CKUT's news collective blog

January 2008: No One Is Illegal Radio

ckutnews — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 17:49:35 +0000

No One Is Illegal Radio reports about the frontline struggles for justice, dignity and self-determination by migrants, refugees and indigenous peoples. On this month’s edition of No One Is Illegal Radio:

– Supporting migrants at the US-Mexico border: interviews with activists and reporters: Brenda Norrell (Tuscon, Arizona), Mike Wilson (member of the Tohono O’odham nation) and Jay Johnson-Castro (Del Rio, Texas)

AND

– “Smuggling, trafficking and open borders”; an interview with activist and scholar Nandita Sharma, author of “Home Economics: Nationalism and the Making of “Migrant Workers” in Canada”

No One Is Illegal Radio — 2007 Archive; 2008 Re-broadcasts

ckutnews — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 08:31:16 +0000

No One Is Illegal Radio broadcasts live on the first Thursday of every month, from 5-6pm (EST), as part of “Off the Hour”, produced in collaboration with the commnunity news collective at CKUT. We’re at 90.3 FM in Montreal, and www.ckut.ca on the web. Our show is also uploaded every month, with bonus audio and extended interviews; updates at http://nooneisillegal-montreal.blogspot.com

Starting in January 2008, No One Is Illegal Radio will also be part of the Rabble Podcast Network: http://www.rabble.ca/rpn

–> If you are interested in re-broadcasting our programs or interviews, please get in touch at nooneisillegal@gmail.com … Community and alternative stations across North America re-broadcast excerpts of No One Is Illegal Radio monthly. <–

–> No One Is Illegal Radio’s 2007 shows are archived HERE.

In 2007, No One Is Illegal Radio heard from indigenous activists and organizers from the Mohawk communities of Akwesasne, Tyendinaga & Kahnawake, from the Grand River Territory of Six Nations, the Ardoch Algonquin nation, the Anishnabe Ojibway nation, the Ts’mkiyen nation, the Kwakwaka’wakw nation, the Tohono O’odham nation, as well as from Aotearoa. We spoke with activists in Oslo, Seoul and Whanganui, as well as from allies in Houston, San Diego, New Bedford, Jersey City, New York, Vancouver, Toronto and Ottawa. We also covered local anti-border, migrant justice organizing in Montreal.

Topics covered on our 2007 shows include:

* the struggle at Six Nations * hunger strike at Guantanamo North * the Buffalo Federal Detention Facility * indigenous resistance at the US-Canadian border * migrant resistance to the “War on Terror” * the People’s Commission into Immigration “Security” Measures * the land reclamation at the Culberston Tract * ICE raids of migrant workers in Massachusetts * Justice for Anas Bennis, killed by the Montreal police * Mayday immigrant justice protests in the USA * the San Franciso 8 * the Secret Trial Five * Canada’s emerging Prison Industrial Complex * anti-colonial grassroots resistance to the Olympics in Vancouver/Whistler * anti-detention protests at the Houston Detention Center * June 29 Indigenous Day of Action * anti-Canada Day actions on July 1 * Afghan refugees refuse forcible removal from Norway * the Algonquins of Sharbot Lake resist uranium mining * Community Assembly against the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) * Benamar Benatta: Canada’s first 9/11 rendition to torture * Shawn Brant on the struggle at Tyendinaga * a tribute to Patricia Perez of the Migrant Workers Support Center * the legacy of Bhagat Singh * grandmother arrested by the CBSA for accompanying refugees * arrests and raids of indigenous Maori activists and allies in Aotearoa * the Gathering of the Indigenous People of the Americas in Vicam * the No Borders Camp at Calexico/Mexicali * indigenous resistance to the US-Mexico Border Wall * crackdown on migrant workers in South Korea * “Hurray for Herouxville!” *

–> No One Is Illegal Radio’s 2007 shows are archived HERE.

No One Is Illegal-Montreal is part of a worldwide movement of resistance, fighting for justice and dignity, and the right to self-determination for migrants, refugees and indigenous people. Our campaign is in public confrontation with the Canadian state, denouncing and taking action to combat racial profiling, police brutality, detentions and deportations, exploitation and wage-slave conditions, as well as opposing the displacement and genocide of indigenous peoples on Turtle Island.

INFO: 514-848-7583 — nooneisillegal@gmail.com

Dec 11th - Dec 20th: Off the Hour/En profondeur (CKUT 90.3fm / www.ckut.ca)

ckutnews — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 21:33:20 +0000

Tuesday [http://secure.ckut.ca/64/20071211.17.00-18.00.mp3]

-Deportation Stopped at Vancouver International Airport

-Commando Bouffe Sound Collage

-Report from Vigil for Mohamed Anas Bennis

-Tasers as used by the Police (Redeye from CO-OP)

Wednesday with The Avalanche [http://secure.ckut.ca/64/20071212.17.00-18.00.mp3]

-Holiday Special

-Review of O’Noir (restaurant that employs people living with blindness: http://www.onoir.com/)

-Avatil Choir

Thursday Prison Radio [http://secure.ckut.ca/64/20071213.17.00-18.00.mp3]

-Free the Cuban 5 (live report)

-Mumia Abu Jamal (on the CIA, Obama, and False History)

-Street Youth on Prison

-Gord Hill, Native Youth Movement

Friday [http://secure.ckut.ca/64/20071214.17.00-18.00.mp3]

-Critical Mass Sound Track

-Participatory Economics and You with Michael Albert

Lundi En profondeur [http://secure.ckut.ca/64/20071217.17.00-18.00.mp3]

-Jen Cleman from Stella on the Day Opposed to Violence Against Sex Workers

-Benoit Perron Secret Police in Quebec (1949-1980)

-Contre de Taser March in Montreal

Tuesday [http://secure.ckut.ca/64/20071218.17.00-18.00.mp3]

-Blocking Bulldozers in New Orleans (an experiment in DJing the News)

-Community Convergence on Racism and Reasonable Accommodation

-Street Radio

Wednesday with The Avalanche [http://secure.ckut.ca/64/20071219.17.00-18.00.mp3]

PART ONE of a NEW DOCUMENTARY. Stay tuned to CKUT Radio as we break open a new chapter on the naming of genocide. We’ll be joined by academics, authors, and survivors to reflect on the following three topics: PART ONE Genocide: What’s in a Name?, PART TWO Untold Stories: The North American Holocaust and Genocide in Palestine, and PART THREE Taking on Genocide: The Will to Act.

Thursday Labour Radio [http://secure.ckut.ca/64/20071220.17.00-18.00.mp3]

-Marc Clement, former solider, on working for the Canadian Army

-David Thompson on discrimination in the workplace for those living with HIV/AIDS

Friday [http://secure.ckut.ca/64/20071221.17.00-18.00.mp3]

-Radio Sanctuary on life in Point Saint Charles (Montreal) and Gaza (Palestine)

Dec 4th - Dec 10th: This week on Off the Hour/En profondeur

ckutnews — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 20:39:04 +0000

Over the last week, Off the Hour/En profondeur, CKUT’s Community News Program has aired:

Lundi En profondeur [http://secure.ckut.ca/64/20071210.17.00-18.00.mp3]
-Venezuela Referendum
-More on the Commando Bouffe
-the extradition of John Graham

Tuesday [http://secure.ckut.ca/64/20071204.17.00-18.00.mp3]
-Live update from the Commando Bouffe
-A Women’s View of the Emergency in Pakistan
-Public Service Journalism in Post-Communist Countries
-Homeless Radio: The State of Emergency

Wednesday with The Avalanche
[http://secure.ckut.ca/64/20071205.17.00-18.00.mp3]
-Media Democracy and Community Radio

Thursday No One is Illegal Radio
[http://www.radio4all.net/proginfo.php?id=25741]
-Indigenous resistance to the US-Mexico Border Wall
-Crackdown on migrant workers in South Korea
-”Hurray for Herouxville!”

Friday [http://secure.ckut.ca/64/20071207.17.00-18.00.mp3]
-A SPECIAL gendered view of violence. In commemoration of the Montreal Massacre and in the lead up to the International Day Opposed to Violence Against Sex Workers, this edition features a discussion about violence as it affects the lives of women, trans gendered people and sex workers. Includes perspectives from INCITE women of colour against violence, Prostitution Alternatives Counseling and Education, and Montreal’s own Stella.

Off the Hour (Nov. 27th - Dec. 3rd, 2007)

ckutnews — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 00:35:38 +0000

Over the last week, Off the Hour, CKUT’s Community News Program has aired:

Lundi - En Profondeur [http://secure.ckut.ca/64/20071203.17.00-18.00.mp3]
-A Preview of the Commando-bouffe Action with the Comité des sans-emploi and OCAP
-More on the Unreasonable Debate around Reasonable Accommodation

Tuesday [http://secure.ckut.ca/64/20071127.17.00-18.00.mp3]
-Conflict in Somalia Part 1, with Omar Omar, Somali-Canadian Diaspora Alliance
-World AIDS Day Preview

Wednesday with The Avalanche
[http://secure.ckut.ca/64/20071128.17.00-18.00.mp3]
-CRTC and Community Radio

Thursday Haiti Action Montreal Radio [http://secure.ckut.ca/64/20071129.17.00-18.00.mp3]
-Sex scandal involving Sri Lankan Peace Keepers
-Haitians in the Dominican Republic

Friday [http://secure.ckut.ca/64/20071130.17.00-18.00.mp3]
-Conflict in Somalia Part 2, with Omar Omar, Somali-Canadian Diaspora Alliance
-A view of AIDS from a front line worker in Montreal
-Report back from picket outside of the Not-so Reasonable Accommodation Hearings in Montreal

« OFF THE HOUR » is corporate-free news zone that reflects our community
because it is made by our community. Airing weekdays on 90.3fm in
Montreal from 5p.m. to 6p.m., the show is produced by the station’s
Community News Collective, which is made up of CKUT volunteers and
representatives from a number of community groups. We archive our
programs, contact us to find out more: 514.448.4041 x6788 or
news@ckut.ca …

L’émission « OFF THE HOUR » du Lundi au Vendredi, de 17h à 18h, est
notre rendez-vous quotidien avec l’actualité. L’équipe de l’émission est
composée de bénévoles de la station et de représentants de groupes
communautaires divers. Nos émissions sont archivées et vous pouvez nous
contacter pour savoir comment obtenir une copie : 514.448.4041 x6788 or
news@ckut.ca.

OTH Archive from Nov. 19 - Nov. 23, 2007

ckutnews — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 18:18:39 +0000

Over the last week, Off the Hour, CKUT’s Community News Program has aired:

Lundi - En Profondeur [http://secure.ckut.ca/64/20071119.17.00-18.00.mp3]
- A review of the Mainstream Media on the Strike
- Inside the Student Strike (a round table)

Tuesday [http://secure.ckut.ca/64/20071120.17.00-18.00.mp3]
- McGill Daily chimes in on Student Strikes
- No Borders MTL, report back from the Laval Immigration Prevention Centre
- Buy Nothing Day Celebration and Events Preview

Wednesday with The Avalanche [http://secure.ckut.ca/64/20071121.17.00-18.00.mp3]
- Women in Community Radio

Thursday [http://secure.ckut.ca/64/20071122.17.00-18.00.mp3]
- Tar Sands Presentation by The Dominion

Friday [http://secure.ckut.ca/64/20071123.17.00-18.00.mp3]
-Food and Development, a critique of the World Bank Annual Development Report, which this year focused on Agriculture
-A view of the Emergency in Pakistan from Dictatorship Watch
-Interviews from Dans la rue

Over the last week, Off the Hour, CKUT’s Community News Program has aired:

ckutnews — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 22:27:23 +0000

Lundi - En Profondeur [http://secure.ckut.ca/64/20071112.17.00-18.00.mp3]

- Breakfast at the Borders a final radio doc from the No Borders Camp

- Movement Action Justice

- UQAM Student Rise Up in Quebec to Freeze Tuition

- Interview with UQAM Professor on Squatting in Quebec

Tuesday [http://secure.ckut.ca/64/20071113.17.00-18.00.mp3]

- A Pledge of Resistance On the Eve of the Battle for New Orleans

- ReDefining Media Democracy and CKUT (documentary)

- Homeless Radio (New Segment) on Squatting in Montreal

Wednesday with The Avalanche

[http://www.ncra.ca/business/admin_ncra/progex/programFiles/53/20071114oth20yrsCKUT.mp3]

- Interview with CRTC on Campus Community Radio

- Plus Mystery Callers (a game show featuring voices from the past)

Thursday with Labour Radio [http://secure.ckut.ca/64/20071115.17.00-18.00.mp3]

- SPCA Layoffs

- Feature on Childcare Workers and Collectives

<>Friday [http://secure.ckut.ca/64/20071116.17.00-18.00.mp3]

<>- Radio Sanctuary featuring Head and Hands, 2110, and Apartheid from Israel to Canada.

Over the last week, Off the Hour, CKUT’s Community News Program has aired …

ckutnews — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 22:18:58 +0000

OFF THE HOUR is corporate-free news zone that reflects our community because it is made by our community. Airing weekdays on 90.3fm in Montreal from 5p.m. to 6p.m., the show is produced by the station’s Community News Collective, which is made up of CKUT volunteers and representatives from a number of community groups. We archive our programs, contact us to find out more: 514.448.4041 x6788 or news@ckut.ca … L’émission OFF THE HOUR du Lundi au Vendredi, de 17h à 18h, est notre rendez-vous quotidien avec l’actualité. L’équipe de l’émission est composée de bénévoles de la station et de représentants de groupes communautaires divers. Nos émissions sont archivées et vous pouvez nous contacter pour savoir comment obtenir une copie : 514.448.4041 x6788 or news@ckut.ca.

Over the last week, Off the Hour, CKUT’s Community News Program has aired:

Friday [http://secure.ckut.ca/64/20071102.17.00-18.00.mp3]
- An interview with Boustan’s (an organization seeking to cultivate sustainable communities in the Negev desert among the Bedouin villages in southern Israel)
- Wolverine & Mindy from the Continental Indigenous Encuentro
- RAPSIM (an advocacy group for the homeless, on the conference the are holding on the use of public spaces by Montreal’s poor)

Lundi - En Profondeur [http://secure.ckut.ca/64/20071105.17.00-18.00.mp3]
- Afghanistan Encore
- Mobilzation Etudiante
- Itineranance avec RAPSIM et plus
- Sonic Borders a short radio doc from the No Borders Camp

Tuesday [http://secure.ckut.ca/64/20071106.17.00-18.00.mp3]
- McGill Daily Segment (Muslim Prayer Space on Campus & GA on Student Strike)
- Montreal Police Taser a St. Michel Man to Death and Get Away with It
- OCAP on Police Cameras in Poor Neighborhoods
- Roger Annis on the Military Occupation of Haiti
- Sonic Borders a short radio doc from the No Borders Camp

Wednesday with The Avalanche [http://secure.ckut.ca/64/20071107.17.00-18.00.mp3]
- Human Rights Journalism (Mostafa Henaway, Dexter X, Jooneed Khan, and Danielle Holyk)
- Live interview from No Borders Camp with Seth Porcello

Thursday with Prison Radio [http://secure.ckut.ca/64/20071108.17.00-18.00.mp3]
- No Border Camp Montréal: Poya and Arash on Prison Radio
- Montreal Police Taser a St. Michel Man to Death and Get Away with It
- Plus Live Broadcast from No Borders Camp in California/Mexico

Friday [http://secure.ckut.ca/64/20071109.17.00-18.00.mp3]
- John Pilger on 5-Decades of Journalism from the Margins, his Canadian Tour, and more
- Youth In Motion on Life in Little Burgundy and What the Mainstream Media is Missing
- Audio Live from the No Borders Camp in California/Mexico

(audio available) Redefining Media: Media Democracy and Community Radio

ckutnews — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 17:56:01 +0000

Redefining Media: Media Democracy and Community Radio
A CKUT 20th Anniversary Event
!! AUDIO NOW AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD !!
In celebration of Media Democracy Day on October 18th, CKUT hosted its
first annual media conference from October 19th to 21st, 2007. The goal
of this conference was to provide participants with a critical
understanding of media democracy, diversity and representation in the
media. It will focus primarily on community radio and the ways in which
it can be used to provide the public with clear, accurate, and
representational viewpoints and information, while actively combating
stereotyping according to race, gender, ethnicity and other factors.
For panel and workshop descriptions, speaker bios, and locations, visit:
http://www.ckut.ca/redefiningmedia.php
SCROLL BELOW FOR AUDIO LINKS or VISIT RADIO4ALL.NET AT:
PART 1: http://www.radio4all.net/proginfo.php?id=25198
PART 2: http://www.radio4all.net/proginfo.php?id=25214
!! AUDIO LINKS !!
KEYNOTE: Amy Goodman
http://www.radio4all.net/proginfo.php?id=25198
Presentation by Amy Goodman, host and producer of the award-winning,
New-York based independent news program, Democracy Now!
Part 1
http://www.radio4all.net/pub/files/newsnet@ckut.ca/1193-1-20071023-oct192007amygoodman1.mp3
Part 2
http://www.radio4all.net/pub/files/newsnet@ckut.ca/1193-1-20071023-oct192007amygoodman2.mp3
—
Canadian Media and The War on Terror
http://www.radio4all.net/proginfo.php?id=25198
Arshad Khan
Arshad Khan was born in Pakistan. Growing up in a creative and artistic
family, he took keen interest in visual arts and making home movies. At
sixteen he migrated to Canada with his family. At the turn of this century
he was a student at Ryerson University architecture school. After 9/11, he
became a peace activist. On 14th August 2003, the 56th independence day of
Pakistan, the newspaper headlines screamed of a terror cell in Toronto of
all places. The RCMP’s (Canadian Police) terror sweep was labelled Project
Thread. Arshad joined an activist group in Toronto called Project
Threadbare that came together in response to the arrests, once it was
clear that those arrests were made under wrong implications. The Muslim
and Pakistani community wanted nothing to do with the Project Thread
victims, due to the taint of terrorism attached to them. Arshad dropped
out of architecture school, bought the cheapest mini DV camera he could
find and set out to help get Project Thread’s 21-25 victims out of jail.
Over the next few months, along with Project Threadbare, he helped Project
Thread victims and tried to find justice for them. He taught himself film
editing and tried to capture the struggle of the Project Thread victims on
tape as best as possible. “Threadbare” is his first feature documentary.
http://www.radio4all.net/pub/files/newsnet@ckut.ca/1193-3-20071024-WarOnTerror1arshad.mp3
Stefan Christoff
Stefan Christoff is an independent journalist and social activist based in
Montreal. He has worked extensively in Canada and internationally,
reporting on a wide spectrum of social, economic and political issues.
Christoff is a member of Tadamon! Montreal and is deeply involved in
struggles for social and economic justice in Montreal, throughout Canada
and internationally.
http://www.radio4all.net/pub/files/newsnet@ckut.ca/1193-3-20071024-WarOnTerror2stefan.mp3
Sameer Zuberi, CAIR
Sameer Zuberi is the Communications and Human Rights Coordinator at the
Canadian Council on America-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CAN), a national civil
liberties organization headquartered in Ottawa, working in the areas of
media relations, human rights and political advocacy. Between 2002 and
2005 Sameer was involved in dozens of Montreal-based grassroots campaigns.
While studying Mathematics at Concordia University, he served two terms as
a member of the Concordia Student Union Executive. Sameer is currently
pursuing graduate studies at Concordia’s School of Community and Public
Affairs.
http://www.radio4all.net/pub/files/newsnet@ckut.ca/1193-3-20071024-WarOnTerror3sameer.mp3
—
Anti-Oppression and Community Radio
http://www.radio4all.net/proginfo.php?id=25198
Liam Michaud O’Grady, Prison Radio
Liam Michaud O’Grady has been doing radio work with CKUT for less than a
year - this time has been spent contributing to and producing Prison
Radio, and trying to negotiate a working idea of solidarity reporting in
this context. Liam is involved with Open Door Books/Books to Prisoners and
a Queer and Trans Prisoner Solidarity Project.
Sharmeen Khan
Sharmeen Khan is a graduate student in Communications and Culture at York
University. She is also on the Editorial Collective of Upping the Anti: A
Journal of Theory and Action. She has volunteered and worked in community
radio for the past eight years, most recently as the Volunteer Coordinator
at CHRY 105.5FM at York University. She has been facilitating
anti-oppression workshops for the past eight years and worked on the
Women’s Hands and Voices Project for the NCRA.
Grimy, Street Radio
Grimy has facilitated Street Radio for one year. It is podcasted on
HomelessNation.org and aired on CKUT. The program is produced in the
streets and aims to put radio equipment in the hands of street youth.
http://www.radio4all.net/pub/files/newsnet@ckut.ca/1193-2-20071024-antioppression.mp3
—
Community Radio Around the Globe
http://www.radio4all.net/proginfo.php?id=25214
Seth Porcello, CKUT
Seth Porcello is an independent journalist, CKUT DJ, and auditory dumpster
diver. He recently returned from an 8 month stay in Panama where he worked
in an indigenous community in the province of Darien, teaching Audacity,
facilitating workshops in sound recording, and building the first digital
audio editing studio for cassettes in the province. During the summer of
2006, Seth spent 4 months in Palestine where he worked with the
International Middle East Media Center as a News Editor. During this time
he also produced a series of radio documentaries on life under Israeli
occupation, one of which won the Nation Campus and Community Association’s
Best Documentary 2007 Award.
http://www.radio4all.net/pub/files/newsnet@ckut.ca/1193-1-20071024-CommRadioAroundWorld1seth.mp3
Roberto Nieto
Roberto Nieto has been a media activist since 1996. He has been involved
in several community radio stations around montreal and has also
collaborated with the world association of community radio stations
(amarc) in various radio events around the world. In 2001, he was also
involved as an activist in the anti-capitalist mobilization around the
summit of the americas in quebec city and more recently he has worked with
migrant workers to produced a weekly radio show informing them about their
rights.
http://www.radio4all.net/pub/files/newsnet@ckut.ca/1193-1-20071024-CommRadioAroundWorld4roberto.mp3
Nithya Vijayakumar, CKUT
Nithya Vijayakumar is an undergraduate student at McGill University in
Political Science and Geography (Urban Systems). She has been working at
CKUT-Radio since 2005 and is currently the Chair of the Bord of Directors.
She is interested in community radio as a tool for civic participation and
went to South India this summer to visit community radio initiatives
there.
http://www.radio4all.net/pub/files/newsnet@ckut.ca/1193-1-20071024-CommRadioAroundWorld2nithya.mp3
Evan Light, AMARC
Evan Light started participating in community radio in the Pine Barrens of
New Jersey in 1993 and is currently a member of the board of directors of
the National Campus and Community Radio Association (NCRA) and a longtime
volunteer at CKUT Radio in Montreal. He has worked extensively with the
World Association of Community Broadcasters (AMARC), most recently
participating in the development of the first world standard for community
broadcasting policy. Evan is currently a doctoral student in
communications at Universite du Quebec a Montreal where his research
examines the intersections of democracy, alternative media and
communication policy.
http://www.radio4all.net/pub/files/newsnet@ckut.ca/1193-1-20071024-CommRadioAroundWorld3evan.mp3
—
Indigenous Radio
http://www.radio4all.net/proginfo.php?id=25214
Irkar Beljaars
Irkar Beljaars a Metis from Montreal who has been working at CKUT 90.3FM
as a journalist and producer of Native Solidarity News (NSN) for about two
and a half years. Besides NSN, Irkar has been part of CKUT’s Homelessness
Marathon, helped to organize the Day of Action in Montreal and organized
The Sisters in Spirit Vigil which took place in Montreal on October 4th.
Stuart Myiow
Stuart Myiow is a representative from the Mohawk Traditional Council of
Kahnawake. He also programs a weekly internet radio program based on
events happening within his community and nation.
http://www.radio4all.net/pub/files/newsnet@ckut.ca/1193-2-20071025-indigenousradio.mp3
—
Women in Community Radio
http://www.radio4all.net/proginfo.php?id=25214
Rose Marie Whalley, CKUT
Rose Marie Whalley is a grassroots social activist who has lived in
Montreal since 1971. About 20 years ago, driven by the Montreal cold, she
sought refuge in the warm studio of a local community radio station.
Interested in developing radio from a feminist perspective, Rose Marie is
a founding member of CKUT’s Older Women Live (OWL) collective. She is also
a long-time member of Canadian Voice of Women for Peace and a retired
teacher.
Sharmeen Khan
Sharmeen Khan is a graduate student in Communications and Culture at York
University. She is also on the Editorial Collective of Upping the Anti: A
Journal of Theory and Action. She has volunteered and worked in community
radio for the past eight years, most recently as the Volunteer Coordinator
at CHRY 105.5FM at York University. She has been facilitating
anti-oppression workshops for the past eight years and worked on the
Women’s Hands and Voices Project for the NCRA.
Angie Wilson, CKUT
Angela Wilson is a PhD candidate in Communication Studies at Concordia
University. She studies gender, sexual identity, cultural production,
alternative media, popular music, and the political potential of music and
youth subcultures. As part of the Venus Collective, Angela is a host of a
weekly radio program on CKUT 90.3 FM showcasing independent female
musicians. With the rest of the Collective, Angela can also be found DJing
and choreographing your wine and cheese or your dance party–she’ll be the
one mixing Crass and Irma Thomas by way of the Slits and Wanda Jackson.
http://www.radio4all.net/pub/files/newsnet@ckut.ca/1193-2-20071025-WomenInCommRadio.mp3
—
Community Radio and the CRTC
Normand Landry, McGill
Normand Landry is a doctoral student in communication studies at McGill
University as well as a researcher at the Media@McGill unit for critical
communications research. Before coming to McGill he was affiliated with
the Communication Policy Research Laboratory (LRPC) at Universite de
Montreal, where his work on global media governance and the World Summit
on the Information Society was published, with Marc Raboy, as Civil
Society, Communication, and Global Governance (Peter Lang Publishers). His
work focuses on social movement theory, alternative media and democratic
communications, and environmentalism.
http://www.radio4all.net/pub/files/newsnet@ckut.ca/1193-5-20071025-crtc1normand.MP3
Genvieve Bonin
Genevieve A. Bonin is a former freelance journalist and radio announcer,
currently pursuing graduate studies (Ph.D.) in Communication Studies at
McGill University. Her research involves the evaluation of CRTC policies
and procedures in the context of radio licence renewals between 1997 and
2007. Her professional experience has also included work in human
resources, communications, tourism and education in Montreal,
Ottawa-Gatineau, Sudbury, Quebec City and Halifax. She holds degrees in
communications, journalism and business administration.
http://www.radio4all.net/pub/files/newsnet@ckut.ca/1193-5-20071025-crtc2genvieve.MP3
Evan Light, NCRA
(see above)
http://www.radio4all.net/pub/files/newsnet@ckut.ca/1193-5-20071025-crtc3evan.MP3
Marc Raboy
Marc Raboy is the Beaverbrook Chair in Ethics, Media and Communications
and is a Professor within the Department of Art History and Communication
Studies at McGill. He is a member of the international council of the
International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) and
is also a founding member of an international advocacy campaign:
Communication Rights in the Information Society.
http://www.radio4all.net/pub/files/newsnet@ckut.ca/1193-5-20071025-crtc4marc.MP3
—
Human Rights Journalism and Youth Radio
http://www.radio4all.net/proginfo.php?id=25214
Mostafa Henaway, SNAP!
Mostafa Henaway is a former news collective coordinator and current host
and producer of the Tuesday Morning After at CKUT 90.3FM. He is also an
independent journalist, active with Solidarity Across Borders and the
Immigrant Workers’ Centre. Mostafa was involved in helping to coordinate
the SNAP! youth of colour radio project this past summer and has worked to
produce radio programming on racial profiling and from sanctuary.
http://www.radio4all.net/pub/files/newsnet@ckut.ca/1193-7-20071029-humanrightsradio1Mostafa.mp3
Luis Heng, Intertribal Youth Council
Luis Heng is originally from the Philippines. Being a youth supporter, he
is an active volunteer fundraiser for the Inter-Tribal Youth Centre (ITYC)
of Montreal, where he holds the title of VP External in the Youth Council.
Involvement with the ITYC led ot involvement with SNAP! and CKUT 90.3 FM’s
Native Solidarity News. Says Luis, “it has been a learning experience
learning about the realities of life for the underprivileged. Being one of
the voices of youth today with the Native Solidarity News has given me a
whole new sense of self-worth. I have come to the realization that one can
make a difference in this world. It all starts with one.”
http://www.radio4all.net/pub/files/newsnet@ckut.ca/1193-7-20071029-humanrightsradio2Luis.mp3
Jooneed Khan
Jooneed Khan is a veteran international affairs reporter and analyst at
LaPresse. Over nearly 35 years, he has reported from some 60 countries. He
spent three months of 2003 in Irak, before, during and after the US
invasion. He has lectured on Non Western History at UQAM and authored many
articles in English, including for Al Ahram Weekly in Egypt. He comes from
Mauritius and is a graduate of the Universite de Montreal.
http://www.radio4all.net/pub/files/newsnet@ckut.ca/1193-7-20071029-humanrightsradio3Johneed.mp3
Dexter X
Dexter X is a direct-action activist, producer & DJ. A former programmer
and Program Coordinator at CKUT radio in Montreal, Dexter has taught media
workshops in South Africa, the Philippines and Brazil. The film “Butte,”
which he edited, was nominated for best short film at Montreal’s First
Peoples’ Festival. He is currently developing a documentary film about the
human and ecological impacts of Tar Sands extraction in Alberta. Dexter is
also a climbing, blockades and civil disobedience activist and instructor
for Greenpeace, The Ruckus Society, Students for a Free Tibet and other
environmental, justice and human rights organizations.
http://www.radio4all.net/pub/files/newsnet@ckut.ca/1193-7-20071029-humanrightsradio4Dexter.mp3
Danielle Holyk, Siafu Magazine
Danielle Holyk has been a collective member of Siafu Magazine, a Montreal
news and culture publication from the bottom up, since its wheels started
rolling in the summer of 2005. A firm believer that media should be
created by people and not (only) by specialists, the McGill BA she finally
completed is neither in communications nor journalism. Most of the
relavant knowledge she’s gained is from interatictions outside the
classroom, like from invlovement in the Quebec student movement, community
radio work in Mali, and organizing around various social justice issues in
Montreal.
http://www.radio4all.net/pub/files/newsnet@ckut.ca/1193-7-20071029-humanrightsradio5Danielle.mp3
—
Copyright and Community Radio
http://www.radio4all.net/proginfo.php?id=25214
Tina Piper, McGill Law Faculty
Tina Piper explores why artists, scientists and inventors create and
innovate through the lens of intellectual property law, legal history and
results from empirical investigations. She is currently conducting funded
research into the role of patent pools in providing access to medicines,
policy levers in Canadian patent law and policies to promote open,
collaborative scientific networks. She is co-project lead of Creative
Commons Canada. Before joining McGill, Professor Piper clerked for the
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada. She completed graduate work
at the University of Oxford as a Canadian Rhodes Scholar. She is a member
of McGill’s Centre for Intellectual Property Policy. Professor Piper
graduated from the University of Toronto’s Engineering Science program as
a National Scholar with a specialization in Electrical/Biomedical
Engineering. She then graduated as the gold medallist at Dalhousie Law
School in 2001.
Owen Chapman, Concordia
Owen Chapman is Assistant professor in Communication Studies at Concordia
University (Montreal). Owen Chapman is also a DJ and sample-based composer
under the moniker “Opositive”. His sound art ranges from intermedia
performance (incorporating original music, video projection and live
scratch DJing), to studio-based composition. He teaches graduate and
undergraduate courses in sound production and the history of media
technology. He has written on audio sampling for a variety of academic
publications including M/C: Journal and The Canadian Journal of
Communication. His work has been commissioned internationally for radio,
video and contemporary dance. Tune into the mix.
Hugh McGuire
Hugh McGuire is a Montreal-based writer, web developer and community
builder. He is the founder of LibriVox.org, a volunteer project to make
free audio versions of public domain books; and co-founder of Collectik
Software, a developer of a web-based on-demand media manager, and other
web applications. In a former life, Hugh was an engineer and worked in the
energy sector with a focus on climate change issues, for a large electric
utility company, a financial brokerage, and an alternative energy
technology company.
http://www.radio4all.net/pub/files/newsnet@ckut.ca/1193-6-20071029-CommRadioCopyright.mp3
—
Direct Action Radio
http://www.radio4all.net/proginfo.php?id=25214
Aaron Lakoff, CKUT
Aaron Lakoff is an independent journalist and community organizer based in
Montreal. He has been working with the CKUT community news collective for
the last 5 years, trying to deepen the links between social justice
movements and independent media. As an organizer, Aaron is a member of
Solidarity Across Borders (a migrant justice network), and Block the
Empire. He has reported on a variety of struggles from occupied Palestine,
Haiti, Mexico, and across North America.
http://www.radio4all.net/pub/files/newsnet@ckut.ca/1193-3-20071025-DirectActionRadio1introAaron.mp3
Mostafa Henaway, SNAP!
(see above)
http://www.radio4all.net/pub/files/newsnet@ckut.ca/1193-3-20071025-DirectActionRadio2moose.mp3
Gretchen King, CKUT
Gretchen King has been cultivating spaces for Indymedia radio
mobilizations since the WTO dared to meet in Seattle in 1999. Gretchen has
been an active participant in using the radio revolution as a means of
connecting mobilizations worldwide through the FM dial and over the
internet. Gretchen is currently the Community News Coordinator at CKUT
90.3 FM in Montreal, creating a space for communities to broadcast their
resistance over the FM dial. She has coordinated Canada’s annual
Homelessness Marathon for the last six years and is currently cultivating
a formal Community News Network across the country.
http://www.radio4all.net/pub/files/newsnet@ckut.ca/1193-3-20071025-DirectActionRadio3gretchen.mp3
—
New Technologies and Community Radio,
http://www.radio4all.net/proginfo.php?id=25214
Nick Foster, CKUT
Nick Foster, known to listeners as Professor Groove, started WEFUNK Radio
with co-host DJ Static in 1996. On WEFUNK, the duo presents a two hour
mixshow bringing together hip hop and its roots of funk and soul. Over its
decade on-air, the radio show has become a mainstay of the Montreal
airwaves (on CKUT, 90.3FM) and garnered an ever-growing online
listenership that includes syndication on Apple’s iTunes Radio. Esquire
magazine proclaimed WEFUNK “ten times more satisfying than the recycled
tunes on your iPod,” and publications as diverse as Straight No Chaser and
Fortune have been quick to agree.
http://www.radio4all.net/pub/files/newsnet@ckut.ca/1193-9-20071031-CommRadioNewTech1ProfGroove.mp3
—
Radio, Art and Freedom of Thought
http://www.radio4all.net/proginfo.php?id=25214
Tianna Kennedy, Free 103.9
Tianna Kennedy is the Brooklyn Program Director of free103point9. In
addition to her administrative role with free103point9, Tianna is,
herself, a curator and transmission artist. She also plays cello,
recording and performing frequently. Tianna co-founded the August Sound
Coalition in 2004 and the Empty Vessel Project in 2005. Tianna holds a MA
from NYU’s Performance Studies program. She frequently teaches
free103point9 Radio labs, and has presented at Location 1, NY; at
Pixelache particle/wave (hybrid radio workshop), Helsinki, Finland; at
Deep Wireless’s Radio Without Boundaries, Toronto, Canada; and NYC
Grassroots Media conferences. In 2006/7, Tianna taught “Radio Culture” and
“Sight, Sound, and Motion” at Brooklyn College.
http://www.radio4all.net/pub/files/newsnet@ckut.ca/1193-4-20071025-RadioArt1tianna.mp3
Kathy Kennedy, CKUT
Kathy Kennedy is a community artist with a background in classical
singing. She is a founding member of Studio XX, the digital media centre
for women, and artistic director of the innovative women’s choir, Choeur
Maha. Her large scale works for radio and live voices have been performed
at Place des Arts, for the innauguration of the Vancouver Public Library
and at Lincoln Center’s Out of Doors festival, among other places.
http://www.radio4all.net/pub/files/newsnet@ckut.ca/1193-4-20071025-RadioArt2kathy.mp3
Charlotte Scott
Charlotte Scott works as CKUT’s spoken word coordinator. She studied
communications and culture at various Canadian universities before
receiving her MA from Ryerson/York for a sound composition about acoustic
community and environmental philosophy. Charlotte plays electric bass,
cello, & glockenspiel and sings in a psychedelic rock band called
Triceratreetops. She likes to wander around in forests.
http://www.radio4all.net/pub/files/newsnet@ckut.ca/1193-4-20071025-RadioArt3charolette.mp3
—
Closing Plenary Discussion: What is Media Democracy?
http://www.radio4all.net/proginfo.php?id=25214
Darin Barney, McGill
Darin Barney is Canada Research Chair in Technology and Citizenship at
McGill University. He is the author of Communication Technology: The
Canadian Democratic Audit (UBC Press: 2005); The Network Society (Polity
Press: 2004); and Prometheus Wired: The Hope for Democracy in the Age of
Network Technology (UBC Press/University of Chicago Press: 2000) which was
awarded the 2001 Award for Social and Ethical Relevance in Communication
Research by the McGannon Center for Communication Research at Fordham
University. In 2003, he received the inaugural Aurora Prize, awarded by
the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for
outstanding contribution to Canadian intellectual life by a new
researcher. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Radio CKUT
and Media@McGill.
http://www.radio4all.net/pub/files/newsnet@ckut.ca/1193-8-20071030-Pleanary1Darren.mp3
Tianna Kennedy, Free 103.9
(see above)
http://www.radio4all.net/pub/files/newsnet@ckut.ca/1193-8-20071030-Pleanary2Tianna.mp3
Samaa Elibyari
Samaa Elibyari has been presenting Caravan, a community program giving an
Arab/Muslim perspective on current events, for more than 10 year. A
self-taught radio activist, Samaa has raised Caravan to a fine
professional level.
http://www.radio4all.net/pub/files/newsnet@ckut.ca/1193-8-20071030-Pleanary3Samaa.mp3
Question & Anwser
http://www.radio4all.net/pub/files/newsnet@ckut.ca/1193-8-20071030-Pleanary4QA.mp3

Violence Continues Against Afro-Colombian Communities

ckutnews — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 01:04:11 +0000

VIOLENCE CONTINUES AGAINST AFRO-COLOMBIAN COMMUNITIES

By David Parker

Bucaramanga, Colombia

August 21st, 2007

On June 21st, Luis Alberto, who I know better as ‘Janio’, was walking back to his home in the Humanitarian Zone of El Tesoro when he was assaulted by five illegally armed paramilitaries, who tied him up for half an hour, kicking him and threatening to kill him, accusing him and other community members of being guerrillas. Now, two weeks later I wonder if Janio is, like me, still recovering from the shock of the event. I was not shocked so much by the events of Janio’s story, as it is the same violent tactics practiced against many other members of the communities who protect their ancestral lands, traditional livelihoods and the unique tropical rainforest they live in from agro-industrial development. I was shocked because this time I was living in the community with him and for the first time, this was a victim I knew personally. Janio, one of the best soccer players in El Tesoro, who would make me sing Canadian songs; who steered our boat down the winding river of Caño Claro, tributary of the Curvaradó river; who held on to me as we were tossed around a top an intercity jeep on pot-holed roads; who made me play soccer with the community and wouldn’t take no for an answer.

The attack was preceded by a period of relative tranquility. One month earlier a group of 50 military passed by the barbed wire fence surrounding the resistance community, asking to enter and claiming three of the campesino men inside to be guerrillas – members of FARC. But the assault and threats to Janio’s life was nothing new for the communities of Afro-descendants, indigenous and mestizos that continue to struggle against State-backed violence and persecution; it was one more event in a 10 year history of bloody warfare, which has decided the fate of thousands of campesinos, and the worlds richest zone of biodiversity, the jungle of Bajo Atrato Chocoano.

FORCED DISPLACEMENT AND COMMUNITY RESISTANCE

In the recent history of this region of Colombia, the lower Atrato river basin in Urabá, Chocó has seen massive State repression at the hands of concerted military and paramilitary forces, as well as terror tactics from the FARC, a guerrilla group operating in the region. In October of 1996 and through 1997, a coordinated campaign of military and paramilitary forces known as ‘Operation Genesis’ forcibly displaced around 4,000 Afro-descendants, indigenous and mestizo civilian populations from territories collectively titled to Afro-Colombian communities. By land, sea and air, legal and illegal armed forces practiced torture, selective and collective assassination, massacre, disappearances, threats, theft and arson as a means to empty the dense and humid jungles inhabited by peaceable communities under the pretext of guerrilla activity in the area.

In 2000 and 2001, many community members, after suffering from fear, the loss of loved ones, hunger, and living in refugee camp conditions, decided to return to their land and create Peace Communities, only to find the development of agro-industrial mega-projects well underway. Urapalma S.A., the first of 12 private companies to operate in the region, with funding coming internationally from USAID (under the pretext of replacing illegal crops with sustainable agriculture and providing jobs for poor peasants) and nationally from FINAGRO and Fedepalma subsidies, had already sown 2000 hectares in the Curvaradó River basin with African Palm monocultres, with another 6000 hectares being cleared for the same purpose, all in the heart of the territories collectively owned by the communities of Curvaradó.

By way of violence, armed forces had ‘emptied’ the land of its traditional and ancestral inhabitants, although many fled the violence by retreating into the dense jungle, living without a home and without lighting a fire, for fear of both guerrilla forces in the region and the paramilitary and military forces. The violence had cleared the way for heavy machinery to deforest the land, destroying the soil structure and poisoning waterways, to plant greenhouse grown African Palm trees in symmetrical rows that would later be harvested for mass production of palm oil for the world market.

When new waves of incursions, assassinations, attacks and displacements occurred in 2001, the Afro-Colombian community councils of Jiguamiandó and Curvaradó, legally recognized governing bodies of the collective territories, created physically enclosed communities labelled as ‘Humanitarian Zones’ protected at first by Cautionary Measures to preserve the rights to life and physical integrity of community members, solicited by the Interamerican Commission of Human Rights on Nov. 7^{th 2002, and later by the Provisional Measures of protection of the communities decreed by the Interamerican Court of}^{Human Rights on March 6th, 2003. According to the community members, no armed actors were allowed into the zones, since that would make them targets in the armed conflict.}

The Humanitarian Zones were more than Peace Communities because rather than claiming to be neutral, the community councils resisted the presence of all armed actors and demanded justice as victims of massive displacement, continuing violent persecution and fear tactics. They demanded the right to govern the lands that had been stolen by State forces and developed by private enterprises. With accompaniment in the communities by national and international participants, the resistance was mounted on three fronts; to maintain a presence in the Humanitarian Zones and uphold the observance of the Right to Life and Integrity; to denounce the atrocities to the world community and generate pressure on Colombia’s government to observe the Protective Measures declared by the Interamerican Court; and to proceed judicially with cases of fraudulently acquired land titles for palm plantations and investigation into systematic violations of human rights.

Slowly, displaced community members have returned to their lands, and solidarity overcame fear. United by a common history, mestizo, indigenous and Afro-Colombians organized their new Humanitarian Zones as a non-violent resistance to State repression and capitalist development. The communities lived through years of threats, armed incursions into the zones, and continued assassination and disappearances, while direct solidarity and human rights organizations brought international attention to the crisis in Curvaradó and Jiguamiandó. The first Humanitarian Zones in the region were located on the Jiguamiandó River, but provided homes for community members of Curvaradó and Jiguamiandó, including the community council of both territories. Much of the Curvaradó river basin was already sown with African Palm monocultures and swarming with military, paramilitary, police and company employees. In 2006, the first Humanitarian Zone in Curvaradó was created in the midst of over 17,000 hectares (and growing) of palm plantations, by cutting down a a few hectares of palm trees and building the Humanitarian Zone of Andalucia. Since then, new Humanitarian Zones and Biodiversity Zones continue to be created in Curvaradó, including El Tesoro, created in October 2006.

ETHNIC AND CULTURAL MEMORY

Janio, his family and other familias living in El Tesoro and the other resistance communities of Curvaradó and Jiguamiandó are preserving vestiges of an ancient way of life in danger of extinction. Despite waves of colonization in Bajo Atrato, including attempts to develop a navegable waterway between the two oceans, and mining of gold, silver and other metals, The Atrato River and its tributaries have proved difficult for conquistadors, slave-traders and pirate voyages to colonize due to its difficult climate of dense jungle, torrential rains and labyrinthine rivers.

The river names of Jiguamiandó and Curvaradó were known by the Embera, Waunana and Awa peoples, whose ancient way of life, survival and existence, meshed with African rituals and ancestrality when former African slaves bought their freedom and moved to the jungles of Chocó and Bajo Atrato, in search of land, simplicity, and their own methods of development. In the 1980’s, the cultural exchange developed with the arrival of mestizos, fleeing the violence that had left them landless in agrarian struggles from Cordoba to Sucre and Antioquia. Politics, skin colour and mentalities integrated and juxtaposed, but ultimately found harmony in principles of life and territory.

In the 1990’s, the territories became the location and or route of passage for guerrillas of the Popular Liberation Army, EPL; later for the National Liberation Army, ELN, and finally for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, FARC EP, who still exist there today. But the cruel military and covert paramilitary strategies of Brigade XVII of the National Army known as Operation Genesis, was directed not at the guerrillas but at the Afro-descendant, indigenous and mestizo civilian populations.

STOLEN LAND FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Jiguamiandó and Curvaradó remained, into the 1990’s, one of the last of the unplucked gems of the Americas, having successfully resisted repeated attempts of colonization. The capitalist economic model was eventually imposed on the land and people beginning with Operation Genesis in 1996-97. The war against the civilian communities of Curvaradó and Jiguamiandó, begun in ’96, has continued on many fronts; military, judicial, political, psychological and technological. The objective, not only to appropriate the land from the communities, has also been to destroy cultural constructions and ancestral collective mentalities.

The massive displacements, preceded by chains of threats, assassinations, tortures, pillages and hostage-taking, reveal a comprehensive plan of expropriation of territory, under the pretext of controlling insurgent groups, but they cannot hide the aggression against native communities and simultaneous protection of corporations who have taken these territories. The clear motive of the State-led violence, rather than quelling armed resistance, was targeting peasant communities in order to use lands for agro-industrial projects as part of an imposed economic development model.

PLAN COLOMBIA AND IMPUNITY

The palm oil industry currently developing in Bajo Atrato Chocano now with 27,000 hectares of palm plantation in the Cuenca of Curvaradó operated and owned by 12 corporations, figures prominently in government and State policy of economic development under the administration of President Álvaro Uribe Vélez. Palm oil has traditionally been a highly profitable export used in foods and hygiene products, but the use of palm oil to make biodiesel and the expanding demand for biodiesel in the North as a ‘green’ energy has led Uribe to guarantee an export market of palm oil for biodiesel. He has pledged to increase palm plantation hectares from 175,000 in 2005 to 6 million, as part of State policy recognized in the U.S.-Colombian Free Trade Agreement and the U.S. backed Plan Colombia.

The financial profiteers of palm oil production are the same for palm plantations in Colombia, Indonesia and Malaysia, three of the worlds biggest exporters; a handful of elite locals from each respective region and transnational corporations such as Unilever, Procter and Gamble, Henkel, Cognis and Cargill. In Colombia, Law 138 of 1994 sanctions palm oil production, by creating the “Cuota de Fomento Palmero” to financially subsidize palm oil cultivators and encourage development, administered by Fedepalma. Meanwhile, Plan Colombia and the State strategy of Democratic Security has oriented the process of “paramilitary remobilization”, a way of legalizing the history of paramilitary violence and bringing them impunity. Institutional impunity was officially created through Law 975 of 2005: “Law of Justice and Peace”, which demobilizes paramilitaries, leaving criminals unpunished, instead linking them as ‘employees’ to the newly created agro-industrial projects being developed on land stolen through forced displacement. One example is the model of associative enterprises currently employed in agro-industrial projects such as cocoa, lumber, rubber and palm oil. Demobilized paramilitaries, displaced peasants and peasants work with a corporate investor interested in starting a business who “acts as a tutor”. In Urabá, for the paramilitaries who do not demobilize, there continues to exist work opportunities, uniting forces with the military to control local populations in the municipalities of Riosucio, Barranquillita, Belén de Bajirá, Pavarandó and Mutatá.

There are no guarantees of protection of the rights of victims, nor guarantees of returning properties and lands to their rightful owners. Furthermore, the palm plantations themselves are ‘legalized’ through fraudulent mechanisms, including purchasing land titles from landowners who could not have sold the land because they are deceased; drastically augmenting the size of land purchases on paper form 30 to 6000 hectares; inventing fake landowners, or buying land from people who don’t own any land. To secure international funding from USAID, the palm companies claim they are providing work opportunities for Afro-Colombians by substitution illicit crops (coca and marijuana) with a profitable legal alternative, a fraudulent lie puppeted even by President Uribe Vélez.

The Colombian State judicial apparatus only aggravates and confuses the problem, by ignoring the many pending investigations and not recognizing the systematic nature of the human rights violations, instead treating each case individually and unconnected. In effect, different levels of State and government provide guarantees for private enterprise, while persecuting civilians and violating human rights; all of which is legislated by transnational capital.

RESISTANCE FOR LIFE, LAND AND DIGNITY

The communities of Curvaradó and Jiguamiandó have faced remarkable adversity, from massacres and forced displacement to the appropriation of their land and impunity for the criminals, yet have shown incredible resilience. The crimes perpetrated are of such a systematic nature that they can only be understood as crimes against humanity. It has led to a profound deterioration of ethnic and cultural identity. Furthermore, the crimes, committed in a very fragile ecosystem with the world’s highest levels of biodiversity and rainfall, have created irreversible deterioration of the environment. These atrocities have been done in order to install an exclusionary development model, a capitalist model fundamentally opposed to the ethnic communities’ values of life, natural rhythms and sacred relationships to the environment, human life and the eternal.

A testament to the resilience of their traditional way of life has been their ability to create an authentic democracy in the midst of armed conflict. Resistance has been their only option for the reconstruction of truly democratic self-determination. Peace Communities turned into Humanitarian Zones: communities chose, rather than to be neutral, to demand justice. Their method of organizing is to construct concrete guarantees for their life, liberty of thought and land. Internal and international mechanisms of protection and justice are in place to preserve a community, a way of life, an ecosystem and a principle of basic human value and dignity.