Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Mazin Al Nahawi, Dave Lindorff, Janine Bandcroft July 1, 2013

This Week on GR

by C. L. Cook - Pacific Free Press

Canadians largely still believe "we" constitute a force for good in the world. Despite clear and present evidence of "our" complicity in coups, occupations, and conspiracies to profit from the misery foisted upon anonymous others in foreign lands, ask most Canadians about their nation's role in the world and they'll tell you; "we're the good guys."

This is perhaps nowhere more evident than in Palestine, where successive Canadian governments maintain vociferous and bipartisan support of the state of Israel, even while paying lip service to the unmet humanitarian needs of the captive populations of Gaza, Jerusalem, and the West Bank.

Listen. Hear.

Worse though than the national government's dismal record in this regard is the defense by Non-Governmental Organizations of its ineffectual actions, but more commonly abrogated duty to intercede, who invoke the "complexity" of the issue, saying that precludes utter condemnation of Israeli crimes, while forestalling a response to those crimes required under treaty agreements.

But is Palestine really the too-complicated-to-understand issue NGO's, governments, and the media say it is?

Mazin Al Nahawi is a Palestinian refugee from Safad, occupied Palestine living here in Victoria, the traditional territory of the Lkwungen, Esquimalt, and W̱SÁNEĆ peoples. He's a graduate of the Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts - Criticism Department, Damascus, Syria where he too studied Arab Linguistics.

Mazin Al Nahawi in the first half.

And; as Edward Snowden's rabbit run from the mighty all-seeing eye unfolds across the multitudinous screens of the world's unblinking media gaze, the myriad collateral issues his alleged theft reveal are hardly beginning to be appreciated. One of these, broken by McClatchey Newspapers, is the so-called Insider Threat Program, quietly initiated by president Obama in 2011 which requires government employees outside of generally regarded "national security" departments observe and report on any suspicions they may harbour about their coworkers.

Dave Lindorff is a long-time investigative reporter, author, and co-founder of the investigative news website, This Can't Be Happening.org. His book titles include: 'This Can't Be Happening: Resisting the Disintegration of American Democracy,' 'Marketplace Medicine: The Rise of the For Profit Hospital Chains,' and 'Killing Time: An Investigation into the Death Row Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal.' He is also co-author, with Barbara Olshansky of, 'The Case for Impeachment: Legal Arguments for Removing President George W. Bush from Office.' Dave is also recipient of a 2011 Project Censored award for his expose, 'Toxic Intervention,' uncovering the use of Depleted Uranium by NATO forces during the "liberation" of Libya.

Dave Lindorff and what is really happening to American democracy 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 good to do in and around the city in the coming week. But first, Mazin Al Nahawi and rescuer's folly in Palestine.

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.

Some past guests include: M. Junaid Alam, M. Shahid Alam, Gilad Atzmon, Joel Bakan, Maude Barlow, Ramzy Baroud, William Blum, Luciana Bohne, William Bowles, Mordecai Briemberg, Helen Caldicott, Noam Chomsky, Michel Chossudovsky, Diane Christian, Paul Cienfuegos, David Cromwell, Ezili Danto, Jon Elmer, Yves Engler, Laura Flanders, Amy Goodman, Denis Halliday, Chris Hedges, Julia Butterfly Hill, Robert Jensen, Dahr Jamail, Diana Johnstone, Malalai Joya, Kathy Kelly, Naomi Klein, Frances Moore Lappe, Ingmar Lee, Dave Lindorff, Alexandra Morton, Loretta Napoleoni, Andrew Nikiforuk, Ken O'Keefe, Greg Palast, Michael Parenti, Robert Parry, John Pilger, Kevin Pina, Paul Craig Roberts, David Rovics, Danny Schechter, David Schindler, Vandana Shiva, Tim Shorrock, Norman Solomon, Jean Saint-Vil, Harvey Wasserman, Paul Watson, Bernard Weiner, Andy Worthington, Mickey Z., Howard Zinn and many others.