Sunday, October 20, 2013

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Theresa Wolfwood, Barbara Hay, Jon Elmer, Janine Bandcroft Monday Oct. 21, 2013

This Week on GR

by C. L. Cook - Gorilla-Radio.com

War and Peace: In our modern world, the black and white prospect of these seemingly diametrically opposed states of being is often convoluted and obscured into a grey area we're assured we can't come to grips with.

Listen. Hear.

We're told, nuance and complexity has transited War far from the Hell of our conventional understanding into a condition of Grace; a place where "police actions" and "interventions" are not War at all, but responsibilities more properly to be regarded as a kind of Peace. So it is, in these last years where one "humane" military attack has followed the other, Peace itself has become a long, killing train procession paid at a bloody, if regrettable, price that promises no end.

Theresa Wolfwood and Barbara Hay are members of Women in Black Victoria, B.C., the local chapter of an international collective of women who stand silent vigil throughout the year in remembrance of the victims of human rights abuses. First formed by Arab and Israeli women in response to the violent oppression of Palestinians during the 1988 Intifada, Women in Black are now found throughout the world bearing witness to injustice, and working together as activists for real Peace.

A part of that work here is the White Poppy for Peace initiative, started by the legions of widows of that Great War, and continued nearly a century after the end of the "War to End All War."

Theresa Wolfwood and Barbara Hay in the first half.

And; last week, Canadian prisoners of Egypt's Junta regime, Dr. Tarek Loubani and documentary filmmaker, John Greyson landed safely at Pearson International having endured 50 days in captivity. Held without charge, upon their release the pair related tales of beatings and routine mistreatment. As bad as that treatment was, it can be safely assumed; as high-profile foreigners they got off easier than their Egyptian cell-mates. The Loubani/Greyson case highlights the sea change in Egyptian life since the ouster of the Muslim Brotherhood and its controversial president Mohamed Morsi; he still being held incommunicado and awaiting trial. The tumult in Egypt is merely the latest development in the fast-moving transformation of the political dynamic of the entire region; a transformation whose full effect is a matter of intense speculation both there and on this side of the Atlantic.

Jon Elmer is a Canadian writer and photojournalist specializing in the Middle East, and on Canadian foreign and military policy. He's lived in and reported from Occupied Palestine for the better part of the last decade, (based primarily in Jenin, Bethlehem, and Gaza City) and has also reported from more than a dozen countries from Nepal and Western Sahara, to the Basque country, and here in Canada. His articles and photographs are featured at the Journal of Palestine Studies, Le Monde diplomatique, The Progressive, and Al Jazeera English among others, and he contributed, with Anthony Fenton, to the book, 'Empire's Ally: Canada in Afghanistan.'

Jon Elmer and seasons of change in the Middle East in the second half.

And; Victoria Street Newz publisher and CFUV Radio broadcaster, Janine Bandcroft will be here at the bottom of the hour to bring us up to speed with some of what's going on on the streets of our city, and beyond. But first, Theresa Wolfwood and Barbara Hay and the Women in Black's White Poppy for Peace initiative.

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.

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