Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Finian Cunningham December 29th, 2020

Welcome back to Gorilla Radio’s Home Edition, recorded on this date, December 29th, 2020.

It’s been almost two months since the unelected government of Abiy Ahmed of Ethiopia mobilized full military attacks against the country’s northernmost province of Tigray. Press coverage of the humanitarian crisis in the making has been scant in the West, while contextual analysis is almost entirely absent.

Abiy convinced the African Union his “Operations to Restore Law and Order” would quickly end and stabilize the country, but two months on his promises stand in stark contrast to “facts on the ground”; facts that include the indiscriminate aerial bombardment and artillery shelling of cities, civilian massacres by the soldiery, and a massive and growing refugee crisis.

Finian Cunningham is a long-time and prolific journalist who worked as an editor and writer for major U.K. media outlets The Mirror, Irish Times, and Independent. The two-time Serena Shim Award for Uncompromising Integrity in Journalism recipient’s articles on international affairs appear at numerous online outlets, including at Sputnik, where I found his new article, ‘BBC Glosses Ethiopia Horror‘.

Today, Finian Cunningham and loosing a CIA Frankenstein on Ethiopia.

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/