It's said; "March comes in like a lion..." and from Ireland to Norway to Vancouver the month begins with the 'March for Wild Salmon,' an international link-up of citizens', environmental, and indigenous groups roaring its determination to halt the spread of the transglobal fish farming industry.
Vancouver's mobilization is led by the Indigenous Salmon Defenders, kicking off a month-long campaign consisting of a series of events, culminating on the final day of March with a global vigil for wild salmon. The timing is no accident, as the coming Spring is the most crucial moment for the next generation of salmon smolt, who must transit a veritable gauntlet of disease-ridden, sea lice spawning fish feedlots dotting their migratory route to the open ocean.
Dawn Morrison is founder of the Indigenous Food Sovereignty Network, a group formed in conjunction with the BC Food Systems Network. She also coordinates the Vancouver Native Health Society's Urban Aboriginal Gardens and Kitchen Project. Morrison is too a leader for Indigenous community engagement in association with the BC Bioregional Food Assistance Planning Project, and she'll be at the head of the March for Wild Salmon. She says the message is simple: “Stop Norwegian Fish Farms from Killing Wild Salmon!”
Dawn Morrison in the first half.
And; fully three years since the great earthquake that destroyed much of Haiti's capital, Port au Prince thousands still remain homeless, jobless, and dependent on foreign aid - such as it is - to survive.The usual, and suspect, agencies are all represented in Haiti, chiefly among them being the United Nations' Minustah, or "stabilization mission."
It's long been believed in the country, it was Nepalese soldiers seconded to Minustah who introduced cholera into the water supply downstream of their base, setting off an epidemic so far credited with killing at least 8,000 Haitians, and sickening many hundreds of thousands more. Though the provenance of the outbreak was obvious, the United Nations has steadfastly denied responsibility. Investigations began, eventually finding, fully two and a half years after the fact, the UN's troopers were indeed the source of the disaster.
Last week, claims for compensation, duly filed by the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti, or IJDH on behalf of the those afflicted, were rejected out of hand by the UN, with that organization's number one, Ban Ki-moon expressing "profound sympathy" for the suffering caused by the worst outbreak of its kind in the world today, while refusing to accept responsibility for it.
Brian Concannon Jr. is Director for the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti, and he joins us from Boston with reaction to the UN's decision in the second half.
And; Victoria Street Newz publisher and CFUV Radio broadcaster, Janine Bandcroft will be here at the bottom of the hour to bring us news from our city's streetz, and beyond. But first, Dawn Morrison and a month of Marching for the Wild Salmon.
Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, airing live every Monday, 5-6pm Pacific Time. In Victoria at 101.9FM, and on the internet at: http://cfuv.uvic.ca. He also serves as a contributing editor to the web news site, http://www.pacificfreepress.com. Check out the GR blog at: http://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.ca/
This week: Dawn Paley is a Canadian freelance journalist, filing stories from south of south of the border on the abuses of Canadian-flagged mining corporations, and the Canadian dimension to Mexico's so-called Drug War. She recently published a groundbreaking report exposing the sordid history and true intents behind the War on Drugs.
'Drug War Capitalism: Militarization & Economic Transformation in Colombia & Mexico' first appeared in Detroit's Against the Current magazine and provides a startling reality check into the nature of gangsterism on both sides of the nebulous divide we call international law.
Dawn Paley in the first half.
And; The Trans-Pacific Partnership recently held its 13th round of negotiations down in San Diego.
If the TPP isn't ringing any bells with you, don't despair, all but the tiniest percentile has known the dark truth about both the style and substance of the deal-making being struck between the United States and a couple handfuls of Pacific Rim nations. Canada too has signed on to the TPP, though strangely refusing to request a central role in the talks.
Lori Wallach is the director of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch division and is co-author, with Ralph Nader and Michelle Sforza, of the books, 'The WTO: Five Years of Reasons to Resist Corporate Globalization,' and 'Whose Trade Organization: A Comprehensive Guide to the World Trade Organization,' co-authored again with Ralph Nader and Patrick Woodall, and 'Mai: The Multilateral Agreement on Investment and the Threat to American Freedom' with Tony Clarke and Maude Barlow.
Lori Wallach and watchkeeping the TPP in the second half.
And; Victoria Street Newz publisher and CFUV broadcaster, Janine Bandcroft will join us at the bottom of the hour to bring us up to speed with some of the goings on going on on the streetz of the city and beyond.
Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, airing live every Monday, 5-6pm Pacific Time. In Victoria at 101.9FM, 104.3 cable, and on the internet at: http://cfuv.uvic.ca. He also serves as a contributing editor to the web news site, http://www.pacificfreepress.com. Check out the GR blog at: http://GorillaRadioBlog.blogspot.com
Last week, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board held its biennial Public Meeting, manifesting in Victoria via teleconference; its chairperson of the board of directors, Robert Astley, and president and CEO, David Denison were discussing the board's annual report, and how well it is carrying out its mandate.
They also took questions from their bosses; the current and past working stiffs of Canada.
The Barnard-Boecker Centre Foundation was there, and addressed to the board for its consideration a change of direction, one both honouring international treaties signed by Canada, and taking seriously the board's stated concern for an ethical approach to our collective investment portfolio that includes respect for the environment, social justice, and governance factors.
Terry Wolfwood is Director of the BBCF and is here in the first half.
And; Mexico's 'Drug War,' raging since 2008, is less a war against narco-gangs, as presented, but more properly a perpetual war against the people; and, it is a war Canada is intimately complicit in. Canadian freelance journalist, Dawn Paley has been filing stories from south of south of the border on the abuses of Canadian-flagged mining corporations, and now she breaks the story of the Canadian dimension to Mexico's so-called Drug War.
Dawn Paley and "Ottawa's role in the permanent war against the people of Mexico" in the second half.
And; Victoria Street Newz publisher and CFUV broadcaster, Janine Bandcroft will join us at the bottom of the hour to bring us up to speed with some of the goings on going on on the streetz of the city and beyond.
Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, airing live every Monday, 5-6pm Pacific Time. In Victoria at 101.9FM, 104.3 cable, and on the internet at: http://cfuv.uvic.ca. He also serves as a contributing editor to the web news site, http://www.pacificfreepress.com. Check out the GR blog at: http://GorillaRadioBlog.blogspot.com
This week: Around the country, across the continent, and throughout the once-called 'Free World' the Smart Meter and its variants is appearing, bulldozing its way onto the walls and into wireboxes the world over, whether welcomed or not. But, what are these devices; and why are people worried?
Brian Thiesen is Chairman of the Kamloops chapter of Interior Smart Meter Awareness, an affiliate of No BC Smart Meters, and he joins us in the first half.
Listen. Hear.
And; Last month, Bernardo Vásquez Sánchez, a Zapotec community activist in San José Progreso, Oaxaca, Mexico was gunned down with his cousin, Rosalinda Dionicio Sánchez, and brother Andres Vásquez Sánchez as they drove home. Bernardo knew his life was in danger; others opposing foreign mining companies in his ancestral territories have died violently. Bernardo recently told a Canadian journalist what he thought the crux of the growing tensions between Canadian listed, Fortuna Silver and locals was.
Dawn Paley is a Vancouver-based journalist who has written for a multitude of newspapers and magazines in Canada. She has worked in radio and television too, her reports featuring on Democracy Now!, Free Speech Radio News, and CBC Radio. Dawn is also a contributing editor with The Dominion - Canada's grassroots newsmagazine, and is a co-founder of the Vancouver Media Co-op. She is also a media educator, teaching community journalism workshops and online journalism, most recently with the Alliance for Global Justice.
Dawn Paley from south of south of the border in the second half.
And; Victoria Street Newz publisher and CFUV broadcaster, Janine Bandcroft will join us at the bottom of the hour to bring us up to speed with some of the goings on going on on the streetz of the city and beyond.
Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, airing live every Monday, 5-6pm Pacific Time. In Victoria at 101.9FM, 104.3 cable, and on the internet at: http://cfuv.uvic.ca. He also serves as a contributing editor to the web news site, http://www.pacificfreepress.com. Check out the GR blog at: http://GorillaRadioBlog.blogspot.com
G-Radio is dedicated to social justice, the environment, community, and providing a forum for people and issues not covered in corporate and state media. Gorilla Radio airs live every Monday, 5-6pm Pacific Time. In Victoria at 102FM, 104.3 cable, and on t