CLICK HERE to listen to this edition of Long Term Memory Radio, a special edition of Off The Hour.
Today on the show:
Angela Davis is an American political activist and university professor who was associated with the Black Panther Party for Self Defense and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.
Today, Davis continues to work for racial and gender equality, gay rights, and prison abolition and is a popular public speaker, nationally and internationally.
On October 1rst, she delivered a speech entitled “Media, Race and Power: The Case of Oscar Grant”.
CLICK HERE to listen to this edition of the program.
On October 23rd, activists from the Alliance Romaine returned to Montreal after completing a series of marathons spanning 1500-km across Quebec to raise awareness and political will in opposition to a hydroelectric project that they say will endanger the Romaine River in Northern Quebec.
We’ll hear an interview by Tom from CKUT’s Community News Collective with Chris Scott of the Alliance Romaine, who ran across Quebec as part of this campaign.
Also today on OFF THE HOUR: Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was forced into exile following a military coup in June. He staged a return to Honduras on September 21. Thousands of Hondurans defied the coup regime’s orders and gathered in front of the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa, where Zelaya was in refuge.
Steve Steward was in Honduras for several days in September. In this segment, we hear Steward’s interview with the Red-Eye show on Vancouver’s CFRO Radio.
But, first up: The McGill Daily student newspaper brings you their weekly roundup of audio reports from the McGill campus and beyond.
CLICK HERE to listen to the Friday, Nov. 13 edition of Off The Hour.
On this edition of the program, we’ll hear about the Vancouver based Pacific Rim mining corporation. In this segment, researcher and anti-mining activist William Castillo responds to questions about the National Coalition Against Mineral Mining, the challenges and succeses in the movement against mining, and what Canadians should know about Pacific Rim’s lawsuit against the Central American country El Salvador.
But, first we turn to global climate change. We’ll hear an interview with Jim Hoggan, who is co-founder of the blog DeSmogBlog.com and co-author of the new book Climate Cover-Up which uncovers the greed and selfishness of the climate change denial industry.
And as the world prepares for the Copenhagen climate summit in December, we will talk to Felix Von Geyer and Grace Barasso, who are actively
following the developments taking place around the world as nations try to come together next month to forge a new climate agreement to
replace the expiring Kyoto Protocol.
Check out today’s edition of Off The Hour, presented by The Avalanche — click here to download. (right-click and select “save link as” on some systems)
On today’s show the Avalanche discusses a play called “The Miracle Worker.” This broadway musical tells the story of Helen Keller, the famous writer, reformer and academic, who was born visually impaired and hard of hearing. However, the producers of the play did not select a disabled actor for the role of Helen. A theatre critic for the New York Times talked about this on CBC Radio lately — The Avalanche says he was dissing the people with disabilities. The Avalanche is joined by Diane Dupuy, founder of Famous People Players theatre, to discuss the topic.
We also listen to a clips from a show called Handi-Link, which is broadcast on CJAM radio in Windsor, Ontario. Handy-Link’s host Cam Wells speaks with Tracy Walters, National Director of Independent Living Canada.
But first up on the show : Best Buddies is an organization that helps to find companions for people with disabilities. Stefan spoke to members of Best Buddies chapter in and around Montreal.
Listen to today’s edition of Off The Hour, news from CKUT’s Community News Collective. Click here to download (on some systems, you may need to right-click and then select “Save Link As…”)
Featured on today’s episode:
-The latest from the McGill Daily newspaper, with their weekly feature, Unfit to Print.
-Groundwire: grassroots coverage of local stories and progressive perspectives on national and international issues. Groundwire is a project of the National Campus and Community Radio Association.
-Discussion of open pit mining by Canadian companies in Mexico.
-caravane collectif Dignidad Migrante, en coalition avec le Centre
des Travailleurs et Travailleuses Immigrant(e)s pour Noe Artegas Santos. M. Santos, employé dans une serre Savoura comme travailleur agricole temporaire a été rapatrié pour avoir dénoncé les abus de droits humains et non-respect du contrat de travail par son employeur et le syndicat. Il dénonce les conditions injustes du contrat, premier d’une longue série dee travailleurs et travailleuses rapatriÉes a revenir pour défendre ses droit et sa dignité
CKUT’s Laurin Liu spoke with Sandra Cuffe on Wednesday.
Sandra Cuffe is an activist working with Rights Action in Honduras, accompanying community-based organizations and working on human rights and global issues.
Jan Gehl, Danish professor, architect, urban designer, and consultant spoke at McGill University on the topic of livable cities at a talk put together by Montreal’s Urban Ecology Centre. The inspiring talk focused on creating high quality urban public spaces by prioritizing people, specifically pedestrians and cyclists over cars in city centres. Drawing from his long career of experience in cities all over the world, including his home city of Copenhagen, in London, New York, Melbourne and others, Gehl illustrated how gradual, incremental improvements are central to creating people cities.
His ‘one stone, five bird’ policy seeks to prioritize people and thereby make cities more lively, more attractive, safer, more sustainable, and healthier. According to Gehl, the key, on the political side, is data, namely systematic documentation of urban spaces, gradual improvements, and documentation of results. This empowers decision-makers to move forward on policies to make cities ever-more people-friendly. On the side of public use and involvement, Gehl says the key is quality and to make spaces inviting, obvious, and irresistible for walking and cycling. Discussion of the talk on CKUT and the full lecture audio is available below.
The full introduction, lecture, and question period is posted here in the first audio player below. The discussion on CKUT’s Ecolibrium is available on the second player below and was broadcast on Tuesday, July 7, 2009.
The Mohawk territory of Akwesasne straddles the jurisdictions of Ontario, Quebec and New York State. As a result, Akwesasne is a major international border crossing between Canada and the United States.
Canadian Borders Services Agency guards began arming in 2007, and there are currently more than 800 armed Canadian Borders Services Agency guards across Canada. The entire Canadian Borders Services Agency is to be armed, in stages, by 2016. The Canadian Borders Services Agency announced that their agents at the Port of Cornwall would be armed by June 1 of this year.
According to Mohawk Nation News, a Mohawk Band Council resolution forbids guns at the border. In the Mohawk territory of Akwesasne, local residents have protested for months against the arming of Canadian Borders Services Agency guards on their land.
As of June 1st, the customs at the Canadian border’s port of entry has been abandoned. Earlier this week, Cornwall city cops and NYS police shut down the border. According to residents of Akwesasne, CBSA border agents abandoned their posts just before midnight, out of fear of reprisals from the community.
To get some perspective on the issue, CKUT spoke with Sakoietah, member of the Warrior’s Society, Brendan White, Sandra Cuffe of the Dominion and 11-year-old Karoniate (Galunyadeh) during the week.
This audio aired on the Friday, June 5th edition of CKUT.
Updates:
- Seaway International Bridge, on the Mohawk territory of Akwesasne, remains closed
- Akwesasne community still not allowed full free movement on their own territory
- Tyendinaga Mohawks shut down Skyway Bridge in support of Akwesasne without sanction of the Tyendinaga Mohawk Council
- Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan states that permanently “moving the border crossing off the Akwesasne reserve” is an option
Above: Riot police deployed throughout Point Saint-Charles
Above: Riot police enter abandoned church occupied by squatters following first eviction
Above: Residents of Point Saint-Charles speak to CKUT about the ASC/CSA and the police intervention that took place Saturday
Last Saturday afternoon, riot police used clubs and pepper spray to evict squatters from two buildings in the Point Saint Charles neighbourhood.
The first building was once home to a candle factory, but it is now abandoned and slated for demolition.
Developers plan to build condominiums on the site, but activists have other ideas.
The organizers of the Autonomous Social Centre (ASC) attempted to squat the building and establish it as community hub last week.
Spokespeople for the ASC, who declared themselves anticapitalist and non-hierarchical in organization, said the social centre would include a housing project, an independent media centre, and a bike repair workshop, among other projects.
Last Friday — just one day before police shut down the ASC — hundreds of people gathered in Point Saint Charles to march in support of the building’s occupation.
Above: Supporters of the ASC address crowd of hundreds at rally
“We have occupied this building because we lack adequate and accessible spaces and infrastructure and autonomous social projects…because PSC is on the front-lines of gentrification, because we have no other means to get what we need, what we want in this authoritarian society,” a spokesperson said, as squatters draped a banner reading “Liberated Space” on the former factory.
The squatters have been building support in the neighbourhood over the past two years by organizing services including a communal bike network.
But this didn’t prevent riot police from forcing the activists out of the building on the day of its official opening to the public.
Immediately following the eviction, the squatters marched through the neighbourhood with demonstrators who had assembled for an emergency show of support.
They attempted to occupy a second building — an abandoned church — before police, who were deployed throughout the neighbourhood, once again dispersed them with pepper spray and clubs.
A long-time resident of Point Saint Charles who identified herself as Anik gave CKUT an eye-witness account of events that took place Saturday afternoon.
“What happened is that the squad came up and a fifteen year old was standing on his bike and they came up with the shield to make him move and they hit him in the face… and I guess his nose was broken ’cause he was bleedling heavily”
A spokesperson for the ASC told CKUT on Saturday that organizers were disappointed by the immediate shut-down of the squat.
She added that “the project is not dead,” but declined to offer details about the plans of ASC organizers.
MONTREAL – People from disparate corners of the globe – from Papua New Guinea to Quebec – say that Canadian mining companies are destroying the social and ecological fabric of their communities.
They gathered at Mont Royal Park on Monday to stake a claim and develop an open pit mine for a mock company called Royal Or.
“We’re not your daddy’s mining company,” said activist and actor Jason McLean.
Hear the exuberant McLean as he hammers the first spike:
Above: Jason McLean and the Royal Or surveying team get ready for their big dig.
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Along with Royal Or’s costumed survey team were representatives from communities around the world impacted by Canadian mines.
Jethro Tulin is a representative of the Akali Tange Association, a human rights group based in the Porgera district of Papua New Guinea (PNG).
He spoke to CKUT at the protest:
Tulin (above) says the Portega mine has “destroyed our land, our water, our safety and our ability to feed ourselves.”
His visit to Canada coincided with an announcement by Amnesty International that violent evictions are taking place in PNG with the complicity of the Toronto-based Barrick Gold Corporation.
Barrick’s Porgera operation recently came under fire from the ethics board of Norway’s pension fund, which said the company was causing “severe environmental damage” in the area.
PNG police have reportedly burned down the homes of three hundred indigenous villagers in the area around Porgera mine in an ongoing campaign of violence.
Tulin said that security officials employed by Barrick are participating in the violent evictions.
In a press release dated May 11, Amnesty International stated that “these evictions were carried out in breach of international law, without giving prior and adequate notice, and without consultation with those affected. The families have not been provided with any alternative accommodation.”
The human rights watchdog is calling on Canada to insist that Barrick uphold an agreement known as the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights.
This set of principles states that “force should be used only when strictly necessary and to an extent proportional to the threat.”
Barrick is the largest producer of gold in the world. Its global operations have met with resistance from people who say that the company is responsible for the violent repression of locals and the destruction of local economies and ecosystems.
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Jean Moise Djoli, from the Congolese Lawyers in Canada group, said that the Anvil Mining company – which is headquartered in Montreal and Perth, Australia – has provided guns to the military of the war-ravaged Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to kill and displace civilians for mineral exploitation.
Hear Djoli in his own words:
Djoli (above) says that the Montreal-based Anvil Mining company has helped the DRC’s military to kill civilians.
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Montrealers will not find Royal Or drilling and blasting for gold in the playground of this Canadian metropolis any time soon.
McGill student and protest organizer Cleve Higgins told CKUT that after activists made an application with the province to mine Mont Royal for gold, the park suddenly became formally protected from the claims of potential developers.
Activists are calling for increased accountability of mining corporations through a number of measures, including the passage of bill C-300, which is based on recommendations from a consultation process between government, industry and civil society.
This “round table” process produced recommendations including the establishment of an ombudsperson’s office that would be responsible for dealing with complaints from abroad about Canadian mining companies.
However, such recommendations that have so far been ignored by the federal Conservative government under Stephen Harper.
Higgins explained some of the ways that activists worldwide are working to hold Canadian mining companies accountable for their activities.
Note: For the past few weeks, the CKUT server has been down. Archives are currently not available for download from www.ckut.ca. Please stand by; we’re working hard to fix the problem.
Canada / US – Plans for new pollution control zones for coastal ports
Canada – British MP Galloway banned from entry on grounds of “national security”;
Canada – Censorship and government compliance: Galloway speaks over Internet stream instead // 1952: Paul Robeson’s speech
INTERNATIONAL:
Europe – 60th NATO summit this week; Peace activists organize to protest
Israel – Israeli military’s lawyer calls soldier misconduct “based on hearsay”
Middle East/Africa – Arab League rejects decision of International Criminal Court, supporting Sudanese Pres. Omar El-Bashir
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Hosted by the NCRA: http://ncra.ca/exchange/dspProgramDetail.cfm?programID=82787
Thanks this week to our friends at the Dominion, and our contributors: Fabrice Fotso, Caitlyn Chappel, Anabel Khoo, Laura Glowacki, Chris Albinati, Laurin Liu, David Koch, TJ Khan and Juniper Belshaw of the CKUT Community News Collective.
If you rebroadcast, or have comments/questions/feedback, please contact headlines@ckut.ca
Montreal – Community-based education initiatives offer another season of alternative learning
NATIONAL:
Alberta – Canada’s first private nuclear power generator proposed site faces criticism
Canada – Three Billion $ stimulus package approved in House of Commons
Canada – Government trying to re-impose conditions on Adil Charkaoui
INTERNATIONAL:
Istanbul – Fifth annual World Water Forum and international criticism
Malawi – World Tuberculosis Day and Malawi’s National TB Control Program
Afghanistan – Five more deaths from suspected US airstrikes on Pakistan/Afghan border
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Hosted by Indymedia Radio: http://radio.indymedia.org/en/node/17220
If rebroadcasted, comments/feedback/questions please contact: headlines@ckut.ca
Thanks this week to our friends at the Dominion, and our contributors Laura Glowacki, Juniper Belshaw, Brodie Macrae, Caitlyn Chapell, and Faberice of the CKUT Community News Collective.
