It seemed in the bag. Going into the second round of Ecuador’s presidential election all the smart money was on Correista and Union of Hope leader, Andres Arauz. Arauz had mopped the floor with his two major opponents in the first round, falling just short of outright victory. But, South America’s Pink Tide will have to wait a little longer, at least in Ecuador. Instead of continuing the socialist path that had raised living standards for the poorest, (interrupted only by class traitor, Lenin Moreno) now millionaire banker, and former Coca Cola executive, Guillermo Lasso will take the reins of power in May.
Ron Ridenour is a journalist, author, editor, and peace and social justice activist. The ex-pat American has lived and worked in Cuba, Nicaragua, and Bolivia and currently calls Denmark home. He’s worked too as a special correspondent and freelancer for numerous publications in Europe the US, and Latin America, and served as press aid to Bolivia’s president, Evo Morales and the governments of Cuba and Nicaragua.
Some of Ridenour’s many book titles include: ‘The Russian Peace Threat: Pentagon on Alert’, ‘Cuba: Revolution in Action’, and ‘Backfire: The CIA’s Biggest Burn’.
Ron’s articles also feature at numerous online sites, including on ThisCantBeHappening.net, and CovertAction Magazine, where his latest, ‘Ecuador’s New Socialist Party Set to Win Elections Despite U.S. Intervention and Deceptive Identity Politics‘ appears.
Ron Ridenour in the first half.
And; most Canadians take as granted the freedoms they have to be who they are and behave as they wish, (within the stricture of the law). But for some, enjoying the privilege of personal liberty is haunted by the knowledge there are others who must live in the shadows or face social exclusion, persecution, and even death.
Sean Horlor and Steve J. Adams are award-winning, Vancouver-based filmmakers whose new documentary, ‘Someone Like Me‘ follows the effort of a group of LGBTQ+ rights activists to sponsor and support a gay Ugandan man seeking asylum in Canada. Steve and Sean have more than twenty film collaborations behind them, and ‘Someone Like Me’, their first feature length doc, is an Official Selection for this year’s Hot Docs Festival.
Sean Horlor and Steve J. Adams, and fighting for the freedom to love fearlessly in the second half.
But first, Ron Ridenour and Ecuador’s election proving an ebb in South America’s resurgent Pink Tide.
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
Welcome back to Gorilla Radio’s Home Edition, recorded on the dates, April 11th/12th, 2021
China’s meteoric rise to the uppermost echelon of international affairs is but one of the signals of America’s declining global stature. Russia too is testing its influence, both on its borders and further afield. In the past few weeks, events in both the Baltic and east Asia offer evidence the country no longer feels constrained by the whim, wishes or wants of the United States and its “international community”.
In Myanmar, Russia has stepped in to quell U.S./ U.K efforts to use UN Security Council sanction and threats of intervention to bludgeon the military coup government there; and, in the Baltic the country’s relentless drive to finish the Nord Stream 2 pipeline marches on, despite being engaged in a bizarre cat and mouse game with an off-the-hook Polish fishing fleet who, in concert with the Polish military, seem intent on provoking an incident involving the nearly completed operation.
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’, ‘The Man Who Knows Too Much About Russia’, and his latest, ‘Hitler Didn’t Die in Berlin – He Moved to Melbourne Where He Runs the State Government of Victoria: A True Covid-19 Thriller’. His latest articles examine Russia’s foreign policy tightrope walk on the political knife’s edge in Myanmar and Europe.
And; despite Madrid’s state of denial, Spain’s separatist movement is alive and well and living in Catalonia. Regional elections in February maintained independence parties’ hold on a combined majority in the parliament there, while street protests that erupted in Barcelona and other towns following the arrest of popular rapper, Pablo Hásel serve as an unsubtle reminder to Pedro Sanchez’ federal coalition government just how tenuous its hold on the peace is.
Pablo Ouziel is a Postdoctoral fellow at the University of Victoria’s Political Science Department and Centre for Global Studies whose Fellowship Project at UVic, ‘Democracy Here and Now: The Exemplary Case of Spain’ was interrupted by the Covid-19 closure of the University. He currently resides in his native home, near Barcelona.
But first, John Helmer and RUSSIA AND MYANMAR – BALANCING ON A KNIFE’S EDGE.
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
Welcome back to Gorilla Radio’s Home Edition, recorded April 5th, 2021
The script parroted by those press outlets changed little from Afghanistan and Iraq, to Libya then Syria; the destruction of these societies was all for peace and betterment of the people.
But where those others fell, Syria remained standing. And so, the war goes on.
Mark Taliano is a retired teacher whose next career as researcher and investigative reporter led him to travel to Syria to discover for himself the truth behind the brutal war against the population there. The result of his 2016 dispatches from the country is the book, Voices from Syria, recently revised and reissued in a second edition.
And; terror isn’t always borne of bombs falling from the sky. There is too the existential fear of losing ones home due to a dysfunctional economic system. Call it a War on Poor. Right now, millions of Canadians live with the Damaclean prospect of failing to make rent or mortgage payments, or just being dispossessed by a landlord enticed into cashing out of the market by sky high property prices.
Leslie Robinson and Jeremy Brind are volunteer tenant organizers with VTAG, the Victoria Tenant Action Group, “a membership-based organization committed to transforming the housing system and ensuring access to housing for all”.
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
April 1, 2021
Dear Community, Our film is released today, alongside an injunction granted from the BC court to Teal Jones to enable the destruction of Fairy Creek's Ancient Forest.
