Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Dr. Joan Russow, Eric Holt-Gimenez, Janine Bandcroft Feb. 18, 2013

This Week on GR

by  C. L. Cook - Pacific Free Press

Despite persistent opposition, Fish Farms continue to proliferate. In British Columbia especially, both provincial and federal governments have shown amazing resilience to repeated criticism by First Nations and various environmental groups, partnered with wild salmon guides and fishers, and with regular citizens worried about the negative knock on environmental effects of what are now referred to as "fish feed lots," showing no intention of inhibiting the industry's further growth.

In fact, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency showed last month just how far they will bend in unnatural directions to accommodate Fish Farms, allowing ISA contaminated farmed salmon be sold to the public. ISA is a deadly virus that acts to puree a salmon from the inside out, making of it  a stinking mush.

Listen. Hear.

ISA is highly contagious, and before the Food Inspection Agency's recent rejigging of the rules, all ISA infected fish were ordered destroyed, and their pens sterilized. You tax-payers ate the lion's share of the great expense of that procedure until last month; now you can just eat the salmon directly.

But worse than this, and it IS a big but; in addition to ISA, and the myriad of other problems this fishy business poses to environmental health, the latest outrage is the pending introduction of the Genetically Modified super salmon. Frankenfish, as they're less than affectionately known to opponents, are poised for approval in both Canada and the United States, taking the Farmed Fish debate to new depths.

Dr. Joan Russow is a long-time peace, environment and justice activist. She is a former leader of the Green Party of Canada, and founder of both the Ecological Rights Association and the Global Compliance Research Project. A constant opponent of war, she collaborated with the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women to produce a white paper delegitimizing war as a tool of diplomacy officially sanctioned and distributed to member-nation delegations of that body. Russow is a board member of the Prometheus Project, and contributing editor to its web site, PEJ.com.

Dr. Joan Russow in the first half. 

And; there's a war going on you probably haven't heard of. It's a war without an official name and, as with most wars, it's the innocent suffering first and most. The reason you probably haven't heard of this particular war is because your government is supporting the wrong side, and they don't want you to stop them. Things have never been great for peasant farmers, but for the campesinos of Honduras, things have gotten a lot worse since the 2009 coup d'etat.

You may remember when the Generals ruled much of Latin America; may remember the horror and deprivation visited on the poorest of the poor. You may recall too the genocide campaign waged against the indigenous Maya of Guatemala, and the ruthless destruction of the rural schools, churches, and hospitals of Nicaragua; entire villages sent fleeing into the jungle by Reagan's Contras. Can you remember Operation Condor, or Plan(s) Colombia and Peru? Well, you needn't strain your memory because the Generals are back, and starting with Honduras they plan to roll back the meagre gains made for the people through long years of struggle since the terrible days of the Death Squads. 

Eric Holt-Gimenez is Executive Director of FoodFirst/Institute for Food and Development Policy. He served as editor of the FoodFirst book, 'Food Movements Unite! Strategies to Transform Our Food Systems,' authored 'Campesino a Campesino: Voices from Latin America's Farmer to Farmer Movement for Sustainable Agriculture,' chronicling nearly three decades of the struggle for farmer empowerment in Mexico and Central America, and is the principle author of, 'Food Rebellions! Crisis and the Hunger for Justice.'

From a farming family himself, Eric has participated within the farmer-to-farming training model, recording its successes in film and through his writings. Holt-Gimenez is also the author, with Tanya Kerrsen, of  'Honduras: War on the Peasants,' a recently published article appearing at the Huffington Post.

Eric Holt-Gimenez and the Agro-Oligarchy strikes back in Honduras in the second half.

And; Victoria Street Newz publisher and CFUV Radio broadcaster, Janine Bandcroft will join us at the bottom of the hour to bring us up to speed with some of what's going on on our streets, and beyond.

But first, Dr. Joan Russow and keeping the Frankenfish monster in the lab, (and out of the ocean).

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, airing live every Monday, 5-6pm 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/

G-Radio is dedicated to social justice, the environment, community, and providing a forum for people and issues not covered in the corporate media.