rabble radio

Gerry Caplan is well known to our rabble readers who have been active on the progressive left for many decades. There are many dimensions to Gerry's life work. He was a key figure in the New Democratic Party for many years as a party strategist and even took a run at a seat himself at one point. He's an author, and a commentator on the state of the media. He's also an authority on genocide, especially in Rwanda. He writes for publications like the Globe and Mail and is a frequent guest on the CBC. And … we are very proud that Gerry Caplan has a blog on rabble, and especially proud that he's been a friend of rabble since the very beginning, way back at the turn of the century. You can read his rabble blog here. A few years ago, Gerry relocated to Barrie, which is also where Victoria Fenner, our rabble podcast network executive producer, lives. She went out to visit him and had a wide ranging conversation about his work in Rwanda, the state of politics today, the downside of democracy and what he, a grandfather, has to say about encouraging our younger generations to hope in this mixed up world. Photo: Victoria Fenner. rabble.ca Like this podcast? rabble is reader/listener supported journalism.

The title of today's show, Pushing Up the Sidewalk, was inspired by rabble blogger Lizanne Foster. Lizanne's blog on rabble is called Education in the age of climate change. She's a high school teacher in B.C. who shares some of her thoughts about working creatively in a regimented education system. Three educators from three levels of education — secondary school, college and university — talk about changing the landscape of education. Pushing up sidewalks, creating cracks in concrete. 1.) Lizanne Foster: Lizanne's blog focuses on education from a very specific angle — she talks about education and climate change. She wrote an article which was posted on August 8 where she asked the question "Are schools preparing today's students for tomorrow's problems?" 2.) Tim Green: Back in the days of old, the difference between university and college was distinct. If you wanted a more broad education, you went to university. If you wanted to fix cars or become a dental hygenist, you went to college. The lines between college and university have blurred since then. Tim Green teaches environmental studies, philosophy and critical thinking at Georgian College in Barrie Ontario. He talks to rabble radio about what colleges are doing to help students ask the big questions. 3.) Erin Soros: Erin is a writer and scholar currently appointed as an Andrew Mellon postdoctoral fellow at the University of Toronto's Jackman Humanities Institute. She researches collective trauma and teaches courses on literature and psychoanalysis, and literature and human rights. She's also done a lot of thinking about how universities do, and don't, accommodate students with mental disabilities. Image: https://pixabay.com/en/university-lecture-campus-education-105709/ Like this podcast? rabble is reader/listener supported journalism.

This summer, as much of the country celebrated Canada 150, there has been much needed discussion about the place of Indigenous people within that context. There has been growing recognition that the 'founding of Canada' narrative is not accurate and shows disrespect for the real founders of this country — Canada's Indigenous people. Complicating the equation even more, there are many people in this country whose heritage is both Indigenous and settler. Today we're going to hear from three people who question where they belong within that continuum. And to finish off, we'll hear from the founder/producer/host of the Media Indigena podcast, which explores these questions and much more. 1.) Braden Alexander – Braden was the rabble podcast network's 2017 intern. Braden is living in London Ontario and is about to start school at Fanshawe College in a month's time. He is of Metis heritage but doesn't know much more than that because he's adopted. He agreed to talk to us about how this ambiguity and his heritage has affected his life and his journalism. 2.) Heather Majaury and Myrriah Gomez-Majaury – Heather is the writer and performer of This is My Drum, a one woman play that explores questions of identity and belonging, resistance and surrender, partially in dialogue with her late Anishnaabe grandmother (Kokomis). It was performed in Kitchener/Waterloo in 2015. Victoria Fenner did a documentary with Heather and her daughter for The Green Planet Monitor in 2015. Today's show features an excerpt of that piece. You can hear the entire documentary here. 3.) Rick Harp – Rick is the founder, producer and host of the Media Indigena podcast. In 2015, rabble.ca invited Rick to be a panelist at the rabble podcast network's 10th anniversary celebration to talk about indigenous podcasting. He didn't have his own podcast at the time, but we could tell he was thinking about it. Less than a year later, he launched Media Indigena. A host/producer with the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network for many years, Rick has also served as Artistic Director for the Winnipeg Aboriginal Film Festival, was a host and producer for CBC Radio and also worked at CKCU, Carleton University's campus based community station in Ottawa. He is a member of the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation in northern Saskatchewan. Image: Heather Majaury and Myrriah Gomez-Majaury. Photo by Victoria Fenner Like this podcast? rabble is reader/listener supported journalism.

The world is changed when we all work together. But how do we do that? There are lot of different ways, with one thing in common. We need to organize. Social movements happen on different levels — local, regional, national and international. There are many differences between organizing campaigns which involve thousands than ones which reach the small local level. But there are a lot of commonalities too. Today we take a look at the importance of social movements at the national, provincial and local level. 1.) Nora Loreto – rabble.ca blogger – On June 10th, Nora wrote a blog article with a headline "Social Organizing is Canada's Only Hope". For those of you who don't know Nora, she's a writer, musician and activist based in Québec City, and a long time rabble blogger. Some big picture thinking on why social movements are important. 2) Fighting cutbacks and austerity in Saskatchewan – an excerpt from Talking Radical Radio, host Scott Neigh spoke with JoAnn Jaffe and Peter Garden on his June 6 show. They're fighting back against the massive wave of cuts to social programs and privatization initiated earlier by the Saskatchewan government. They belong to Stop the Cuts, a group working to mobilize against individual cuts and to help people come together into a broader movement to affect change. Scott talked to Joann and Peter what has been happening in Saskatchewan that is motivating people to stand up against the cuts. 3) Parkdale Renters Stike – Renters in high rises in Toronto's Parkdale neighbourhood have been saying "Enough is enough". Despite fears that their landlord will evict them from their apartments, they have organized a rent strike, protesting against poor living conditions in the high rises, repairs that haven't been done and a landlord who is trying to raise rents above the allowable provincially regulated maximum. A conversation with Cole Webber of Parkdale Community Legal Services, an organization which is helping the renters fight for change and navigate the tricky legal system. (Note: We have a great video on rabble.ca posted on June 26th summarizing what the issues are. Check out Not Rex: Parkdale tenants strike for housing rights). And while we're talking about organizing — Amplifying the work of individuals and organizations fighting for social justice is rabble's founding mandate, and part of what makes us different from other media. 2017 promises to be a time of action and change: from the opportunities afforded with a potential NDP-led government and Green alliance in B.C., to Idle No More and Indigenous responses to the colonial legacy of Canada 150, and the challenges Trump policies pose to Canada — from net neutrality and online privacy to exposing the hypocrisy of the Trudeau government's stance on refugees and on protecting the environment. To keep on doing our work, we need support from people like you. Having donors who will give us five or ten dollars a month will help give us the stability to be able to predict our cash flow. We'll be able to look ahead and plan new projects and stories knowing how much money is coming in to our bank account every month. Go rabble.ca/donate to contribute, Thanks to Braden Alexander and Sophia Reuss, the other members of the production team. If you want to become a member of the team too, send me an email at victoria@rabble.ca. Victoria Fenner is executive producer of the rabble podcast network. rabble radio is a podcast of rabble.ca. Image: Victoria Fenner Like this podcast? rabble is reader/listener supported journalism.

From May 8 to 12, delegates from across the country gathered in Toronto, Ontario for the Canadian Labour Congress convention; Canada's largest labour convention. This year's theme was Together for a Fair Future. rabble.ca reported from the convention floor where we set up a booth, and gathered video, photographs and stories. On this rabble radio, a selection of highlights of the weekend's proceedings. Here is what you'll hear: 1. Meagan Gillmore has been rabble's labour beat reporter since March of this year. The Canadian Labour Congress was her first chance to experience the field and meet many people from the labour movement in one place. Sophia Reuss spoke with Gillmore about her job and the labour movement. The labour beat reporter position happens through a partnership between Unifor, the Canadian Association of Labour Media (CALM) and rabble.ca. 2. Angela Davis has been deeply involved in movements for social justice around the world. She emerged as a prominent activist in the 1960s, especially for her involvement in the American Civil Rights movement. Her work as an educator — both at the university level and in the larger public sphere — has always emphasized the importance of building communities of struggle for economic, racial, and gender justice. Listen to an excerpt from her address on Sunday May 7 as part of the CLC Human Rights Forum: Disruption is Power. 3. Avi Lewis spoke on Tuesday, May 10 with a panel discussing The Leap Manifesto. In this excerpt, he discussed some of the conceptions and misconceptions that have prevented the manifesto from receiving unanimous support in the labour movement. Thanks to Sophia Reuss and Braden Alexander for helping put this show together, and to Emily Parr for making the Angela Davis recording available to us. rabble radio is hosted this month by Victoria Fenner, who is also the rabble podcast network's executive producer. Image: Frank Saptel, one of rabble's loyal supporters who dropped by the rabble booth to say hello. Photo by Maya Bhullar, rabble.ca Like this podcast? rabble is reader/listener supported journalism.

Every province has its own style of electioneering, but B.C. is in a class of its own. Today's program is a look at the issues as we head up to B.C. E-day. The election is on May 9. We put this show together on Wednesday, May 3. We've got seven days now until e-day, and we know that things can turn on a dime. The interviews you will hear were recorded at the end of last week on April 28. The people you'll hear from today will give you a sense of what the issues are, and the changes that they think need to happen in B.C. 1. Alyse Kotyk is a writer for rabble.ca, whose work has also appeared in the Globe and Mail and the Vancouver Observer. She has also written for Quietly Media, where she completed over 450 pieces about mental health and wellness. Previously, she was the editor of Servants Quarters, a publication with an international audience that highlights reflections by individuals working within urban poor communities. She has also written for onQ magazine, the Queen's University Gazette and for several non-profits. In today's program she talks about her article: B.C.'s students serve notice to Kinder Morgan and Premier Clark for provincial election. 2. Libby Davies is well known to rabble readers and anyone who follows federal politics. She was a city councillor in Vancouver for many years beginning in the 1980s. She entered federal politics as the NDP member of Parliament for Vancouver East in 1997. She was re-elected in November 2000, June 2004, January 2006, October 2008, and most recently in May 2011. After serving six terms, and 18 years, as the member of Parliament for Vancouver East, Libby did not run in the 2015 general federal election. She is now retired from politics and living in Vancouver. 3. The Current Situation — a sound-rich reflection on B.C. politics by rabble podcast network executive producer Victoria Fenner. She describes the piece as an introduction to the neoliberal politics that date back 30 years. "I moved from Ontario in 1982, a time when the B.C. Socred government was ramming through all kinds of austerity measures. It was a crazy time — Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan had just begun their reigns of error. There was a lot of sabre rattling and fears of nuclear war between the U.S. and Russia. During my time in B.C., I learned that B.C. politics and citizen involvement was very different than it was in sedate Ontario which had a Conservative government for 45 years that some would describe as being Red Tory. Not like the conservative governments of today. Though my first introduction to neoliberal politics was shocking, it provided a base from which to understand the neoliberal tide that swept across the country in the 30 years hence. And even more important, B.C. activists taught me how to mobilize through media." She thanks Vancouver Co-op Radio for her early lessons in activist media and creative radio production. rabble radio is a production of rabble.ca. Hosts: Victoria Fenner and Sophia Reuss. Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/markklotz/15794492446 Like this podcast? rabble is reader/listener supported journalism.

On March 8, 2017, one of rabble.ca's bloggers, Penney Kome wrote an article that resonated with the women who produce rabble radio. It was called "If you want to learn how to survive the gig economy, ask a woman". Precarious work is something we cover a lot on rabble.ca. That's because precarious work isn't going away. There is always a lot to say as our workplaces become less defined and less secure. And women, whose lives are even more precarious than men, are affected even more profoundly by this shift in workplace practices and culture. We hear from three women: a) Penney Kome – Author of rabble blog "On the other hand", Penney is an award winning journalist who has written six non fiction books and hundreds of articles, many of them focusing on equality and women. b) Rachael Abah – Rachael Abah is a producer, artist and keynote speaker an director of Kouraba, an organization which highlights cultural commonalities that exist amongst world indigenous peoples, celebrates shared experiences and encourages dialogue grounded in world music. c) Stephanie Nakitsas – Co-founder of the Urban Worker Project, a Toronto based organization that is trying to unite precarious workers and come up with solutions. Further listening and reading on rabble.ca about precarious work: Organizing a Precarious World – rabble radio podcast January 29, 2016 How do you solve a problem like precarious work? Angella MacEwan – October 28, 2016 The Urban Worker Project – A new organization for new forms of work – Talking Radical Radio – May 18, 2016 Image: Victoria Fenner Like this podcast? rabble is reader/listener supported journalism.

In consideration of recent events, cities across Canada have examined ways to signal that they are open to refugees and migrants. Some municipalities, like Montreal and London, Ontario have passed motions in their city councils proclaiming that their city is now a Sanctuary City. Cities that have already voted on these motions have heard stories of continued police checks, lack of proper funding from the municipality, and the ineffectiveness of the motions themselves. This episode of Rabble Radio explores the sanctuary city movement and how symbolic motions could lead to an effective approach to migrants. Nigel Bariffe is an educator in the Toronto District School Board and a long-time advocate for marginalized and racialized communities. He is currently the President of the Board of Directors for the Urban Alliance on Race Relations. Jaggi Singh is a writer and community organizer based in Montreal . He has worked with Solidarity Across Borders, No One Is Illegal, and other migrant rights groups. Image: Jonathan Malboeuf – Flickr.com Like this podcast? rabble is reader/listener supported journalism.

What a week it's been. Looking back to last Friday, Inauguration Day, a lot of us were sharing the same sense of gloom and foreboding, wondering what the next four years are going to be like and fearing the worst. And then came Saturday … a day of resistance, defiance, hope and a resolve that the worst is not going to happen. Because it's not Donald Trump's Universe. The future belongs to people who don't believe that misogyny and hatred is the way forward. And it was a day of solidarity with the citizens of the U.S. where millions around the world also said "Hey, we're with you in the struggle." Today on rabble radio — some of the voices from the Women's March. Starting in Washington, and then moving up to Vancouver and Toronto. Hey, Donald Trump. Keep your hatred to yourself. We're not following your nasty parade. 1. Reflections from rabble contributor Sophia Reuss sharing reflections from the Women's March on Washington, her hometown. Sophia is an American, now living in Toronto. She also had the chance to talk to Bhaskar Sunkara, founding editor and publisher of Jacobin, a print magazine which offers socialist perspectives on politics, economics, and culture. Jacobin was co-organizer of an event called the "anti-inauguration" on Friday, Jan. 20 at the Lincoln theatre in D.C. You can also read her article "The revolution is messy and incomplete. But last weekend, it was born." 2. Next we go out to Vancouver and hear from Samaah Jaffer. Samaah Jaffer is an undergraduate student at Simon Fraser University, pursuing a joint major in International Studies and World Literature and a minor in Middle Eastern and Islamic History. Samaah is also rabble.ca's B.C. Evening Editor. She spoke of the struggles of women of colour and the close relationships that exist between patriarchy and other forms of cultural oppression, specifically racism and colonialism. You can also read and watch her speech here. 3. And finally, we end up in Toronto. We put out a call to women who were going to the March to gather some thoughts from people in the crowd, and Jean Leggett responded enthusiastically. Thanks for that, Jean! She is co-founder and CEO of One More Story Games, a gaming company based in Barrie Ontario. Through their games, OMSG strives to close the diversity gap and encourage progressive values of diversity and equality. Jean shares her thoughts and also talks to people in the crowd. Like this podcast? rabble is reader/listener supported journalism.

What a year it was. Coming off of the maddening, disappointing and very scary U.S. election, it's too easy to look back and wish that we could have just fast forwarded from December 31, 2015 right to January 1, 2017. But that's not the whole story. In many ways it was also a really good year. Admittedly, we have to work a little harder to lift our spirits in this holiday season than in other years. But we know that rabble listeners and readers know that these things happen in cycles. Better days are ahead. Lots of work for us to do in the new year to help restore this planet to health and happiness. But for now, take a break and have a listen to some of our faves. 1.) Ears on the Earth – an excerpt from one of five daily programs we did from the World Social Forum. The excerpt you just heard was our last program, which focused on the Leap Manifesto. Thanks to rabble radio team members David Kattenburg, Sophia Reuss, Campbell McClintock and Greg MacDougall who did a fabulous job running all over Montreal gathering stories to hit some pretty tight deadlines on some of the hottest days of the year. Just one example of the kind of projects we want to do more of in 2017. We talked about media democracy, explained what the World Social Forum was about, talked about releasing the corporate stranglehold, new types of storytelling and why The LEAP Manifesto is important enough to deserve its own program. 2.) We had a radio drama this year. The Strange Wax Cylinders of Thaddeus Barnes was a six part steampunk adventure involving retro scientific gadgetry, inventor Nicola Tesla and a mystery to be solved. It was produced by Wayne MacPhail for HarrowsmithNow. And Harrowsmith invited us to run the series on the rabble podcast network. 3.) And final excerpt today is to help you start the new year with some quiet contemplation about what matters and what doesn't. Perspective is a wonderful thing, so here is an excerpt from Drolkar McCallum on finding happiness, Buddhism and meditation. She talks to David Peck, host and producer of the podcast Face2Face. You can see the full list of Victoria's podcast picks here. There are many more great podcasts from the year that was. We wish we could list them all. Thanks from all of us at rabble.ca to all the podcasters of the rabble podcast network for sharing their hard work and perspectives on social change. Like this podcast? rabble is reader/listener supported journalism.