Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Ken Stone November 26, 2022

Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded November 26th, 2022.

Though its technically illegal for Canadians to enlist in foreign wars, when it comes to the Ukraine conflict its clear Ottawa is happy to ignore transgressors. And, Canadian media is going that official blind-eying one further, lionizing Canadians killed in combat over there.

Ken Stone is an executive member of both the Syria Support Movement and Hamilton Coalition to Stop the War. He’s also a contributing author to the Canada-Wide Peace and Justice Network‘s open letter regarding the recent death of Canadian Joseph Hildebrand, killed fighting in Ukraine.

Ken Stone and Canada’s role in keeping the killing in Ukraine going.

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: http://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com/

Song: Bombing Ourselves

Artist: David Rovics

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Jeremy Kuzmarov, Ken Stone November 26, 2022

Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded November 26th, 2022.

Efforts to smother the remnant embers of free expression across media platforms are continuing apace. Concentrated corporate news ownership, suppressive speech legislation, and a burgeoning cancel culture are combining to muzzle investigation of corporate malfeasance and stifle the debate of government policy at perhaps the most crucial moment in human history. And, the communications technology revolution many hoped to democratize and counterbalance a worldview skewed by the dominant class has so far failed to materialize.

But don’t despair, there still exists real alternatives to the “mainstream” information monolith; honest, independent, and courageous media outlets that – if they lack anything – it’s merely broader recognition, and more generous support.

Jeremy Kuzmarov is a journalist and author who also serves as Managing Editor of just such an organization, CovertActionMagazine.com. CAM’s Fall funding drive is fast coming to a spectacular culmination with next week’s Pushback Against Empire: Holiday Party & Fundraiser, an extravaganza featuring a long list of celebrated countermedia luminaries.

Jeremy Kuzmarov in the first half.

And; though its technically illegal for Canadians to enlist in foreign wars, when it comes to the Ukraine conflict its clear Ottawa is happy to ignore transgressors. And, Canadian media is going that official blind-eying one further, lionizing Canadians killed in combat over there.

Ken Stone is an executive member of both the Syria Support Movement and Hamilton Coalition to Stop the War. He’s also a contributing author to the Canada-Wide Peace and Justice Network‘s open letter regarding the recent death of Canadian Joseph Hildebrand, killed fighting in Ukraine.

Ken Stone and Canada’s role in keeping the killing in Ukraine going in the second half.

But first, Jeremy Kuzmarov and having a party whilst pushing back too with CovertAction.

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: http://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com/

Song: Bombing Ourselves

Artist: David Rovics

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Kim Ives, David Swanson, Janine Bandcroft March 28, 2019

Last month, a curious arrest came and went in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The incident surrounded the “catch and release” of a band of American mercenaries, allegedly nabbed in flagrante not in the boudoir, but the national bank.

In what sounds like a Mack Senate two-reeler, this Keystone Operation would be slapstick but for the deadly serious political situation in Haiti now, and its long history of foreigner-engineered disasters.

Kim Ives is a contributing editor at Haiti Liberté, a weekly newspaper published in French, Kreyol, and English,and veteran reporter, editor, and photographer for Haïti Progrès.

He’s also a past host of WBAI Radio’s Haitian news program, Lanbi Call, and documentary film maker whose projects include: ‘Bitter Cane’, ‘Ayisyen Leve Kanpe’, and ‘The Coup Continues’ among others.

Ives too is a founding member of the International Support Haiti Network (ISHN), formerly the Haiti Support Network (HSN), and has led numerous delegations to Haiti since 1986 to investigate human rights violations, union struggles, peasant land conflicts, and state-enterprise privatization campaigns.

Kim’s recent article, ‘American Mercenaries Arrested in Haiti Were Part of a Half-Baked Scheme to Move $80 Million on Behalf of Embattled President‘, (published in cooperation with The Intercept) broke the story of the hapless gang who couldn’t loot straight.

Kim Ives in the first half.

And; can any war be called “just”. It’s a concept not questioned enough, with most people assuming wars of self-defense are clearly defensible. While Afghanistan never attacked the United States, or anyone else, America and its “coalitions of the willing”, while invoking UN Article 51 and the “self-defense” doctrine, bombed, invaded, and continue to occupy that nation 18 years after the first bombs fell. All this in defense of what?

David Swanson is an author, activist, tireless promoter of pro-peace networks and websites, and co-founder of World Beyond War, an organization making the case for the abolition at last of that ultimate expression of human destructiveness. His book titles include: ‘Curing Exceptionalism’, ‘A Global Security System’, ‘War Is Never Just’, ‘War Is a Lie’, ‘Killing Is Not a Way of Life’, ‘War No More: The Case for Abolition’, and many more. He’s also the host of Talk Nation Radio, linked through his website, Let’s Try Democracy, and a devastatingly effective debater, especially on the topic of war and peace.

I came across a recording of David’s February 13th, 2018 debate with Pete Kilner, a military ethicist, at Eastern Mennonite University on the question, “Is War Ever Justifiable?” and it’s as succinct a refutation of the tropes of war and war making you’re likely to hear.

David Swanson, refuting the ‘Just War Doctrine’ 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, bringing us up to speed with some of what’s good going on in and around our town in the coming week. But first, Kim Ives and a half-baked Haitian heist hitting the fan.

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/