rabble radio

A few months ago when all of the rabble staff members were talking about what we could do to focus on the effects of COVID, our editor-in-chief, Matt DiMera, suggested that we do a podcast series focusing on Canada's emerging artists. This series you will hear over the next six weeks is exactly that. Every week until December 24, we'll be sharing the ideas, words and art of six emerging artists from across Canada. Series producer Victoria Fenner reflects that she is surprised by the range of stories she's heard so far, and she still has three more interviews to do. She reflects, "I expected to hear mostly stories about economic insecurity and fear. And for sure, that element is there -- these are scary times for all of us. But I was surprised and happy to hear a hopefulness, a sense of resilience and even a few cases where the shutdown has been good for our guests' art. Despite the devastatingly difficult times, good things are also happening." The series starts with Mya Gomez. She describes herself this way: "Singing from the raw; Mya Gomez is a mixed Indigenous urban artist who writes from the the most honest parts of the human condition, hoping to bridge gaps for her audiences and tell her stories. Mya strives to connect with people through her powerful voice, and emotion." She's from Waterloo and the Ottawa Valley, and is now living in Toronto. We did this interview a few weeks ago just before a competition she refers to -- she was nominated for an Indigenous Music Award in the Music Video Competition for Novice Artists. Spoiler -- she placed third. This interview features two of Mya's songs -- Take My Hand and I Can't Breathe. Click on the links to see the songs with video. You can find Mya's web page here. Mya asked us to let all of you know that she wants I Can't Breathe to raise money for Black Lives Matter Canada, or two of the other organizations she supports – The Outside Looking In dance program for Indigenous youth, and a Go Fund Me project for Indigenous Youth Outreach. Image and music: Mya Gomez. Used with permission. Music theme for the series: reNovation by airtone. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license.

Why are so many people saying that we can deal with climate change, or we can put all of our efforts into stopping COVID-19, but we can't do both at the same time? Today's show is about a report that says we can, and must, look at this in a holistic way. Farmers for Climate Solutions is putting forward proposals that link recovery from COVID-19 with solutions to mitigate the effects of climate change. The report is called "A Better Future starts on the Farm: Recommendations for Recovery from COVID-19 in Canadian Agriculture." Farmers for Climate Solutions is a pan-Canadian coalition of more than 16 member groups. Today's interview is with Dana Penrice, a grain and cattle farmer who lives near Shoal Lake, Manitoba. She is also Prairie program manager with member organization The Young Agrarians, a farmer-to-farmer resource network for new and young farmers with a lens on ecological, organic and regenerative agriculture in Canada. She talked to rabble.ca podcast host and producer Victoria Fenner a wide range of topics relating to food security and agriculture, always circling around and coming back to COVID-19 and the lessons we are learning from the pandemic which we can use in the fight for climate change. Related reading: rabble.ca's columnist on food security and agriculture, Lois Ross, also wrote a related story about this topic this week: read her story here. Image: Victoria Fenner/rabble.ca

This year's Pride celebrations all over the country are very different from years past because of COVID-19. It's taking a lot of creativity, amidst a whole bunch of disappointment to create celebrations which can't include getting together in person. A lot of festivals are going online. Pride Hamilton just had its online festival online this past Sunday, June 14. This year's festival would have been different in tone regardless of COVID-19, because of violence that broke out at last year's festival that the LGBTQ2s communities are still grappling with. On today's show, rabble radio host Victoria Fenner talks to Cameron Kroetsch of the Pride Hamilton board of directors. They talk about what happened last year, and its effect on Pride Hamilton this year. There have been demands for accountability from the police and city hall ever since last year's Pride, and the police actions have cast a long shadow over the past 12 months. The topic of defunding the police is something that is especially relevant in Hamilton this month. Here's a brief recap of what happened last year -- a group of protesters, some with fundamentalist religious beliefs and others associated with the yellow vest movement, also came to Gage Park where Pride Hamilton was being held. Their intention was to disrupt the festival. Violence broke out, several people were injured, and the police did not intervene. Those defending the police say it's because they weren't ready for it. But a lot of other people believe the police stood back because they chose not to get involved. There have been many reports done -- an independent report released just last week on June 8, called Pride in Hamilton – An Independent Review Surrounding Hamilton Pride 2019, commissioned by Hamilton Police Services Board, also draws the conclusion that the response by the police fell far short of what it should have been. To quote the report, written by lawyer Scott Bergman, "On June 15, 2019, homophobes, white supremacists and organized agitators disrupted Hamilton Pride 2019. Their activities could reasonably have been anticipated by police, but they weren't. As a result, the police response was inadequate -- before, during and after the event." But, despite the after effects from last year, Cameron Kroestch says it was a great online Pride Hamilton Festival this year. Though it was hard not to be able to celebrate in person, they discovered a whole bunch of new ways to engage with the community. The discussions with the city and the Hamilton police board about last year and ongoing issues will continue. Image: Digital Pride Hamilton. Used with permission

In the ongoing coverage of the COVID-19 crisis, there are many places that we don't hear a lot about. One of the places is Africa. On today's rabble radio, we're playing two interviews from rabble contributors who have reached out to their colleagues and contacts in Africa -- one in Mozambique, another in Tanzania. In some ways, the challenges people face there aren't a lot different from here. Businesses, schools and government offices are shut down. People are told to wear masks and to social distance. And the problem of misinformation, rumours and fake news exists there as well as here. But, as we'll hear in these two interviews, it's a lot harder in places where people don't only have to fight off the virus, but also have to deal with systemic poverty and, especially inadequate health care. In a May 20 article, the BBC reported a World Health Organization prediction that nearly a quarter of a billion Africans could contract COVID-19 in the first year of the pandemic. Numbers are still low so far -- as of today, there are just over 111,000 cases and almost 2,800 deaths, which is lower than other places in the world according to a June 3, 202o report by the WHO. Today's show features two interviews: 1.) On May 21, David Kattenburg of the Green Planet Monitor spoke with GPM correspondent Josephat Mwanzi, in the Tanzanian capital, Dar es Salaam. In an interview from May 21, 2o2o, they talked about the what Mwanzi was seeing on the streets, and how people are reacting to the COVID-19 threat. 2.) Our second interview focuses on Mozambique and comes to us from the Saskatoon-based radio program Making the Links. Don Kossick posted this interview on May 22. It's with Jessie Forsyth, project director of the Mozambique Canada Maternal Health Project, talking to Making the Links host Don Kossick about the impact of COVID-19 in Mozambique, and initiatives there to deal with the impact. Both interviews on today's show were excerpts from longer interviews. To hear the entire interviews, go to greenplanetmonitor.net for the interview with Josephat Mwanzi and to Soundcloud for the interview with Jessie Forsyth. Image: Victoria Fenner

Liz Marshall's new film Meat the Future focuses on a new way of producing meat -- one where the animal doesn't have to be killed. Instead, cells are taken from a living animal and meat is produced from those cells. The possibility presents a brave new world of animal agriculture, a world where we can still eat meat without participating in the harm and suffering that is rampant in the current industrial animal husbandry model. While more and more people are deciding that a vegetarian diet is the way to go, meat consumption continues to grow. Is cell-based meat a compromise that can reduce the environmental costs of a diet that contains meat? The film also explores the environmental costs of our meat-based diet and presents a way forward. The central character in the film is cardiologist Dr. Uma Valeti, the co-founder and CEO of start-up company Memphis Meats. The industry, and his company is so new that none of its products are on grocery store shelves yet. Documentary writer, producer and director Liz Marshall believes that Dr. Valetti is on the right track. "What the future holds for cell-based meat is unclear," says Marshall, "but I believe its revolutionary promise and historic journey into the world will stand the test of time." She talks to rabble radio host and producer Victoria Fenner in this edition of rabble.ca's series Climate hope in the time of pandemic. You can see the documentary for yourself on the CBC website. It's posted as part of the Hot Docs@Home collection. Image: Thainafreitas/Pixabay

The seeds we buy to plant our gardens are an exercise of hope in a tiny package. After all, how do we know that those little bitty things are ever going to amount to anything? For farmers, the annual spring seed shipment can bring with it a whole mixture of emotions as they wondered what those bags would bring. What kind of weather conditions will exist this year? Will it be a full harvest, or would the elements conspire to reduce the family's income through rain, hail, drought or a bug invasion? There is a lot of hope and fear connected to those bags of seeds. Today, as part of our series Climate Hope in the Time of Pandemic, we're talking about the power of seeds. SeedChange (formerly known as USC Canada) is a non-profit organization that works with farmers in Canada and around the world to save seeds and grow food sustainably. SeedChange has launched a public education campaign to help ensure a more resilient Canadian food supply post-COVID-19. It's rolling out its programming with farmers coast to coast to continue improving Canada's seed security during the pandemic. SeedChange is enlisting more than 200 farmers across the country this summer to grow sustainable local vegetable seed crops, save seeds at risk of extinction, promote biodiversity, and breed new seed varieties best suited for local climate and soil conditions. Victoria Fenner, rabble radio's producer, had a conversation with Jane Rabinowicz, SeedChange's executive director and Chris Sanford, from Yonder Hill Farm near Lunenburg in Nova Scotia about the program and how individual gardeners can get involved. And lots of useful info -- the interview also includes a how-to about saving seeds from rotting tomato guck. SeedChange has some resources to help gardeners find companies which produce seeds sustainably. You can also look for seeds by a particular variety. For more info, click here. Image: ParentingPatch/Wikimedia

Being an activist brings an emotional burden. The issues we deal with are intense, difficult and sometimes without any immediate solution. And often, we try to deal with these issues through logically planning a strategy and communicating issues using words. It's an intellectual process, but with a lot of underlying emotional baggage. Elisa Lee has some thoughts about how to get under the intellect to connect with ourselves and people in our communities on a deeper level. She, and many other people involved in grief work, think that it's important to deal with the full range of emotions ranging from anger and fear to hope and joy. Lee bases a lot of her work on the groundbreaking work of Joanna Macy. Macy turned 91 on May 2, and is still connecting with people on issues of environmental activism and grief. Throughout her life, she has been a spokesperson for the anti-nuclear movement, peace, justice and environmentalism. She has created a framework for both personal and social change and has created a workshop methodology to help people move work with social change in a way which helps them connect with their deeper selves. Lee's current activism focuses on community grief rituals and nature-based rites of passage for girls and adults. Both grief rituals and rites of passage profoundly changed her internal world, creating a strong foundation of embodied being that continues to guide and nourish her through life. A big part of that sense of being is getting beyond the intellectual processes which help us explain the world to ourselves and others, but does not get to the root of our reactions to the complex issues that we all face in these difficult times. For the past 15 years, Lee has been promoting personal development in collaboration with nature as a specialist teacher in ecological education, a self-care facilitator, and a rite of passage guide. In addition to the teachings of Joanna Macy, Lee draws on teachings from Alan Wolfelt, Francis Weller, Martin Prechtel, Animas Valley Institute, The School of Lost Borders, The Haven, and her personal sacred experiences in the wild. She holds a masters degree in environmental education with a focus on women's rites of passage and is the founder of Fire & Flower, a rite of passage organization for girls. On today's rabble radio, Elisa Lee talks to Victoria Fenner as part of rabble.ca's series on Climate Hope in the Time of the Pandemic. Image: Elisa Lee

Last year, when rabble.ca staff had one of our rare in-person staff retreats, we were talking about the climate crisis and how difficult it was to get around the fear that we all felt. So we decided to make it an editorial focus. That was back in August. At the time we came up with the idea, we had no way of knowing that our fear would be even greater because of the COVID-19 pandemic. So, when we talked about the subject again at the beginning of March as the pandemic was in the process of unfolding, our idea seemed especially relevant. Today rabble radio starts its contributions to our Climate Hope series on climate grief and hope in the time of pandemic, with a conversation between rabble radio producer and host Victoria Fenner and media artist Claude Schryer. Schryer is a sound artist, arts administrator and cultural worker born in Ottawa and raised in the francophone community in North Bay, Ontario. From an early age he developed a passion for art, environment and social action. In the 1990s, his work focused on acoustic ecology and soundscape composition, notably as a founder and first administrator of the World Forum for Acoustic Ecology. That focus has continued throughout the past few decades. Earlier this year, he attended a conference on Creative Climate Change Leadership with artists from around the world in Arizona called Crisis: Principles for Just and Creative Responses. He has just started a new blog dedicated to arts and climate action where he writes: "In May 2019, my climate denial bubble burst. It was a terrifying and disorienting experience that made me question everything about my life. In retrospect, I realize this was a zen-like gift of 'terrified awakening,' of 'clear seeing,' but at the time, I was paralyzed with emotion and dread. What triggered my climate denial bubble to burst? I feel compelled to share this personal experience, in the hope that it might help others who are also struggling with the current sustainability crisis and searching for a path forward…" Image: Sabrina Matthews. Used with permission.

Are you one of those people who would like to try vegan cooking but you just dont know how to get started? On today's rabble radio, we'll help you out, as our contribution to rabble.ca's vegan challenge. The vegan challenge is a good way for "veg-curious" people to try a vegan diet for a short time in a fun environment along with other rabble staff and readers. It's a way to encourage each other to go vegan -- or as close to it as possible -- for a week to help protect the environment, show compassion for animals and enjoy some wholesome nutritious and yummy food. Because going vegan is one of the best ways to contribute to climate justice and Earth Day. It can drastically reduce your carbon footprint, diminish air and water pollution and help reverse the destruction of ecosystems being used to produce feed for farm animals. Today's guest is Karen Burson, an accomplished cook who has worked in a wide range of food and community development environments in her home city of Hamilton, Ontario. Among many other accomplishments, she was the founding chef of the Bread and Roses Cafe in Hamilton, which was a project of the Sky Dragon Community Development Cooperative. She's also a co-founder of the Good Food Box Network at Environment Hamilton. Currently her passion for healthy food is being put to work at St. Matthew's House, preparing healthy, heartwarming breakfasts and lunches at their Seniors Centre for an enthusiastic group of East Hamilton elders. She's off on self-isolation right now, though, like a lot of us so she had time to talk to us about how to get started cooking vegan food. Recipes in today's program: Jamaican Curried Tofu with Chick Peas Vegan Pancakes Image: plesektomas/Pixabay

Covering a country like Canada while COVID-19 is wreaking havoc is a difficult thing to do. Canada is so large with lots of regional differences. And nowhere in the country is the difference so stark as it is between Canada's North and the rest of the country. Today we have two interviews from two different parts of the north -- one from Cumberland House in northern Saskatchewan, and another from a bit further north and west, up in Yellowknife. With Yellowknife being a city, and Cumberland House a much smaller community, there are differences between the two. But there are some commonalities as well that come with being two relatively isolated communities cut off from the mainstream in southern Canada. 1) Marlene McKay is a resident of both Cumberland House and Saskatoon where she is a professor of social work with the University of Regina. Her partner runs one of the local stores in the town of Cumberland House and on a nearby reserve. Cumberland House is in COVID-19 lockdown right now. This interview is an excerpt from an interview done by Don Kossick from his program Making the Links with community radio CFCR 90.5 FM in Saskatoon. 2) George Lessard, media specialist and consultant who has lived in Yellowknife and other parts of the North for many years. He talks about Yellowknife as a hub to remote communities. As of today, April 16, there are still no confirmed cases in Nunavut, five in the Northwest Territories and eight in Yukon, according to the government of Canada website. As for Cumberland House, the Saskatchewan government website says there are seven cases in the far north, but do not break down by community where they are. Image: Victoria Fenner