AW@L Radio - Smash the State Report: July 5, 2013

From the June 26th 2013 edition of AW@L Radio – Ready fir War by Rise Up kicks the show off. This revolutionary hip hop track is from Comrade Music Volume 2 - Land Defenders for Life.  We then go into a piece from the Nobel women’s initiative video which highlights the voices of women who are fighting the tar sands open pit mine giga-minein Alberta.  The video came out as the Tar Sands Healing Walk got under way – check out the website for more info on the healing walk.  The video closed out with a tune from Line 9 intervener Sarah Harmer.

Staying with womyn resisting, a great new piece from Harsha Walia highlights the ongoing project of colonisation as felt by Indigenous women.  We read just the first few intro paragraphs from Indigenous Women Never Idle on feministwire.com. 

Still resisting the tar sands and pipelines, we jump to some censored news on the Moccasins on the Ground tour in Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota land on the Cheyenne River.  This grassroots movement is raising awareness of the Keystone XL tarsands pipeline in Indigenous communities along the route, and raising the capacity of the participants to resist its construction.  Check their webpage oweakuinternational.org for more on this inspiring resistance which has included the settler environmentalists and local ranchers in the efforts.

Song: Be Free from Rise Up off of Comrade music volume 2.

The show returns with a reading of an excerpt of the transcript from a recent environews.tv report which notes the efforts of families in Utah who are camping out on the Tavaputs plateau in an effort to raise awareness and resist the creation of america’s first tar sands operation.  While there is no real recognition of indigenous lands in the video, the 30 minute clip has some wonderful commentary and helpful ideas  on confronting destructive industrial projects (empower kids do it!).

Staying with TarSands and #noKXL we jump to a report on TD bank getting punked by the @tarsandsblockade.  I yes men style fake news release was sent out directing people to a spoof td bank website and announcing the bank would be divesting its 1,600,000,000$ investment in the tar sands open pit mine and the keystone XL pipeline project.  While the bank “corrected” the announcement, Dan suggest people pull their money from any financial institutions (banks or credit unions) that funds destructive and racist development (tar sands, pipelines, fracking, clear-cutting, settlement, war, etc).

And updating on the anti-fracking protests in Elsipogtog, we read on the arrest of @mediacoop reporter Miles Howe followed by the arrest of war chief John Levi for allegedly obstructing justice by abetting the reporter in covering the illegal industrial intrusion on Indigenous land.  While Howe was released later that day, the racist crown decided to hold War Chief Levi for the weekend.  Protests continue at the site amid the attempts of police to silence the coverage of events and while police offer money to those they arrest to give information on the actions.

Constant Movement form Kill the Autocrat fires us up for the last few stories of the show which start with a quick talk about the interview exiled Sea Sheppard captain Paul Watson did with Jana of the Jungle – the first interview in 10 months after fleeing Germany who was aiding the extrajudicial persecution of the ocean defender.  You can get the whole interview here.

Next up in a sweet new book from Charlie Strauss which Cory Doctor calls the Sci-Fi companion to David Graeber’s Debt.  Neptune’S Brood is an ultra futuristic look at the outcome of debt culture – a great summer read to keep you hating capitalism, but helping you love the creative.

And finally, if you can’t beat them, reform them: A tweet from Alternatives Journal alerted me to a chance to take action against Néstle who is trying to ensure they have the right to drain a wellington county watershed even in low water and drought conditions.  The council of Canadians had a letter in the Food and Drink Issue of alternatives and you can learn more at the Wellington Water Watchers page.

We close out the show with Eye for an Eye from Comrade, on Land Defenders for Life: Comrade music volume 2.

 Remember to check out the Daily GRRR! for critical #cdnPoli every weekday morning from 9-10am on http://grandrivermc.ca 

The Smash the State the Report is a segment on the weekly 2 hour AW@L radio (16:00-18:00est) on CKMS 100.3FM CKMS * Community * Co-op * Campus * Radio - Waterloo - http://soundfm.ca