This Week on GR
by C. L. Cook - Gorilla-Radio.com
As holiday commemorations are all about tradition, I'll continue ours. And of course, the longest tradition of all around here is the contributions made to the show over these many long years by Victoria Street Newz publisher, and CFUV Radio broadcaster in her own right, Janine Bandcroft who will, that stars being rightly aligned, join us at the bottom of the hour.
But first, friend Ini Kamoze...Take it, Ini!
Listen. Hear.
5:02:00 4:10 Ini Kamoze - All I Want for Christmas
5:06:10 3:30 All I really want for Christmas - Music b/g - The Fire This Time
You know, Ini makes a great point; and it's one I'd like to pick up on. I've not been thinking what I really want for Christmas, besides socks and underwears, for a long time. Like Ini, I've largely turned my back on the festival of consumption that is the hallmark of the season, rejecting the whole affair out of hand. But, and it is a big but, I think I may have thrown the Christmas baby out with the bathwater. So, this year I'd like to reflect on what I want, and how having it would make my Xmas happiness complete. To that end I've followed tradition, and made a list.
Don't get me wrong; like most of you in our listening area, I've got it pretty good. I've got a roof over my head; blankets on my bed; a few people who love me; and if the fridge is empty, it's because I've been too lazy to go to the market. That makes me richer than the majority of the World's population from the get-go; so mewling about what one in that position is lacking materially is, at the very least, in poor taste. But what I don't have is peace of mind. I'm worried. I'm worried for the future. Worried for myself, and worried for you. I'm worried for the children and the ones that will follow them, and worry at what is to become of this beautiful World. These worries are several-fold Saint Nick, but I know you're out there, and hear every prayer, phone call, e-mail and text message, so I'll try your patience, and challenge you to take all your magic and imagination and wrap my wishes in your sleigh.
Firstly; last week, Santa some bad men with dangerous ideas decided they could run over the wishes of the people, and run over the land here with a terrible machine. It's a big pump that sucks poison from the ground and spreads it through pipes across the fields, mountains, and rivers down to the oceans. This so it can be shipped across the World, burned and spread into the air, where the poison will fall again onto the lands and waters. If they get away with it, Santa it will kill the reindeer and melt your northern home too. So, I choose as the first part of my peace of mind Christmas present wish a Christmas future with a clean coast and forests, and no place for the Enbridge Northern Gateway and the Orcs who would take our precious wild world away, leaving us with nothing but tar, smoke, and ash. I know it ain't gonna be easy, Nicolas. I know we've got to help too; I know we all have to work for peace.
5:09:40 4:20 Transglobal Underground - Impossible Broadcasting
Christmas is happening everywhere in the World, and one of my favourite bands this year, as with Christmas years past, is the most global of the global music scene, 'Transglobal Underground.' Here they are making Impossible Broadcasting possible.
5:14:00 5:00 James Carroll The Politics of the Christmas Story
Another GR Xmas tradition, going back to the very beginning, is this 2004 article by James Carroll of the Boston Globe, a former priest who turned his hand to journalism. Carroll takes us back to the very beginning with his piece called The Politics of the Christmas Story.
5:19:00 7:20 Music - Gil Scott-Herron - Work for Peace - GasCD
5:26:20 1:00 Cart(s)
5:27:00 10:00 Janine Bandcroft
5:37:00 3:57 Music - Tom & Joy - Meditation - Bossa Nova Around the World (Putumayo presents)
5:41:00 4:30 Update from Gaza - Franklin Lamb
Getting back to me and my Christmas wish for peace of mind. Santa, I'd like to see some peace for Palestine. These last few Christmases have been not so good for the people in the Holy Land; especially for those in Palestine. In 2008, Israel launched its Christmas bombing campaign, 'Cast Lead' killing nearly fifteen hundred people outright, and wrecking the infrastructure of the already besieged Gaza Strip. This year, the fall of the Morsi regime in Egypt has meant the destruction of much of the tunnel economy supplying Gaza with the essentials of life. Worse, over the last few weeks, Gaza's power station has been overwhelmed, and extreme storms, including snow a blizzard, has made life in Gaza extremely grim. Writing from his home-base in Syria, Dr. Franklin Lamb assessed the situation in the region this holiday season. Lamb says:
"Winter storm Alexa, the fiercest storm to hit Gaza and the West Bank in over 100 years, is still wreaking havoc and bringing misery to thousands. As of 12/19/13 40,000 people in Gaza have been driven from their homes due to extreme storm flooding. The flooding has been exacerbated by the fuel crisis that has left people without power for up to 21 hours a day, and forced raw sewage to flow through the streets. People’s lives and health are at grave risk. Gaza's Hamas government said 4,306 in all had been evacuated to schools and other centers used as makeshift shelters in the past four days. Gaza's 1.8 million people, trying to survive in one of the most densely populated tracts on earth, has also been enduring around 12-hour blackouts daily since the lone power plant was switched off last month due to a fuel shortage.
The territory lacks much basic civil infrastructure and lives under an Egyptian-Israeli blockade which curbs imports of fuel, building supplies and basic goods. UNWRA staff reports that the situation is worsening due to severe Israeli restrictions on the camps. Refugees cannot reconnect power lines that have been cut due to the heavy snow and have little access to basic necessities such as running water. The crises are deepening this winter in virtually all of the vulnerable refugee camps. The residents face severe power shortages and some on the West Bank also face systematic attacks by the Israeli army."
How about a little peace for Palestine, Santa?
5:45:30 4:00 Music - Transglobal Underground - Impossible Broadcasting
5:49:00 2:00 Bringin' It Home for Xmas
The Sun is coming back. The days in the North will lengthen, and Spring, that seemed so far away last week, races towards us. Between you and me; I believe, Santa we can make peace and peace of mind. I believe the World is meant to be that way. As cold and ruthless as life can sometimes seem, there is too warmth and hope, and promises of new beginnings. Merry Xmas to you all out there in Victoria, and the great World beyond. And, God; bless us. Bless us everyone.
5:51:00 4:13 Music - Tom Waits - Eggs and Sausage - Nighthawks at the Diner
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