The Daily GRRR! - Thursday March 26, 2015

Welcome, I am your host dan kellar and you are listening to The Daily GRRR! on 100.3fm, CKMS in Waterloo, Ontario. Soundfm.ca on the web, today is March 26, 2015.

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

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

The music at the start of the show was the build up at the beginning of The Rebel Spell's The Tsilhqot'in War

Today’s feature is part of a chat from the March 6th, 2015 edition of AW@L Radio with Rachel from DeMilitarize McGill.. She speaks of the groups many efforts in resisting the university's collaborations with the military industrial complex as well as some successes in revealing ethically questionable practices of some of the professors involved in weapons research through the school's Access to Information system.

We will get to that chat after headlines:

The Daily GRRR!
HEADLINES for March 26 , 2015 
1. Bell's President Caught Censoring Critical News Coverage of CRTC Decision
2. Unite Against Austerity Campaign Launches
3. A Surge of Support for Palestine as the BDS Campaign Expands at Ontario's Universities
4. WPIRG Hosts Professor Steven Salaita Speaking on "Academic Freedom and Dissent on North American Campuses"
5. Blockade at University Admin Building to DeMilitarize McGill!

1. Bell's President Caught Censoring Critical News Coverage of CRTC Decision
With an action that the CRTC's chairman, Jean-Pierre Blais called "disturbing", it is alleged that Kevin Crull, the president of Bell, canada's largest telecommunications company, personally intervened in censoring news coverage on CTV of a recent decision from the CRTC. The decision from the CRTC opened up so called-"pick-and-pay" TV options and according the the Globe and Mail, Crull intervened in several CTV news programs to keep CRTC chairman Blais off the air.

Yesterday morning, Blais wrote in an official statement: "That a regulated company does not like one of the CRTC’s rulings is one thing. The allegation, however, that the largest communication company in Canada is manipulating news coverage is disturbing."

Media advocacy group openmedia.ca urges people to "Take action today, and speak out against these giants and their discriminatory behaviour by signing on to our campaign at https://UnblockCanada.ca, where we’re asking the CRTC and Industry Canada to take bolder steps to bust up these out of control giants so they have no choice but to stop misleading, price-gouging, and abusing residents of canada."

2. Unite Against Austerity Campaign Launches
The online portal uniteagainstausterity.ca has launched to help educate, organise, and moblise residents of canada around the issues created by austerity. The site opens with the message that "We are told that we live in the “Age of Austerity”, and that we must tighten our belts.
That there's not enough money, and we have to spend less. But austerity isn't just cuts to health care, education or the public sector. Austerity is sacrificing the common good for corporate profits. It affects everyone."

The about page off the website tells us that the Unite Against Austerity campaign was initiated by SmartChange.ca with the dual goals of making sure the austerity agenda becomes "the primary lens through which Canadians understand the country's political landscape and make political decisions" and "To support the expansion of alliances and strategic action in anti-austerity work in Canada". The campaign also seeks to create a fund to support grassroots anti-austerity organising in canada.

The campaign's homepage exhibits a series of info-graphics which help illustrate the staggering levels of inequality in the Canadian economy with stats such as "In 2012, the 86 richest Canadians possessed the same amount of wealth as the 11.4 million poorest Canadians." and "The average salary of a top 100 CEO is 194 times that of the average Canadian"

The campaign gives a rundown on how "Austerity keeps migrant workers from exercising their rights, rolls back environmental regulations, muzzles scientists, undermines unions, keeps women earning less than men, and prevents Indigenous people from taking care of their lands, all while spending billions on war."

This new initiative launches as the anti-austerity #printemps2015 campaign also kicked off this week in Quebec with major demos taking place in Montreal and Quebec city - protests which brought police violence and hundreds of arrests. The resistance, however, grows stronger each day and constantly adapts to police tactics, with reports of "kettle breaking" at yesterday's demo's. "On avance, on avance, on ne recule pas ! "

Check this awesome report from Stefan Christoff on the mediacoop.ca from the March 24th demo in Montreal where "thousands joined a spirited protest against austerity, targeting the violent cuts to the public sector currently taking place under the Liberal government of Philippe Couillard…"

As the student strike spreads and the general strike grows The Daily GRRR! and CKMS news will do our best to keep you up to date and in the know.

3. A Surge of Support for Palestine as the BDS Campaign Expands at Ontario's Universities
After a non-binding vote at last year's annual general assembly on supporting the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions campaign aimed at pressuring Israel to end the occupation of Palestinian lands and the apartheid system which is used to further oppress Palestinian people, earlier this week, the McMaster student union has voted overwhelmingly to officially support the campaign.

In a press release the BDS committee stated "We will continue to work such that BDS becomes a way of life at McMaster University, using this non-violent tactic to help end the Occupation and bring about positive changes for the Palestinian people.”

With 622 students voting for the resolution and 28 voting against, McMaster becomes the latest university in Ontario where a student union has called to support the BDS campaign. Students at the University of Windsor had voted in favour of BDS in a referendum last March which the school president, Alan Wildeman, worked successfully to overturn.

A BDS campaign has been launched at UWaterloo with an expansion to WLU expected as well.

4. WPIRG Hosts Professor Steven Salaita Speaking on "Academic Freedom and Dissent on North American Campuses"

On Thursday March 26th, from 6-8pm at the University of Waterloo, Professor Steven Salaita will be speaking on "Academic Freedom and Dissent on North American Campuses" in a talk hosted by WPIRG.

If listeners will remember that in the late summer of 2014, just prior to the commencement of Professor Salaita’s tenured position in the American Indian Studies Program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), the chancellor of school formally rescinded his offer of employment. The de-hiring followed Salaita's criticism of the ongoing occupation of Palestine by Israel, and the wholesale slaughter of Palestinians in Israeli airstrikes.

While widespread outcry from academics and the general population could not reinstate Salatia at UIUC, through free public events, he continues the "outspoken criticism in defense of both Indigenous and Palestinian rights that characterizes his academic work and public engagement."

check the event's page for more details.

5. Blockade at University Admin Building to DeMilitarize McGill!
A press release from early on March 24th, explains that around 30 people blocked all entrances to the administration building at McGill university, "as an act of resistance to McGill’s unending history of participation in colonial and imperialist projects. It follows that we also oppose McGill’s cooperation with the government in imposing austerity, which contributes to the militarization of the University while rendering the lives of students, workers and others more precarious."

The occupation lasted several hours and most of the office workers took the disruption as an opportunity to take the entire day off from their jobs. The press release noted:
"We’re blockading James Admin to disrupt the regular operations of the management of the University. In particular, we seek to interrupt the work of the offices of the VP, Research and the Office of Sponsored Research, which oversee the contracts through which McGill helps the military and defence contractors build drones and thermobaric bombs. This action also adds to the pressure felt by the administration; the more they use austerity to justify their collusion in colonization and imperialism, the more we will act to prevent the smooth functioning of this institution."

The release concluded:
"Pour un printemps ingérable!
Demilitarize McGill!"

In November 2014, the Students’ Society of McGill University adopted a motion which mandates the organization to support groups opposing military research.

Thats all for headlines, lets take a little break and go to a song, here is Stefan Christoff with c'est pas fini a Montreal, a piece Stefan explains "the notes are saying essentially that trying to believe is worth the effort, that trying to fight is worth the effort, or something like that, keeping things in perspective, re: global imperialist injustices taking place (Gaza) v.s. life in Montréal and our responsibility to act in solidarity always, while trying to find the inner strength to do so."

And we are back, you just heard Stefan Christoff with c'est pas fini a Montreal. Check more of Stefan's work on his soundcloud page, spirodon.

You are listening to the The Daily GRRR! Today is March 26th, 2015 and my name is Dan Kellar and we are now moving into the feature portion of our broadcast.

Feature: is part of a chat from the March 6th, 2015 edition of AW@L Radio with Rachel from DeMilitarize McGill. She speaks of the groups many efforts in resisting the university's collaborations with the military industrial complex as well as some successes in revealing ethically questionable practices of some of the professors involved in weapons research through the school's Access to Information system. In November 2014, the Students’ Society of McGill University adopted a motion which mandates the organization to support groups opposing military research, namely Demilitarize McGill.

And that was part of the March 6th chat with Rachel from DeMilitarize McGill on the group's efforts in resisting the precence of the military industrial complex on campus.

This was the The Daily GRRR! for March 26, 2015. We are on weekdays from 9-10am on 100.3fm CKMS in Waterloo region, and soundfm.ca on the web. Check out all our past shows and other Grand River Media Collective work on our webpage 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.