rabble radio

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.

It used to be the case that media and democracy were synonymous. Democracies weren't worthy of the name unless they had free and independent media that spoke truth to power. That was in the good old days. The changes in the political winds these days means that there are more pressures than ever on the kind of media outlets to do their job preserving and strengthening democracy. Today's program comes to us from Media Democracy Days, held in Vancouver every year. This year was no exception. And one could say that Media Democracy is more important than ever in the dark days of 2016. The new millennium got off to a really rocky start. The year 2001 was just two years after the historic Battle for Seattle, which saw tens of thousands take to the streets to protest globalization. In 2001, we watched in shock and horror as protestors were assaulted and tear gassed by police at the Quebec Summit of the Americas. In the media, we hadn't yet started to see the collapse of traditional media, yet alternative media was starting to pop up on the internet sharing a whole new perspective. It was the year that rabble started too. An important year indeed. It was also the first year for Media Democracy Days, which, 15 years later, is still happening in Vancouver. Today's program features excerpts from Media Democracy Days for those of you who weren't able to attend. There is always a focus on Indigenous media, but this year it seemed that there was even more than usual. Features on today's show: 1.) Tania Ehret – B.C. Outreach Coordinator explaining rabble's role and the closing plenary "Decolonizing the Mind." 2.) Ryan McMahon – Indigenous Writer, Storyteller, Comedian and podcast host. The keynote deals with indigenous identity, storytelling, and finding a connection to the land and its people. This selection details his interactions with youth and elders in Northern Ontario as well as rediscovering Indigenous stories and the people that tell those stories. 3.) Tami Starlight – Indigenous Anti Oppression Activist. This excerpt from Tami's workshop addressed anti-oppression, decolonization within the media and shares their story about Indigenous identity and the role of identity in society. The workshop also analyzed terminology and ways to improve media and content creation. Our sincere thanks to campus community radio station CJSF for sending us their audio recordings so we can use them on this show. This kind of media co-operation is so good for all of us, and is one of the reasons that alternative media in Canada is vibrant and strong. Thanks to Tania Ehret, our B.C. outreach coordinator, and Braden Alexander, the rabble podcast network intern, for their help putting together this show. Like this podcast? rabble is reader-supported journalism.

What does it take to build stronger communities? A lot of it is about participation — when we work together for the common good, the places where we live become stronger. We know our neighbours, we help each other. In healthy communities, people are engaged with each other. But what does that mean? Today's program is about engagement, connecting and making a difference in the places we live. How do we strengthen those ties that bind? A few ideas here on this month's rabble radio .. 1) Lee Rose – Director of Community Knowledge for the Community Foundations of Canada – Vital Signs is an annual study to assess the health of our communities. This current study is a multi-year and multifaceted exploration on the topic of belonging. It's an area of strategic focus for Community Foundations of Canada, a national organization in Ottawa whose membership is the individual community foundations across the country. Find out what they've learned about Canada in 2016. 2) Catherine Edwards – Executive Director of The Canadian Association of Cable Television Stations and Users (CACTUS) – For over 40 years, community cable channels and production studios have been provided by the commercial cable companies as part of the deal they made with the CRTC for the privilege of making lots of money from cable subscriptions. But that's eroding. CACTUS has a new plan for community media that serves people, not profits. They need your input and help. 3) Christian Gagnier – CJAM Radio, University of Windsor – Excerpt from Rendez-vous de la Francophonie, annual celebration of Canada's membership in the Francophonie and promotes the French language and its numerous cultural expressions. Community radio stations across the country have been producing programs exploring Canadian Francophone life over the past couple of years, with new ones on the way. Chris's program focuses on Francophone heritage of Windsor/Essex County.

Since it's harvest season, what better time to take a look at farming. And sadly, it's not the family farm we're going to be talking about. There are still some family farms left, and still some independent farmers who are making a living for themselves adopting new forms of sustainable agriculture. But despite the growth of organics, artisan food products and people who are adopting farming practices that are kind to the land, the corporations continue to march across the countryside. We'll hear from a few people today who can tell us what's wrong with that. 1.) Pat Mooney is one of Canada's "go to" people for his perspective on technology, biodiversity, intellectual property as it relates to our food supply, and corporate control of agriculture. His organization, The ETC group, works to address social inequalities affecting the poorest people in the world especially relating to food and agriculture. He spoke at the World Social Forum in August. Dave Kattenburg edited and produced this for his online magazine The Green Planet Monitor and shared it with rabble radio. 2.) Gabriel Allahdua, a migrant farmworker and one of the organizers of Justicia, a group which demands justice for migrant farm workers. There are a lot fewer jobs in agriculture than there used to be because of technology. But there is still the need for people. And as in all industries, big farming needs a workforce. Agricultural work means long hours and working conditions. It's hard work, low paid and often dangerous. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the seasonal farm workers program, set up by the Pearson Government in 1966. It's not a program we want to be especially proud of. This interview is an excerpt of a longer program by Scott Neigh of Talking Radical Radio. 3.) Lois Ross is one of our newer columnists at rabble.ca. She's a communications specialist, writer, and editor, living in Ottawa. She writes for rabble about issues that are key to food production here in Canada as well as internationally. She has a background in many different areas and could have done her column on labour, or international development or a whole bunch of other topics. She talks about why agriculture is important for rural and urban people. You can read her columns here.

There were hundreds of panel discussions at the World Social Forum. The hard thing was to make a choice which one to go to. There weren't a lot of descriptions in the handbook sometimes, so often we just had to pick one and see how it all turned out. You never knew what you were going to get. And there were so many interviews and recordings that we weren't able to fit in to Ears on the Earth, our daily podcast during the Forum. In weeks to come, we'll bring you more of the sounds, conversations and panels that we gathered. Today, two more. 1) Joseph Wawatie is an Algonquin Elder from Barriere Lake in western Quebec. In 2012, he was arrested for protesting logging on his traditional territory — land which remains unceded territory. He was part of a panel discussion at the World Social Forum called Indigenous Peoples' Struggles and Resistance. He speaks of his traditional life in the bush, and the challenges his nation faces. 2) Norman Stockwell, publisher of The Progressive: rabble radio host and rabble podcast network exec producer Victoria Fenner talked to Norman about the role of alternative media in this fractitious, extraordinary presidential election campaign that's happening right now. Bernie Sanders was a great choice for president. Hillary Clinton — well, opinion is mixed on that. Yet, if they don't want Donald Trump for president, Hillary's it. So what's a progressive to do when there are no good alternatives? 3) Looking ahead — we have a new podcast on the rpn. Who is Thaddeus Barnes and why do you need to hunt for his Strange Copper Cylinders. With rabble podcast network and co-founder Wayne MacPhail, who is also now a dramatist, director and audio playwright. Find out more on Harrowsmith Now!