This Week on GR
March 12, 2020
Today, as Pestilence astride its white horse stalks the World ready to scythe humanity down to size, it seems fitting we ponder our society, ourselves, and our priorities to know best what and who to save before the end of all else. Serendipitously, my first guest undertook just such a sorting task, before the dread Covid-19 cocked its ugly head into our collective consciousness, questioning the legitimacy of privilege and daring suggest meritocracy has little to do with the ordering of our social hierarchy.
Meghan Bell writes fiction and poetry, and her critical essays on wealth, capitalism, and mental health appear online at
The Walrus,
The Tyee, among
other places, and at Passage, the
"Canadian publication of thoughtful political, economic, and cultural ideas" where I found her essay, '
I Was Born Wealthy, And Know Rich People Don’t Work Harder Than You'.
Listen. Hear.
Bell is too the past publisher of
Room Magazine, and co-founder of the
Growing Room Literary and Arts Festival, (going on NOW through March 15th in Vancouver). Meghan is also a member of
Resource Movement, a "community of young Canadians with wealth and/or class privilege working toward the redistribution of wealth, land, and power."
Meghan Bell in the first half.
And; as tax time rolls around do you find yourself wondering just what kind of government you're paying for? When it comes to foreign policy, the tribute our current Liberal government wrings from your pockets on pain of imprisonment is getting you nothing more than branch plant corporate imperialism; just as was the case with its Tory predecessors.
Yves Engler is a Montréal-based activist, essayist, and author whose articles appear at Dissident Voice, The Palestine Chronicle, Rabble.ca, and Pacific Free Press among other places. Yves is also a key organizer with Disruption Network Canada, which has mobilized activists to challenge politicians through peaceful, direct action.The latest of Engler's eleven books, '
HOU$E of MIRRORS: Justin Trudeau's Foreign Policy' questions the Liberals' progressive pretense, while challenging the persistent national delusion that Canadians are
"a benevolent force in the world" despite ample evidence to the contrary.
Yves Engler and throwing stones in Canada's house of mirrors in the second half.
And; long-time Gorilla Radio contributor, Janine Bandcroft will be here at the bottom of the hour with this week's Left Coast Events Bulletin of some of the good things to be gotten up to in and around our town in the coming week. But first, Meghan Bell assessing society and our endpoint values.
Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, airing live every Thursday between 11-Noon Pacific Time. In Victoria at 101.9FM, and on the internet at: http://cfuv.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/
When 60 Minutes (2/24/20) asked Sen. Bernie Sanders about his past support for aspects of Cuba’s socialist revolution, as well as for Nicaragua’s 1979–90 leftist Sandinista government, Sanders responded by saying he opposes what he described as the “authoritarian” features of the Cuban government, while noting that after the 1959 revolution, Cuba launched “a massive literacy program. Is that a bad thing?”
