Labour union support for democracy in the Philippines

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On October 28, 2010, The Train interviewed Carleton University graduate student and TA union organizer Precillia Lefebvre and Ottawa activist and Staff Representative for CUPE 4600 (TAs and Contract Instructors at Carleton) Stuart Ryan about their activisms, their union battles, their solidarity trips to the Philippines, and the brutal situation in the Philippines.


We started with the campus-wide labour battle at Carleton University where four unions are poised to strike... and we moved into labour and human rights in the Philippines.

The Philippines is clearly a police state and a brutal regime in the corporate fascism project of the US and Canada.

The killing, torturing, raping, and disappearing of civil and labour organizers is widespread and systemic; to support corporate exploitation interests, not the least of which are the foreign labour mill and Canadian mining interests.

Philippine resistance is diverse and resourceful. It has lessons for Canadian social justice activists and has deeply and personally inspired Precillia and Stuart.

The STIMULATOR tells it all -- An interview with Franklin Lopez

On October 21, 2010, The Train interviewed Franklin Lopez, aka The Stimulator of submedia.tv fame.


Yup, it was "another sedition" of "it's the end of the world as we know it and i feel fine" about activism, direct action, the Black Bloc, revolution, diversity of tactics, alternative media, film making, our enemies in blue, and so on...

Mr. Lopez put aside his stage voice in order to be down and real about his understanding of resistance in Canada.

In particular, hear a unique testimony of the Black Bloc violence at G20 Toronto and hear Mr. Lopez challenge the dominant view among progressives that the state used and manipulated the Black Bloc...

We await the release of submedia.tv's new feature film entitled endciv (as in "end of cvilization").

Renowned activist Ken O'Keefe on Palestine liberation and life

On October 14, 2010, The Train's Denis Rancourt interviewed Ken O'Keefe by phone from London, UK.


Human shield program in Irak, depleted uranium as war crime, fighting off corporate fishing boats on the high seas, surviving Israel's flotilla attack in international waters, the energy of life, Palestine as family, pacifism as cowardice or as heroism, and the need for a one-state solution in Palestine...

The phone connection took 20 minutes to establish so Allan Rock and Utah Phillips helped us through...

Ken's official web site:

World Citizen Ken O'Keefe

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Six candidates for mayor of Ottawa interviewed on Train

On October 7, 2010, The Train interviewed six of the twenty mayoral candidates in the upcoming municipal elections for the City of Ottawa, Canada's capital city, home of "Canada's university" (aka U of O).


The six mayoral candidates interviewed live in studio were (in order of appearance):

• Michael St. Arnaud

• Jane Scharf

• Joseph Furtenbacher

• Idris Ben-Tahir

• Robert G. Gauthier

• Fraser Liscumb

The debates were lively, far-reaching, and informative...

The candidates were brought in by community organizer Sylvain Henry who is hosting an all-candidates debate at the Ottawa Public Library (Metcalf and Laurier branch) on October 10, 2010, at 1pm. See:

stardebate.blogspot.com

Dissent in Canada - A pre-panel discussion

On September 30, 2010, the Train welcomed indy media journalist (The Real News) Lia Tarachansky, prominent human rights and constitutional law lawyer Yavar Hameed, and Ottawa peace activist and trade unionist Larry Rousseau for a discussion about the state of dissent in Canada, in light of G20-Toronto.


The on-air show was in preparation for a panel discussion (including Train host Denis Rancourt) organized by NoWar-Paix as part of the 4th Ottawa Peace Festival.

Ms. Tarachansky also discussed her new film project about Israel's occupation of Palestine, Seven Deadly Myths, and noted that Canada had in recent years significantly moved towards a police state such as she has experienced in Israel.