GroundWire: Labour Day Edition

Submitted by admin on Tue, 09/01/2009 - 16:09

Welcome to a Special Labour Day Edition of GroundWire, where we bring you a series of features on workers' rights in Canada.

But first the headlines: Hosted by Gianna Lauren (CKDU Halifax)

-Environmentalists oppose Hanlan Creek development as it threatens Guelph's old growth forest and protected species: Libby Drew (CFRC Kingston)

-Camp Out discusses LBGTQ Activism in the Maritimes: David Parker (CKDU Halifax)

In Campus and Community Radio Station News: Bill C-61 Update: As parliament resumes, consider writing your MP on the Digital Copyright fight: Charlotte Bourne (CJSF Burnaby)

Labour-Focused Features for Labour Day -Labour History takes Comic Form: Megan Turcato (CJSF Burnaby)

-CUPW supports union drive for Dynamax Couriers: Aaron Chubb and Alex Calderaro(CJSR Edmonton)

-Drop Fees campaign has anti-poverty message for student workers: Candace Mooers CHRY Toronto)

-Conservatives' Expansion of Canada's Temporary Worker Program means restrictions for refugees and fewer rights for racialized workers: Omme Rahemtullah (CHRY Toronto)

-"Scrap the Live in Caregiver Program" Voices of the Filipino Community in Canada: Produced by Candace Mooers and Ashkon Hobooti (CHRY Toronto)

This Edition of GroundWire hosted by Gianna Lauren, produced by David Parker at CKDU Halifax.

Facing the Future

Submitted by Maggie Hughes on Sun, 08/30/2009 - 18:22

Your just graduating School, but everything that you had planned when you started, has suddenly changed.
You have learned too much, too much to stay in school.

Something must change, it is your future your looking at and things are getting pretty grey with pollution.

The big Oil Corps are running the world, and what they want is threatening your very future.

One thing you can do is get informed, and get active. Don't wait for someone else to "get it". You know full well what's going on - even if you don't see it on your main stream tv.

Your learning it from the grass roots. You get your first hand news by throwing yourself out there and experiencing it first hand.

That's what guest Marya Folinsbee did. She headed for the Tar Sands and biked her way back down Alberta in an attempt to wake up the world.

We need more people like this. Way to go Marya.

"We don't want this to escalate"

Submitted by Test User on Thu, 08/27/2009 - 13:08

The Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (or KI First Nation) are readying themselves to continue a battle that landed their Chief and Councilors all with a six month jail sentence in spring of 2008. The opponent: Platinex Corportation and the Ontario Mining Act, an act that was described as "archaic" in a Court of Appeal decision that reversed their sentencing after serving two months of the term. Talks were set to happen between the provincial government, the mining company and the KI leadership, but no such discussions have taken place, instead the community and the mining company are in the same position, with Platinex trying to prospect against community wishes. Yesterday, August 26th, Plantinex and the Ontario Provincial Police landed in the community, 600km north of Thunder Bay. In this interview, Native Solidarity News speaks with KI Councilor, Sam McKay, the day before Platinex arrived, about the community's position and the mounting tension between the mining company and KI.

Honduran crisis necessitates new sanctions

Submitted by dawn on Wed, 08/26/2009 - 13:46

Failure on the part of the OAS to reach an agreement for the return of Honduran President Manuel Zelaya yesterday signals the beginning of a new stage, says Radio Progreso correspondent Félix Molina. As the diplomatic mission left Tegucigalpa on Tuesday without approval for the San José Accord from de facto leader Roberto Micheletti Bain, the Honduran journalist says new sanctions are needed “that should include trade, economic, financing, and migratory elements.”

The seven-member mission accompanied by OAS Secretary General José Miguel Insulza presented a declaration to the press at the conclusion of their two-day visit to the Honduran capital. It indicated that the de facto leader and his supporters are alone in withholding support. Micheletti expressed discord with the restitution of President Manuel Zelaya and the provision of a political amnesty, key aspects of the proposal made by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias. Speaking defiantly to the foreign delegation, he told OAS representatives that his regime is not afraid of sanctions.

For his part, President Zelaya reiterated, in particular through declarations by First Lady Xiomara Castro de Zelaya, his decision to accept each of the twelve points in the accord even though it will truncate the process he initiated to consult Hondurans on whether or not they would like to pursue constitutional reforms.

Indicating that internal pressure could be growing in favour of the Arias proposal, President of the Association of Maquiladoras of Honduras, Jesus Canahuati, told Radio Globo yesterday morning that his group supports the agreement. The armed forces are also reportedly in discussions but have yet to make any declaration.

If a resolution is not achieved, journalist Félix Molina says the situation will become more complicated and more worrisome. He anticipates “stronger social reaction resulting in heightened police and military repression.”

GroundWire: August 14- August 31

Submitted by GroundWire on Tue, 08/18/2009 - 19:48

In this week's Edition of GroundWire:

Hosts Steve and Zoe from CJSR in Edmonton deliver community radio news, with contributions from campus-community stations and volunteers across Canada.

Headlines include:

-The one year commemoration of Fredy Villenueva's death at the hands of Montreal police | Aaron Lakoff CKUT

-The case against Carleton Professor Hassan Diab | Omme Rahemtullah CHRY

-International action against performing artists in Israel | Tariq Jeeroburkhan CKUT

Features:

-IWW organizing against Starbucks in Quebec | Aaron Chubb CJSR

-GroundWire update: Raids in the Palestinian village of Bil'in | Chris Albinati CKUT

-Legal aid for sex workers in Alberta | CJSR

National Events Listings and More!

"The Only Crime": Testimony of Marcial Hernandez, beaten, detained and hospitalized in Honduras

Submitted by SandraCuffe on Sun, 08/16/2009 - 08:42

Text, translation and photos by Sandra Cuffe

San Pedro Sula, Honduras, August 15th, 2009.

Repression against the national movement against the military coup in Honduras has become a daily occurrence. All over the country, police and the army are using tactics of terror and violence to disperse protests and illegally detain demonstrators.

Nevertheless, the resistance actions coordinated by the National Front of Resistance to the Military Coup in Honduras (FNRCGE, for its acronym in Spanish) continue to grow across the nation.

On August 14th, organizations and citizens in resistance from the northwestern region of the country mobilized in Choloma, blocking vehicle traffic along the highway between San Pedro Sula and Puerto Cortés. It was a very strategic choice of location, along the main highway leading to the country's main port. Puerto Cortés has a great volume of exports, principally to the United States, of textile goods from the maquila factories in the northwestern region, as well as the fruits of the Tela Railroad Company, subsidiary of the transnational banana company Chiquita.

Soon after the highway blockade began, there was a negotiation between resistance leaders and police officials, supposedly in order to avoid yet another violent eviction. According to witnesses, a verbal agreement was made between the two parties to allow the protest to continue for another hour and peacefully disperse.

However, approximately twenty minutes after the agreement was reached, a large police presence gathered, along with some elements of the army, and police proceeded to violently disperse the protest, using tear gas and a water cannon. The demonstration dispersed, but police ran after resistance participants running towards downtown Choloma, using brutal violence during their arrest of protestors and others and during their transfer to the nearby police station in Choloma.

Archived Resistance

Submitted by isaac on Fri, 08/14/2009 - 13:49

What do you know about anarchy in Vancouver - it's roots and where it started?

Curator of the Archived Resistance show, Dave Cunningham, knows volumes. Said volumes were also clothespinned across the basement walls of Teller Towers (16 E. Hastings) from July 17 - August 8.

Vancouver has a rich history in anarchy and resistance, from Zig Zag's many publications on the topic of struggle, to Open Road magazine.

There's also an international/North American contribution: Archived Resistance also included a number of letters and notes sent back and forth between death row inmates and their correspondents outside - the means by which they communicated to the outside world and to each other about topics as diverse as prison resistance to Tupac Shakur.

There was a wealth of information available for anyone to peruse, and resources by which one could contact inmates about their thoughts and experiences. It was a unique and highly informative show.

IOC contracts, trouser trials and burning rainforests

Submitted by isaac on Fri, 08/07/2009 - 13:29

It all began with a harmless joke. But after years of the dryest English wit, Poland says that this bit was too far even for Jeremy Clarkson, where he spoofs an ad for a VW that can make it from Berlin to Warsaw on a single tank. Apparently the Poles a bit sensitive still about the invasion thing.

At the other end of war atrocities, a shocking 61% of Americans still believe that the attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were necessary. Mental. Do they also believe Obama's sight on economic recovery? America also beats China on the list of countries with the most number of people in prison: not just in terms of proportion but also in terms of total number.

And China has little to smile about despite these numbers. According to a national magazine called Insight, Chinese citizens placed their trust in prostitutes more than politicians. No surprises there.

Here in Van, the Olympic plot thickens. It's pretty bad when the Vancouver Sun accuses the IOC of being run by ayatollas, in this case for getting the rights to all court issues to be settled not by Canadian courts but by Swiss. Shades of the AGOA Pact come to mind.

Groundwire: July 31-August 13

Submitted by admin on Sun, 08/02/2009 - 21:07

Welcome to Groundwire's latest edition of national news from a grassroots perspective. This is the fourth bi-weekly edition of GroundWire - community news from coast-to-coast-to-coast.
Produced by UMFM in Montreal.

In this edition of GroundWire:

Headlines:

- Winnipeg worried over Privatized Water| Michael Elves UMFM

- Defining Sexual Assault in Winnipeg| Michael Elves UMFM

Features

- Mohammad Mahjoub's Hunger Strike at Kingston Penitentiary | Usman Mushtaak CFRC

- Olympic Update: Charter Battles for Women's Ski Jumpers | Sam Krevia CJSR

-- Simon Fraseer University Funding Mircomanaged by Government| Nina Halliday-Thompson CJSF

Fundies, beauty contests and Shatner as Palin

Submitted by isaac on Thu, 07/30/2009 - 14:06

I was hunting for a good long while to find something that has become internet legend.

Yep, it's William Shatner reciting Palin's farewell speech as beat poetry. Klein has a more serious piece on how Sarah-Palin-style capitalism is flawed. I guess she means the kind of capitalism that makes foreign investors buy up much-needed farmland in Africa to make export crops. Did no one watch Darwin's Nightmare?

Not so in Vancouver, which is poised to become the greenest city on earth, with its renewable energy and armies of hippies. Take that, Dubai.

However, I've noted a disturbing thing about rising violent sex crimes here. Recently a girl was forced off an early-morning bus and sexually assaulted. In Surrey - that place of unfairly ill-repute - a six-year-old was similarly assaulted two weeks ago. And then another in Abbotsford, my home for the four years before I moved to Van. Ah Abbotsford - the quiet little church-university town where nothing used to happen. It's now the crime capital. From the robbing of old women to a deadly ongoing battle between drug gangs, things are heating up.

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