johnstone and Macron's French Farce.

 

Song: So Many Ways to Kill a CEO

Artist: David Rovics

 

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, broad/webcasting since 1999. Check out the Archive at GRadio.Substack.com, and the GR blog at: https://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com/ and on Telegram at: https://t.me/gorillaradio2024

Thursday, December 12, 2024

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, John Helmer Syria Special Stand Alone December 11, 2024

This Week on GR

by C.L. Cook - GRadio.Substack.com

 
December 11, 2024  
 
Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded December 11th, 2024.

If nothing else, we've seen these last decades the World can change in an instant. Syria is no more today; swept away by the tides of current events. But, more happened over the weekend than a single nation in West Asia ceasing to be. Right now, the profundity of the new political reality, for that region and the rest of us, is being determined through a blitzkrieg being visited by Israel and the United States again upon the heads and infrastructure of those defenseless, living in the dark below.

How did it come to this; and how so suddenly?

John Helmer’s a journalist and author who’s spent decades living in and reporting from Russia. He’s the principle behind the web news site, Dances with Bears and has, as well as serving as advisor to governments at the highest level, too been a professor of political science, sociology, and journalism. Among his many book titles are: ‘The Man Who Knows Too Much About Russia,’ ‘The Lie That Shot Down MH-17, the lately released autobiography, ‘Dunce Upon a Time: A Life of Mistakes’, and ‘Skripal in Prison,’ the first and perhaps only book to follow the Skripal saga from its beginnings.

Helmer's recent article, 'THE RUSSIAN GENERAL STAFF, KREMLIN DISCUSS HOLDING THE LATAKIA SANJAK TO DEFEND BASES — AGREE TO WITHDRAW UNDER TURKISH SAFE PASSAGE' details some of Russia's contribution before, and scramble after, the stunning collapse of Syria.

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, broad/webcasting since 1999. Check out the Archive at GRadio.Substack.com, and the GR blog at: https://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com/ and on Telegram at: https://t.me/gorillaradio2024

 

Wednesday, December 11, 2024

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, David Rovics, Charlie Humphrey December 11, 2024

This Week on GR

by C.L. Cook - GRadio.Substack.com

 
December 11, 2024
 
Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded December 11th, 2024
 

Listen. Hear.

As much as the allied powers - the governments, news conglomerates, and social media companies - have done to throw sand in the eyes and stoppers in the ears of the public, it's becoming more difficult to ignore the Holocaust in Gaza. Despite their best efforts, some semblance of truth is managing to penetrate the electronic wall separating our necessary fictions from the grim realities of what is happening over there in our names; and over here too.

David Rovics has done more to document the crimes of our times not appearing properly in the pages of TIME, and The New York Times than any three ordinary anarchists; and set it to music too! Sadly, David's balladeering genius is not for everyone; especially it seems the near monopolistic music platform, Spotify. That entity has effectively disappeared his recent album, 'Notes from a Holocaust' as though the documenting in twenty songs of the horror that is Gaza and the stories of the people experiencing it had never existed. Causes one pause to wonder, "Just what else has Spotify muted?"

David Rovics in the first half.

And; Greenpeace and Sea Shepherd Conservation Society co-founder, Captain Paul Watson has inhabited a cage in Greenland since last Summer. The inveterate privateer for the whales, dolphins, and all the Ocean's creatures was arrested there on an international warrant issued by whaling nation, Japan. It seeks Watson's extradition, and the deadline for the Danish court's decision could be as soon as next week.

Charlie Humphrey runs the Paul Watson Foundation podcast, and he and the rest of the crew of "Neptunes Navy" are calling all hands.

Charlie Humphrey and keeping Paul Watson out of Japan's dock in the second half.

But first, frequently-touring singer/songwriter and host of the podcast, This Week with David Rovics, David Rovics and Spotify denying 'Notes from a Holocaust'. 

 

Song: Song for the Houthi Army

Artist: David Rovics

 

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, broad/webcasting since 1999. Check out the Archive at GRadio.Substack.com, and the GR blog at: https://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com/ and on Telegram at: https://t.me/gorillaradio2024

Wednesday, December 04, 2024

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Dorotea Gucciardo, Tyson Strandlund December 4, 2024

This Week on GR

by C.L. Cook - GRadio.Substack.com

 
December 4, 2024
 
Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded December 4th, 2024 
 

Fourteen months into the daily murder and destruction in Gaza, Israel still denies what it is doing there is a genocide; and finally I agree. While what it is doing is definitively genocide within the legal lexicon, the way Israel is going about this heinous project transcends even that. More than merely "causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group", Israel is ensuring when wounds are suffered they cannot be healed. More than "deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part", Israel is making certain ameliorating those conditions is impossible, even after military actions cease. No, what Israel has been doing, is continuing to do, is not genocide; it is more properly recognized as a "Holocaust".

Dr. Dorotea Gucciardo is Research Coordinator for the Starling Centre for Just Societies and Technologies at Western University, where she also teaches History. Dorotea too volunteers with the Glia Project, serving as its Director of Development overseeing "capacity building" projects in Gaza. Dorotea's Open Gaza Initiative project was disrupted by Israel's attacks against Rafah last April, and her work refocused to organizing and leading medical missions within the embattled Gaza Strip.

Now back in Canada, Dr. Gucciardo has joined a growing number of medical professionals giving testimony to a variety of national and international bodies in a desperate attempt to both raise awareness and move Canadians still supporting Israel to cease their support to save Palestinian lives.

Dorotea Gucciardo in the first half.

And; not every country in the Western Hemisphere supports the ongoing Holocaust in Palestine; in fact some have faced too the same kinds of sanctions and blockades, coups and assassination attempts that make genocide possible. Venezuela is certainly one of those, but despite more than twenty years in Empire's cross-hairs it remains steadfastly defiant. More than this though, the South American nation is actively rallying smaller countries to resist as it has done, in part by hosting the first Anti-Fascist Youth & Student World Congress in Caracas last month.

Victoria's Tyson Strandlund attended the Congress by invitation of the Venezuelan Foreign Affairs Ministry. Tyson's a Métis activist involved in a range of peace and solidarity struggles against fascism, and more. He also serves as General Secretary to the Popular Democracy Movement, an organization he co-founded in Victoria earlier this year.

Tyson Strandlund and organizing for a future without fascism in the second half.

But first, Dorotea Gucciardo and bearing witness here to Palestine's horrors.

 

Song: 35 Children a Day

Artist: David Rovics

 

[Correction: The average age of the Canadian population in 2023 was 40.6 years. The median age was also 40.6 years. - Ape]

 

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, broad/webcasting since 1999. Check out the Archive at GRadio.Substack.com, and the GR blog at: https://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com/ and on Telegram at: https://t.me/gorillaradio2024

Wednesday, November 27, 2024

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Jeremy Kuzmarov, John Helmer November 27, 2024

This Week on GR

by C.L. Cook - GRadio.Substack.com

 
November 27, 2024 

Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded November 27th, 2024.

Well it may have taken four years and fourteen days, but the horde has breached the gates and there's nothing for it but to wait and watch the Trumpocalypse unfold January 20th, 2025. At least, that's how something more than half of America, and most of the rest of the planet, feels. But they're dead wrong. The prelude to the Trump sequel is playing out already in the form of his announced picks for high office. While it's tempting to laugh off the coming carnival, and the buffoons currently being crammed into the tiny car, there's a sinister undertone to this second coming; the kind of creepiness only a scaring, painted clown can elicit.

Professor Jeremy Kuzmarov is a scholar, journalist and author, who writes for and serves as Managing Editor to Covert Action Magazine. Kuzmarov's book titles include, ‘Obama’s Unending Wars’, ‘The Russians Are Coming, Again’, (written with John Marciano) and his latest, ‘Warmonger. How Clinton’s Malign Foreign Policy Launched the U.S. Trajectory From Bush II to Biden’. His recent article at CAM, 'Marco Rubio: An Abhorrent Choice for Secretary of State' prefaces the sophomore Trump presidency; an administration that could prove not only worse than the first, but even more disastrous than the Biden one it replaces.

Jeremy Kuzmarov in the first half.

And; in recent weeks the outgoing American president has signed off on the use of advanced US missiles by Ukrainian forces against targets inside Russia. The launching of ATACMS rockets soon followed the Biden announcement, raising the stakes in the two and half years-long conflict to catastrophic dimensions, or as Russian president, Vladimir Putin drily noted, the conflict “had now acquired elements of a global character.”

Last week, Russia answered with devastating effect, debuting the so-called Oreshnik hypersonic missile, reportedly destroyed the Yuzhmash weapons plant where ATACMS and other advanced Western weapons systems were stored. But if the Oreshnik was meant to deter their future use, it was less successful than the Kremlin might have hoped. Monday 13 more ATACMS were launched against Russian targets in the Kursk region.

John Helmer’s a journalist and author who’s spent decades living in and reporting from Russia. He’s the principle behind the web news site, Dances with Bears and has, as well as serving as advisor to governments at the highest level, too been a professor of political science, sociology, and journalism. His article, 'THE UKRAINE WAR AFTER THE PENNY HAS DROPPED – MAKE THAT THE ORESHNIK' examines the recent, but not latest, escalation in the war over there.

Among his many book titles are: ‘The Man Who Knows Too Much About Russia,’ ‘The Lie That Shot Down MH-17, the lately released autobiography, ‘Dunce Upon a Time: A Life of Mistakes’, and ‘Skripal in Prison,’ the first and perhaps only book to follow the Skripal saga from its beginnings.

John Helmer and Biden's cataclysmic departing in the second half.

But first, Jeremy Kuzmarov and après le déluge, Le Donald.

 

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, broad/webcasting since 1999. Check out the Archive at GRadio.Substack.com, and the GR blog at: https://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com/ and on Telegram at: https://t.me/gorillaradio2024