FTM is on CDKU 88.1 fm, Monday at 8:00 pm, hosted by me. Listen online at ckdu.ca. If you want to hear it and can't listen at 8pm, check out the archives (see tab on left margin on ckdu website)

On this week's show, I'll have part 1 of an extensive interview with Chris Dixon, who is (bio): "a longtime anti-authoritarian organizer, writer, and educator who recently received his PhD from the University of California at Santa Cruz. He lives in Sudbury, Ontario, where he is involved with anti-war and Indigenous solidarity organizing. Dixon serves on the board of the Institute for Anarchist Studies and the advisory board for the journal Upping the Anti. He is currently completing a book, tentatively titled Against and Beyond, based on interviews with anti-authoritarian organizers across the U.S. and Canada involved in broader-based movements."

Our conversation centers around the subject matter of the book. We discuss the subject of clique-y anarchist/activist subcultures; both the necessity and lack of progressive social transformation; the debate about the centrality of the class struggle versus challenging intersecting forms of oppression and other fun stuff ...

about From the Margins:

FTM operates on the understanding that social problems are mainly rooted in the socioeconomic system, capitalism, through which social relations are controlled. The show features live and recorded interviews, recordings of presentations and all that good stuff. For the most part, the show focuses on local / regional issues, but will venture outwards in the case of events that resonate nationally / globally, such as the economic crisis.

 From The Margins radio - Monday August 2nd episode - lack of tenants rights in NS and ideas for changes   Monday August 2nd, 8:00 pm - 9:00 pm on CKDU 88.1 fm or listen online at ckdu.ca Show subject:The Tenants’ Alliance of Nova Scotia (TALONS) and the Dalhousie Legal Aid Service (DLAS) are holding a Community Meeting on Tenant Rights at the Alderney Gate Library in Downtown Dartmouth on Thursday, August 5, from 7:00–8:30 PM. I interview organizers of the event. This show dedicated to all those who can't stand paying the rent.  About From the Margins: From the Margins (FTM) is a locally (HRM) produced radio show on CKDU, airing every Monday from 8pm - 9pm. It is hosted by Asaf Rashid, sometimes with guest collaborators. It offers a critical angle on local, regional, national and international issues. FTM operates on the understanding that social problems are mainly rooted in the socioeconomic system, capitalism, through which social relations are controlled. The show features live and recorded interviews, recordings of presentations and all that good stuff. For the most part, the show focuses on local / regional issues, but will venture outwards in the case of events that resonate nationally / globally, such as the economic crisis. But FTM will always try and make local parallels / connections.

Feb 27, 2010

Two years and eight months after the June 15, 2007 Atlantica protest and 21 arrests, the four people who remained on trial – myself, Colin, Aaron and George – finally reached our sentencing date: February 24, 2010. It was, and will continue to be, a long struggle, which has been marked by great examples of solidarity along the way. But one out of four was thrown in jail.

Background

(I won't recount the protest and whole court battle here, because that's a story on its own)

Upon our June 15th arrests, we spent three days in jail, and had to endure release conditions since then, which included: non-association with all the others arrested at the protest; prohibition from attending protests; an obligation to report to the court any changes of address; the requirement to show up to court on demand; and, the blanket “keep the peace and be of good behaviour”, which meant everyone had to ensure they were not charged with any new offenses, or else suffer a further charge of Breach, then go to jail.

It came to the decision on November 27th 2010. The judge, Michael Sherar, had to rule on our two arguments for shutting down the proceedings and on our charges themselves. We made arguments about violation of our Charter rights through the arrests and jail and about the trial being delayed beyond what should be allowed. The judge firmly decided against the Charter argument and ruled that the delay was only “borderline”, even though the period went beyond the delay precedents. Then, we were all found guilty of at least one charge amongst: unlawful assembly, possession of a marble (“weapon”) dangerous to the public, obstruction of a Peace Officer and breach of previous conditions.

Sentencing Date

Prior to our sentencing date, a significant effort was put into packing the courtroom. Similar efforts have been put into past court appearances, but this time, something was different. It was clear that this was the conclusion of the long trial process; that convictions had already been entered; and, that the judge was ready to hand down punishment. It was the last opportunity to let the judge see that the defendants had support. This, no doubt, helped build momentum. But there was also the feeling that many had about the whole situation being unfair, where four people were forced through such...

* Note: Sections of the following will be expanded upon with more details and statistics in following posts

***

The year 2009 was a roller-coaster, marked by the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Hundreds of thousands of jobs were being lost nearly every month of 2009 in the U.S., and in Canada, many tens of thousands were lost monthly, with January 2009 seeing a record 129,000 workers purged. Canada's gap between the rich and poor is now at the worst level ever. Over the whole world, millions of jobs were lost as companies bled workers from their bodies in order to save weight to try and survive the fall with less damage. In China, there were 40 million jobs lost in January alone, a consequence of the bust in U.S. consumption.

There were suddenly a lot of questions being asked about the stability of the capitalist system, even by mainstream economists. Clearly, there was a systemic problem at work. But the “solution” by governments around the world was to throw trillions of dollars of bailout money at banks and other giant corporations to try and bring everything back to “normal”. Workers and poor people around the world are paying the price for the bailouts and corporate tax breaks: social supports are gutted. The reality is that money being given to the rich is being taken from others – a gross wealth transfer.

Then, at the conclusion of the year, people around the world watched on the edge of their seats as the Copenhagen Climate Conference proceeded to bring about no real solutions to environmental catastrophe, and a fluffy speech by Obama. The climate crisis perpetuates. It's just a piece of the larger environmental crisis of an increasingly toxified environment. And now we can watch more financial gambling take place over carbon trading.

None of what is happening is accidental. The root of the problem is the whole system of exploitation, of both people and the environment. The relentless drive for profits – and the legal and physical advance of a system, capitalism, based on this motive – is the real source of the economic and environmental crises. Many millions are going to die and suffer horribly as a consequence of this present system continuing. The dual crises have upped the pressure and put people who are victims in a position where we must focus our struggles for our survival.

Clearly, there are daunting challenges for people to try...