August 15th

We continued to talk about the forum Audism and the Toronto Police Services and heard a clip from the forum outlining the struggles of two deaf womem and their highly frustrating interactions with the police and their constant need to explain the need for a qualified interpreter.

We also talked with Lydia from the Women’s Coordinating Committee Chile Canada about the over 200 Mapuche political prisoners in southern Chile. Lydia talked about the history of the colonization of the Mapuche people, their ongoing struggles for autonomy and land reclamation and the mechanisms deployed by the state to criminalize dissent (such as the anti-terrorism act and military courts). We heard about the role of women as supporters. We were also informed about the rally outside the Chilean consulate on August 12, 2010 and some of the political contensions within the Chilean community.

Finally, to wrap up programming for Prisoner Justice Day, we heard from speakers at a vigil organized on Prisoner Justice Day (August 10) outside the Dawn Jail in Toronto.

August 8th

We talked with quarator Allisa and her sister/partner, Stephani as well as artist,Kanyika York about the exhibition to take place on August 19 at the Train Studio (964 Bathurst St). The exhibition explores the lived experiences of black women through various artistic mediums (music, photography and painting) and talks about a range of issues ranging from the beauty myths to black women in their careers. Our guests talked extensively about the impossible standards for beauty that black women are made to believe they should emulate through exposure to images and content in mainstream media. We heard a little about each of the artists- their preferred meium and mode of artistic expression.

We also talked with Megan Kynch about the activities and distructive impacts of Goldcorp’s illegal mining operation in Guatamala. She talked about local and global responses. Read more at solidarityresponse.net and barrickgold.net. She talked about the recent corperate zombie march to draw attention to this issue as well as the corporatization of Universities and the close relationships between the academy and the mining industry in Toronto.

We finally talked with Saron, a Ph.D. student at York University and a deaf alai on the forum, Audism and the Toronto Police Service. Saron talked about the need for hearing people to deny their unearned privilege and ways to make activism and our events accessible to everyone. She also touched on the discriminatory treatment received by one deaf protestor by the police during the G20 weekend.

August 1st

We talked about Emancipation Day (Aug 1). We also taked with Carol from Magkaisacentre about their recent event Roots, Rhymes and Resistance which seeks to empower and educate philipeano youth through art. We finally spoke with Marylynn Pouchchiche on the peaceful blockade at Barrier lake to preserve their indigenous form of governance and to oppose the recent attempts to impose an non-indigenous governance structure on her community.

July 25th

We heard Gein Wong, a collective member performing a spoken word piece at the Diaspora Dialogues Festival. It can be found here

We also talked with Wendy and Tania about the recent struggle of their union (SEIU) to obtain decent wages and fair working conditions. They talked about what turned out to be the longest strike in Canadian history, its outcomes and the support they received from their clients, the community and other unions.

We also spoke with Linda Eales and Lynn Sky, both organizers with Toronto’s Mad Pride week. They talked about the political underpinnings of Mad Pride, its origins, differences from anti-Psychiatry and the activities and events that took place during the week.

We spoke with Manjula from the Canadian Tamil Congress about Black July. Read more at www.blackjuly83.com. Manjula, herself a survivor of Black July, talked about the differences and similarities between Black July and the present state of militarization, displacement and human rights abuses in Sri Lanka.

We finally, talked with a member of the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty about the July 21, 2010 rally to challenge the cuts to the special diet and the subsequent arrests of 11 activists who had occupied the headquarters of the liberal party.

We played the following clip from No One Is Illegal Radio (in Montreal):

• Criminalization of Dissent in Canada: G20 resistance in Canada in the wake of 20 years Since Oka

July 18th

We heard a talk by Angela Davis on the Prison Industrial Complex.

June 27th

As part of the collective’s G20 coverage, we provided on the ground updates including coverage of arrests, targeting of activists and community organizers, police brutality, state repression the raid of the Graduate Student Union at UofT where 70 protestors were arrested on campus. We also covered the jail solidarity rally taking place during the show outside the G20 Detension Centre at East and Hastings. We had heard from an activist who was present at the peaceful rally which was broken up due to police violence as protestors were hit with batons and tear gased. We also spoke with Chief Laurie Carr from the Hiawatha First Nations on the indigenous rights march as part of the anti-G20 activism on July 24. She talked about the issues facing her community and the rally, “Canada Can’t Hide Genocide: Indigenous Day of Action.”

June 20th

Today FFWPR looked at some of the organizing against the G8 and G20. We covered the issues that activists wishing to protest the G20 would like to highlight and we covered the recent press conference organized by the Toronto Community Mobilization Network about their work and organizational structure. We played the following clips:

• Resist the G20
• T.C.M.N. Press Conference Part 1
• T.C.M.N. Press Conference Part 2

We also covered the 2010 People’s Summit, discussing the issues that were brought up during the weekend in over 500 different sessions with Summit organizer, Maria and we talked with Sharmeen Khan from T.C.M.N about the network, its objectives and goals, organizing structure and action plan.