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.
The second demonstration in solidarity with Palestine in as many weeks took place Sunday, October 22, 2023 on the grounds of Victoria’s Legislature. A similar outpouring of support from the citizenry for what Israel is doing in Gaza and the West Bank now, with Canada’s tacit approval, was held there last week too.
Approximately a thousands souls attended, waving flags and placards of support. Speakers included long-time Gaza friends, Terry Wolfwood and Barbara Hanson. Other speakers’ names and affiliations are contained within the body of the recording, which I’ve left largely raw.
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 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 back to Gorilla Radio’s Home Edition, recorded on the dates, July 21st and 22nd, 2021
And welcome to a new day in Canada’s political life. Or so hope the founders of the country’s newest political entity, Green Left Canada. Announced July 19th, the “eco-socialist” Green Left says it, “…emerges from the groundswell of opposition to neo-liberal systems that threaten the survival of the planet and democracy...”
Dr. Radhika Desai is a Professor in the Department of Political Studies at the University of Manitoba, and Director of the Geopolitical Economy Research Group there. She’s also a three-term President of the Society for Socialist Studies, and a founding member of Green Left Canada. Her book, ‘Geopolitical Economy: After US Hegemony, Globalization and Empire’ proposes “a new approach to understanding world affairs in the capitalist era…”
Radhika Desai in the first half.
And next week marks the 76th anniversary of the atomic bombing of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. That tragic and senseless act will be commemorated by the Victoria chapter of the Women in Black, who will again stand vigil at the inner harbour.
Terry Wolfwood is Director and co-founder of the Barnard-Boecker Centre Foundation, and a writer, 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, and as well as her many activities in support of justice and peace, she’s served as local coordinator for the Women in Black for many years.
Terry Wolfwood, remembering still Hiroshima/Nagasaki and more in the second half.
But first, Radhika Desai and a new voice being raised for a new Canadian political discourse.
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, July 28th, 2020.
A mythology surrounding the dropping of the omnicidal ‘Fat Man’ and ‘Little Boy’ atomic bombs was fostered after the fact by an America eager to maintain its mantle of supreme power, while posturing as saviour and moral arbiter of the newly unmade World. The story, still told and retold today, portrays the United States as a reluctant warrior forced into World War II, and forced to end the Pacific war quickly in order to save lives; in short, forced to destroy cities to save them. But as the shadows of Japanese civilians burned into the few walls left standing in Nagasaki and Hiroshima attest, there is a darker truth behind that fiction.
Dave Lindorff is an award-winning journalist, author, and founding member of the media collective, ThisCan’tBeHappening.net. He’s also collaborated with his son, Jed and Oscar-nominated filmmakers, Steve James and Mark Mitten on a film about the two men who may well have saved us all from thermonuclear annihilation.
Dave Lindorff in the first half.
And; against all odds here we are, the human race alive and kicking 75 years since the first atomic bombs dropped on inhabited cities promised a premature end to it all. But though we survive yet, it’s been an uneasy continued existence, when we think of it; so most of us don’t think of it most of the time. Next week, August 6th marks the anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan and as they have for so many years, Victoria’s Women in Black will mark the day with silent vigil and bearing witness to the people’s determination to end global warfare.
Terry Wolfwood is Director and co-founder of the Barnard-Boecker Centre Foundation, and a writer, photographer, and long-time activist in pursuit of peace, social justice, and women’s rights.
Terry Wolfwood and standing vigil with the Women in Black for Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the second half.
And; long-time Gorilla Radio contributor and Green Vegan Grandma Youtuber, Janine Bandcroft will be here at the bottom of the hour with the Left Coast Event Bulletin of some of the good things you can get up to in and around our town in the coming week. But first, Dave Lindorff on Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and the Spies Who Kept a Criminal US with a Nuclear Monopoly from Making More of Them.
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, July 9th, 2020.
Against all odds here we are, the human race alive and kicking 75 years since the first atomic bombs dropped on inhabited cities promised a premature end to it all. But though we survive yet, it’s been an uneasy continued existence, when we think of it; so, most of us don’t think of it most of the time.
Next week, August 6th marks the anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan and as they have for so many years, Victoria’s Women in Black will mark the day with silent vigil and bearing witness to the people’s determination to end global warfare. This year will of course differ from past years in this as it has in almost all other things due to the Corona virus. But, as the Women remind, even as the financial world crumbles and millions are in dire economic need, spending on nuclear weapons and other means of mass destruction is increasing.
Theresa Wolfwood is Director and co-founder of the Barnard-Boecker Centre Foundation, and a writer, 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, and she’s the local coordinator for Victoria’s Women in Black, who will hold their annual vigil in remembrance of Hiroshima-Nagasaki – its first vigil since March and the Pandemic restrictions – on August 6 from Noon to 1 pm on Government St. across from the Empress Hotel.
