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 August 30th, 2023
As the eyes of the World are focused on Ukraine, and Hawaii, and Africa, and all the places people are harried by natural and manufactured disaster, Israel has been busy going about its project of making the lives of Palestinians impossible in Gaza, hardly survivable in the Occupied Territories, and a daily terror for its neighbour, Syria.
Just yesterday, Israel again sent missiles into Aleppo’s international airport, shutting down its last functional runway. Israel has bombed Syria throughout the Summer – and before – with neither sanction nor censure from Canada and its ‘rule of law’ defending allies.
Ken Stone is with the Syria Support Movement International and Hamilton Coalition to Stop the War. We talked last about the EU’s 7th Brussels Conference on the Future of Syria and the Region – an annual event held without Syrian participation – on the first day of Summer past.
Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded August 30th, 2023
The rain’s return reminds Fall is coming to Vancouver Island. What remains as unchanged as the changing seasons here though is the continual rapaciousness of industry in the province and the serial iniquity emanating the capital city’s heart, the B.C. Legislature.
Whether Social Credit, New Democrat, Liberal, BCLiberal, NDP matters not a whit to mining, logging, and fishing interests, or changes by a millimeter the plans of the frackers and pipeline layers, suburban sprawl-makers and downtown condo in-fillers; they can always be assured, business will continue as usual.
Joe Foy is the Protected Areas Campaigner with the Wilderness Committee. An old-hand, Joe was employee #1 way back when the Committee were known as WC2 – or Western Canada Wilderness Committee – and forty some-odd years later there’s still so much work to be done.
Joe Foy in the first half.
And; as the eyes of the World are focused on Ukraine, and Hawaii, and Africa, and all the places people are harried by natural and manufactured disaster, Israel has been busy going about its project of making the lives of Palestinians impossible in Gaza, hardly survivable in the Occupied Territories, and a daily terror for its neighbour, Syria.
Just yesterday, Israel again sent missiles into Aleppo’s international airport, shutting down its last functional runway. Israel has bombed Syria throughout the Summer – and before – with neither sanction nor censure from Canada and its ‘rule of law’ defending allies.
Ken Stone is with the Syria Support Movement International and Hamilton Coalition to Stop the War. We talked last about the EU’s 7th Brussels Conference on the Future of Syria and the Region – an annual event held without Syrian participation – on the first day of Summer past.
Ken Stone and Syria’s long resistance to Empire in the second half.
But first, from felled ancient forests and the Spotted Owl’s imminent extirpation to the fracking pads and pipeline paths across the province, saving what remains with Joe Foy and the Wilderness Committee.
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“.
Welcome to Gorilla Radio recorded March 8th, 2023.
March 20th marks the twentieth anniversary of America’s second invasion of Iraq. Despite the tens of millions of people across the globe coming into the streets to hold at bay the dogs of George Bush’s “generational war” Operation Iraqi Freedom’s “shock and awe” – called “blitzkrieg” in another era – was launched.
We all know what happened, and the failure of the People to stop the slaughter then and in Afghanistan in 2001 seemed to be the end of hope for the Peace Movement; but the flame for a World without War didn’t die, and has in fact recently been spotted flickering in the capitals of Europe, Canada, and even in Washington, D.C.
Ken Stone is an executive member of both the Syria Support Movement International and Hamilton Coalition to Stop the Wars.
Today, Ken Stone and the smouldering desire for peace.
Welcome to Gorilla Radio recorded March 8th, 2023.
March 20th marks the twentieth anniversary of America’s second invasion of Iraq. Despite the tens of millions of people across the globe coming into the streets to hold at bay the dogs of George Bush’s “generational war” Operation Iraqi Freedom’s “shock and awe” – called “blitzkrieg” in another era – was launched.
We all know what happened, and the failure of the People to stop the slaughter then and in Afghanistan in 2001 seemed to be the end of hope for the Peace Movement; but the flame for a World without War didn’t die, and has in fact recently been spotted flickering in the capitals of Europe, Canada, and even in Washington, D.C.
And; far from fulfilling its mandate to first be an agent opposing war in the World the United Nations’ repeated failures in that seminal mission are now manifest in its endeavoring the opposite, the promotion of economic sanctions and military intervention. At least the recently released ‘Group of Experts on Human Rights on Nicaragua’ report leaves little else to conclude.
Dan Kovalik is a lawyer, educator, labour, peace, and justice activist, democracy defender, journalist, author, and filmmaker. His book titles include: ‘Cancel This Book: The Progressive Case Against Cancel Culture,’ the “Plot to” series on American efforts to undermine the governments and economies of Iran, Venezuela, Russia, (and the World generally) and ‘No More War: How the West Violates International Law by Using ‘Humanitarian’ Intervention to Advance Economic and Strategic Interest.’
His latest is the recently released, ‘Nicaragua: A History of US Intervention & Resistance‘, which “explores the pernicious nature of US engagement with Nicaragua from the mid-19th century to the present in pursuit of control and domination rather than in defense of democracy“.
Dan Kovalik and the latest chapter in the hybrid war* against Nicaragua in the second half.
But first, Ken Stone and the smouldering desire for peace.
Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded January 22 & 28th, 2023.
More than two years after BC’s former premier, John Horgan’s re-election promise to implement the recommendations of his own government’s Old Growth Strategy Review panel it’s business as usual in the woods. While some of the OGSR’s 14 point plan was implemented, big trees are still falling and the forests are in peril. The NDP also, after Horgan’s snap election win, ceded policing authority to deal with old growth forest defenders near the capital to the federal RCMP, whose paramilitary tactics and brutality at the Fairy Creek encampments elicited international expressions of disgust and condemnation.
Now, a grand manifestation of First Nations, conservation organizations, ecological agencies, and citizens concerned about the loss of an irreplaceable biological legacy is planned to surround the seat of government to state demands for policy change in more fervent language.
Saul Arbess is a long-time peace, justice, and environmental champion. He describes himself as a cultural anthropologist and futurist, dedicated to “creating a new architecture of peace in the world“. Saul served as National Co-chair of the Canadian Department of Peace Initiative, was co-founder and chair of the Global Alliance for Ministries and Departments of Peace, and currently works for peace, non-violence, and protecting the wildlands around his home city of Victoria.
Photo: Bill Johnston
Saul Arbess in the first half.
And, January on Canada’s west coast means Season’s change is soon; but even as we ready for Spring, east of here the cruelest months of Winter still lay ahead. That cold reality isn’t however deterring citizen demonstration of dissatisfaction with the ongoing NATO wars and occupations.
Monday, January 23, as part of the week-long protests around North America, Hamiltonians picketed the prime minister’s cabinet meeting taking place in the Hamilton Convention Centre. One focus of their vigil being the “purchase of the obscenely-expensive F-35 fighter jets”.
Ken Stone is an executive member of both the Syria Support Movement and Hamilton Coalition to Stop the Wars.
Ken Stone and Canada’s Winter war resisters in the second half.
But first, Saul Arbess and Uniting for Old Growth in British Columbia.
Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded January 22, 2023.
January on Canada’s west coast means Season’s change is soon; but even as we ready for Spring, east of here the cruelest months of Winter still lay ahead. That cold reality isn’t however deterring citizen demonstration of dissatisfaction with the ongoing NATO wars and occupations.
Monday, January 23, as part of week-long protests around North America, Hamiltonians will picket the prime minister’s cabinet meeting taking place at the Hamilton Convention Centre.
One focus of their vigil will be the “purchase of the obscenely-expensive F-35 fighter jets”.
Ken Stone is an executive member of both the Syria Support Movement and Hamilton Coalition to Stop the War. He’ll be there Monday, and insists, “Canada needs an independent foreign policy” and “should get out of NATO, the aggressive US-led military alliance that drags us into every conflict of the US empire, including the war in Yemen and the occupation of Haiti.”
Today, Ken Stone and Canada’s Winter war resisters.
Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded March 5th, 2022
Though not said in so many words, Canada is at war. Years of Canadian military support for the coup government and its successors in Ukraine has bolstered efforts to bring to heel the breakaway Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk. Up until a couple of weeks ago, that one-sided backing of Kiev in its civil war was officially limited to “non-lethal” aid and providing military “training”, but that all changed on St. Valentine’s Day. Then, as the Trudeau government’s unprecedented enactment of the Emergencies Act was declared, a small announcement outlining the lethal change of policy, allowing machine guns, pistols, carbines and ammunition be shipped by Canadian companies into Ukraine was slipped past the Ottawa press gallery.
Ken Stone is a long-time antiwar activist whose served as an executive member of both the Syria Solidarity Movement and Hamilton Coalition to Stop the War. Ken and the Coalition have released the statement on the situation, ‘Ukraine: The US & NATO Created This Mess’.
Ken Stone in the first half.
And; the last two years has proven a challenge to all of us. As individuals, the degree of that challenge has varied, for all the usual reasons life is more difficult for some than others – and for some new reasons too. But, more importantly, the pandemic, piled on top of the already present stressors of poverty, pollution, war, and ecological collapse, has made evident the fragility of our societies, and even that of human civilization.
In these early years of the 21st Century, the failure to maintain public trust has cascaded from all corners; from corporations and the government, to the church and even philanthropic institutions, all have lost favour in the public mind. None of these however are as mistrusted as Media. From “All the News That’s Fit to Print” to “fake news” unfit for human consumption, there is a crisis of communication that today threatens as surely as any war or impending natural catastrophe.
Andy Lee Roth is the Associate Director of Project Censored and coordinates the Project’s Campus Affiliates Program. His writings and research are published across the internet and in a variety of print publications. Andy’s co-edited a dozen editions of Project Censored yearbooks, including the 2022 version, ‘State of the Free Press 2022’. It’s now out and available from 7 Stories Press.
Andy Lee Roth in the first half.
But first, Ken Stone and Canada marching into another war of empire.
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