May 31, 2021
Last November, the federal government of Ethiopia, in concert with the dictatorship of neighbouring Eritrea, launched a military invasion of Tigray. Since, millions have been displaced and millions more are in dire need of humanitarian assistance in what the Biden administration said last week is shaping up to become the greatest manufactured disaster since the Ethiopian famine of the 1980’s.
Last week, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Mark Lowcock told the UN Security Council, president Abiy’s troops and its allies have, as well as committing “mass rapes and murder“, “attacked, obstructed or delayed [deliveries of] life-saving assistance… and killed at least 8 aid workers since November“.
Selamawit Gebremeskel is an Ethiopian emigre who has lived in Canada for nearly thirty years. Selam, now a health care professional in Victoria, has relatives in Tigray caught up in a war the government there is waging against its civilians.
Selam Gebremeskel and Meron Dejene in the first half.
And; Day 295 of Direct Action against timber company Teal Jones’ clear-cutting of the Fairy Creek watershed was marked by more than 2,000 blockaders joining the nine months-long campaign in defiance of a BC court injunction and the massive presence of Canada’s paramilitary federal police, the RCMP. Despite scores of protesters arrested to date, or perhaps because of it, the size of the blockade has continued to grow. And the stakes are high. According to the Rainforest Flying Squad in the face of biodiversity and climate crises the logging of old growth forests must stop. It’s just as British Columbia’s own Old Growth Strategic Review Panel recommended last year, but the cutting continues.
Bill Johnston is a retired officer of the Canadian Foreign Services and active Green Party member. He and partner Jan have been traveling up island to participate directly in the blockade. They were up there Saturday, just two of the more than two thousand that showed up to slow up the clear-cuts.
Bill Johnston and the fight to save Fairy Creek in the second half.
But first, Selam Gebremeskel, Meron Dejene and Ethiopia’s engineered catastrophe in Tigray.
Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, airing live every Thursday between 11-Noon Pacific Time. In Victoria at 101.9FM, and on the internet at: https://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.com
Photo: TJ Watt/Ancient Forest Alliance
In December, 2019 Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou was intercepted at Vancouver’s International Airport and ultimately arrested by the RCMP. It soon became apparent Meng was taken at the behest of the United States who hoped to use her incarceration as a “bargaining chip” in trade negotiations with China. Her mainly because more than merely being a top-tier executive, Meng is also the daughter of Huawei founder, Ren Zhengfei. Today, two and a half years after her arrest, Meng Wanzhou is still a political captive who, like Julian Assange in Great Britain, awaits extradition orders to the United States.
Ken Stone is a long-time antiwar activist, serving as an executive member of both the Syria Solidarity Movement and Hamilton Coalition to Stop the War. Ken and the Hamilton Coalition have joined forces with online investigative journalism site, The Canada Files and rank and file Canadians upset with the country’s legal tradition being so rudely sullied in this case to pursue a Cross-Canada FREE MENG WANZHOU campaign. Last week, the webinar, “New developments in the Meng case” again addressed this ongoing sore point.
Ken Stone in the first half.
And; last week Environment NGO’s SkeenaWild
and the BC Mining Law Reform Network released a study of mining
practices in British Columbia. ‘Dirty Dozen 2021: B.C.’s Top Polluting
and Risky Mines calls for reforms and better enforcement of scofflaw
companies whose current practices threaten both community cohesion and
the natural environment.
Nikki Skuce is Director of the Smithers-based Northern Confluence Initiative, (in Wet’suwet’en territory). She also works on salmon conservation and land-use decisions, and is the co-chair of the BC Mining Law Reform network.
Nikki Skuce and airing the dirt on B.C. mining in the second half.
But first, Ken Stone and new developments in the festering Meng Wanzhou case.
Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, airing live every Thursday between 11-Noon Pacific Time. In Victoria at 101.9FM, and on the internet at: https://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.com
May 18, 2021
May 20, 2021
Five centuries after Cortez, Mexico is again defending colonization by a foreign army. This time the Conquistadores come in the guise of transglobal corporations, their goal the gold to be gleaned from Mexico’s greatest treasure, maize. But first, Bayer-Monsanto would transmogrify, through the magic of Genetic Modification, the ancient grain into a more malleable form of glyphosate-resistant corn, ready for the application of millions of tons of Bayer-Monsanto marketed pesticides.
The one kink in the scheme is Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s vow to rid his country of GMO’s by 2024. And that’s where the sword leaves the scabbard for the chemical lobby and its U.S. Trade Representatives.
Peter Ewart is a Prince George, B.C.-based writer whose articles feature online and at the PG Daily News in Prince George. In his latest, ‘Mexico, Glyphosate and Bayer-Monsanto‘ he warns of the threat posed to the original staple crop of Turtle Island and its progenitors, the “People of the Corn”.
Peter Ewart in the first half.
And; last week, after nearly thirty years, the founder and board chair of Pan American Silver stepped into a golden sunset retirement made comfortable by the billions of dollars he made for himself and his shareholders at the expense of indigenous peoples and the natural environment throughout Latin America. In the meantime, he’s burnished a public image as philanthropist leader of corporate responsibility, and environmental champion; all belying a “legacy of community harm and environmental destruction“.
Ellen Moore is the International Mining Campaign Manager at Earthworks, a U.S. based non-profit that supports communities impacted by oil, gas and hard-rock mining. Before joining Earthworks Ellen worked in Nevada and Guatemala on issues related to human rights, environmental justice and mining. Moore participated in an event held last week to mark the toxic reality of Pan American Silver.
Ellen Moore and the false glitter of Pan American Silver in the second half.
But first, Peter Ewart and the cancerous return of Bayer-Monsanto, Mexico’s new Conquistadores.
Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, airing live every Thursday between 11-Noon Pacific Time. In Victoria at 101.9FM, and on the internet at: https://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.com
