Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, broad/webcasting since 1999. The show is archived at: www.gorilla-radio.com. The GR blog is at: gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com, and you can find and support the program at GRadio.Substack.com. Financial support is also possible through the Patreon site: https://www.patreon.com/PacificFreePress. He's too the past contributing editor to the web news site, www.pacificfreepress.com, (now defunct) and tweets at @paciffreepress. G-Radio is dedicated to social justice, the environment, community, and providing a forum for people and issues not covered in the corporate media. Some past guests include: M. Shahid Alam, Joel Bakan, Maude Barlow, Ramzy Baroud, David Barsamian, William Blum, Luciana Bohne, Helen Caldicott, Noam Chomsky, Paul Cienfuegos, Yves Engler, Laura Flanders, Denis Halliday, Julia Butterfly Hill, Sam Husseini, Robert Jensen, Dahr Jamail, Chalmers Johnson, Malalai Joya, Kathy Kelly, Ingmar Lee, Dave Lindorff, Andrew Gavin Marshall, Stefania Maurizi, Greg Palast, Michael Parenti, John Pilger, Kevin Pina, Ted Rall, Paul Craig Roberts, John Ross, David Rovics, Joan Russow, Danny Schechter, Vandana Shiva, Norman Solomon, David Swanson, Andy Worthington, Mickey Z., Howard Zinn and many others.
Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded February 19th, 2023.
On February 8th of this year, Dutch police presented new evidence to the District Court of The Hague regarding the July 17th, 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17.
Upon entering their evidence, the Dutch government and an Australian investigator on the case admitted to having held American military satellite images from the court, the press, and defence lawyers throughout the two-year trial for the wrongful deaths of the two hundred and ninety-eight people who perished aboard that ill-fated flight.
John Helmer is a journalist and author who’s spent decades living in and reporting from Russia. The principle behind the web news site, Dances with Bears, Helmer has too been a professor of political science, sociology and journalism, and served as advisor to governments at the highest levels. Among his many book titles are: ‘Skripal in Prison,’ ‘The Man Who Knows Too Much About Russia,’ ‘The Jackals’ Wedding: American Power, Arab Revolt’, his latest, ‘Australian Fascism: How It Destroyed the Courts,’ and ‘The Lie That Shot Down MH-17’.
Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded February 18th and 19th, 2023.
On February 8th of this year, Dutch police presented new evidence to the District Court of The Hague regarding the July 17th, 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17.
Upon entering their evidence, the Dutch government and an Australian investigator on the case admitted to having held American military satellite images from the court, the press, and defence lawyers throughout the two-year trial for the wrongful deaths of the two hundred and ninety-eight people who perished aboard that ill-fated flight.
John Helmer is a journalist and author who’s spent decades living in and reporting from Russia. The principle behind the web news site, Dances with Bears, Helmer has too been a professor of political science, sociology and journalism, and served as advisor to governments at the highest levels. Among his many book titles are: ‘Skripal in Prison,’ ‘The Man Who Knows Too Much About Russia,’ ‘The Jackals’ Wedding: American Power, Arab Revolt’, his latest, ‘Australian Fascism: How It Destroyed the Courts,’ and ‘The Lie That Shot Down MH-17’.
His recent article on the latest from The Hague and the MH-17 disaster is, ‘US SATELLITE PHOTOS REVEALED AT LAST – NOW THEY INCRIMINATE THE DUTCH POLICE, PROSECUTORS, AND JUDGES IN THE MH17 SHOW TRIAL’.
John Helmer in the first half.
And; BC’s Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy has granted permits for the Ministry of Forests to begin a Spring spraying campaign across swathes of Vancouver Island. The plan is to use Foray 48B, (better known as Btk) in an attempt to eradicate the “Spongy Moth”; and though the ministries say Btk is “harmless”, there is contention to those claims.
Dr. Jennifer Tynan is a physician and radiology specialist. Jennifer’s also a mom whose child’s school is in one of the proposed spray zones, and serves as spokesperson for Communities United for Clean Air, a grassroots initiative to stop the spray.
Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded January 22, 2023
Approaching the first anniversary of Russia’s “Special Operations” in the Donbass region of Ukraine prospects for Russia’s proposed ceasefire are tremulous, and the chance of peace breaking out soon remote. The problem for those seeking an end to the killing is, as ever, finding willing partners on both sides of the conflict. For now, Ukraine’s backers in the United States and the NATO countries seem content to allow the war continue, sapping Russia’s political and economic resources while providing a lucrative market for their weapons-making industries.
But, and it is an enormous one, elements within Germany’s uber military echelons are pushing America to put an end to its project in Ukraine – before it’s too late!
John Helmer is a journalist, author, and principle behind the web news site, Dances with Bears. He’s a past professor of political science, sociology, and journalism and has served as advisor to governments at the highest level.
Helmer has spent decades living in and reporting from Russia, and among his many book titles are: ‘The Lie That Shot Down MH-17,’ ‘Skripal in Prison,’ ‘The Man Who Knows Too Much About Russia,’ ‘The Jackals’ Wedding: American Power, Arab Revolt’, and his latest, ‘Australian Fascism: How It Destroyed the Courts.’.
Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded December 20th, 2022.
“Fascism” has become, in the post-totalitarian west, a term traduced through overuse to the point of triteness. So much so, it begs questioning whether this trivialization is not done by some nefarious design than the more usual intellectual laziness of the purveyors of news and other so-called “information”. But – and it is an enormous but – fascism did not die with Herr Hitler, its surviving spore has found purchase in the body politic of liberal democracies across the World; in some more readily than others.
John Helmer, the self-titled “doyen” of the foreign press corps in Russia is principle of the web news site, Dances with Bears. He’s a native-born Australian, educated there and at Harvard University in America. He’s also a prolific author, some of whose titles include: ‘The Lie That Shot Down MH-17,’ ‘Skripal in Prison,’ ‘The Man Who Knows Too Much About Russia,’ ‘The Jackals’ Wedding: American Power, Arab Revolt’, and his latest, just hours off the presses, ‘Australian Fascism: How It Destroyed the Courts.’
Today, a special Christmas Season observance of the persistent survival of a political philosophy as perniciously adaptive, and destructive, as any holly and ivy ever was.
Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded December 5, 2022.
As Afghanistan fades from Western consciousness, the effects of the twenty years-long war America and its willing coalition waged against the impoverished nation are yet being felt; still bearing bitter fruit for a generation of Afghans not born when the war began.
Kathy Kelly is a long-time peace and justice activist, essayist, author, and recipient of numerous awards for her peace service, including multiple nominations for the Nobel Peace prize. Kathy is too a founding member of Voices in the Wilderness and Voices for Creative Nonviolence. She co-authored the book, ‘Prisoners on Purpose: a Peacemakers Guide to Jails and Prison,’ and wrote, ‘Other Lands Have Dreams: from Baghdad to Pekin Prison.’
And; despite American and European posturing in support of continuing the war in Ukraine – already bleeding national coffers on both sides of the Atlantic white – recent leaks from the Pentagon, and public statements from the Biden White House, defy the jingoistic rhetoric. The U.S. president remarked this past week, “We have to respect the Ukrainians to decide the moment and conditions in which they will negotiate about their territory.” For Russia’s part, they’ve begun mapping out what a post-war Ukraine could look like.
John Helmer is a journalist, author, and principle behind the web news site, Dances with Bears. He’s a past professor of political science, sociology, and journalism and has served as advisor to governments at the highest level.
Helmer has spent decades living in and reporting from Russia, and among his many book titles are: ‘The Lie That Shot Down MH-17,’ ‘Skripal in Prison,’ ‘The Man Who Knows Too Much About Russia,’ and his latest, ‘The Jackals’ Wedding: American Power, Arab Revolt’.
Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded October 1st and 2nd, 2022
And welcome too to what appears to be the end of the pretense of Canada, the sovereign state. If we’re honest, like Peter Pan’s Tinkerbell, that place existed ever only as an article of faith: It was because we believed it, it was so. But in its deeds these last years, it is increasingly difficult to maintain the fiction this place named Canada is anything more in fact than a placeholder for Greater America and its now nakedly evident Empire.
Yves Engler is a prolific author, essayist, and political activist. Among his dozen books are ten detailing various myths of “Canada’s” foreign policy past and present. His hundreds of articles on that and other matters of the moment appear across the internet and at his site, YvesEngler.com. Yves is too the host of the Canadian Foreign Policy Hour, a “weekly news roundup and interactive discussion about Canada’s role abroad.” It’s a forum made possible by the new communications environment, one that allows the citizenry sidestep corporate and state news mediation.
Yves Engler in the first half.
And; things are changing so rapidly it’s almost pointless to write now, two days before my second guest’s interview, about the previously mentioned Empire’s efforts to overthrow Russian leadership and usurp entirely the European economy. Just today, on September’s last day, NATO is entertaining an expedited application to accept Ukraine into its fold; even as Russia announces the adoption of Western Ukrainian territories. These two actions, should NATO complete its part, automatically create a state of war between the NATO states and Russia – setting the stage for World War III. This all in the wake of the sabotage of Russia’s Nord Stream I and II pipelines.
John Helmer is a journalist, author, and principle behind the web news site, Dances with Bears. He’s a past professor of political science, sociology, and journalism and has served as advisor to governments at the highest level. Helmer has spent decades living in and reporting from Russia, and among his many book titles are: ‘The Lie That Shot Down MH-17,’ ‘Skripal in Prison,’ ‘The Man Who Knows Too Much About Russia,’ and his latest, ‘The Jackals’ Wedding: American Power, Arab Revolt’.
John Helmer and Aftershocks of the Nord Stream attacks as prelude to Armageddon in the second half.
But first, Yves Engler and Canada’s foreign-dictated foreign policy.
Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded September 17th and 18th, 2022.
This week past, the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency officially demanded Russia relinquish control of the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant, or (ZNPP), and “all nuclear facilities within Ukraine’s internationally recognized borders” into the hands of “competent Ukraine authorities“. The Russian-held nuclear plant has been repeatedly shelled and was too the target of a Kiev commando-raid. The IAEA’s investigation on the status of the plant, and now this report, are precedent-setting for the agency, but not a departure from the recent trend toward politicizing international agencies to serve the interests of America and NATO.
John Helmer is a journalist, author, and principle behind the web news site, Dances with Bears. He’s a past professor of political science, sociology, and journalism and has served as advisor to governments at the highest level. Helmer has spent decades living in and reporting from Russia, and among his many book titles are: ‘The Lie That Shot Down MH-17,’ ‘Skripal in Prison,’ ‘The Man Who Knows Too Much About Russia,’ and his latest, ‘The Jackals’ Wedding: American Power, Arab Revolt’.
John Helmer in the first half.
And; even as the UN’s IAEA and OPCW are co-opted against their mandates into the service of the war-state, so too countries big and small are strong-armed to bend their laws to suit the aims of the United States. Witness Great Britain’s abandonment of the Magna Carta in the Assange case, or Canada’s deplorable political arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou and two-plus year torturing of logic and jurisprudence required to keep her imprisoned. What chance then do smaller countries like Sweden, or Iceland, or Cabo Verde have when their leadership receives a call from Uncle Sam?
In the latter’s case, that phone rang when Venezuelan diplomat and businessman, Alex Saab’s plane landed for refueling in the tiny African nation, en route to Iran. Today, Saab languishes in an American prison cell for the crime of challenging imperial power.
Roger D. Harris’ long civil rights activism career encompasses the teaching political science at a Historical Black College in Mississippi in the 1960’s and community organizing in East Harlem, New York City.
Today, Roger’s a Wildlife Biologist and conducts eco-tours with the Oceanic Society, but he still has an oar or two in the activist waters; sitting on the board of the human rights organization, Task Force on the Americas, and serving on the executive committee of the US Peace Council, among others. His political essays feature online at CounterPunch, Dissident Voice, Mint Press News, Popular Resistance, and at the Task Force on the Americas site, where I found his recent article, ‘Possible Prisoner Exchange in US Hybrid War Against Venezuela‘.
Roger Harris and freeing Alex Saab in the second half.
Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded July 21st and 24th, 2022
Nearly seventy-seven years following the atomic annihilation of two cities, politicians in America and its NATO vassal states today are debating the strategic merits of a nuclear war with Russia, (and presumable China to follow). Absent the debate, naturally, is the moral question of both war and its necessary means. August 6th marks the grim anniversary of the destruction of Hiroshima by America – Nagasaki being unnecessarily destroyed three days later. In the years since, historians have proven neither attack was needed to bring Japan to the negotiating table; they had been attempting surrender for months before the bombs dropped. But as we learn, each time anew it seems, truth has little purchase for the warmongers.
The tragic and senseless destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki will again be commemorated by the Victoria chapter of the Women in Black, who will stand silent vigil August 6th at the inner harbour. All are welcome to attend.
Terry Wolfwood is Director and co-founder of the Barnard-Boecker Centre Foundation, at BBCF.ca. 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, and Third World Resurgence among other places. In conjunction with her many activities in support of justice and peace, Terry has served too as local coordinator for the Women in Black for many years.
Terry Wolfwood in the first half.
And; mere hours after signing an agreement allowing the safe passage of goods from Ukraine, an acknowledged Russian missile attack against the port of Odessa threatens to scotch the deal. Russia denies allegations made by Ukraine and western media it targeted grain silos in the port, instead saying a dry dock, warship under repair, and warehouse of American munitions were struck and destroyed. Meanwhile, Kiev’s president Zelenskyy spent part of his day today playing host to US congressional reps, eager to pad their war-making resumes in anticipation of the Fall election.
John Helmer is a journalist, author, and principle behind the web news site, Dances with Bears. He’s a past scholar, and advisor to government at the highest level, and spent decades living in and reporting from Russia. His many book titles include: ‘The Lie That Shot Down MH-17, ‘Skripal in Prison,’ ‘The Man Who Knows Too Much About Russia,’ and his latest, ‘The Jackals’ Wedding: American Power, Arab Revolt‘ is newly out.
John Helmer and Ukraine’s thickening fog in the second half.
But first, Terry Wolfwood and remembering still Hiroshima/Nagasaki.
Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded July 10th, 2022
Twenty-five hundred years or so ago, storied Chinese general and reputed author of The Art of War observed, “There is no instance of a nation benefiting from prolonged warfare.” Today, twenty and some years into George Bush’s “generational war”, Sun Tzu’s wise maxim seems to have eluded the modern masters of war. The NATO Alliance has spent the 21st Century hopscotching from country to country dealing death and destruction as it goes with the abandon of a malicious child on an ant hill, wantonly thumbing flat people, nations, and the very concept of International Law until. In 2022, we find ourselves on the threshold of another global war, one leading through Russia to a final confrontation with China.
John Helmer is a journalist, author, and principle behind the web news site, Dances with Bears. He’s a past scholar, and advisor to government at the highest level, and spent decades living in and reporting from Russia. His many book titles include: ‘The Lie That Shot Down MH-17, ‘Skripal in Prison,’ ‘The Man Who Knows Too Much About Russia,’ and his latest, ‘The Jackals’ Wedding: American Power, Arab Revolt‘ is newly out.
His recent article, ‘The Coming Verdict in the MH17 Trial is Certain, and Double Dutch’ reminds, NATO’s determination for a war against Russia in Ukraine is a multi-layered operation, predating anything Russia has done.
Today, John Helmer and Dutch courts doing double duty and NATO’s media doing its damnedest to get and keep the war on Russia going.
Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded May 7th and 8th, 2022.
Though most Canadians don’t know it they and their country are at war. And, it’s not merely a war against “Putin’s Russia” (started in response to the invasion of Ukraine). While it’s true, Canada has been actively engaged in undermining Russia, it has not been doing so exclusively – at the same time it has in turn tried to undermine China, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Iran, Syria, and a host of other nations, (all conveniently catalogued for it by our friends and neighbours south). Only difference is, now the military aspect of Ottawa’s international campaign of belligerence is glaringly apparent.
Yves Engler is a Montréal-based activist, and author of 12 books, mostly on Canadian foreign policy, including his latest, ‘Stand on Guard For Whom? A People’s History of the Canadian Military’. He’s also a prolific essayist whose many articles appear at numerous sites online, including at his website, YvesEngler.com, where his recent articles have focused on Canada’s growing involvement in the crisis in Ukraine, including ‘Harper pushed conflict with Russia long before invasion.’
Yves Engler in the first half.
And; while investigations by Canada’s Department of National Defense exonerate itself of allegedly training Nazi’s to kill Russians in Ukraine, (and presumably elsewhere) none are disputing the fact Canada’s government is not only training, but also supplying the successors of Kiev’s coupsters with the materiel vital to accomplishing that. And they’re not alone. But, what remains the burning question of the moment is, “Where’s the voice of global peace in this: Where’s the United Nations?”
Last week, UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres made his organization’s position clear – sort of – by not only refusing to censure Ukraine’s military for intentionally hiding its forces behind human shields in Mariupol, but possibly too, as my second guest reports, committing a war crime by taking part in a scheme to use those civilians as cover in an attempt to extricate combatants from the besieged Azovstal steel plant.
John Helmer is a journalist, author, and principle behind the web news site, Dances with Bears. He’s a past scholar, and advisor to government at the highest level, and spent decades living in and reporting from Russia. His many book titles include: ‘The Lie That Shot Down MH-17, ‘Skripal in Prison,’ ‘The Man Who Knows Too Much About Russia,’ and his latest, ‘The Jackals’ Wedding: American Power, Arab Revolt‘ is newly out. His recent article, ‘Did UN Secretary-General Guterres Commit a War Crime at Azovstal?”
John Helmer and crimes of commission and omission in Ukraine in the second half.
But first, Yves Engler and Canada’s long subterranean warmaking breaking cover.
Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded February 23rd and 26th, 2022
As Canada stands on the precipice perhaps of war, what more timely moment could there be to examine Canadian foreign policy past and present, with an eye cast to a hoped for future?
The fire this time is burning in Ukraine, a country in which Canadian objectives – at least those of the political class – has played an instrumental role in the tumult there since 2014, leading to the crescendo of violence and uncertainty being seen today. The intrigues of Canada and its larger allies has ensnared Russia, as intended, and could lead next to similar conflict with China. But is this what Canadians want; following along in an endless parade of NATO-enforced wars and police actions in support of a failing U.S. empire?
John Price is professor emeritus at the University of Victoria, and member of the Advisory Board of the newly formed Canada-China Focus, a project of the Canadian Foreign Policy Institute and UVic’s Centre for Global Studies. He is too author of the book, ‘Orienting Canada,’ and his essays appear at Canadian Dimension.com, where I found his eight-part series “investigating the crisis in Canada-China relations.”
John Price in the first half.
And; John Helmer and I spoke on the eve of what Russia is now calling its “military-technical” operation in Ukraine. Events, as John subsequently said, seem to have overtaken our conversation. Even so, the context he provides is invaluable, especially given the media landscape in this country, Canada where official sources do little more than parrot militarists in Ottawa and Washington – and, truth be told, they have been just that for some time longer.
Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded February 23rd, 2022
John Helmer and I spoke on the eve of what Russia is calling its “military-technical” operation in Ukraine. Events, as John subsequently said, seem to have overtaken our conversation.
Even so, the context he provides is invaluable, especially given the media landscape in this country where official sources are little more now than parrots of the militarists in Ottawa and Washington – and truth be told they have been just that for some time longer.
John Helmer is a journalist, author, and principle behind the web news site, Dances with Bears. He’s a past scholar, and advisor to government at the
highest level, and spent decades living in and reporting from Russia. His many book titles include: ‘The Lie That Shot Down MH-17, ‘Skripal in Prison,’ ‘The Man Who Knows Too Much About Russia,’ and his latest, ‘The Jackals’ Wedding: American Power, Arab Revolt’ is freshly out now.
John Helmer and the most dangerous days ahead in Ukraine, Russia, and the rest of the World.
Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded January 15th and 16th, 2022
Last week, Russian and American diplomatic representatives met in Geneva for talks ostensibly aimed at forestalling an escalation of political manoeuvrings into open warfare over NATO expansion into states bordering Russia, and America’s demand Russia return military units standing at the ready on their frontier with Ukraine back to barracks. Different now to long ongoing diplomatic friction between the nations, is a palpable sense of surrender on the Russian side – that is, the apparent abandonment of the hope America and its allies are capable of a reasoned solution.
John Helmer is a journalist, author, broadcaster, former political advisor to government, and principal behind the news website, Dances with Bears. Among Helmer’s many books titles are, ‘The Lie That Shot Down MH-17’ ‘Skripal in Prison’, ‘The Man Who Knows Too Much About Russia’, ‘Hitler Didn’t Die in Berlin – He Moved to Melbourne Where He Runs the State Government of Victoria: A True Covid-19 Thriller’, and his latest, The Dances with Bears Comic Book’. His recent article, ‘Is Geneva 2022 Munich 1938 without Chamberlain’s Piece of Paper? How to Read the US Paper for Peace in Our Time‘ breaks down the current diplomatic breakdown.
John Helmer in the first half.
And; you may have noticed police in Canada look a lot like soldiers these days. Especially if you’re within an “exclusionary zone”. It’s a place where the police uniforms go green as the law goes grey, and where citizens opposing extractivist business as usual get the “insurgent” treatment.
Molly Murphy describes herself as “a front line activist, builder, settler, and mother of three“. She’s also a BIPOC social justice warrior who counted as one among the more than 1,200 citizens arrested at Fairy Creek, (just up the road from Victoria). She’s also co-author of the Mudgirls Manifesto, and author of the recent Briarpatch Magazine article, ‘The C-IRG: the resource extraction industry’s best ally‘.
The piece is a disturbing exposé of the RCMP practice of collusion with industry, and was produced in association with Research for the Front Lines, a new initiative, led by activist, researcher, educator and author, Dr. Jen Gobby. Research for the Front Lines “connects grassroots communities and organizers on the front lines of the fight for environmental and climate justice in Canada with researchers with skills, time, and labour to offer.”
C-IRG at Work, Fairy Creek Photo Colin Smith. Briarpatch
Jen Gobby and Molly Murphy taking to the Front Lines in the second half.
But first, John Helmer and another front line, between America and Russia.
Today I’ll play out this stained 2021 in four fitting quarters taken from four of this past year’s 52 Gorilla Radio programs…
There will be bloviating and some music too… First off, the threat of nuclear annihilation is back! America’s team NATO has pushed Russia against the atomic wall in Ukraine with the prospect of U.S. nuclear-tipped missiles parked within just a few minutes flight time from Moscow.
In November, Vladimir Putin reiterated his “red line warning” regarding that near proximity and the existential threat it represented, making clear Russian missiles were now on a “5 minute” flight time hair trigger.
John Helmer is the most often appearing guest over the 23 years GR has aired. He’s worked in and reported from Russia for the better part of the last thirty years, both before and since the disintegration of the Soviet system. Helmer’s a journalist, author, broadcaster, former political advisor to government, and principle behind the news website, Dances with Bears. Some of his many book titles include: ‘The Lie that Shot Down MH-17,’ ‘Skripal in Prison,’ ‘The Man Who Knows Too Much About Russia,’ and ‘Hitler Didn’t Die in Berlin – He Moved to Melbourne Where He Runs the State Government of Victoria: A True Covid-19 Thriller’ among many others. Here’s John Helmer on NATO’s Ukraine gambit and the new nuclear race’s comeback.
Another Australian journalist, Julian Assange spent all of 2021 as he had 2020 and most of 2019 suffering maximum security lockdown in London’s Belmarsh Prison for the crime of revealing the crimes of empire. The political prisoners of 2021 after the break.
As well as the USA/NATO war machine’s pushing the World ever nearer the brink of catastrophic war with Russia – and perhaps China too – this year past, it has too worked diligently to undermine civil society at home. Part of that effort includes the shutting down of dissenting narrative online, none arguably more vital to understanding our state of perpetual warfare than WikiLeaks – author of The Afghan and Iraq War Logs, Guantanamo and Syria Files, Vault 7 CIA Hacking Tools revelations, and the devastating Collateral Murder video among many others.
Earlier this month, Britain’s appellate court overturned a High Court ruling denying a U.S. extradition petition on the grounds of prisoner Assange’s fragile mental and physical health, allowing he be rendered unto American Justice to face unprecedented charges against a journalist and foreign national that could amount to almost two centuries worth of confinement. His family and supporters, and independent medical investigators with the United Nations fear Assange will not survive even the pre-trial detention.
Steve Poikonen is an activist and host of the ‘Slow News Day‘ podcast – available at Rokfin. He’s also an organizer with Action4Assange, co-host of the #FreeAssange Vigil, and has participated in and helped organized multiple actions for Assange in Washington, D.C., and elsewhere in the U.S. I spoke to Steve several times over the course of the year on the slow progress of the political case against the publisher, the last time in October. Here’s Steve Poikonen on the continued Assange case charade.
That’s Steve Poikonen. You can support his work over at Slow News Day podcast on Rokfin.
You’re listening to Gorilla Radio’s send off of 2021. I’ve heard it said this year was merely a replay of the unloved 2020; if only it were true. In this part of the World, across all metrics of progressive thought, 2021 marks a drastic decline in human rights and civil liberties. And it seems about to be getting worse. Julian Assange wasn’t the only political prisoner held last year; whether Alex Saab in Cape Verde, or Meng Wanzhou in Canada, the much vaunted “rule of law” is increasingly seen for what it is: a sad joke. But the situation in Palestine is beyond even black humour. Israel’s child prisoners after the break…
As serious an abrogation of first principles Canada’s arrest and imprisonment of Huawai executive Meng Wanzhou was, or its continued failure to speak out for the political persectuion of Julian Assange is the country’s utter abandonment of Palestinian children to Israel’s military court system puts the lie to our claim – and self-regard – as an international human rights exemplar. ‘Canada Stand Up for Palestinian Children’s Rights’ is a coalition of human rights organizations who are currently engaged in a continuing awareness-raising campaign because our government has failed in its response to the systemic “kidnap, arrest, detainment, abuse, torture, and murder of Palestinian children…”
Keith Simmonds is a United Church of Canada minister who served as a World Council of Churches human rights observer (Ecumenical Accompanier) in Palestine in early 2020. Stationed in Bethlehem he also spent time in Jerusalem, Galilee and Tulkarem. The ‘second career minister’ has too served as a labour and community organizer, volunteer firefighter and ERT team member, and worked as an assistant to provincial cabinet ministers among other things in a varied career.
That was Keith Simmonds of the United Church of Canada speaking on the ‘Canada Stand Up for Palestinian Children’s Rights’ a coalition of human rights organizations.
Again, you’re listening to Gorilla Radio’s 2021 Year-End show. I’ve chosen four of the 52 shows recorded this year, and so far it’s all been pretty grim news – that is after all the specialty here – but I won’t leave you on the precipice of 2022 without at least a quantum of hope, a scintilla of good tidings. Elections were held throughout Latin America in 2021, and, (with only the dubious exception of Ecuador) the Pink Tide – that is those governments advertising themselves as proponents for the common people – won office. A rising tide in for human rights in Latin America after the break.
Dan Kovalik has been a frequent guest on the show over the years. Dan’s a lawyer, educator, labour, peace, and justice activist, democracy defender, journalist, author, and filmmaker. Dan has observed elections in Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Colombia, and he was down in Nicaragua to witnessed the reelection of man El Norte despises, Daniel Ortega. I’ll finish with Dan and thank John Helmer, Steve Poikonen, Keith Simmonds, and all the good folks at the station keeping the wheels turning week in and week out. There’s great programming coming up, but that’s all I’ve got for this year, until the next…
Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded December 7th, 2021.
80 years to the day from FDR’s famous “day that will live in infamy“, marking America’s entry into World War II the current U.S. president had a virtual sit-down summit with former ally Russia, ostensibly to discuss way of avoiding another war. The fire this time is Ukraine, and whether Russia, as the western press charges, is readying an invasion. For its part, Russia says its concern is with NATO expansion and the emplacement of offensive weapons by the alliance in bordering countries. Meanwhile, behind the media static is Nord Stream 2, the massive gas pipeline project from Russia that though completed is yet to transport a puff of power to energy hungry Europe.
John Helmer is a journalist, author, broadcaster, former political advisor to government, and principal behind the news website, Dances with Bears. Among Helmer’s many books titles are, ‘The Lie That Shot Down MH-17’ ‘Skripal in Prison’, ‘The Man Who Knows Too Much About Russia’, ‘Hitler Didn’t Die in Berlin – He Moved to Melbourne Where He Runs the State Government of Victoria: A True Covid-19 Thrill
er’, and the just hot of the presses, ‘Complete Dances with Bears Comic Book’. His recent article ‘A NEW RUSSIAGATE COMPENDIUM TURNS OUT TO BE A CAT IN A SAKWA’ outs the western media layering of attacks designed to keep Russia on a permanent back-foot.
Today, John Helmer and of summits and the journalistic nadir in Russia reportage.
