rabble radio

With the federal election just six months away, new candidates are putting their names forward to run. And some familiar names we've seen during many campaigns have assessed their future and decided it's time to move on to the next phase of their lives. Either way, it's a hard decision. Libby Davies knows firsthand what it's like to make that choice. In 2015, she decided to retire from her position as member of Parliament for Vancouver East after six consecutive terms. Her career in politics and her life in activism goes back a long way. She's been a social activist for over 40 years, beginning as a community organizer in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside in 1972. She was elected to Vancouver City Council for 5 consecutive terms, 1982-1993. She became the member of Parliament for Vancouver East for six consecutive terms, 1997-2015, also serving as the NDP House Leader, (2003-2011) and Deputy Leader (2007-2015). Libby has been an outspoken advocate for human rights, housing, peace, and social justice throughout her political life. She has written a new book called Outside In – A Political Memoir where she explores her life as a politician and as a fighter for equality and justice for some of the most vulnerable people in our country. She spoke to rabble podcast executive producer Victoria Fenner about her new book and thoughts about her life in politics. Libby Davies is beginning her book tour next week on May 15 at 7 p.m. at the Centre for Social Innovation at 192 Spadina Avenue. She'll be returning to Vancouver for a book reading and signing on May 22 at SFU's Harbour Centre. She'll also be coming to Winnipeg, Ottawa, Hamilton and Mississauga in the upcoming weeks. You can see the schedule here. Image: Libby Davies Help make rabble sustainable. Please consider supporting our work with a monthly donation. Support rabble.ca today for as little as $1 per month!

We don't usually have a lot of music on rabble podcasts, and we're happy that rabble radio is full of music on this week's show. It's a difficult theme though, related to a painful, personal story of childhood sexual abuse. Which makes it all the more important to do a program about it because a lot of the best songs expose pain and bring an awareness about the things we need to change. Alyssa Wright is a cellist, singer-songwriter and now an actor and playwright. She's based in Barrie, Ontario. Her one woman show Music for the Changing Voice is premiering tonight at Talk is Free Theatre in Barrie. In the show, she delves into the most painful of family histories — her sexual abuse by her father when she was a pre-teen. In the story, though, her father is the secondary character. The main character whom she struggles against is her grandfather, her father's father. It's a story about family reputation and about hiding secrets. Though her grandfather has been gone now for over a decade, she is reminded of him every time she sees the name, The Don Wright Faculty of Music — University of Western Ontario. He was a well known figure whom a lot of people in the music community still remember. In this interview, Alyssa talks to rabble podcast exec producer Victoria Fenner about her musical show and how especially difficult it is to escape from the memory of family members, especially when memorialized as "pillars of the community." The music from Music for the Changing Voice is available on CD. You can find out more about the CD and Alyssa's project by going to The Katie Project. The CD and the website also contains information for survivors of sexual abuse. In the credits for the CD, Alyssa writes "If this story in any way touches upon your own, please know that you are not alone, and there are many resources available to help you navigate through and heal from the aftermath." Music credits: "Katie" and "Sword and Wand" by Alyssa Wright. Used with permission. Musicians: Alyssa Wright, lead vocal and cello; Leslie Arden, piano and vocal harmonies; and Ray Dillard, marimba, percussion and vocal harmonies. Image credit: Peter Stranks. Used with permission. Help make rabble sustainable. Please consider supporting our work with a monthly donation. Support rabble.ca today for as little as $1 per month!

April 18, 2001. That's when it all started. rabble.ca was built on the efforts of progressive journalists, writers, artists and activists across the country and has a unique role of reporting on stories from civil society while providing a counterbalance to corporate-owned media. Back in 2001, online journalism was still in its infancy. In case you can't remember back that far or weren't born yet, here's a description of the internet at the turn of the century by Motherboard magazine – most Americans weren't on the internet (that would be true of Canada as well). Connections were dialup. And slow. Really slow. MySpace was all the rage. Whatever happened to Myspace anyway? A lot of those early internet spaces went the way of MySpace. But rabble.ca is still here. That's pretty amazing. We've had thousands of contributors work with us, along with many staff and interns. Today we're going to hear from the people who put rabble together for you now, in 2019. Happy Age of Majority, rabble.ca! Image: rabble kittens say Happy Birthday. Because everybody clicks on kittens. Help make rabble sustainable. Please consider supporting our work with a monthly donation. Support rabble.ca today for as little as $1 per month!

Unifor is Canada's largest private sector union with over 315,000 members. It's also a very young union. Just five years old, Unifor was formed through a merger of two unions — the Canadian Autoworkers Union and the Communication, Energy and Paperworkers Union. Today's guest on rabble radio helped make that merger happen. Fred Wilson played a key organizing and planning role in the New Union Project, which culminated in the creation of Unifor. He was the director of strategic planning for Unifor during its first three years. He's written a book, released this week, which documents the first five years in the life of Unifor. It's called A New Kind of Union: Unifor and the Birth of the Modern Canadian Union, published by James Lorimer and Company. The official publicity for the book on the James Lorimer website says "Unifor has been a source of optimism and inspiration that unions can adapt to changing times and be a relevant voice for workers in twenty-first century workplaces, and in politics. But to do that, Unifor had to be a new kind of union that would act differently." And act differently, it has. It has also developed a reputation as an outlier, taking some controversial positions and actions which have raised the ire of others in the Canadian union movement, most notably, its disaffiliation with the Canadian Labour Congress in 2018. And in the book, Fred doesn't shy away from discussing these controversies and the events which led up to the split, as well as other ways that Unifor is "a new kind of union." Victoria Fenner, rabble's executive producer of podcasts talked to Fred Wilson by skype on Tuesday while he was at the Unifor Family Education Centre on the shores of Lake Huron. To get a fuller picture of the events which preceded and precipitated the split from the Canadian Labour Congress, there are some articles on rabble you can read, including a blog post by John Cartwright, president of the Toronto and York Region Labour Council called An Open Letter to Our Movement, dated January 30, 2018. David Climenhaga also wrote Canadian Labour Movement Abuzz in Wake of Unifor Decision to Quit the Canadian Labour Congress. You can also check out an article in Briar Patch by Larry Savage, chair and professor in the department of labour studies at Brock University called Making Sense of the Unifor CLC Split, dated January 18, 2018. There are also many other articles all expressing different opinions and perspectives on the CLC split which you can read online. We mention this because it was a signature event which rocked the union movement and to which there are many opinions and interpretations to explore further. Image: from A New Kind of Union. Photo provided by James Lorimer and Company. Help make rabble sustainable. Please consider supporting our work with a monthly donation. Support rabble.ca today for as little as $1 per month!

A bill to ban the importation and exportation of shark fins received its second reading in the House last month. Bill S-238 was sponsored by Finn Donnelly, Member of Parliament for Port Moody-Conquitlam in BC. It was passed by the Senate last fall and is up against the clock to be passed before this session of Parliament is over and electioneering begins. Today's rabble radio interview is with two people who have been the driving force behind this bill, making it their personal mission to end shark finning. It's a hopeful yet also a very sad story. Brian Stewart and Sandra Campbell are continuing the life mission of their son, Rob Stewart, conservationist, activist and film maker. He completed two films which you've probably heard about – Sharkwater (2006) and Revolution (2012) . These films which busted a lot of myths about sharks which have been promoted by films like Jaws and other pop culture scare stories. He was working on his third film, Sharkwater Revolution, in Florida when he drowned during a dive on January 31, 2017. Brian and Sandra reflect upon their son's legacy and their efforts to continue what Rob started. You can read more about Rob Stewart, his work and his films here, as well as a listing of where you can see the three films. You can also hear an interview on rabble.ca with Rob about his second film Revolution, dated August 23, 2013 on the Alternatives Podcast. Image: Brian Stewart and Sandra Campbell. Used with permission. Help make rabble sustainable. Please consider supporting our work with a monthly donation. Support rabble.ca today for as little as $1 per month!

The political situation in Venezuela is a subject of extremely polarized debate which will likely continue for many months, if not years. The legitimacy of President Maduro is still in dispute, people are starving and leaving the country. It's a country in crisis, that much can be agreed upon. But it can be hard to find the middle ground between the different points of view regarding the reasons for the crisis. Today's interview guest walks that middle line well. Yes, there is a humanitarian crisis in Venezuela. Few people would say that's not true. But the reasons for it are not being told in the media, except in the progressive press. Dimitri Lascaris is a lawyer, journalist and activist best known for his support of justice for Palestine. In July 2016, he retired from the full time practice of law in order to devote more time to activism and journalism. Among other things, he is now a correspondent and board member of The Real News Network. He went on a fact-finding mission to Caracas for The Real News from February 1-8, 2019 to talk to to both the supporters and the critics of Nicolas Maduro. This interview is by Dave Kattenburg of The Green Blues Show, a music and social justice podcast produced in Winnipeg by The Green Planet Monitor. Disclosure – One of Dimitri Lascaris current cases is a lawsuit against the Liquor Control Board of Ontario over the sale of two wines produced in Israel's illegal settlements. Those wines are sold in Canada bearing labels which, the plaintiffs say, falsely proclaim them to be "Product of Israel". David Kattenburg is the man who has filed the lawsuit against the LCBO. He is also a close friend of Lascaris but they don't work together on cases related to Venezuela. Image: Dimitri Lascaris in Caracas. Used with permission of Dimitri Lascaris Help make rabble sustainable. Please consider supporting our work with a monthly donation. Support rabble.ca today for as little as $1 per month!

The Jewish National Fund is an international charity with branches around the world, including Canada. The organization describes its work on its website this way: "For decades the Jewish National Fund of Canada has cared for the land of Israel. This mission took the role of planting trees, building water reservoirs, preserving natural habitats, and building parks and bicycle trails. More recently, JNF Canada has taken on projects to build the social infrastructure of the land of Israel for the benefit of the People of Israel." Critics say that its activities are not all benevolent. Today's guest is one of them. David Mivasair is a rabbi living in Hamilton, Ontario. In an email to rabble radio, David said "I am writing to people I know in Canada to ask you to please sign this formal, legal petition to Canada's Minister of National Revenue to revoke the charitable status of the Jewish National Fund Canada, if it is audited and determined to be in violation of Canada's Income Tax Act and foreign policy, as I am thoroughly convinced it is." He listed a number of reasons, including (in his own words): 1) The JNF is dedicated to acquiring and providing land for Jews. It excludes Palestinians and other non-Jews. It outright owns 16% of the land in Israel and controls the management of about 90% of all land in Israel. It violates the provision in the Canada Tax Act that stipulates that a charitable organization must provide a "public good", which means does not discriminate on the basis of ethnic identity. 2) The JNF uses charitable donations from Canada to support projects and programs in coordination with the Israel Defense Forces. Charitable organizations are not allowed to support foreign militaries. 3) The JNF funds projects in Israel which displace Palestinians from their homes, demolish villages, build on their sites and otherwise make physical changes in a militarily occupied territory. This violates international law and Canadian foreign policy. He talks to rabble podcast executive producer Victoria Fenner about the petition which he has launched. At posting time, it has been supported by approximately 1800 Canadians, including NDP MP Niki Ashton and Pierre-Luc Dusseault. You can find out more by going to the Stop the JNF Canada website. Image: David Mivasair

There are many media workers in Canada who got their start at community based campus radio stations. That possibility may not exist in Ontario if the Ford government's new plan for student fees is implemented. Ontario-based campus radio stations are fighting for their lives. The Ford government's surprise Student Choice Initiative will have a direct impact on campus based community radio stations, and some of them may close altogether. Even though campus and community radio stations are independent non profit organizations, most are heavily dependent on student fees to pay the majority of the bills. The Student Choice initiative has the potential to severely cut into the revenue that stations need to survive. Barry Rooke is the executive director of the National Campus and Community Radio Association. They're deep into planning their annual conference in Toronto from June 4-6. In the midst of their planning, they've had to shift focus and mount a campaign to deal with this critical situation. There will undoubtedly be a lot of strategizing at the conference about this, but there's no time to waste. The reforms are slated to come into effect this coming September so they're planning now. Barry Rooke talked to Victoria Fenner about how the fee structure works and what could happen if the Ford Government's new idea is implemented. Image: Volunteer in Campus/community radio station CKMS in Waterloo, 2003. Photo: Victoria Fenner Help make rabble sustainable. Please consider supporting our work with a monthly donation. Support rabble.ca today for as little as $1 per month!

On today's episode of rabble radio, we're discussing the Progressive International movement, a budding network of social movements, activists, and political organizers around the world who are linking up local struggles with an international vision to rebuild a progressive world order. Progressive International is working towards a vision of a world built around a shared progressive values of solidarity, prosperity, and equity. The movement was launched in November 2018 at the Sanders Institute in Vermont. On today's program, rabble's Assistant Editor Sophia Reuss interviews NDP MP Niki Ashton. She was at the initial launch of the Progressive International, and spoke on a panel with former Greek Finance Minister and leader of the Democracy in Europe Movement, DiEM25. Yanis Varoufakis, as well as U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, and other prominent progressive figures. Image: Matt Jiggins/Flickr Help make rabble sustainable. Please consider supporting our work with a monthly donation. Support rabble.ca today for as little as $1 per month!

As the implications of last week's takeover of the elected Venezuelan presidency by the unelected leader of the opposition become more clear, the debate intensifies. The Canadian government, along with the majority of Western governments, supports the removal of the democratically elected President Nicolas Maduro from power and the replacement with unelected Opposition leader Juan Guaido. But not all Canadians are patting our government on the back for supporting what many believe is a US orchestrated coup. Today's show features three Canadian activists who don't agree with our government's perspective. 1.) An excerpt from last week's show called Power Play: The U.S. And Canada back a Coup in Venezuela. The Global Research News Hour examines the internal and external forces attempting to undermine the democratically elected government of Venezuela, their motives and what the future holds for the Bolivarian Republic. The excerpt which you'll hear on today's show is a critique of the Canadian government's support of the leadership change, and also talks about why our country's official position is no different from that of the United States. Global Research News Hour host and producer Michael Welch did this interview last week and posted the show, just two days after the leadership takeover. He talks to Radhika Desai, Professor of Political Studies and member of the Winnipeg Venezuela Peace Committee, and Nino Pagliccia Vancouver-based Venezuelan-Canadian, writer and activist. Thanks to Global Research News Hour for permission to re-podcast. If you'd like to hear the entire hour long program, you can listen here. 2.) You may recall that rabble.ca was part of a delegation last May which went to Venezuela to monitor the Presidential elections — the same election that the US, Canada and other world leaders are declaring to be illegitimate and a justification for the overthrow of President Maduro. Humberto da Silva is a regular contributor to rabble, a filmmaker and member of the delegation. He shares some perspectives on recent events. You can read rabble reports and watch Humberto's videos from the May 2018 Venezuelan elections here. Photo: Wikipedia – Venezuelan people queuing to vote Help make rabble sustainable. Please consider supporting our work with a monthly donation. Support rabble.ca today for as little as $1 per month!