This Week on GRadio
by C.L. Cook - GRadio.Substack.com
Late in the last century the Chretien government, led by then-finance minister Paul Martin, created the CPPIB, or Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board. A mechanism to get at CPP money locked up in safe, long-term bonds and such, the CPPIB determined to leap into the investment fast lane, behaving as a hedge fund. It promised to “take politics out” of its investing, which in practice meant using citizens’ funds without moral constraints. Profit would be the first and last of its laws; and so it’s been for nearly thirty years, and what that’s led to is a portfolio filled with war, environmental degradation, and genocide; but still it’s not enough.
Becca Steckle is a research and policy analyst with Just Peace Advocates whose special area of study is Canadian institutional complicity in the occupations of Palestine and Kashmir. Now, Becca and the JPA have released the report, ‘CPPIB Doubles Down, Increases Investments in Genocide, War Crimes, and Apartheid to More Than $54 Billion’; it’s an examination of the current government’s turbo-charged dedication to profiting from the crimes of the century.
Becca Steckle in the first half.
And; Colombians voted over the weekend; and though the first ballot didn’t produce a clear presidential winner, it did reveal a plethora of irregularities and interference in the country’s free and fair exercise of popular democracy. What that means for the next round, due June 21st, is of extreme concern not only for Colombia’s future political stability, but too for its neighbours, and all of South America.
Dan Kovalik’s a lawyer, educator, labour, peace, and justice activist, democracy defender, journalist, author, and filmmaker. Dan represented unions whose membership were targeted by Colombia’s death squads, has served as a foreign observor to elections in that country, and acts currently as Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s legal representative in the United States.
Dan’s book titles include: ‘No More War: How the West Violates International Law by Using ‘Humanitarian’ Intervention to Advance Economic and Strategic Interest’, ‘The Case for Palestine: Why It Matters and Why You Should Care’, and his latest, co-authored with Jeremy Kuzmarov, ‘Syria: Anatomy of Regime Change’.
Dan Kovalik and Colombia’s parlous election in the second half.
But first, Becca Steckle and understanding how your pension profits the suffering of distant others.
Music: David Rovics/Ai Tsuno
Songs: ‘Rise’, ‘The Bunker’
Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, broad/webcasting since 1999. Check out the Archive at GRadio.Substack.com, and the GR blog at:
https://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com/
@GRadio at UpScrolled, and on Telegram at: https://t.me/gorillaradio2024
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