Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Terry Wolfwood, Evan Reif August 2nd, 2023

Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded August 2nd, 2023

This week, Victoria’s Women in Black will convene to again commemorate the hundreds of thousands perished in the twin atrocities visited on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Women too will bear silent vigil for the millions more killed, maimed, and rendered homeless in the 78 years of wars waged since the Atomic bombing of Japan.

Terry Wolfwood is Director and co-founder of the Barnard-Boecker Centre Foundation. She’s a writer, poet, photographer, and long-time activist in pursuit of peace, social justice, and women’s rights. Her articles have appeared at Briarpatch, Peace News, Third World Resurgence, and at the Foundation’s site, BBCF.ca.

Terry has served too as local coordinator for the Women in Black for many years, and traveled numerous times to the refugee camps-cum towns and cities in Palestine and Western Sahara.

 

Terry Wolfwood in the first half.

And; yes, “war is Hell” but those fighting it are not born demons; some are just made that way – systematically robotized, inured to human compassion, decency, and mercy – “psychologically inoculated” to become ruthless killers on command. And, that moral immunity persists after, and between wars.

Evan Reif is a freelance writer whose articles appear at CovertAction Magazine. The son of a miner and librarian from Western South Dakota, Evan says his father’s union organizing, and their community’s deindustrialization trauma, fostered a “deep interest in left-wing politics” and made him “a staunch anti-fascist“.

Evan’s latest piece at CAM, ‘Lord of the Underworld: Meet the Paratrooper from North Carolina Who Helped Orchestrate the War in Ukraine‘ follows a string of articles on the role of America, and Americans in the tragedy over there.

Evan Reif on Ukraine’s decent to Hell, and the conductors keeping the demonic tune playing in the second half.

But first, Terry Wolfwood remembering the shadows of war past and present.

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, broad/webcasting since 1999. Check out the Archive at Gorilla-Radio.com, GRadio.Substack.com, and the GR blog at: https://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com/

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Radhika Desai, Terry Wolfwood, Gale Stevens July 29, 2021

Welcome back to Gorilla Radio’s Home Edition, recorded on the dates, July 21st and 22nd, 2021

And welcome to a new day in Canada’s political life. Or so hope the founders of the country’s newest political entity, Green Left Canada. Announced July 19th, the “eco-socialist” Green Left says it, “…emerges from the groundswell of opposition to neo-liberal systems that threaten the survival of the planet and democracy...”

Dr. Radhika Desai is a Professor in the Department of Political Studies at the University of Manitoba, and Director of the Geopolitical Economy Research Group there. She’s also a three-term President of the Society for Socialist Studies, and a founding member of Green Left Canada. Her book, ‘Geopolitical Economy: After US Hegemony, Globalization and Empire’ proposes “a new approach to understanding world affairs in the capitalist era…

Radhika Desai in the first half.

And next week marks the 76th anniversary of the atomic bombing of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. That tragic and senseless act will be commemorated by the Victoria chapter of the Women in Black, who will again stand vigil at the inner harbour.

Terry Wolfwood is Director and co-founder of the Barnard-Boecker Centre Foundation, and a writer, photographer, and long-time activist in pursuit of peace, social justice, and women’s rights. Her articles have appeared at Briarpatch, Peace News, and Third World Resurgence among other places, and as well as her many activities in support of justice and peace, she’s served as local coordinator for the Women in Black for many years.

Terry Wolfwood, remembering still Hiroshima/Nagasaki and more in the second half.

But first, Radhika Desai and a new voice being raised for a new Canadian political discourse.

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, airing live every Thursday between 11-Noon Pacific Time. In Victoria at 101.9FM, and on the internet at: https://cfuv.ca. He also serves as a contributing editor to the web news site, http://www.pacificfreepress.com. Check out the GR blog at: http://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Dr. Jeffrey Smith, Selam Gebremskel, Moges Kebede, Janine Bandcroft November 19, 2020

Welcome back to Gorilla Radio’s home edition, recorded on this date November 17th, 2020.

Saturday, the uneasy truce between Morocco and the Saharawi people of Western Sahara cracked. The New York Times reports, the Western Sahara pro-independence organization, Polisario Front has declared war, breaking a thirty years-old, UN-brokered ceasefire agreement between Morocco and the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic.

Dr. Jeffrey Smith is a Canadian law academic and lawyer who’s written extensively on Western Sahara human rights and environmental protections under international law. He’s served as legal advisor to the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic for more than a decade.

Jeffrey Smith in the first half.

And; two weeks ago, the federal government in Ethiopia launched military attacks against the restive northern province of Tigray. Today, thousands are fleeing the fighting of the internal conflict outside observors say could become “the Libya of East Africa”.

Selamawit Gebremeskel and Moges Kebede are Ethiopian emigres, living in Canada for nearly thirty years. Selam is a health care professional and UVic grad calling Victoria home now.

Selam Gebremeskel and Moges Kebede anxiously watching developments in Ethiopia in the second half.

And; Victoria broadcaster and host of CFUV’s Plant Powered Radio, Janine Bandcroft will be here at the bottom of the hour with the Left Coast Events Bulletin of some of the good things to be gotten up to in and around our town, and virtually too, in the coming week.

But first, Jeffery Smith and breaking a bad peace in Western Sahara.

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, airing live every Thursday between 11-Noon Pacific Time. In Victoria at 101.9FM, and on the internet at: https://cfuv.ca. He also serves as a contributing editor to the web news site, http://www.pacificfreepress.com. Check out the GR blog at: http://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.ca/

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Terry Wolfwood, Jon Valentine, Christina Nikolic Sept. 20th, 2018

With neo-colonialism’s second wave currently rolling across Africa, it serves well to remember, for one People the first wave never crested.

Western Sahara is home to the Saharawi, who have fought, and continue to fight for their independence, first from Spanish, then Moroccan occupiers.

Their self-declared Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic is recognized by more than fifty of nations, and yet they still suffer the most extreme deprivations, unable to profit from the wealth stolen from their ancestral lands.

Sirocco: Winds of Resistance is a Canadian-made film about the role Canada plays in the colonization of Western Sahara and how that effects the lives of two Saharawi women and their grandmothers. The BC premier will screen next Friday, September 28th at Cafe Simpatico, 1923 Fernwood Rd.

Terry Wolfwood is Director and co-founder of the Barnard-Boecker Centre Foundation, and a writer, photographer, and long-time activist who has traveled to Western Sahara, and documented the plight of the people there. Her articles and pictures have appeared at Briarpatch, Peace News, and Third World Resurgence among other places, and at the BBCF.ca website.

Terry Wolfwood in the first half.

And; whether the Panic of 1907, Wall Street Crash of 1929, or the recently remembered, Financial Crisis of 2008, Autumn has historically been unkind to market capitalists. While those cyclical reversals, or “haircuts”, visited through the vagaries of the stock market on investors may be mere “bumps in the road” for the monied class, for the rest of us those crashes can mean life-altering disaster. So why then do we abide this financial catastrophe creating system continue; is there no other way!?

The folk behind the 13th Annual Victoria Anarchist Bookfair think there is, and as ever their Bookfair presents workshops and speakers on a wide range of topics. The collective says, “We seek to challenge colonial attitudes, introduce anarchism to the public, foster dialogue between various political traditions, and create radical, inclusive, anti-oppressive spaces.”

Jon Valentine is a long-time volunteer with the Victoria chapter of Food Not Bombs, members of the 13th Anarchist Bookfair collective, kicking off this weekend in Fernwood at 1240 Gladstone. Jon is too a dedicated social activist and two-time Victoria candidate for City Council.

Jon Valentine and a festival of anarchy in Fernwood in the second half.

And; Victoria horticulturalist and greentrepreneur extraordinaire, Christina Nikolic at the bottom of the hour with the Left Coast Events Bulletin of some of the good things to get up to in and around our town in the coming week. But first, Terry Wolfwood and Western Sahara’s winds of resistance.

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, airing live every Thursday between 11-Noon 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/