In this segment of Radio BASICS we discuss the threat and cutbacks to UofT’s Transitional Year Program. The program is one of the most successful in Canada. It opens the academic doors to the working class poor, who would have otherwise never thought about Post secondary education. Radio BASICS had the opportunity to interview three students who have been benefitting from this program. We engage in an interesing discussion about the program’s origins, experiences, the current situation and organizing actions.
Listen to the show here:
http://www.radio4all.net/
On January 18, 2013, Winter Has Its End and BASICS CNS correspondents interviewed Durlabh Pun, a secretary in the International Department of the Communist Party of Nepal – Maoist.
Durlabh explains why and how he joined the Maoist movement, his experiences in combating caste and class oppression, and the necessity of communism in today’s world.
On January 8, 2013, BASICS CNS and Winter Has Its End correspondents caught up with Ganesh Kumar Chitaure, owner of a radical bookstore in Kathmandu.
Chitaure explains some of the basic inequalities along caste and class lines in Nepal that motivated him to join the Maoist movement. He talks about the role that he played as a member of the Maoist party and how that led to his founding this bookstore.
Chitaure also provides a brief overview of the differences and splits that have emerged in the Maoist movement now after the ending of the insurgency.
January 14, 2013 on Radio Basics: Zig Zag on Idle No More / Toronto High school teacher Luis Filipe on teachers rank-n-file resistance to Bill 115
Click here to download Mp3 or stream.
Feature interviews on today’s show with Zig Zag (warriorpublications.wordpress.com) on the “snakes in the grassroots” of #IdleNoMore and his analysis of the role of AFN Chiefs in the rising movement of grassroots Indigenous peoples; and Toronto high school teacher Luis Filipe, (a union executive member of the OSSTF local brank at Parkdale C.I. and member of Rank-n-File Education Workers of Toronto – REWT) on the ongoing resistance of teachers to Bill 115 and other attacks on the education sector.
Zig Zag interview begins 16:25.
Luis Filipe interview begins 42:10.
Six Nations hip-hop from Henny Jack, Tru Rez, Kardboard Kid, Pete Nyce & MC Sage. Filipino hip-hop from L.A., Power Struggle.
On december 3, Radio BASICS interviewed a Canadian Doctor who was in Gaza during the recent attacks. Also in the show are Headlines and poem recitals from International Day for solidarity with Political prisoners.
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The word “Oshkimaadzig” refers to the “New People” of the Seven Fires Anishinaabek Prophecy, the people who were prophesied to be the ones who would pick up the remnants of their traditional ways of life and values long repressed by colonialism, and by reclaiming these values they will begin to unite all peoples for the survival of humanity and Mother Earth.
Oshkimaadzig Unity Camp is located in traditional Wendat (“Huron”) land, and since the genocidal dispersal of the Wendat by the French and the wars that forced them to flee the area in the mid 17th century, the Anishinaabe have been the keepers of the eastern door, recognized by the Three Fires Confederacy (Odawa, Potawatamie, and Ojibwe). This land also falls within a number of treaties amongst indigenous people and between indigenous nations and European settlers, including the Two Row Wampum, the ‘One Dish, One Spoon’ Treaty, the Beaver Belt, the Haudenosaunee-Anishinaabek Friendship Belt, the 1764 Fort Niagara Silver Chain Covenant, and the 24 Nations Belt.
Oshkimaadzig Unity Camp is located in ‘Awenda Provincial Park’ two hours north of Toronto in the Penetanguishene Peninsula and is by the Anishinabek Confederacy to Invoke Our Nationhood (ACTION), Oshkimaadzig.org, a member organization of the chapter of the International League of People’s Struggles in Canada.
Video produced by BASICS Community News Service (BASICSnews..ca).
Video from Mass Art-illery concert on Saturday, November 10. Featuring: Acalanto, Rise Up, James Blood (from Tru Rez Crew), Dbi Young and LAL.
Tune in to Radio BASICS this Monday Night at 8pm on CHRY Dial 105.50fm or http://www.chry.fm/.
This week we will be interviewing a Dr. who was in Gaza during the recent attacks by the brutal Israeli govt. So Tune in!
Miss an episode? Check out the podcast version here!
On October 26th, Walton Development attempted to file an injuction against Mohawk workers and Six Nations people, who have been protesting against future housing development at Tutela Heights, in Brantford, Ontario.
Tutela Heights is part of the Haldimand Tract and contains Tutelo burial grounds. The site was unlawfully taken by the Crown in 1835. It was reclaimed by the Mohawk workers on September 19th, 2012.
*Article: Megan Kinch & Steve da Silva * Videography: Darryl Richardson * Video: Editing Camila Uribe * Photos: Darryl Richardson & Steve da Silva *
Four years to the day after Jane Finch Action Against Poverty’s (JFAAP) founding on October 17, 2008 – the International Day for the Elimination of Poverty – one of Jane-Finch’s leading people’s organizations took to the streets once again with its allies to protest the worsening of poverty and police brutality in the community.
Designed for the quick flow-through of cars, the protest circled through the intersection that is the community’s name-sake and that corporate media and local university media loves to vilify: Jane-Finch.
The protest was very much of the corner as well, as people waiting for the bus listened to speeches and watched street theatre from their bus stops and at their red lights. The rally of some 150 people circled through the intersection, for nearly 90 minutes.
Demands from the crowd ranged from calling upon York University’s Excalibur newspaper to end its stigmatization of the area for problems on campus and in the university’s Village Community; calling for community control of policing and an end to police brutality; raising the welfare and disability rates; as well as more support for elders; and an end to horizontal violence within the community.
Despite the ‘good-cop’ act of the so-called ‘community policing’ strategy, with some of 31 Division’s foot cops chatting it up with people in crowd that has many problems with policing in the neighbourhood, the local division’s real attitude towards community residents was demonstrated when two cop cruisers barrelled through the Jane-Finch intersection, nearly hitting protestors and forcing marchers to leap out of the way. Civilian cars weren’t irritated by the few-seconds delay caused by the tail end of the 150+ person rally that circled through the intersection on the green lights – but not for the cops.
The cop assigned to ‘engage’ with the protest quickly distanced themselves from the incident, saying that they had “nothing to do with the protest” and were simply “responding to another call” – even though the cars had no sirens on.
The protest concluded with performances from local popular theatre group, Nomanzland, as well as performances from other local artists. The short street acts included, a mock oath to the queen, a desperate community member meeting the red tape of the social service bureaucracy, and a Jane-Finch rendition of the good’ old “Oh Canada… our home on stolen land.”
JFAAP is one of the few community-based organizations in the city that is moving the people in its community for social justice and political mobilization.
