All-Day Vigil: Sit-in & Speak-outFor the endangered ancient forests, climate justice, biodiversity, for an end to the endless talk and log, for Indigenous rights and landback!Doors of the BC LegislatureMonday, October 4th, Beginning of the Fall Legislative session8:30 am- 6:30 pm ( Stay for the whole day or drop-in when you can)N.B. At 5:30 pm, community members who cannot make it during the work day are being asked to join the sit-in at the NDP west wing of the building to form a circle of hundreds of people joining hands (by strips of fabric) around the entire building in a prayerful statement of collective strength and unity for the protection of the old-growth forests, once and for all. Please bring a strip of coloured fabric!
Facebook event link https://fb.me/e/2bp7fY97l
And welcome to a new Canada! The country’s 44th federal election results are in and the minority government of Justin Trudeau has been replaced by the new minority government of Justin Trudeau. Yes, the most expensive election in the country’s history can also boast the lowest voter participation, and arguably the least return of any election for any office held in history when measured on the dollar to interest ratio index. So is it even worth parsing a post mortem on this summer doldrums? “Yes!” says my first guest, who argues the results reveal much about what Canadians think of the federal parties’ foreign policy stances, and instructs on our future direction in World events.
Yves Engler is an independent, Montreal-based journalist and author. He’s written ten books on Canadian foreign policy, and his latest is‘Left, Right — Marching to the Beat of Imperial Canada’. His articles appear at a variety of sites across the internet, including CanadianDimension, foreignpolicy.ca, and at his site, YvesEngler.com where I found his recent piece, ‘How Foreign Policy Shaped Election Outcome‘.
Yves Engler in the first half.
And; in breaking news: Chinese political prisoner, Meng Wanzhou is free! That is, the political prisoner of Canada from China, and CFO of mega-corporation, Huawei now has leave to exit the country of her imprisonment, and in fact has left Vancouver, where she suffered house arrest for nearly three years.
Ken Stone is a long-time antiwar activist whose served as an executive member of both the Syria Solidarity Movement and Hamilton Coalition to Stop the War. Ken and the Hamilton Coalition have led the nation-wide FREE MENG WANZHOU campaign to restore both the prisoner Meng’s liberty and justice to Canada’s legal system.
Ken Stone and the release of Meng Wanzhou in the second half.
But first, Yves Engler and what we can glean from this latest exercise in Canadian democracy.
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
How much time, or how many vaccinations it would take to make this latest lockdown go away wasn’t made clear, but what’s certain is the growing restiveness of the population. Last month, hundreds were arrested during protests of government measures, with the country’s second city, Melbourne seeing the greatest numbers of arrests.
John Helmer is a journalist, author, broadcaster, former political advisor to government, and principal behind the news website, Dances with Bears. Among Helmer’s many books titles are, ‘The Lie That Shot Down MH-17’ ‘Skripal in Prison’, and ‘The Man Who Knows Too Much About Russia’. His latest is, ‘Hitler Didn’t Die in Berlin – He Moved to Melbourne Where He Runs the State Government of Victoria: A True Covid-19 Thriller’. It’s the chronicle of his legal battles with authorities that banned both his leaving Australia, and allowing his wife rejoin him there.
He writes: “Right now this is a story with urgent parallels in the UK, US, Canada, Germany, Spain, and France – in every country where democratic resistance to abuse of power in the pandemic has run into identical tactics of lawlessness, and suffered the same fate.”
Today, John Helmer and the search for an inoculant to viral government malfeasance and the disastrous effects of hubris on the body politic.
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
Philipp Jacoby, the only German doctor treating Alexei Navalny for alleged poisoning to have testified publicly, has given a new press interview to alter the interpretation of the evidence he gave last week. “People close to Navalny”, he now says, “warned me about John Helmer”.
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Many took heart when America announced an end to its military occupation of Afghanistan last month. But optimism for a beginning of peace in that benighted country’s decades-long state of civil conflict and uncertainty is now clouded by bellicose statements made in Washington by an administration that seems to want to end its war and fight it too. Following a recent attack against civilians and American troops at Kabul’s airport, in a speech delivered to the World, president Biden made it clear the killing would continue saying,
“To those who carried out this attack, as well as anyone who wishes America harm, know this: We will not forgive. We will not forget. We will hunt you down and make you pay.”
These sentiments echo George W. Bush, who in commencing the invasion of Afghanistan twenty years ago said,
“We will not waver; we will not tire; we will not falter; and we will not fail.”
David Swanson is an author, journalist, broadcaster, peace and justice activist, and executive director of World BEYOND War. The multiple Nobel Peace Prize nominee and U.S. Peace Prize recipient also hosts Talk World Radio and blogs at WarIsACrime.org, and DavidSwanson.org. His recent article, ‘No More Attacks on Afghanistan‘ is co-authored with peace activists Kathy Kelly, Nick Mottern, and Brian Terrell.
David Swanson in the first half.
And; last week video of the RCMP’s Emergency Response Team abusing land defenders at the Fairy Creek Blockade served as a further embarrassment for the national police force. Or at least the incident captured, just one in a series of disturbing actions, (including peace officers smashing helpless guitars) would embarrass any organization with a capacity for shame; something the RCMP have so far proven incapable of.
A recent statement from the Mounties regarding its strategy of enforcing an injunction against the protest declares ignorance reading,
“To date, we are not aware that we have received official complaints from any arrested persons as it relates to enforcement in Fairy Creek.”
That disclaimer was dated August 19th, ten days after an ERT assault on the Fairy Creek camp coinciding with the first anniversary of the blockade. There’s been more to complain about since.
Jackie Larkin is an educator and facilitator, social justice strategic planner and health care advocate. She’s an active member of the environmental change movement and co-leader of ‘The Work That Reconnects‘, a “deep exploration of our emotional, spiritual and ecological connection to all life on Earth”. Jackie is also a member of Elders for Ancient Trees, allies in the effort to protect the forest and lands under threat at Fairy Creek.
Jackie Larkin and standing for the forest in the second half.
But first, David Swanson and stopping finally western attacks against Afghanistan.
Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, airing 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
Faerie tales always begin with a great wrong done. The evil deed, invariably committed by some grand Potentate or schemer to the throne often entail endungeoning a hero or heroine seen as a potential threat to power. What make Faerie tales different and apart from the tedious litany of yarns about injustice meted by the mighty upon the heads of the meek is that, more than being merely about crimes against the innocent, these universal and enduring stories detail the greater – and unforgivable – crime against innocence itself. Today this country, Canada is the villain in just such a grim story; but it’s no faerie tale, it’s the true-life case of Meng Wanzhou, held captive in Vancouver a thousand and more days.
Ken Stone is a long-time antiwar activist whose served as an executive member of both the Syria Solidarity Movement and Hamilton Coalition to Stop the War. Ken and the Hamilton Coalition joined forces with online investigative journalism site, The Canada Files and rank and file Canadians upset with the country’s legal traditions traduced in this case to pursue the nation-wide FREE MENG WANZHOU campaign. They say,
“… it’s clear to Justice Holmes as well as Justin Trudeau, his entire cabinet, and indeed the whole world, Meng Wanzhou has committed no crime…”
Ken Stone in the first half.
And; if Meng Wanzhou is an entowered princess-prisoner of a petty tyrant eager to please a larger monster, Alex Saab is a knight errant, mired in that monster’s own web of intrigue and mass murder. Saab was in the service of besieged Venezuela, en route to Iran, another nation similarly blockaded by America, when he was intercepted by Cape Verde authorities and thrown into prison there. More than a year later, Alex Saab sits still in that prison awaiting the local judiciary’s decision on his appeal of its acquiescence to extradition requests by the United States.
Joe Emersberger is a Canada-based engineer, writer, activist, and co-author with Justin Podur of the newly released book, ‘Extraordinary Threat: The US Empire, the Media and 20 Years of Coup Attempts in Venezuela‘. Emersberger’s articles, focusing on the Western media’s coverage of the Americas, can be found at FAIR.org, CounterPunch.org, TheCanary.co, Telesur English, and ZComm.org, where his recent piece, ‘Alex Saab, Afghanistan, and the limits of US power‘ appears.
Joe Emersberger on Alex Saab and the increasing diplomatic acceptance of American atrocity in the second half.
But first, Ken Stone and making an election issue of the odious Canadian case against Meng Wanzhou.
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
At month’s end, Ukrainian president and former teevee clown, Volodymyr Zelensky will visit Washington, doubtless in search of reassurance from long-time Kiev booster, Joe Biden. Zelensky’s position is particularly fragile now, as the U.S. has relented on its effort to halt Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline. That effectively puts an end to Ukraine’s strategic value as stumbling block between Russian gas and the lucrative European market.
But all this is cold comfort to those Ukrainians East and West suffering a “proxy” civil war dragging on into its seventh year.
Jeremy Kuzmarov is a journalist and author who serves too as Managing Editor of CovertAction Magazine. He’s the author of four books on U.S. foreign policy, including: ‘Obama’s Unending Wars’, and ‘The Russians Are Coming, Again’ co-authored with John Marciano. His latest piece at CovertAction, co-written with Steve Brown is, ‘Our Mission is to Lead the White Races of the World in a Final Crusade…Against Semite-led Untermenschen‘.
Jeremy Kuzmarov in the first half.
And; we in Canada, (and citizens throughout what was once called Western Democracy) are experiencing a political emergency. It is a crisis of trust: Trust in government, in corporations, in media; in fact a lack of faith across the spectrum of society. This apotheosis of incredulity is expressed in voter apathy, cynicism, and even resistance to public health information disseminated by government, media, and the corporate sector vital amidst a global pandemic.
No-one disagrees, unity of purpose is urgently required in this time of global calamity, but what’s to be done once belief is lost?
Aidan Jonah is Editor-in-Chief of The Canada Files, a web news site focusing on “Canadian imperialism, federal politics, and left-wing resistance to colonialism across the world.”
Aidan Jonah and the death and rebirth of Canadian journalism in the second half.
But first, Jeremy Kuzmarov and the next Nazi crusade finding purchase in Kiev.
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
