The Daily GRRR! - November 7th, 2014 - Waves Through Walls: Prison Radio

Welcome, I am your host Dan Kellar and you are listening to The Daily GRRR! Waves Through Walls: Prison Radio, on 100.3fm, CKMS in Waterloo, Ontario. Soundfm.ca on the web, today is Friday November 7th, 2014.

We are broadcasting from the centre of the Haldimand Tract, the occupied Grand River Territory of the Haudenosaunee (Six Nations).

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

The clip that kicked off the show is from Mumia Abu-Jamal with his piece entitled The Missing Ones (Los Desaparecidos). Check prisonradio.org for more of Mumia’s podcasts.

Today’s feature is an interview from Redeye at Vancouver’s co-op radio with Ariana Barer speaking on the #BeenRapedNeverReported hashtag and about why it's still so hard to report rape.

Now we will start with today’s headlines:

The Daily GRRR!
HEADLINES for November 7th, 2014 
1. >3 Charged For #MMIW Blockade of HWY 6
2. Disgraced Cop Drops Appeals - Goes Directly To Jail
3. Mountie Refused Ambulance to Inmate who Later Died
4. Sex Assault Stats Staggering
5. Harper Reigns Over a 25% Surge in Food Bank Use
6. China Ends Sprawl Over “Permanent Basic Farmland”
7. Uprising for the 43 Disappeared Continues in Mexico
8. Mexico Jails Molotoving Anarchists Quebecers
9. US Sending Depleted Uranium Spraying Fighter Jets to Middle East

1. 3 Charged For #MMIW Blockade of HWY 6
As the demands for justice for the 1200+ missing and murdered indigenous women in so-called canada continue to ring loud, and the Harper government continues to refuse to call a national inquiry into this colonial violence, ontario provincial police are committing huge amounts of resources, and the resulting court time, to surveil and charge those who are making the demands.

On October 4th and 5th, the Haudenosaunee Mens Fire shut down highway 6, on the Haldimand tract at the edge of the Six Nations reserve to bring awareness of the issue of the missing and murdered Indigenous women, and to pressure Harper to call an independent inquiry. With the OPP setting up their own highway blockades several kilometers on either side of the main action, with more than a dozen cruisers and SUVs involved, they sent in the friendly faces of their plain clothed protest team to closely watch the all ages blockade.

Earlier this week, 3 of the organisers of the blockade were charged with mischief related to the action and will be in court in Cayuga in early December. They were not jailed. We will have more details on this situation as we can get them.

Harper has refused to call an inquiry, recently saying that the 1200+ missing and murdered indigenous women was a criminal, and not a sociological issue.

2. Disgraced Cop Drops Appeals - Goes Directly To Jail
Former peel regional police constable and current slumlord in Kitchener has dropped the appeals into his 2010 conviction for stealing fake drugs from an RCMP sting operation. Sheldon Cook, a resident of Cambridge had first appealed the 5 year 8 month prison sentence he was given, and remained out of jail for the past 4 years as his appeal dragged on.

Cook, who was paid for the 5 years he was suspended waiting his conviction will also now face the police board which is expected to terminate his employment. Cook has previously been in the news with the allegation that he ended the career of CFL player Orlando Bowen after beating the athlete and planting cocaine on his body. Cook was never disciplined for the incident.

Cook also gained local notoriety in Kitchener after tenants of several townhomes he owns complained of months-long sewage leaks and no hot water in winter. The Kitchener Record reported that Cook did not pay the resident owned local power utility for repair work done on his property.

3. Mountie Refused Ambulance to Inmate who Later Died
An RCMP officer has told an inquest that he denied an ambulance to a prisoner who was complaining of difficulties breathing. The prisoner, Steven Scott was being held for intoxication in August 2010, in Penticton BC where, several hours after first telling his RCMP guard, Don Wrigglesworth he died in cell. The death was unnoticed for at least 5 hours, likely 8 or 9.

The admission from the RCMP officer comes amidst an ongoing Coroner's inquiry into the death of Scott, who was only 30 when he died in police custody.

4.Sex Assault Stats Staggering
In the wake of the rape culture revelations around radio host Jian Ghomeshi, CBC’er George Stroumboulopoulos tweeted out an important infographic from the YWCA’s 2012 poster series on violence and poverty.

The numbers are shocking and sobering - there are more than 460,000 sexual assaults in canada every year. Out of every 1000 of those assaults, only 33 are reported to police, 29 are recorded as a crime, 12 have charges laid, 6 are prosecuted and only 3 lead to conviction. That means 997 assailants walk free.

check ywcacanada.ca for more poster in the series and listen to our feature interview for more info on reporting sexual assaults in canada.

5. Harper Reigns Over a 25% Surge in Food Bank Use
In the past 6 years, all years governed under the Harper government, foodbank use across canada has increased to an all time high of 841,191 people each month, a 25% surge since 2008.

The HungerCount 2014 report from Food Banks Canada is the only comprehensive study of foodbank use in canada and looks “ at the causes of hunger and food insecurity, and offers recommendations to reduce hunger.’

⅓ of those using foodbanks are children, with 47% of children in northern canada not knowing where their next meal is coming from.

The report notes the increase in foodbank use is in part due to massive loss of blue-collar jobs, and inadequate social security programs including those for elderly and disabled people and low income families.

6. China Ends Sprawl Over “Permanent Basic Farmland”
In a sweeping move to curb urban sprawl over the country’s prime near-market farmland, the Chinese government has banned cities from developing on “basic permanent farmland” to safeguard food security.

In 2011 China had, for the first time, more people in cities than in the rural areas, a shift largely driven by urbanisation of small villages and the creation of a massive urban poor underclass.

The indiatimes quotes MLR minister Jiang Daming with "During rapid urbanisation, high-yield farmland has been gradually 'eaten' by steel and cement," adding that the consequences could be grievous.

7. Uprising for the 43 Disappeared Continues in Mexico
As the deadline to the government to return the 43 disappeared student teachers in Ayotzinapa passed, protests continued across the country with police stations and government buildings being burned, and thousands marching in cities across the country.

The Zapatista National Liberation Army and the National Indigenous Congress released a joint statement that was read by a CNI member on October 22nd at one of the demos.

The statement reads
“The disappearance of the 43 student compañeros of the Normal Rural Isidro Burgos of Ayotzinapa, Guerrero, kidnapped and disappeared by the Bad Governments, imposes upon us a shadow of mourning, angst, and rage. Our hope for the reappearance of the compañeros is also the pain that unites us; our rage illuminates the candles that today light the way of mobilizations all over the country, raising the cry of dignity and rebellion in Mexico below.”

Calling mexican president Enrique Pena Nieto a criminal and military leader, the statement continues”
As in Guerrero, the repression against the people, the extraction of natural resources, and the destruction of the territories in the entire country are operated by the Narco State, without scruples. It uses terror in order to manufacture pain and fear; this is how it governs.

Against the war of extermination, this pain and rage has been transformed into dignity and rebellion. The only other choice would be to simply await death, dispossession, and more pain and rage.

We demand the return of the 43 disappeared students and the dismantling of the entire State structure that sustains organized crime!

We demand the immediate liberation of the compañeros Mario Luna and Fernando Jiménez!

Their pain is ours; their rage is ours!”

As canada continues to deport migrants to mexico, having deemed it a “safe” country, actions continue to take place in montreal to highlight the injustices perpetrated by the state. On saturday, activists from Mexicans United for Regularization, disrupted the staging an of an "Altar of the Dead" organized by the Mexican Consulate in Montreal”.

8. Mexico Jails Molotoving Anarchists Quebecers
Contra-info reports that mexican judges have handed down 7 year, 6 month imprisonments for 3 anarchists charged with molotoving a Nissan dealership and the Secretariat of communications and transport. Amélie Trudeau Pelletier, Fallon Poisson Rouiller and Carlos López Marín were arrested last year for the attack which caused extensive damage without injuring any people.

Amélie and Fallon are from quebec and international support for the 3 has been ongoing since their arrest.

The post concludes:
Solidarity with Carlos, Amélie and Fallon!
Freedom for Fernando and Abraham!
Down with the prison walls!
Freedom for all!

9. US Sending Depleted Uranium Spraying Fighter Jets to Middle East
The A-10 “warthog”, the fighter jet that according the the International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons is responsible for more depleted uranium contamination than any other platform, was deployed in October to the middle east.

While the planes have not been scheduled to partake in the ongoing actions against ISIS in syria and iraq, truth-out.org reports one military official saying "that could change at any moment."

DU is used as a hardening coating on munitions to make them more capable of piercing thick armour, such as that found on the US tanks being used by ISIS to slaughter its way across iraq.

Iraq has put forward a resolution in the UN banning DU weapons after widespread contamination of the country over the past 30 years of war. In 2012, only the US, the UK, france, and israel opposed a similar UN resolution.

Thats all for the headlines, now for some
Midway Musichere is The Rebel Spell with the tune All This Costs off their new album Last Run

And we are back, you just heard The Rebel Spell with the tune All This Costs off of thier new album Last Run Check out http://therebelspell.com for info on their ongoing tour!

You are listening to Waves Through Walls edition of The Daily GRRR! Today is November 7th, 2014, my name is Dan Kellar and we are now moving into the feature portion of our broadcast.

Today’s feature is an interview from Redeye at Vancouver’s co-op radio with Ariana Barer speaking on the #BeenRapedNeverReported hashtag and about why it's still so hard to report rape.
http://rabble.ca/podcasts/shows/redeye/2014/11/why-women-dont-report-rap...

That was an interview from Redeye at Vancouver’s co-op radio with Ariana Barer speaking on the #BeenRapedNeverReported hashtag

This has been the The Daily GRRR! for November 7th, 2014. We are on weekdays from 9-10am on 100.3fm CKMS in Waterloo region, and http://soundfm.ca on the web. Check out all our past shows and other Grand River Media Collective work on our webpage http://grandrivermc.ca

The Daily GRRR! is supported by the Community Radio Fund of Canada and CKMS.

Stay tuned in for more Grand River Radical Radio after we close the podcast.

Thanks for Listening.