Tag: Teal Jones

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Rifat Audeh, Molly Murphy August 23, 2023

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Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded August 23rd, 2023

Last week the 2023 Freedom Flotilla Coalition vessel, Handala ended the first leg of its two-year journey to the besieged Gaza Strip. The Handala follows a string of attempts to open up Gaza to the sea going back to 2009. The most infamous of those was the 2010 convoy, attacked by the Israeli military at a cost of dozens shot and ten lives lost.

Rifat Audeh is a longtime activist for and defender of Palestinian human rights. A Palestinian Canadian, Rifat studied engineering in Canada and Media & Journalism in Great Britain. His articles are published by numerous outlets online, in English and Arabic. Rifat was aboard the flagship vessel, Mavi Marmara when commandos descended, and his multi-award winning documentary film, ‘The Truth: Lost at Sea‘ is the account of the 2010 Freedom Flotilla and Israel’s lethal attack against it.

Rifat Audeh in the first half.

And; the struggle to save what remains of first growth forests on Vancouver Island continues. The 2021/’22 partial blockade of timber company Teal Jones at Fairy Creek in the Cowichan region resumed late last month. And last week, three more defenders joined the twelve hundred arrested last year trying to stop logging there. The arrests bring the issue back into public consciousness, even as the trees continue to fall.

Molly Murphy is a BIPOC activist, journalist, researcher and social justice warrior. She’s one of the 1200 people arrested at the Fairy Creek protests last year, and continues to “fight against the systems of oppression and supporting those who strive to do the same“.

Molly is also a builder, mother of three, and co-author of the Mudgirls Manifesto.

Molly Murphy and standing still for Fairy Creek’s old growth forest in the second half.

But first, Rifat Audeh and keeping the story of Gaza and the martyrs of the Mavi Marmara alive.

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: https://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com/

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Richard Boyce, Alan MacLeod October 14, 2021

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Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded October 9th, 2021

Forest defenders are into their second Autumn staring down all Canada’s rule of law has to throw at them at the Fairy Creek front line. They’ve managed, over the last 15 and more months, to strip the provincial NDP government of the last vestige of its “green” credentials, and revealed the British Columbia court capable of little better justice than meted out by its colonial antecedents*. The resistance to the clearcutting of old growth forest policies the NDP are defending has too revealed to Canadians and the greater World watching events unfold the brutality of the province’s contracted enforcers, the RCMP.

Richard Boyce is an award-winning filmmaker who has spent most of his professional life chronicling environmental, social, and indigenous sovereignty issues – all issues at issue at Fairy Creek. Richard’s film titles include ‘RAINFOREST – The Limit of Splendour‘ and ‘Coastal Tarsands – Journey to Deleted Islands‘. He’s also the creator of the multi-media website, Vancouver Island Tree Stories.


Richard Boyce in the first half.

And; I’d like to be the first to announce Cuba’s long-awaited liberation from America’s sixty plus-year campaign to overthrow its revolution; but I guess I’ll have to wait. The new(ish) president Biden has carried on with the hawkish Cuba policy of his loonie predecessor – and even gone him one loonier. La Villa del Humor is the latest, (and suspected American-sponsored) antic hoping to bring regime change to the Caribbean island; and despite the jovial name its effort is dead serious.

Dr. Alan MacLeod is an educator, essayist, staff writer at Mintpress News, contributor to Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, and author whose latest book is, ‘Bad News From Venezuela: Twenty Years of Fake News and Misreporting’. His recent article at Mintpress, ‘Private Facebook Group that Organized the July Protests in Cuba Plans Biggers Ones Soon‘ exposes the methods and players behind Villa del Humor and its not so hilarious theatrics.

Alan MacLeod and Florida’s Cuba regime-change industry hoping for a hit in the second half.

But first, Richard Boyce and the impending countdown to destruction for Vancouver Island’s last remaining primeval forests.

NOTE: *Just hours before Richard and I spoke October 9th, British Columbia’s Supreme Court reinstated the court injunction Supreme Court Justice Douglas Thompson had quashed on the grounds, “… [A]ctions of the RCMP at the injunction site have put the court’s reputation at risk.”

The RCMP is free again to arrest in its manner any it deems in contravention of the original injunction pending an appeal against Justice Thompson’s earlier ruling. Richard and I discuss the ruling in an unprecedented “breaking news insert.”

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.com

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, David Swanson, Jackie Larkin September 9, 2021

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Welcome back to Gorilla Radio’s Home Edition, recorded September 1st and 4th, 2021

Many took heart when America announced an end to its military occupation of Afghanistan last month. But optimism for a beginning of peace in that benighted country’s decades-long state of civil conflict and uncertainty is now clouded by bellicose statements made in Washington by an administration that seems to want to end its war and fight it too. Following a recent attack against civilians and American troops at Kabul’s airport, in a speech delivered to the World, president Biden made it clear the killing would continue saying,

“To those who carried out this attack, as well as anyone who wishes America harm, know this: We will not forgive. We will not forget. We will hunt you down and make you pay.”

These sentiments echo George W. Bush, who in commencing the invasion of Afghanistan twenty years ago said,

“We will not waver; we will not tire; we will not falter; and we will not fail.”

David Swanson is an author, journalist, broadcaster, peace and justice activist, and executive director of World BEYOND War. The multiple Nobel Peace Prize nominee and U.S. Peace Prize recipient also hosts Talk World Radio and blogs at WarIsACrime.org, and DavidSwanson.org. His recent article, ‘No More Attacks on Afghanistan‘ is co-authored with peace activists Kathy Kelly, Nick Mottern, and Brian Terrell.

David Swanson in the first half.

And; last week video of the RCMP’s Emergency Response Team abusing land defenders at the Fairy Creek Blockade served as a further embarrassment for the national police force. Or at least the incident captured, just one in a series of disturbing actions, (including peace officers smashing helpless guitars) would embarrass any organization with a capacity for shame; something the RCMP have so far proven incapable of.

A recent statement from the Mounties regarding its strategy of enforcing an injunction against the protest declares ignorance reading,

“To date, we are not aware that we have received official complaints from any arrested persons as it relates to enforcement in Fairy Creek.”

That disclaimer was dated August 19th, ten days after an ERT assault on the Fairy Creek camp coinciding with the first anniversary of the blockade. There’s been more to complain about since.

Jackie Larkin is an educator and facilitator, social justice strategic planner and health care advocate. She’s an active member of the environmental change movement and co-leader of ‘The Work That Reconnects‘, a “deep exploration of our emotional, spiritual and ecological connection to all life on Earth”. Jackie is also a member of Elders for Ancient Trees, allies in the effort to protect the forest and lands under threat at Fairy Creek.

Jackie Larkin and standing for the forest in the second half.

But first, David Swanson and stopping finally western attacks against Afghanistan.

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, airing 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.com

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Joshua Wright, Tim Takaro, Janine Bandcroft August 27, 2020

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Welcome back to Gorilla Radio’s continuing efforts, NOT broadcast live from CFUV Radio in the basement of the Student Union Building at the University of Victoria, but emanating live-to-tape via Skype from our home-based … studios on this date, August 19th, 2020.

The magnificent coastal rainforests greeting the 18th Century English explorers have since then been almost entirely eradicated. On the island named for the captain of one of those early ships it’s estimated less than 3% of the majestic forest giants George Vancouver would have marveled at remain. But, there is no number greater than zero small enough to stay the hand of timber interests that continue to practice “clear-cut” logging, and still pursue as single-mindedly as Melville’s Ahab, the biggest and best of what’s left.

Resistance is growing again in the woods though, along the San Juan river, where Teal Jones Group, the self-described “largest privately owned timber harvesting and primary lumber product manufacturing company in British Columbia” has begun carving roads tow

ards the pristine Fairy Creek watershed. Joshua Wright is a a spokesperson for the Fairy Creek blockade.

Joshua Wright in the first half.

And; Before Covid-19 swallowed the World we worried about banal issues like the climate crisis and survival of terrestrial life on a way too rapidly changing planet. But even if the environmental problems of our creation are no joke, our elected officials seem unable to take the situation seriously; some apparently wanting to accelerate the process. Clearly, we have to try harder.

Right now, not far outside New Westminster, near Hume Park, along the Brunette River, twenty metres above the ground is a tree-sit. Activists there are barring the way of the infamous TransMountain Pipeline Expansion project by occupying the trees that stand in the way of the final leg of the TMX pipeline’s route to terminus in Burnaby.

Dr. Tim Takaro is a scientist-physician, health researcher, educator, and Associate Dean of Research at Simon Fraser University. Takaro has dedicated his career to studying the human health impacts of climate change, and the more difficult task of communicating to those in control of environmental policy the dire and imminent consequence of failure to alter our societal course. Tim was the first to occupy the trees along the Brunette, and says of the TMX, “In addition to

the direct health risks of the project, I am considering the future of my children, their children and future generations around the world.”

Dr. Tim Takaro on environmental intersectionality and obstructing passage of the TransMountain pipeline in the second half.

And; CFUV Radio broadcaster and host of 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 you can get up to in and around our town in the coming week. But first, Joshua Wright and getting in the path of Teal Jones to save the Fairy Creek watershed.

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/