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More than a century and half after Dickens’ observation of living in the “best and worst of times“, we living now on the verge of transformative technologies promising to make of our existence the paradise on Earth so long promised are, instead of grasping the best of all times, stuck in an Iron Age paradigm of endless war and violence. And worse yet, according to my first guest, things are getting worse yet.
Mathew Legge is Peace Program Coordinator for the Canadian Friends Services Committee, the peace and social justice agency of Quakers in Canada. He’s also a researcher in the fields of neuroscience, social psychology, and behavioral economics whose blog, Are We Done Fighting? appears at the Psychology Today website.
Matthew will be on the island next week to speak on the issues presented in his newly released book, ‘Are We Done Fighting? Building Understanding in a World of Hate and Division‘.
Mathew Legge in the first half.
And; Canadians seem never to tire of making connections with native sons and daughters who have achieved great things abroad. Just one such person is Dr. Norman Bethune. A national hero in China, Bethune’s communist sympathies though has long presented government of Canada propagandists with a dilemma; so, while his humanitarian contributions are undeniable, Norman Bethune may just be, 80 years after his death, the most famous Canadian hero most Canadians have never heard of!
Larry Hannant is a writer, historian, educator, social justice advocate and activist. He’s author of the Robert S. Kenny Prize-winning book, ‘The Politics of Passion: Norman Bethune’s Writing and Art‘, the soon to be released, ‘Bucking Conservatism: Alternative Stories of Alberta in the 1960s and 1970s’, ‘The Infernal Machine: Investigating the Loyalty of Canada’s Citizens‘, and the just out, ‘All My Politics Are Poetry’. Hannant and fellow speakers, Eric Zhao, Parneyan Weera, and Florian Castle will be presenting a commemoration of the life and times of Norman Bethune and simultaneous launch of Larry’s book tonight at the Victoria Event Centre on Broad Street at 7pm sharp.
Larry Hannant, Norman Bethune and the politics of poetry in the second half.
And; Victoria-based activist and long-time Gorilla Radio contributor, 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 in the coming week. But first, Mathew Legge and strategizing responses to the current wave of hate and divisiveness.
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.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/
