Posts Tagged ‘united nations’

Episode 67: Antony Loewenstein on Australian Troops in Iraq – Wait, Haven’t We Seen This Before?

Posted: September 28, 2014 in Uncategorized
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Listen to this episode and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes. You can also listen to this episode on Stitcher, Cyber Ears or download it on Archive.org (31MB). 

We’re joined by awesome independent journalist Antony Loewenstein (@antloewenstein). He discusses Australian troops set to enter Iraq and Syria, his article ‘Of course Australia is going back to Iraq: That’s how a US client is expected to behave’, hysteria about terrorism in Australia and the poor state of (most of) the Australian media. You can hear more from Antony Loewenstein on our 41st episode.

We also draw on The Hunger Games to question whether this truly is a “humanitarian” mission, especially after Australia recently cut all foreign aid to Iraq. We discuss the reactions to the military intervention from different states at the UN security council and the need for UN reform. We also analyse whether the proposed air strikes are terrorism, according to s1 of the UK Terrorism Act.

Other issues covered on the episode are: Thai people read George Orwell’s book 1984 in public (as a form of protest against the dictatorship), “biological” sex as a social construct, and another direct action in Melbourne – this time activists take on Lockheed Martin. You can hear more about direct action on our 65th episode.

This episode is brought to you by “Timothyyy!!”. Thanks a lot to “Timothyyy!!” for becoming a member of our show – you can become a member and sponsor an episode too.

Clips:

Nerina Pallot ‘Everybody’s Gone to War’, The Hunger Games ‘Catching Fire’, Interview with Antony Loewenstein, Lowkey ‘Terrorist’, Peep Show ‘Series 7, Episode 2’, Lowkey ‘Cradle of Civilisation’.

You can listen to a short (10 minute) version of this episode, which features a shortened version of our interview with Antony Loewenstein, here: Antony Loewenstein On Australian Troops Back In The Middle East. You can subscribe to these short versions of our episodes through Omny.

Episode 63: Take Action Against Occupation!

Posted: July 28, 2014 in Uncategorized
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Listen to this episode and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes. You can also listen to this episode on Stitcher, Cyber Ears or download it on Media Fire (38MB). 

On this episode we are once again joined by Naama Blatman-Thomas (a PhD candidate from Israel who has done field work with Palestinian groups in Karmiel) and Mark Thomas (an American activist who has lived in both Israel and Palestine, including spending years in Palestinian refugee camps). They discuss how you can take action against the Occupation of Palestine, focused on the Boycotts, Divestments and Sanctions (BDS) campaign – which includes boycotting companies benefiting from the Occupation. You can find out more information about the BDS campaign at Pacbi.org. They also discuss the one state and two state solutions to the conflict, growing fascism in Israel, and Israeli’s and Palestinian’s working together for human rights. You can hear the first part of this interview on our last episode: Episode 62: Exaggerated Threats and the Bombing of Civilians – Israel/Palestine 101.

Before we get into the interview, we give some updates. We discuss the end of the 12 hour truce and mention that the Palestinian death toll has gone over 1000 – 75% of those killed were civilians, according to the United Nations. So far there have been 45 Israeli deaths – 42 soldiers, 2 Israeli civilians and one Thai agricultural worker. We also discuss the protests around the world against Israeli human rights abuses – including in France, Perth and about 10 000 people protesting in the West Bank. The West Bank protest was in reaction to the bombing of a United Nations shelter, which was strongly condemned by the UN. We also condemn Anti-Semitic attacks in Britain.

We mention that the US (kind of) condemns Israel’s bombing of civilians and also gives $47 million in humanitarian aid for Palestinians, while continuing to donate $3 billion to Israel’s military and being the only country to vote ‘no’ on a UN resolution against killing civilians in Gaza. For further information on Israel/Palestine, Naama and Mark recommend: electronicintifada.net, adalah.org, 972mag.com, benwhite.org.uk, jonathan-cook.net, annainthemiddleeast.com, aljazeera.com, imemc.org, and maannews.net/eng/.

Also mentioned on the episode is vegan cats and shout outs to Mad Cowgirls Vegan Grocery and Friends of the Earth Café. You can hear activists from Friends of the Earth on our 5th episode on the carbon tax, which has recently been abolished. We discuss the data on the results of the carbon tax, green capitalism and free public transport as a more effective solution to environmental (and social) problems.

This episode is brought to you by “Sir Saves the Day”. Thanks a lot to Liam for becoming a member of our show – you can become a member and sponsor an episode too!

Clips:

Rap News ‘Israel vs Palestine RAP NEWS 24’ – featuring Dam, BBC Global News – 14 July,  Part 1 of our interview with Naama Blatman-Thomas and Mark Thomas, Part 2 of our interview with Naama Blatman-Thomas and Mark Thomas, Rap News ‘Israel vs Palestine RAP NEWS 24’, Remi Kanazi ‘This Divestment Bill Hurts My Feelings’.

You can listen to a short (6 minute) version of this episode, where Naama and Mark discuss the BDS campaign, here: Boycott Israel’s Apartheid! You can subscribe to these short versions of our episodes through Omny.

Episode 42: China – ‘The Factory of the World’*

Posted: December 17, 2013 in Uncategorized
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Image from 99FM.

Listen to this episode and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes here. You can also listen to this episode on Cyber Ears here or download it on MediaFire here (24MB).

This time we’re joined by “China Ben” who informs us on a wide range of political and environmental issues in China. Some of the topics we discuss with Ben are: repression of activists in China, inequality in China including the urban/rural divide, taking action on behalf of workers, corruption, creative ways of getting around censorship online, the West’s role in China’s environmental problems and the One Child Policy.

To find out more about these issues and China, Ben recommends: the documentary iRevolution which was censored by CNN, Amnesty International, the New Citizens Movement, Blockedonweibo.tumblr.com on Chinese internet censorship, danwei.com on Chinese media, Chinageeks.org on injustice and censorship, and Sinica podcast on everything China-related.

This episode is brought to you by Taylor (the Sailor?). You can hear Taylor speaking out against body shaming at the Animal Activists Forum on episode 102 of Team Earthling. Thanks a lot to Taylor for becoming a member of our show – you can become a member and sponsor an episode too!

Book Recommendation:

They Did Nothing: Why the Truth doesn’t always come out when the UN goes in by Linda Polman.

Clips:

Aceyalone & RJD2 ‘Moore’, The IT Crowd (final special), Part one of our interview with Ben, Austin Powers, Flight of the Conchords ‘Song for Sally’, Part two of our interview with Ben, The Vandals ‘Oi to the world!’.

*This is a quote from the interview with Ben.

Episode 38: War – Are You Syrias?

Posted: October 1, 2013 in Uncategorized
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america-syria-memeThe image above is from Mehedi. 

This episode has been released in two parts. You can listen to both parts of the episode and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes here. You can also listen to both parts on Cyber Ears here or download part 1 on MediaFire here (18MB) and part 2 on Archive.org here (20MB). 

This episode is all about Syria – in part one we give you the latest updates as well as a broader historical perspective/background. Katie has been at the United Nations Human Rights Council, listening in on debates about Syria and other issues, so she gives her accounts of this and we play a few speeches made at the UN. We also discuss Barack Obama’s first and second speech on Syria, as well as critiques of these speeches from Chris Hedges, Rania Masri and Noam Chomsky. We talk about whether the Syrian government was responsible for chemical attacks, drawing on the BBC and Human Rights Watch. US hypocrisy is also covered – we mention the US using and supporting the use of chemical weapons many times, Israel’s possession and use of chemical weapons, Obama being praised for seeking congressional approval before invading even though he is required to under the constitution, John Kerry accidentally pursuing a diplomatic solution, and the role of alternative media in generating opposition to a US invasion. We also cover the inspiring Battle for Burswood, the AFL grand final and arming foetuses – or harming penises? (which was close to being the title of this episode!).

In part two we discuss alternative ways to deal with human rights abuses beyond bombing civilians. Drawing on Noam Chomsky’s For Reasons of State, we also talk about the importance of activism and social movements in opposing wars, and we specifically mention the movement in Syria that is rejecting the Assad regime and also US military intervention. We have a return of the segment ‘What’s Grinding Our Gears This Week’ – this time it’s homophobic Google. Other stuff covered in part two is: Rap News 20 taken down due to copyright, Liam Kenny defends The Chaser’s false depiction of his dad having sex with a dog, and Occupy Wall Street’s two year anniversary. We discuss the article ‘Six Good Things Occupy Wall Street Made Possible’ and also refer back to our 13th episode, which was all about the Occupy movement. We encourage people to support B’s Run for Refugees, Myq Kaplan’s comedy and In the Sprawl podcast and we also encourage people to watch a video of activism by Stop the Arms Fair! – we interviewed Kirsten Bayes from Stop the Arms Fair! on episode 35 – BEFORE this organisation was interviewed by many very mainstream sources!

This episode is brought to you by “Mother”. We encourage people to follow Theresa on Twitter and check out her Tropical Vegan website! Thanks a lot to “Mother” for becoming a member of our show – you can become a member and sponsor an episode too!

Book Recommendation (part two):

Hegemony or Survival by Noam Chomsky.

Spoken Word CD Recommendation (part two):

War and Civil Disobedience by Howard Zinn.

Clips (part one):

City of Victoria Park ‘Battle for Burswood’, Pete Seeger ‘We Shall Overcome’, Barack Obama addresses the nation on Syria, Team America: World Police, Scrubs (Season 6, episode 7), UN speeches by Syria, Russia, USA, Cuba and Venezuela, Jamaica Plain ‘I Won’t Run’, Rap News ‘#6: Wikileaks – the Truth is Out There’, Bill Hicks ‘The War’, ABC News ‘Syria Chemical Attack…’, Jamie Kilstein ‘on the Conan Obrien Show’, Jamaica Plain ‘Wish I Knew’, CNNNN ‘Season 2, Episode 9’, Lowkey ‘Obama Nation’.

Clips (part two):

System of a Down ‘Boom!’, Myq Kaplan ‘Book People’, Lowkey ‘Terrorist’, Hugo Chavez promoting Hegemony or Survival at the UN, Barack Obama addresses the nation on Syria, Howard Zinn ‘Military Intervention’ – from the spoken word CD Monkey Wrenching the New World Order, Noam Chomsky ‘Power and Terror’, Team Earthling ‘Episode 96’, Family Guy, Lagwagon from the album ‘Live in a Dive’, Ibrahim Qashoush ‘Syrian Revolutionary Dabke’, Omar Offendum ‘#Syria’.

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