Year: 2017

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Unprecedented seems too trite a term to describe Washington’s new normal. Last week, perched atop the steps of the Environmental Protection Agency, and flanked by a phalanx of coal workers, President Trump signed the death warrant of Obama’s Clean Power Plan.

In an apparent continuation of his unheard of grudge match with the former president, Trump claimed to be taking “historic steps” to “cancel job-killing regulations.” But, Trump’s executive order is actually more than petty spite, or even populist grandstanding, it’s actually just one part of a larger plan determined to annihilate all Obama administration efforts to curb carbon emissions.

Meanwhile, reports from media fringe outfits like the World Meteorlogical Organization announce, after consecutive years of highest-ever mean temperatures, and record low Arctic ice levels, Planet Earth has entered “truly uncharted territory.”

Dahr Jamail is a journalist and author whose books, ‘The Will to Resist: Soldiers Who Refuse to Fight in Iraq and Afghanistan and, ‘Beyond the Green Zone: Dispatches from an Unembedded Journalist in Occupied Iraq,’ chronicle his intrepid dispatches from America’s war zones, where he spent more than a year in Iraq, as well as filing reports from Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Turkey over a 10 year’s span. The Martha Gellhorn Investigative Journalism awardee currently serves as staff reporter at Truthout.org, where his monthly column Climate Disruption Dispatches accompanies his regular articles.

Dahr’s third book, ‘The Mass Destruction of Iraq: Why It Is Happening, and Who Is Responsible’ is co-authored with Truthout editor, William Rivers Pitt, and his latest is the soon to be released, ‘The End of Ice’.

Dahr Jamail in the first half.

And; while climate disruption, terrorism, war, and rumours of it compete for space in our nightmares, the preeminent global horror is being overlooked. ‘Sleepwalking to Armageddon‘ is pioneering antinuclear activist Helen Caldicott’s latest attempt to bring some semblance of sanity to the political stage. In the book, she assembles contributions from the world’s leading nuclear scientists and thought leaders to “assess the political and scientific dimensions of the threat of nuclear war today.”

Dr. Helen Caldicott is a physician, author, and lecturer who has for more than thirty years studied, written, and campaigned against the proliferation of nuclear weapons and their derivatives, delivering impassioned speeches and making imprecations to both the politicians and power-brokers overseeing the precarious atomic tinderbox.

Dr. Caldicott’s book titles include: ‘If You Love This Planet,’ ‘Nuclear Power Is Not the Answer,’The New Nuclear Danger,’ ‘Depleted Uranium: Metal of Dishonour,’ and ‘If You Love This Planet: A Plan to Heal the Earth.’

Dr. Helen Caldicott on rousing a somnambulant polity in the second half.

And; CFUV Radio broadcaster, Janine Bandcroft will be here at the bottom of the hour, in a rare in-studio appearance to bring us up to speed with a Left Coast Events update of some of the good things planned in the coming week around here, and beyond too. But first, Dahr Jamail and the Trump denialists going into overdrive, as climate change accelerates 170 times faster than predicted.

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, airing live every Wednesday, 1-2pm Pacific Time. In Victoria at 101.9FM, and on the internet at: http://cfuv.ca.  He also serves as a contributing editor to the web news site, http://www.pacificfreepress.com. Check out the GR blog at: https://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.ca/

G-Radio is dedicated to social justice, the environment, community, and providing a forum for people and issues not covered in the corporate media.

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April Fool’s Day also marks the beginning of British Columbia’s trophy Grizzly Bear hunting season. Incredibly, despite more than 80% opposition, the provincial government, running next month for reelection, still approves this regressive industry.

Between 100-150 showed up on the lawns of the provincial seat of government, at the Legislature Building grounds in Victoria, to hear speechifying against the continued sanctioning of the trophy hunt. I went down to hear what there was to hear.

 

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This Week on GR

by C. L. Cook

37 years have passed since the brutal assassination of Salvadoran Archbishop Óscar Romero, and while Romero’s murder is ancient history in the modern media context, it hasn’t been allowed to rest forgotten entirely. There are still those seeking justice for the Archbishop, and it’s that search chronicled in the newly released book, ‘Assassination of a Saint: The Plot to Murder Óscar Romero and the Quest to Bring His Killers to Justice‘.

Matt Eisenbrandt is a Victoria-based human-rights attorney and Legal Director of the Canadian Centre for International Justice.

In addition to the prosecution of war crimes, Matt also focuses on corporate accountability. He’s a member of the legal team involved in bringing lawsuits against Nevsun Resources and Tahoe Resources, cases involving the alleged use of slave labour in Eritrean mines, and human rights abuses in Guatemala, to Canadian courts.

Matt will be at Friday’s Cafe Simpatico to launch his book, ‘Assassination of a Saint’ in commemoration of the anniversary of Archbishop Romero’s death, and to discuss his human rights work with CCIJ.

Matt Eisenbrandt in the first half.

And; as the crimes and criminals of Latin America’s Dirty War are yet to be addressed and arrested, so too the embers of the Cold War have smoldered unchecked. Nearly thirty years past George H. W. Bush’s declaration of a “peace dividend” to follow the end of the Soviet empire, a new generation of political opportunist has rediscovered the “Red Menace” and is busy now fanning the flame of a new, and hotter Cold War.

John Helmer is a long-time, Moscow-based journalist, author, and essayist. The Australian says his website, Dances with Bears is the only news bureau “independent of single national or commercial ties.” He’s also a former political science professor who has served as an advisor to governments on three continents and regularly lectures on Russian topics. Helmer’s book titles include: ‘Uncovering Russia,’ ‘Urbanman: The Psychology of Urban Survival,’ ‘Bringing the War Home: The American Soldier in Vietnam and After,’ and ‘Drugs and Minority Oppression’ among others.

John’s recent article, ‘The US War Had Been Good for President Vladimir Putin, and the Russian Economy Looks Stable Through the Presidential Election. So If You Are a US Warfighter, What Is the Regime Change Opportunity Now?’ flies in the face of the latest Western press narrative.

John Helmer and depictions of an unpopular Putin perilously perched atop a precarious Kremlin in the second half.

And; CFUV Radio broadcaster, Janine Bandcroft will be here at the bottom of the hour with the Left Coast Events update of some of the good things going planned around here in the coming week. But first, Matt Eisenbrandt and requiem for an Assassinated Saint.

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Almost as famous in Canada for the billions of government dollars cycled through its operations as it is for the seminal snow vehicle, the Ski-doo, Bombardier Inc. is currently earning international recognition too; though infamy might be the more accurate descriptor of reaction to the aerospace giant’s involvement in the A1 rail project promising to dissect centuries-old villages, disrupting the lives and destroying the livelihoods of people who will likely never be allowed to use the high-speed double-decker train carriages rocketing through their communities.

What’s worse though is, despite the A1’s probable illegality under international law, Bombardier’s participation in the project chugs along with the full support of the Canadian state.

Dave Thomas is an associate professor in the department of politics and international relations at Mount Allison University on Mi’kmaq territory, whose teaching and research interests focus on the role Canadian actors abroad play in international political economy, and the study of critical pedagogy.

His recent article in Briarpatch Magazine, ‘Bombardier and Israel: A corporation’s complicity in Palestinian dispossession‘ examines this country’s part in the contentious AI High-Speed rail project cutting through Palestine’s West Bank.

Dave Thomas in the first half.

And; in what may prove a preview of things to come on this side of the Pacific, last week South Korea’s president was removed from office in a political influence corruption scandal, the investigation of which this week reached into the boardrooms of some the country’s biggest companies.

Park Geun-hye, daughter of South Korea’s assassinated former military dictator, Park Chung-hee was impeached in December, but until last week enjoyed presidential immunity. The case has ignited a furore in the South, even as tensions escalate between North Korea and the Combined Forces Command, currently holding the biggest ever of its annual Foal Eagle “war games” exercises.

Tim Shorrock is a Washington, D.C.-based journalist, musician, and author of the book, ‘Spies for Hire: The Secret World of Intelligence Outsourcing.’ His articles appear at his website, TimShorrock.com, and in the Washington Post. Tim grew up in Asia, and spent much of the 1980’s in Japan, reporting on the financial intrigues of the then-biggest of the Asian Tiger economies.

Tim Shorrock in the second half.

And; passionate educator, horticultural innovator, and intrepid green business entrepreneur, Christina Nikolic will be here with the Left Coast News and Events update at the bottom of the hour. But first, Dave Thomas and “a [Canadian] corporation’s complicity in Palestinian dispossession.”

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, airing live every Wednesday, 1-2pm Pacific Time. In Victoria at 101.9FM, and on the internet at: http://cfuv.ca.  He also serves as a contributing editor to the web news site, http://www.pacificfreepress.com. Check out the GR blog at: https://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.ca/

G-Radio is dedicated to social justice, the environment, community, and providing a forum for people and issues not covered in the corporate media.

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Welcome to the GR FunDriving Show! We’ll be leaving the usual format today to enjoin the ballyhoo, barking as on the midways of old, all to excite and delight your ears and mind. A census of our listener’s sensibilities, and ultimately a question we seek you to answer; to wit: Do we make you happy? If the answer is “Yes,” or better yet, “Hell, yeah!” then we’re providing today the opportunity for you to prove your love in the only way our focus group could figure…with MONEY! I’ll touch base with a couple old Gorilla pals to get their take on independent journalism and the state of it, play some show clips of the year past, and feature some favoured musical clips. I’ll be ably joined in this conspiracy of finance by CFUV broadcaster, Janine Bandcroft and local horticultural guru, Christina Nikolic. But first, here’s a musical act I’ve played quite a bit as of late…Canada’s own, Hawksley Workman.

1:02:00 5:00 Music Hawksley Workman – Old Cheetah – Teenage Cats

1:04:00 6:00 Blatherskite

Yes, it’s the 2017 CFUV FundingDrive. I’m joined in studio by Winds of Change host, Janine Bandcroft, and long-time CFUV and Gorilla Radio supporter, the chef in the kitchen that is the Organic Gardener’s Pantry, Christina Nikolic. Hey Janine we’ve been at this for a while now. You started contributing events listings to this show a way back in 2002; that’s more than 700 episodes or so ago. And, you began your own show around the same time… How many Wings of Change episodes have you produced since?

Christina Nikolic, I really appreciate your support over the last nine years. Especially as this is the super busy time of year for your business, the Gardener’s Pantry. What’s with the weather, and how can gardeners get ready, while we wait for Spring’s eventual sproing?

Two and half months into 2017 it sort of seems this year has dragged on forever, like a Canadian opera, or least favoured season that just wouldn’t die. I blame Donald Trump. The inevitable human response to the endless deluge of crapulence coming from the south via the media mainline there is to batten tightly the hatch and drown the television in the bathtub. The problem with that is, local actors, the Trumpish filth column so to speak, are on the move too. Here in British Columbia, the news-weary risk missing the dirty doings of our own Madame Clark, as her troupe of mini-Trumps hatch plots to enslave BC’s generations to come. With the election a mere 7 weeks away, a low voter turnout can only cement the province into a dystrumpian future of Mordor-like industrial devastation, where the orcs of profit-at-all-cost wreck havoc, impaling upon their tridents any impulse to human decency, while polluting our souls and despoiling every living creatures they encounter. Don’t get me wrong; I know they can’t help it. Like the scorpion said to the stung and dying toad, “It’s just in my nature.”

And, the federal political scene in this Canada is not a lot better. Those hoping Trudeau’s Frodoian triumph over the Gollum-like Stephen Harper would usher a new dawn in Middle Earth have now discovered, what’s precious to Justin is not a lot different from either the Harpy defeated, or the provincial Liberal namesakes. Namely, the Ring of Power.

The prime minister paid a visit to Victoria a couple weeks ago, and I went down to get a listen. Here’s an edited down version of The Return of the Man Who Would Be the Ring’s King.

1:10:00 4:44 Ape Goes to Peoples’ Impromptu Meeting for Justin Trudeau Visit (stick)
1:15:00 6:00 Discussion w/ Dave Lindorff

Welcome back to GR’s FunDriving extravaganza. Beyond being about raising money for CFUV, the theme of my show this year is how independent media producers manage to make and break stories against all odds. “Dave Lindorff is an old-school journalist who cut his teeth working the dailies Connecticut, Minneapolis and Los Angeles. Way back in 2004, Dave went digital in a big way, founding the news website, ThisCantBeHappening.net. As this site says, the site was begun “[As] a blog by Dave Lindorff in a quixotic one-man effort to afflict the powerful. As the site gained recognition and readers, Dave realized that it would take more than one journalist to cause any significant degree of affliction. He approached three long-time friends, political comrades and colleagues — John Grant, Linn Washington and Charles M. Young — and asked if they would be interested in joining him to found a news collective, thus multiplying the site’s afflictive power by 400%. All three, sharing Dave’s profound frustration with the shallowness and the fawning complicity of the establishment corporate media (and with the establishment not-for-profit media, too), signed on with alacrity and a shared desire to raise hell.” Since then, after the loss of Chuck to brain cancer, the collective has grown with the addition of Dave’s brother Gary as resident poet, and two new journalists, radical MD Jess Guh of Seattle, and long-time Latino activist and journalist Alfredo Lopez.”

Dave has shared his wisdom and insight on this show many times over these last crazy years. Welcome back to the show, Dave.

“Firstly Dave, what value an independent media?”

1:23:00 4:00 Music Neutral Milk Hotel – On Avery Island – Gardenhead Leave Me Alone
1:27:00 1:00 Cart(s)
1:28:00 8:00 Left Coast News and Events Update with Janine and Christina
1:36:00 4:00 Music TRex – Electric Warrior – Mambo Sun
1:40:00 6:00 Discussion w/ Patrick Henningsen

Welcome back to GR, etc. Patrick Henningsen is a freelance journalist, co-founder of the online news site, 21st Century wire and host of its consciousness-expanding radio program Sunday Wire. Patrick and crew have, since 2009 worked to produce independent news, with an emphasis on international coverage that acts as counterpoint to the positions staked out by the corporate and state presses of the formerly Free World. He’s reported from the middle east, and is even now trying to get back there, as the six-plus year old campaign to undo Syria and the greater region enters a new phase.

“Welcome back to the program, Patrick. Over the weekend, your Sunday Wire radio program hosted a special March Madness broadcast recognizing Fake News’ Final Four. “Fake News” may be on every corporate news reporters lips now, but you’ve been all over the fakers for a long time. What do you think the expropriation of the ‘Fake News’ sobriquet means?”

1:46:00 4:00 Music Transworld Underground – ? – ?
1:50:00 5:00 Peter Verin Send-off (stick)
1:55:00 2:00 Blatherskite
1:57:00 3:00 Music Hawksley Workman – Old Cheetah – We’re Not Beaten Yet
2:00:00 –:– -0-

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Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau paid a quick visit to Victoria March 2nd, 2017, speaking with Mayor Lisa Helps and giving a press conference at the Esquimalt Naval base.

As Trudeau had passed on an invitation to a previous Town Hall in Victoria, the folk decided to hold an impromptu session on the steps of City Hall prior to the PM’s arrival.

Much has been made of Trudeau’s reversal on his pre and post-election promise that the 2015 federal election would be the “last election using the first past the post system.” There are also concerns about the federal government imprimatur on the contentious Kinder Morgan pipeline project, bringing diluted bitumen across the breadth of the province to Burnaby for trans-shipment to Asia, and the greenlighting of the Site C mega-dam project that will make a sacrifice zone of a portion of the Peace River country in the northeast of the province.

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Two months from today, British Columbia’s registered voters will be given the opportunity to elect their next provincial political representatives.

One of the many environmental issues threatening an easy return to power for incumbent premier Christy Clark and her BCLiberals is the Site C mega dam on the Peace River.

The controversial project has many opponents and is currently the subject of numerous law suits. Clark and her government’s response to concerns about the dam so far is accelerated development she promises will take Site C “past the point of no return.”

Whether that point has been reached yet, after months of blasting, clear-cut logging in the Peace River’s riparian zones, and the eviction of farm families deemed in the way is still a matter of contention. At least according to former premier, Mike Harcourt who lent his voice last week to the growing chorus of objection to both the environmental and economic foundations of the dam.

Ken Boon is one of those opposing Site C. The president of the Peace Valley Landowners Association and Peace River Valley farmer saw portions of his family farm expropriated by BC Hydro, ostensibly to make way for a highway scheme connected to dam construction. Boon too was named last year in a lawsuit brought by Hydro against six protesters for “intentional interference with economic relations by unlawful means.”

Ken Boon in the first half.

And; last month, the Vancouver Parks Board announced it will continue its captive whale program, saying it plans to bring in as many as five more belugas. Aquarium CEO, John Nightingale told the press, whales the organization “owns” currently on loan to other aquariums could be returned by early 2019. Yesterday, the Parks Board held a “special” meeting regarding future plans of the Vancouver Aquarium and its continuing whale captivity and exhibition program.

Annelise Sorg is President and Co-founder of No Whales in Captivity, an organization that has since 1992 been dedicated to closing whale tanks. Annelise is Executive Director of the Secret Bay Project Society, a former Executive Director of the Canadian Marine Environment Protection Society, BC Environment Network, and Eden Conservation Trust, as well as a Director of the Vancouver Humane Society.

Annelise Sorg and fighting to phase out cetacean exhibits at the Vancouver Aquarium in the second half.

And; CFUV Radio broadcaster, Janine Bandcroft will be here at the bottom of the hour with the Left Coast Events update of some of the good things going planned around here in the coming week. But first, Ken Boon and the widening cracks in Christy Clark’s Site C dam dreams.

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, airing live every Wednesday, 1-2pm Pacific Time. In Victoria at 101.9FM, and on the internet at: http://cfuv.ca.  He also serves as a contributing editor to the web news site, http://www.pacificfreepress.com. Check out the GR blog at: https://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.ca/

G-Radio is dedicated to social justice, the environment, community, and providing a forum for people and issues not covered in the corporate media.

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Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau paid a quick visit to Victoria and Esquimalt today, speaking with Mayor Lisa Helps and giving a press conference at the Naval base.

As Trudeau had passed on a previous Town Hall in Victoria, the folk decided to hold an impromptu session on the steps of City Hall prior to the PM’s arrival.

Much has been made of Trudeau’s reversal on his pre and post-election promise that the 2015 federal election would be the “last election using the first past the post system.” There are also concerns about the federal government imprimatur on the contentious Kinder Morgan pipeline project, bringing diluted bitumen across the breadth of the province to Burnaby for trans-shipment to Asia, and the greenlighting of the Site C mega-dam project that will make a sacrifice zone of a portion of the Peace River country in the northeast of the province.

I went down to get some opinions. Below is the press release sent out by ElectoralReform.ca.

No-Electoral-Reform Excuse Myth Busting

“Fear of both Proportional Representation, including the possible emergence of fringe or even Alt-Right parties, and a potentially divisive national referendum led Justin Trudeau’s government to abandon his promise of Electoral Reform” -CBC

To ensure Democracy and safeguard it against “the possible emergence of fringe or even alt-right parties”, the Allies imposed Proportional Representation on Germany and Japan after the WWII.

Our current first-past-the-post electoral system leads to U.S.-style two-party politics. It elected the Reform Party (the Canadian version of the Tea Party), Stephen Harper, and Donald Trump, and it could also easily elect Kellie Leitch. FPTP party system is more prone to be hijacked by “fringe or Alt-Right” groups than Proportional Representation is. PR safeguards against it.

To immunize the Canadian Democracy against “fringe or Alt-Right” groups, we need Electoral Reform and Proportional Representation; the very same form of Proportional Representation imposed by the Allies on Germany and Japan after the WWII.

There was no need for a “referendum.” How could you have a “referendum” on an electoral system not yet tried? Plus, we hire politicians to make decisions on our behalf. Harper had no problem ramming through Omnibus Bills, the “Unfair Elections Act,” and Prorogue the Parliament without the need for a pesky “referendum.”

There was no “consensus” when Justin Trudeau’s own father implemented the switch from Imperial to Metric. There was lots of opposition from the Conservatives, but he showed leadership and Canada is better for it. Ask any of those resisting the change: “How cold is it today?” and they will reply in Metric despite Mulroney Conservatives abolition of the Metric Commission 15 years later. Dinosaurs die hard. The very same Dinosaurs are resisting the Electoral Reform today. We need leadership; “no consensus” is an excuse.

And yes, lots of Greens and the NDPs, wanting to vote Harper out, and tired of their votes being wasted election after election, took this historic, once in a generation chance, to vote for Electoral Reform. Liberals pulled away NDP & Green votes to steal the election on a flagship promise of Electoral Reform they had no intention of keeping.

Today is a sad day for Canadian Democracy!

Of all the battles we have fought for Democracy in Canada, Electoral Reform is the most important, for if we lose this battle, we have lost the war on all fronts.

Electoral Reform is a Class War and the other side has more money, influence, connections, media…

To all the victims of deception, deceit, and dishonour, to those who feel betrayed and disenfranchised, the only sure way to get Electoral Reform & Proportional Representation is to force a NDP-Green Coalition prior to the next election.

– Tirdad Shirvani
_______________________________

www.ElectoralReform.Ca
www.ReformeElectorale.Ca   (La Réforme Électorale)
www.ErRe.Ca   (Electoral Reform / La Réforme Électorale)

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Just because you can’t believe something doesn’t make it fiction. You may wish Donald Trump was never elected, and be clinging to the desperate notion the last forty two days are just a prolonged bad dream; rub your eyes, pinch your arm, and give your head a shake now, because this in no nightmare, it is real life, and it’s just the beginning!

But how, you may ask, did this unforeseen, unforeseeable turn of events come to pass? How!?

Well, perhaps you weren’t paying attention. Perhaps you just failed to notice the inexorable, determined disintegration of Western civilization. Sliding a bit with every delusional press release; inching nearer the abyss one drone strike at a time.

If it makes you feel any better, not everyone was surprised.

Robert J. Sawyer makes a living inventing fantastic stories. The Canadian science fiction superstar is one of only eight writers to have bagged Sci-fi’s triple crown, winning each of the Hugo, Nebula, and the John W. Campbell Memorial Awards for best novel.

Described as the “Dean of Canadian science fiction,” Sawyer is also recipient of the first-ever Humanism in the Arts Award from Humanist Canada, the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal from the Governor General of Canada, the Hal Clement Award for Best Young Adult Novel of the Year, and a Lifetime Achievement Aurora Award from the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association.

Sawyer’s 23 novels have featured regularly at the top of Canadian best-sellers lists and he was named by publishing trade journal Quill & Quire, one of “the thirty most influential, innovative, and just plain powerful people in Canadian publishing.” Sawyer’s latest novel, ‘Quantum Night’ predicted the rise of a populist mad-man to America’s highest office; a feat in art nature determined to imitate.

Robert J. Sawyer in the first half.

And; my second guest asks, “Can Canada Get Out of the War Business?” Probably not as long as Canadians entertain the comfortable collective notion of themselves as meek and mild do-gooders on the global stage; the nation everyone wants most to both be like, and have as a best friend. The truth is a little darker than a northern winter, and it’s past time to spotlight the real role we play in the World.

David Swanson is a peace and political justice activist, journalist, radio host, and author whose book titles include: ‘War No More: The Case for Abolition,’ ‘When the World Outlawed War,’ ‘War Is a Lie,’ and ‘The Military Industrial Complex at 50’ among others. He’s a past Nobel Peace Prize Nominee, director of WorldBeyondWar.org, campaign coordinator for RootsAction.org, and blogs at DavidSwanson.org and WarIsACrime.org. David also hosts Talk Nation Radio.

David Swanson and endin’ Canada’s wicked, warrin’ ways in the second half.

And; CFUV Radio broadcaster, Janine Bandcroft, and/or horticulturalist extraordinaire, Christina Nikolic will be here at the bottom of the hour with the Left Coast Newsletter, bringing us up to speed with some of what’s good going on in and around our town in the coming week. But first, stepping into a Trump twilight zone with Robert J. Sawyer and a Quantum Night.

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Feb 28, 2017

The Wilderness Committee presented a 40,000+ strong petition to NDP MLA George Heyman and sole Green Party of BC MLA, Andrew Weaver to bolster their respective attempts to have stand-alone Species at Risk legislation introduced. British Columbia is one of only two provinces in Canada without such legislation already in place.

I went down and talked to Wilderness Committee Vancouver Island Campaigner, Torrance Coste.

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Elmarie Roberts, Organic Gardener, Educator, Communitarian

by C. L. Cook – Gorilla Radio

 

February 2017

“Sharing something sustainable, something healthy, and something that makes us happy…”

 

Despite traveling half-way around the World to find it, Victoria was a homecoming of sorts for South Africa native, Elmarie Roberts. The educator and organic gardener arrived in Canada with her young family in 1994, settling first in Vancouver. It didn’t take long for the Roberts’ to look further west, and starting a new life on Vancouver Island.

Elmarie’s journey into organic farming was a roundabout one too. Before getting her hands back in the dirt, she taught ESL classes, ran her own sustainable retail business, and worked with the charitable, St. Vincent de Paul Society.

Her career however began to go in another direction when taking an Organic Farming as a Business course at Victoria’s Camosun College led to the Haliburton Community Organic Farm and the creation of her Sunbird Farm. It also led some years later to Gaia College, where she both earned Growing Food and Organic Master Gardener certificates, and employed her teaching instincts becoming an instructor for Gaia’s Growing Food in the City course.

“It’s a good thing,” she says, the teacherly tone of her lightly accented Afrikaans coming across over the telephone line.

 

“You can feel it in your bones, when one is out there working with your hands in the soil.”

And it’s a coming of full circle in a way, going back to her beginnings of growing up close to the land.

“My dad was in the parks department of the local municipality,” she tells me, her voice casting back over the years to her childhood in South Africa.

“I loved hanging out in the greenhouse with him, and discovering what was under the pots,” she says, reminiscing about,

“…those early, formative years, when you remember happy things, like the warmth and the smell of a greenhouse…and plants just growing beautifully everywhere.”

Elmarie has since passed her Sunbird Farm plot along to new farmers, and while she still keeps her fingers in the earth maintaining a demonstration plot growing herbs, flowers and seed, she’s concentrating primarily on passing along knowledge gleaned at Gaia College, and her eleven years running her hands through the soil at Haliburton to a new generation of organic farming students; imparting to them both the practical lessons of organic gardening learned, and more vitally the spiritual connection between farm and farmer.

Elmarie Roberts currently teaches Gaia College’s Food in the City course,  and instructs too at Haliburton Community Organic Farm’s newly initiated EcoFarm School. She reminds, farming is also about community and, “…sharing something sustainable, something healthy, and something that makes us happy.”

Postscript:

Fifteen years on, the Haliburton Community Organic Farm Society is thriving despite its uncertain beginnings, (thanks to an uprising of sorts by locals concerned about rampant housing development in Saanich) and continues to be “…a leading model of community-supported, small-scale sustainable organic agriculture carried out in harmony with local ecosystems.”

Gaia College continues in the tradition of its founder, Heide Hermary to cultivate community and be, “A global community of educators, professionals and students teaching, working and learning in the areas of holistic land management, health and environmentally sustainable technologies.”

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Where will it all end? When will we finally turn the corner on the Fossil Fuel Age, and begin the long work of repairing the damage we clever apes have wrought against the environment?

No time soon, if the extractive industries have their say; and they’re just about the only ones who have the ear of government at all levels in this country, and abroad. Seattle’s Sightline Institute reports plans to send more than a million barrels of oil per day through the Pacific Northwest region. Oil coming from shale fracking in North Dakota, and Alberta’s Tar Sands and destined for Asia’s Satanic Mills.

So, how far will Big Oil and Gas take the Fossil Fuel Age? To the very ends of the Earth.

David Lavallee is a Canadian filmmaker whose first documentary, ‘White Water, Black Gold’ garnered awards at numerous film festivals, and was broadcast around the World. He’s a Pull Focus Film School grad, and a product of the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology’s Producer Emergence Program. David is now in the process of producing his next film, ‘To the Ends of the Earth,’ an investigation into the lengths the latter day oil barons will go to keep their energy domination going.

David Lavallee in the first segment.

And; you don’t need a street light to see Victoria is rapidly and, some would argue, radically changing. One community here is hoping it can prove a catalyst in changing the way Victorians navigate their way in, through, and around the city.

You’ve likely seen some of the effects of the Greater Victoria Cycling Coalition‘s efforts to make our berg better for bikes already. From promoting bike lanes and “sharrows”, and the much touted “Biktoria” campaign, to lobbying for infrastructure projects like the Galloping Goose and Lochside Trails the GVCC “works with businesses and city stakeholders to create the conditions for safer, more inclusive cycling infrastructure across Greater Victoria.” Cyrus Molavi, a Director on the board of the Greater Victoria Cycling Coalition joins us today.

Cyrus Molavi, pedaling for a more bike-friendly Victoria in the second half.

And; intrepid horticultural innovator and green business entrepreneur, Christina Nikolic will be here with Left Coast News and Events updates at the bottom of the hour.

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It’s official: We are indeed living in those proverbially interesting times; but what no ancient Chinese curse could have prophesied is the sheer scope and magnitude of these days of ours.

That we face myriad peace, justice, and environmental issues locally, nationally, and globally none but the shortest of thick planks would deny, but how in the midst of this chaos of calamity does one know which of the Hydra’s many heads to strike for? Well, we are fortunate perhaps in British Columbia that within our realm there exists the lair of a beast-horror signally representative of the multitudinous ills so deleteriously effecting the whole of the Natural World.

It is the Hydro-headed Site C dam, the dark aspects of which can only be regarded as an evil pure, born of the deepest, reptilian corner of the human psyche. And, if you think that’s going too far, you don’t know the half of it.

Eoghan Moriarty is founder of the Vancouver-based Mindagape, a media and creative services company, and describes himself as a “digital storyteller” who became involved in documenting B.C. groups fighting against coal exports transiting through their communities. Between filming coal trains and researching the relationship between the Port Authority, Vancouver, and the coal industry, and recording community solidarity and resistance events, Eoghan co-founded RealPortHearings.org, a part of the RealHearings.org concept “creating platforms for organizations working on environment, climate, and other progressive campaigns.” Eoghan Moriarty is also vice-president of the Burns Bog Conservation Society.

Eoghan Moriarty in the first half.

And; Terry Wolfwood will present Palestine in My Heart at the upcoming CAFÉ SIMPATICO. Terry’s Director and co-founder of the Barnard-Boecker Centre Foundation, and her articles on peace and social justice are featured in Briarpatch, Peace News, and Third World Resurgence among other places. The long-time Victoria-based activist/organizer, poet/essayist and World traveler for justice is also the local coordinator for Victoria’s Women in Black and she’ll be showcasing slides and telling stories of her recent trip to Palestine and Jordan where Terry says she, “met with teachers, students, farmers, activists, artists, writers and local officials to learn about their struggles for justice in their occupied country.”

It’s all at the next CAFÉ SIMPATICO, coming Friday, February 24th at 1923 Fernwood. There will also be music, and special Palestinian refreshments served and admission is free!

Terry Wolfwood in the heart of Palestine in the second half.

And; Christina Nikolic will be sitting in for Victoria Street Newz publisher emeritus and CFUV Radio broadcaster, Janine Bandcroft at the bottom of the hour to bring us up to speed with some of the good goings on going on on the streets of our city and beyond planned for the upcoming week. But first, Eoghan Moriarty getting Real Hearings on Site C and more.

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Welcome to the Great Undoing, an experiment in media-induced social dissonance so fantastic for sanity’s sake it’s essential you date all notifiers to remind this is indeed 2017.

Yes, much more than an homage to the days of yore, America’s new model year president is a wholesale throwback to a time before your mother was born. Reference the archive under Cleaver, June; Smith, Kate; and Hudson, Rock… (somebody should probably tell the Chief about that last one…).

But, even more frightening than Mr. T’s medievalist social policy is the unmitigated unfettering of the monsters he and his fellow Frankenstein’s in Finance would loose on Wall Street and the World.

Joyce Nelson is an award-winning Canadian freelance writer, researcher, and author whose articles appear in the Watershed Sentinel and at CounterPunch.org. Her book titles include: ‘The Perfect Machine: TV in the Nuclear Age,’ ‘Sultans of Sleaze: Public Relations and the Media,’ ‘Sign Crimes/Road Kill: From Mediascape to Landscape,’ and, just in time the newly released, ‘Beyond Banksters: Resisting the New Feudalism.’

Joyce Nelson in the first half.

And; this week Victoria hosts the 23rd Victoria Film Festival boasting a program of more than 120 theatrical features, shorts, documentaries, animated, Canadian, and international films. Just one of which is The Skyjacker’s Tale, Canadian director Jamie Kastner‘s documentary chronicle of murder and intrigue in the lower latitudes, and Ishmael Muslim Ali‘s desperate flight from the law. The genre-busting Kastner’s films, Secret Disco Revolution, Kike Like Me, Free Trade Is Killing My Mother, Djangomania!, Recessionize! For Fun and Profit! and The Skyjacker’s Tale have between them screened in London and Rotterdam, and Toronto’s prestigious TIFF among other places.

Jamie Kastner and The Skyjacker’s Tale in the second half.

And, Victoria Street Newz publisher emeritus and CFUV Radio broadcaster, Janine Bandcroft will join us at the bottom of the hour to bring us news of the good goings on planned for the streets of our town and beyond in the coming week. But first Joyce Nelson, Beyond Banksters.

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Three presidents and fifteen years into the long war the George W. Bush promised, the prison at Guantánamo Bay symbolizes both America’s abrogation of international conventions on the treatment of prisoners, and the failure to end the global paranoia, arms races, and proxy turf battles of the Cold War era.

Any hope for the alluded “peace dividend” following the collapse of the Soviet Union is long forgotten. In fact, the world is poised again above the abyss as accusation and sabre-rattling replaces diplomatic discourse between remnant Russia and the financially fragile United States.

And, into this china shop blusters Donald Trump, who says he would like keep Guantánamo open, and “load it up with bad dudes” among other things.

Andy Worthington is freelance investigative journalist, activist, author, photographer, film-maker, and singer-songwriter who has made an annual pilgrimage to America from his native Britain to lobby for the infamous prison’s closure, and he was there again last month in the run up to the Trump inauguration. Andy’s book titles include: ‘Guantánamo Files: The Stories of the 774 Detainees in America’s Illegal Prison, ‘Stonehenge: Celebration and Subversion’, and ‘The Battle of the Beanfield.’ He also co-directed (with Polly Nash) the documentary film, ‘Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo.’

Andy Worthington in the first half.

And; there’s no bigger china shop in the world than China, and bull moose Donald has done little to disguise the cross-hairs his administration has drawn on the global economic superpower’s business. For the last half of his tenure, Obama tried repeatedly to orchestrate his so-called “Asia pivot,” an effort to move America’s foreign policy focus back to the Pacific where it’s uncontested half-century of dominance has come under challenge. What will a Trump administration do to make America’s hegemony in Asia great again; and how will China receive its efforts?

Peter Lee is a freelance journalist writing on East and South Asian affairs as they intersect with US global policy. He’s the driving force behind the Asian affairs website China Matters, providing critical updates on China and Asia-Pacific, and his articles also appear at Asia Times, and at CounterPunch.org, among other internet news sites. News sites like Newsbud.com who just last month launched Peter’s weekly report, China Watch.

Peter Lee and a not so Happy Chinese New Year for America’s Year of the Bull in the second half.

And Christina Nikolic will be here at the bottom of the hour to, in association with Victoria Street Newz publisher emeritus, Janine Bandcroft, bring us news of good things planned for the coming week in and around our town and beyond. But first, Andy Worthington, an Englishman in New America.