rabble radio

Just because you can't touch, see or smell sound doesn't mean that the sounds around us don't affect us just as much as the quality of our water, air and physical environment. Today's program is all about listening. July 18 was World Listening Day, named because it is the birthday of Canadian composer, educator and sound environmentalist R. Murray Schafer. The founder of the World Soundscape Project at Simon Fraser University in the mid '70s influenced several generations of listeners world wide who listen, document and contextualize the sounds we hear around us. 1. An interview with Darren Copeland, artistic director of New Adventures in Sound Art. NAISA's celebration of World Listening Day was held on July 16, 2016 at the Canadian Music Centre in Toronto. It was called Sounds Lost and Found. 2. An excerpt from Station Breaks, a composition by sound artist, journalist and rabble podcast network executive producer Victoria Fenner, performed at Sounds Lost and Found. 3. An interview about a new online exhibition called Audio Postcards, a project of the Canadian Association for Sound Ecology. With Andrea Dancer, president of the Canadian Association for Sound Ecology, and soundscape composer and acoustic ecologist Hildegard Westerkamp.

The media landscape isn't at all the same today as it was 15 years ago when rabble.ca first started publishing on the Internet. In 2001, we looked at web pages. They were mostly text and image which didn't move. And there wasn't much to hear either except your hands clicking on the keyboard. YouTube wasn't invented until 2005 (the same year rabble established the podcast network). And the terms "apps" and "social media" wouldn't come into common usage for at least five years after … Snapchat, Twitter … what's that? Now, in 2016, everyone who works in media is working in an extremely challenging, ever-shifting environment. On the June 17 weekend, rabble staff gathered in Toronto for a weekend planning retreat to start to chart our NEXT 15 years. The weekend began with a provocative discussion by our director of emerging media, Wayne MacPhail on "Soapboxes, Sellouts and Upstarts: The Canadian Media Landscape — and where rabble fits in," with an introduction by rabble co-founder Judy Rebick. This month's rabble radio is an excerpted version of that discussion.

Here in Canada we don't have as many Black Lives Matter chapters as there are in the United States but the ideas are just as relevant. Despite our beliefs in this country that we are not racist and not violent, Black Lives Matter is helping us see that those perspectives aren't accurate. Today, we'll hear about the two Black Lives Matter chapters in Canada, in two different cities. Toronto and Vancouver has very different ways of exploring and challenging racism. 1. Desmond Cole has emerged as one of the strongest voices for the rights of black people in Toronto in recent years. A noted journalist, his articles have appeared in various publications including The Walrus, Toronto Star, Vice, and NOW. He's a radio host on Newstalk 1010 in Toronto, and until recently, was cohost of Canadaland Commons. He's one of the go-to people when the media explores issues of racism in Toronto. rabble podcast network reporter and associate producer Kvesche Be got the opportunity to talk to Desmond Cole at Ruckus, an Annual Conference in Toronto to empower youth to act on issues of racism and oppression, held on April 28 at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. Desmond reflects on the progress of Black Lives Matter in Toronto over the past 18 months. 2. Cicely-Belle Blain is a queer, black, femme poet, artist, full time child-care provider and community organizer who has been a settler on Coast Salish lands for four years. Originally from London, England, she has been working on bringing accessibility and inclusivity to spaces, mainly at UBC, where she studied European Studies and Russian. Cicely-Belle's current projects include co-founding a chapter of the Black Lives Matter movement in Vancouver, writing a novel on Black queer love and archiving the history of racialized student activism across North America. An excerpt from the MsRepresent podcast on the rabble podcast network. Thanks to Charlene Sayo, podcast host and interviewer in this feature. You can hear the whole program here. Read rabble's two-part interview with BLM organizer Janaya Khan here and here.

August may seem like a ways away, but for the organizers of the World Social Forum in Montreal in August, time is ticking away. Two years ago in August, the city of Ottawa was the site for a warmup to the World Social Forum. The Peoples' Social Forum was a huge event. The thing about these kinds of Social Forums is that they are very ambitious. Anybody can propose a workshop, or a discussion group. The result of this is an incredible amount of energy in one place, and lots to talk about and think about. In a lot of ways, Ottawa was a dress rehearsal for the World Social Forum, which will be held in Montreal from August 9-14, 2016. A look back at the Peoples' Social Forum and a look ahead to what's being planned when the world comes to Montreal .. 1) Earlier this month, Talking Radical Radio did a whole program about the World Social Forum. Here is an excerpt from that program, where host Scott Neigh talks to Sarah Sultani And Katia Stuart-Gagnon. 2) rabble.ca was there at the People's Social Forum in 2014, doing a podcast every day for rabble radio. Here's are some of the voices, sounds and ideas from Ottawa.

Honduras is a country that doesn't show up in the news very often, especially here in Canada. A quick google search brought up links for travel destinations, World Cup soccer and the free trade agreement which Canada signed with Honduras on October 1, 2014. The Canada-Honduras Free Trade website lists the population of Honduras as 8.2 million. What it doesn't say is that there was a U.S. backed coup in 2009 which resulted in the overthrow of the democratically elected president of Honduras. It's a country where it's dangerous to challenge power. 1. Berta Cáceres was a leading organizer for Indigenous land rights and the environment in Honduras, a country where that's a very dangerous thing to be. She was murdered on March 3, 2016. Beverley Bell was a long-time friend and colleague of Cáceres and is co-ordinator of Other Worlds, a women-driven education and movement-building collaborative organization. Other Worlds inspires hope and knowledge that another world is possible, and helps build it. She speaks with Redeye host Jane Williams. Yet, in the midst of the danger, grassroots community organization continues to flourish. 2. David Barth is the executive director of World Accord, a Waterloo-based aid agency that has done work in Honduran rural communities for 30 years. He shares his perspective on why Honduras is a violent place, and how the violence affects their work. 3. Seed Liberation — In the previous interview, David Barth talked about World Accord's work with farmer groups who are deeply connected to their mountain communities, maintaining their traditional ways of life while adapting to a changing world. Victoria Fenner went to Honduras in 2010 with World Accord. She did this documentary about Honduran farmer groups for The Green Planet Monitor.

What a couple of months it's been in media land. Newspapers folding, television stations getting out of local news… all because of the Internet, they say. We don't hear much about radio, though. 1. Today we go to Podcamp Toronto and hear about something that hasn't changed in radio. There still are way too few women on the air. rabble radio contributor Kveshe Be tells us about a study on diversity in radio done by Ryerson University Professor Lori Beckstead. 2. Yes, you can do a podcast — Podcast DIY. Some great advice from rabble podcast network cofounder Wayne MacPhail from way back on October 17, 2005. Surprisingly, very little has changed. Except that we're not using mini-disc recorders anymore and the tools are cheaper and easier than ever. 3. There's a little corner of rabble that we're especially proud of. It's called The Lynn Williams Activist Toolkit. And we're happy happy happy to announce the return of Constructing Change, the podcast of the Lynn Williams Activist Toolkit. Here's a replay of the episode that went up just a week ago.

The work world has changed a lot over 30 years. It used to be the case that most people got a job and stayed there. If not for life, then at least for a long, long time. That's not the case anymore. Employers don't like to make commitments to employees anymore. The idea of a full-time job with job security and benefits is becoming more and more a thing of the past. And we're all being encouraged to start our own businesses, without the recognition that self employment isn't for everybody. It's an increasingly precarious world. Today we take a look at the world of precarious work, and specifically, a couple of campaigns that are demonstrating that if we stick together, we can shore up those shaky foundations that so many of our incomes are built on these days. 1. The Street Labourers of Windsor (SLOW) down in Canada's most southern city, the International Workers of the World are organizing people who make their living off the street. This includes street musicians, panhandlers, people who pick up recylables, and even security guards. Andrew Nellis of SLOW talks to Scott Neigh of Talking Radical Radio. 2. We've heard a lot of stories about poor working conditions in the restaurant industry. We've also heard that it's hard to do anything about it for a whole host of reasons. Fred is one person who tried to do something about it by organizing his coworkers to get the overtime pay that they were legally entitled to. But in our next interview, you won't be hearing from Fred because even though he's no longer working in restaurants, he didn't want to broadcast his name, or even his voice. He was afraid of being blacklisted if he identified himself. Fred's friend Kvesche Be is now a contributor to the rabble podcast network. So even though Fred (not his real name either) didn't want to talk, he gave Kvesche permission to tell his story. 3. One of the big trends in post-secondary education these days is internships. But there it's also a practice that is highly criticized because many, if not most of these internships, are unpaid. Zahra Islam is a fourth year nursing student at Ryerson University and is also the director of community services with the Ryerson Students Union. She's involved in a campaign called Stop Paying to Work. rabble radio contributor Kvesche Be spoke to Zahra about the campaign and why it's needed.

Hard to believe it's the end of the year. But it is. 2015 is almost finished. And what a year it was. Today, we round out the year with a look back at the year that was, a look ahead to the next, and a couple of big changes. 1) Karl's end of the year podcast: We got an early Christmas present this year on October 19, when we finally kicked the grinch out of Who-ville. Stephen Harper is gone. It was a gruelling election campaign to cover. One of the good things to come out of it was that Karl Nerenberg, our excellent Parliamentary Correspondent, decided to start doing a podcast. To round out the year, I had a talk with Karl on the election that was, and the year to come. 2) Shane Dennis, a musician, activist and owner of the Unity Market, a cafe, recording studio and art gallery dedicated to social change in Barrie, Ontario: For the fifth year in a row, he's sleeping outside this Christmas in a makeshift shelter to raise money and awareness about homelessness for the David Busby Centre, a homeless shelter in Barrie Ontario. 3) Saying goodbye to the irreplaceable Meagan Perry: You might have noticed that rabble radio's usual co-host, Meagan Perry, hasn't been on the last two shows. A few weeks ago, she announced that it was time to move on to other things. That's great for her. Here at rabble.ca, we're going to miss her a whole bunch. More than a whole bunch. It was only fitting for her to come on the show and say her goodbyes.

This program comes to you from the Community Media Convergence, a gathering of community television, radio, online and gaming people from across the country. We all know that different media forms are coming together. Radio websites have video on them. Newspapers have podcasts. If rabble.ca had been around 20 years ago, we would have likely been a paper based magazine. And a radio show. There would have been no rabble tv because there aren't very many independent community tv stations out there. Now we're a whole combination of different kinds of media. The conference features two days of panels about everything from "Social Media: Is it Community Media and How Do We Leverage It?" to "Community Media 3.0: Games and Interactivity?" The third day is a policy development forum, where attendees will have the opportunity to help shape a policy proposal to support community media in the digital environment. That's just one of many examples of how media convergence works. On today's program, lots of ideas about how it could all work in the future. The first two segments were recorded at the conference. 1.) Cathy Edwards – organizer of the Community Media Convergence. A lot of the people at the conference are here to talk about community television, and that's because this conference was organized by the organization CACTUS, which stands for the Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations. 2.) David Diamond – Artistic and Managing Director – Theatre for Living speaking at a panel called Maximizing Community Impact and Engagement. 3.) Stefan Christoff – excerpted from Talking Radical Radio – Music and Grassroots Politics in Montreal. When you think about music and radical politics, what usually comes to mind are the lyrics – from Public Enemy to Ani Defranco, Rage Against the Machine to Paul Robeson, the call to action and for change was found in the words over the melody or beat. Yet for Montreal based activist and musician Stephan Christoff – songs of solidarity can be instrumental….Using the power of collaboration Christoff believes that music can bring people together and nurture the imaginative, creative and even spiritual sides of ourselves. Christoff speaks with us about his music, his activism and how the two intertwine. This interview is an excerpt from Talking Radical Radio, the November 11th edition called Music and Grassroots politics in Montreal. He spoke to Scott Neigh.

It's been a great autumn for podcast anniversaries! 1.) One year ago on October 6, Indian and Cowboy made its internet debut. Indian & Cowboy is a listener supported media network consisting of Indigenous media makers, artists, storytellers, musicians & producers rooted firmly at the intersection between digital media art, podcasting & Indigenous Storytelling. Roshini Nair did this feature for rabble radio with Ryan McMahon, the founder of Indian and Cowboy. (click on the link for a transcript of Roshini's entire interview for rabble.ca) And 2.) The rabble podcast network celebrated its 10th birthday on September 10, 2015 in Toronto. It was a dynamic night, full of lots of things for us to think about as we look back and consider the future of podcasting. On the panel — Meagan Perry, who was our podcast network executive producer before she was bumped up the ladder to rabble.ca's editor in chief. Victoria Fenner, who took over from Meagan as executive producer of the rpn, moderated the evening. Also on the panel were Wayne MacPhail, one of our co-founders of the network, and Rick Harp of MEDIA INDIGENA , an interactive, multimedia magazine dedicated to Indigenous news, views and creative expression. And Nora Young, co-founder of the podcast The Sniffer and also host and producer of CBC Radio's program Spark. Nora begins our excerpt from the rabble 10th anniversary by talking about the big broadcasters and podcasting.