The Daily GRRR! - Jan. 5, 2015 - Your “Ugh, Monday Morning” Edition

Welcome back to SoundFM! You are now listening to The Daily GRRR! heard every weekday from 9-10 a.m. here on the airwaves at 100.3fm, CKMS in Waterloo, Ontario, and SoundFM.ca on the web. This is Kathryn and I’ll be your host on this Monday morning show for January 5th, 2015.

As always, we are broadcasting from the heart of the Haldimand Tract, the occupied Grand River Territory of the Six Nations, which we continue to recognize as Haudenosaunee land.

The Daily GRRR! is a project of the Grand River Media Collective and is supported by the Community Radio Fund of Canada and CKMS.

We will begin today with headlines:
The Daily GRRR!
HEADLINES for Jan. 5, 2015 
1. Protesters against Utah’s new tar sands mine now face felony riot charges
2. Dalhousie profs go public with complaint against misogynistic students
3. Women’s self-defense course offered at sliding scale in Hamilton
4. #ShutDownCanada day of action called to demand inquiry for #MMIW
5. “Clogged Arteries” album raises funds for frontline pipeline resistance
6. Guelph hosts panel discussion to encourage a direct action-packed 2015

1. Protesters against Utah’s new tar sands mine now face felony riot charges

As reported by The Salt Lake Tribune, Six of 21 protesters arrested after protesting Utah’s first commercial fuel-producing tar sands mine have been charged with felony-level rioting, with more defendants to face trespassing charges. Soon after the arrests, the protesters’ defense attorneys began negotiations of their charges and all 21 protesters are expected to enter plea agreements as early as Thursday. For now though, it is unclear what charges the defendants might plead guilty to or whether any of them would spend time in prison. What is known is that six of the 21 were officially charged on Friday with a single count of rioting, which is a third-degree felony in the US that is punishable by up to five years in prison. They were also charged with interference with an arresting officer, which is a class-A misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail. The action that led to these charges was staged on July 21, when eighty protesters associated with Utah Tar Sands Resistance physically blocked access to the equipment being stored on the construction site of a new U.S. Oil Sands mine.

2. Dalhousie profs go public with complaint against misogynistic students

As reported by The Toronto Star, a Dalhousie University faculty member who has filed a complaint together with three other professors over male students who allegedly posted sexually hateful messages about women online says she was acting on behalf of students who feel more needs to be done. Françoise Baylis of the university’s medical school said that the professors have heard from students who are not satisfied with the current informal restorative justice process. The professors had filed a formal complaint under the students’ code of conduct with the school’s acting vice-provost of student affairs. She says the complaint asks that the dentistry students involved in the Facebook group where misogynistic comments were allegedly posted be suspended on an interim basis prior to the return of classes on Monday. Baylis said suspending the students involved would allow other students to “return to the classroom in a context where they would hopefully be able to have confidence that it is a safe environment and an environment that would be conducive to their continued learning.” Baylis says the professors are concerned because the complaint has not been addressed by administration. She says the group initially wanted to keep their names confidential, but decided to go public because of the delays in processing the complaint. In an email, a Dalhousie spokesman claimed that a preliminary assessment of the formal complaint will be completed in early January and an update on that process will be provided this week.

3. Women’s self-defense course offered at sliding scale in Hamilton

On Saturday, January 10th, from 1-4pm, Hamilton’s anarchist social centre The Tower will be hosting a three-hour Wen Do self-defense course. Wen-Do is the longest running self-defense organization by and for women in Canada. Since 1972, Wen Do has been providing empowerment and self-defense training to thousands of women and girls in Canada and in Japan. Wen-Do provides a survivor-positive, pro-diversity, activist-friendly safer space for attendees. This workshop is open to all women and girls ages 10+ and course content is designed to be accessible to women of all abilities.

This 3-hour workshop will include a combination of physical techniques and discussion. All physical techniques are designed to be used against physically larger and stronger attackers. We celebrate our stories and our experiences in this workshop - we are smarter and stronger than the world tells us we are! The workshop will be facilitated by Shailagh Keaney, a community-accountable activist and self-defense instructor. Shailagh has been with Wen-Do Women's Self-Defence since 2010, supporting many women and girls through the process of boldly becoming the power that they never knew they had. With roots deep in radical movements for social justice, Shailagh recognizes that the violence that we experience is systemic, and that our survival is crucial to creating a more just, more liveable world.

Once again, this three-hour workshop will be held on Saturday, January 10th, from 1-4pm, at Hamilton’s anarchist social centre The Tower. The cost is $0-$30 sliding scale, and space is limited! To register and reserve your spot email thetower@riseup.net.

4. #ShutDownCanada day of action called to demand inquiry for #MMIW

As announced on Facebook by the online community In Solidarity with All Land Defenders, a day of action has been called for February 13th, 2015. Here’s the call-to-action they’ve put out on the Facebook event page, which we’ve also linked to on the podcast page for today’s show:

“The system has failed us all miserably. There is no democracy and we the people have an obligation to demand justice for all. The current status quo in Canada serves only the elite few while the majority of Canadians are financial slaves to the system. Politicians do not represent the people, nor have they ever. Indigenous communities know this all too well and have been actively resisting subjugation since contact with the first colonizers who illegally imposed their jurisdiction through covert biological warfare and the ongoing genocide implemented with the residential school system.

“The residential schools took the children from the land to disconnect people from their culture in order to take the land from the children. The genocide is ongoing, we still see the constant removal of indigenous children from their ancestral lineages and the untimely deaths of so many indigenous men, women and children. Indigenous peoples are over-represented in the (in)justice system and homeless populations are disproportionately indigenous. The systemic racism in the RCMP and Police forces negates any effective justice from taking place. This is the reason why so many indigenous women have gone missing or been murdered without any real action to prevent further violence.

“Everything is interconnected. This government blatantly oppresses indigenous peoples in a calculated effort to create dysfunction within communities to maintain control of the land and exploitation of natural resources. The rape and destruction of our mother earth is another facet of the ongoing genocide which holds no prejudice affecting all children of the earth. We are all directly affected by ecocide.

“Make no mistake that systemic racism and structural violence are connected to the needs of this illegal colonial state to maintain control of the land for exploitation. That is why we must call attention to these issues at the same time - the tars sands, the pipelines, fracking, mining and justice for #MMIW -- it's all connected.

“(This is a) CALLOUT for communities across Canada to blockade their local railway, port or highway on February 13th. Don't buy, don't fly, no work and keep the kids home from school. A diversity of tactics is highly recommended! Get everyone involved. The goal is to significantly impact the Canadian economy for a day and demand there be an independent inquiry into the 1000+ cases of missing or murdered indigenous women. It's Time to #ShutDownCanada.

“Get together with your friends and family to start planning now. Please share any info on local events on this event page we will use as a networking hub. Tell as many people as you can, time to get the ball rolling.”

Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/452509068236441/

5. “Clogged Arteries” album raises funds for frontline pipeline resistance

Released on November 24th of last year, "Clogged Arteries: Songs and Spoken Word in Support of Front-line Pipeline Resistance" is a compilation CD featuring 18 tracks from 18 different artists spanning a huge range of musical styles. In response to proposed projects to increase the flow of tar sands oil and fracked gas to the west coast of Turtle Island, artists on the compilation address the blatant disregard for communities, ecosystems and democracy, for the sake of profit and power. They show many sides of the human response to the threat of these projects, such as the Enbridge Northern Gateway Project, the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Expansion Project, the Pacific Trails Pipeline, and the tar sands themselves. The songs call for support for the struggles of original inhabitants on unceded lands, and for action in response to injustices.

All funds raised will be donated to front-line pipeline resistance on northwestern Turtle Island. Funds will be rolling in over time, as the CD gets out there through various physical and online outlets. As they come in we'll be making a judgement call based on where they seem most needed at the time, and most effective given the quantity. This information will be posted at www.cloggedarteries.bandcamp.com. Recipients will be where people are standing up on the ground in defense of land and communities, including the Unist'ot'en Camp.

6. Guelph hosts panel discussion to encourage a direct action-packed 2015

Do you participate in direct action as a form of resistance? Have questions or concerns about direct action as a strategy for political change? No clue what direct action is?? If you're interested in learning more about the social and political context of direct action in struggles of environmental and social justice, join Guelph Anti-Pipeline Action for this panel discussion featuring three community organizers who will discuss the function of direct action within our struggles, and tell us more about past, current, and future Indigenous-led movements, and how you can contribute. The event will take place on Saturday January 10, 2015, from 2-5 p.m. at the University of Guelph campus, in the University Centre’s room 103 (just inside the south doors, by the bus loop). The building, lecture room and washrooms are fully wheelchair accessible. Washrooms are gendered. If you have any specific questions or requests, please contact Guelph Pipeline Action by e-mail at GuelphGAP@gmail.com.

The event will feature two speakers, Vanessa Gray and Awâsis:

Vanessa Gray is a Anishinaabe kwe from the Aamjiwnaang First Nation, located in Canada's Chemical Valley. In 2009 Vanessa started an environmental youth group called Aamjiwnaang Green Teens to bring environmental awareness to the community. In 2012 she co-foundedASAP (Aamjiwnaang + Sarnia Against Pipelines), in 2013 she organized Idle No More actions, and today she continues to organize against Enbridge's Line 9 pipeline reversal. Vanessa is currently working to restore and take back traditional territory.

Awâsis is a Michif (Oji-Cree Métis) spoken word artist, educator, and community organizer currently helping to cultivate resistance to the tar sands pipelines locally and illegal occupation of Indigenous lands globally. As a dedicated advocate for environmental justice, her work is very much focused on drawing connections between the health and well-being of the Earth and Indigenous families. She is continuously inspired by acts of decolonization, resurgence, and community healing.

Midway Music: In Your Language by Betty Supple

Feature: “On the Front Lines of the Great Lakes: Tar Sands Sacrifice Zones” by Toban Black and Sonia Grant for Briarpatch Magazine
http://briarpatchmagazine.com/articles/view/on-the-front-lines

The Daily GRRR! is on weekdays from 9-10am on 100.3fm CKMS in Waterloo, Ontario, and http://soundfm.ca on the web.

The Daily GRRR! is a project of the Grand River Media Collective and is supported by the Community Radio Fund of Canada and CKMS.

Closing Song: For the Children by Jeremy Loveday