Sci-fi / Afrofuturist writer Nalo Hopkinson says for people of colour living with brutal police violence, unemployment and crumbling infrastructure: ”it’s not the apocalypse, its just Tuesday” "What happens to disabled people in the brave new world?" Nalo Hopkinson asks. "A lot of science fiction is guilty of trying to cure us. More and more of us are standing up and saying, 'we're not sick. The world is. Fix the world, but don't necessarily fix us.'” Nalo was born in Jamaica and has also lived in Trinidad, Guyana and for the past 35 years in Canada. Nalo is currently a professor of creative writing at the University of California, Riverside. She’s written six novels, including Brown Girl in the Ring; a short story collection and a chapbook called Report from Planet Midnight. I spoke to her about diversity in science fiction and why Hollywood’s dystopias resonate so much with our present. Maybe for some, the end is already upon us. Thanks to KUCR at University of California, Riverside and CBC Vancouver for making studio time available. Thanks also to Lisa Hale for producing and to Jacob Dryden for the score. Part of this interview appears in our CBC Radio One Ideas documentary “the Coming Zombie Apocalypse.” Listen to the whole program at cbc.ca/ideas. The East Van Calling podcast is on iTunes. Please subscribe, review and share.

East Van Calling

East Van Calling: Nalo Hopkinson

What does TV's The Walking Dead reveal about the colonization of Indigenous peoples? Native American studies scholar Dr. Cutcha Risling Baldy sees many connections. For her people, the Hupa, Yurok, and Karok tribes of Northern California, the apocalypse began centuries ago. Dr. Risling Blady watches the popular TV show the Walking Dead. But she’s thinking, teaching and writing about parallels to colonization. I spoke to Cutcha about survival, resistance and Indigenous experience of the end of the world. She explains colonization through the lens of popular culture and responds to all-too-frequent comments that Indigenous people should “just get over it.” Cutcha points out that some salvation lies in traditional knowledge of what to eat after the collapse and a sense of humor. I interviewed her in the spring of 2015 for a CBC Radio One documentary called The Coming Zombie Apocalypse. Its about why it’s so easy to imagine the end of the world, but why it’s so hard to imagine an end to capitalism. Air date: October 27, 2015 - 9 PM across Canada, in North America on Serius XM and on cbc.ca/ideas. Cutcha Risling Baldy's blog post on this subject is at http://www.cutcharislingbaldy.com/blog/on-telling-native-people-to-just-get-over-it-or-why-i-teach-about-the-walking-dead-in-my-native-studies-classes-spoiler-alert

East Van Calling: The Walking Dead-Zombies & Colonization

In 1988 the Nestucca tanker barge spilled 874 000 liters of Bunker C oil into the Pacific. This radio play chronicles volunteer cleanup amid official foot dragging, as oil washes up on 95 miles of BC coast. Amid 18 foot swells off Washington State, the Nestucca was struck and holed by the tug that was towing her. Prevailing winter winds drifted the spill along the west coast of Vancouver Island. The heavy oil moved north for days, invisible, beneath the surface, washing up on beaches by New Years Eve. 56,000 seabirds were killed. Many crab and shellfish populations were oiled. Herring spawning areas were hit and sensitive ecosystems damaged. indigenous fishing practices were impacted. After the recent spill into English Bay from bulk grain carrier MV Marathassa, we look back to another, bigger spill in a more remote area - through the magic of radio drama. So gather 'round the wireless. This hour-long CBC radio drama is excellent- full of rich detail and character. However, it is an artifact of 1980s and lacks the perspective of the Nuu-Chal-Nulth and other First Nations on whose territory the oil landed. The potentially severe health impacts of contact with Bunker C oil are not mentioned – and perhaps not known at the time. DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME. Shoreline oil cleanup is dangerous, requiring specialized training and Personal Protective Equipment. The CBC doesn’t make radio plays anymore. Radio drama studio 212 was shut in 2012, due to austerity cuts to the public broadcaster’s budget. We were only able to obtain a copy thanks to Stafford Reid of enviroemerg.ca consulting who got out his cassette recorder back in the late ‘80s and hit record. “Just a Small Oil Spill” aired in four parts on CBC Radio’s Morningside in 1989. It was written by Donald Halca. In the cast Steven Miller as Dave, Coleen Winton as Beth, Boyd Norman as Serge, Norman Browning as Rick, as well as Lilian Carlson, Ron Halder, Willy Marsh, Laurie Murdock and Steve Ivings. Technical engineering by Gene Loverock and Sound Effects by Joe Silven. Program Assistant was Loretta Joyce. Production Assistant was Stephanie Katourse. Produced in Vancouver by Don Kolletuck.

East Van Calling: Just a Small Oil Spill

During World War 2, across Europe, partisans used underground radio against the Nazis. Ljubljana, Slovenia, was occupied and encircled by barbed wire. Subversive broadcasters set up Radio Kričač in a different basement every night, trying to stay one step ahead of the fascists. Broadcasts opened with the urgency of a ticking clock. In 1945, Slovene partisans threw out the fascist occupiers, without the military assistance of the allies. Seven decades later, the spirit of that resistance is being celebrated. Aljaž Pengov Bitenc is descended from Slovenian partisans and radio folk. He writes blog, a newspaper column and runs Radio Kaos. East Van Calling talked to Aljaž about Radio Kričač in his small studios, overlooking the old city of Ljubljana. With one eye on the board to monitor the station’s afternoon broadcasts, he explained how those WW2 anti-fascist transmissions worked. The irregular transmissions had moral boosting messages, reports of partisan actions and readings form Slovene authors and poets. Eventually, Kričač went radio silent. The fascists could never find the transmitter. Instead, they confiscated all the radio receivers of Ljubljana. But now it's back. Radioheads in the Slovenian capital are broadcasting on 88.8 FM, and on the web at http://radiokricac.si until May 9. Smrt fašizmu, svoboda narodu! Produced by Lisa Hale Thanks to Radio Slovenia for the reenacted Radio Kričač jingle "Bandiera Rossa" by Pankrti Recorded in Ljubljana in 2013 for the CBC Ideas program "End of the Dial" by G.Mullins, L.Hale & Y.Gall

East Van Calling: Radio Kričač - Underground AntiFa Transmissions in WW2 Slovenia

There is a new enemy. An enemy over there, but also an enemy within. And an omnibus of new security measures too: Bill C51 Anti-Terrorism Act 2015. The architecture of a total surveillance state. If this becomes law, Canadian spies would have sweeping powers disrupt threats to the security of Canada, which is very broadly defined – perhaps even including wildcat strikes and civil disobedience - the type of dissent practiced by MKL and Ghandi. Until now, CSIS agents can only gather intelligence. But with the bill’s passing, Canada’s spies could ignore the Carter of Rights and Freedoms – with sign off from a judge. The only limits on this power are set out in the text of the bill: 12.2 (1) In taking measures to reduce a threat to the security of Canada, the Service shall not (a) cause, intentionally or by criminal negligence, death or bodily harm to an individual; (b) wilfully attempt in any manner to obstruct, pervert or defeat the course of justice; or (c) violate the sexual integrity of an individual. Information sharing is part of the bill. All this data mining is not to stop terrorism. You cannot find a needle by making a bigger haystack. No, as Hannah Arent said, the intel is for “when the government decides to arrest a certain category of the population.” The BCCLA testified that the Act would have a chilling effect on free speech, But the potential impacts to indigenous peoples are ominous. Mi'kmaq Citizen, lawyer, professor, mom, sister and auntie, Pam Palmater testified before the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security.

East Van Calling: Bill C-51 Anti-Terrorism Act 2015

On the San Blas Islands, people with albinism save the world during lunar eclipse. Kuna cosmology holds that during a lunar eclipse, a jaguar is eating the moon. Kunas with albinism fire arrows at the celestial jaguar and save the world. Unlike the classic Hollywood trope of the evil albino, cultural and social ideas about albinism are not universally negative. Albinism has deep spiritual and symbolic power in the believe systems of many indigenous peoples across the Americas. Albinism is characterized by little or no pigment in the skin, hair or eyes, low vision and photosensitivity. In some cultures, those with the condition are afforded a special status. People with albinism figure prominently in the cosmology of the Kuna. One of the eight original humans had the condition. During lunar eclipses, the Kuna must stay indoors, except the “moon children” (Kunas with albinism) who fire arrows at the celestial jaguar and save the people. This episode features Kelly Allen, a writer and researcher on the social conditions of people with albinism in Uganda and Panama. The episode uses a clip from CBC Radio One's "The Imaginary Albino" by G Mullins & L Hale. as well as an interview conducted with Kelly Allen, academic and researcher on social responses to albinism in Uganda and Panama.

East Van Calling: Kuna Eclipse Creation Story

Italian revolutionary, Marxist thinker and prisoner under Mussolini, Antonio Gramsci laments this artificial celebration in Jan 1, 1916 column in Avanti! "Every morning, when I wake again under the pall of the sky, I feel that for me it is New Year’s day. That’s why I hate these New Year’s that fall like fixed matu­ri­ties, which turn life and human spirit into a com­mer­cial con­cern with its neat final bal­ance, its out­stand­ing amounts, its bud­get for the new man­age­ment. They make us lose the con­ti­nu­ity of life and spirit. You end up seri­ously think­ing that between one year and the next there is a break, that a new his­tory is begin­ning; you make res­o­lu­tions, and you regret your irres­o­lu­tion, and so on, and so forth. This is gen­er­ally what’s wrong with dates. They say that chronol­ogy is the back­bone of his­tory. Fine. But we also need to accept that there are four or five fun­da­men­tal dates that every good per­son keeps lodged in their brain, which have played bad tricks on his­tory. They too are New Years’. The New Year’s of Roman his­tory, or of the Mid­dle Ages, or of the mod­ern age. And they have become so inva­sive and fos­sil­is­ing that we some­times catch our­selves think­ing that life in Italy began in 752, and that 1490 or 1492 are like moun­tains that human­ity vaulted over, sud­denly find­ing itself in a new world, com­ing into a new life. So the date becomes an obsta­cle, a para­pet that stops us from see­ing that his­tory con­tin­ues to unfold along the same fun­da­men­tal unchang­ing line, with­out abrupt stops, like when at the cin­ema the film rips and there is an inter­val of daz­zling light. That’s why I hate New Year’s. I want every morn­ing to be a new year’s for me. Every day I want to reckon with myself, and every day I want to renew myself. No day set aside for rest. I choose my pauses myself, when I feel drunk with the inten­sity of life and I want to plunge into ani­mal­ity to draw from it new vigour. No spir­i­tual time-serving. I would like every hour of my life to be new, though con­nected to the ones that have passed. No day of cel­e­bra­tion with its manda­tory col­lec­tive rhythms, to share with all the strangers I don’t care about. Because our grand­fa­thers’ grand­fa­thers, and so on, cel­e­brated, we too should feel the urge to cel­e­brate. That is nauseating. I await social­ism for this rea­son too. Because it will hurl into the trash all of these dates which have no res­o­nance in our spirit and, if it cre­ates oth­ers, they will at least be our own, and not the ones we have to accept without reser­va­tions from our silly ancestors." Slight changes in the text & reference to Canada are my own. Translation by Alberto Toscano. Sounds of New Year's Eve 12:00AM 2015 on Napier Street, East Vancouver recorded by Lisa Hale. Read by Garth Mullins 'The Internationale' was preformed by Greenwood in 2013. Piano score by James Ash Ambi recorded by Lisa Hale

Gramsci Hates New Year's Day & So Do I

The UN has proclaimed every June 13th as International Albinism Awareness Day - to bring attention to the rare genetic condition and to the discrimination & voilence that often accompany it. People with albinism - albinos - tend to have little or no pigment in the skin , hair or eyes. We are legally blind and light sensitive and rare. Only one in 20 000 has the condition in North America and Europe; one in 2,000 in Africa. In some parts of the world having albinism can put you in danger of being attacked. In East Africa there is a trade in the body parts of people with albinism— our fingers and toes, and bones and blood, and hair and skin have become commodities on a black market. There is a superstition among the wealthy elites in some parts of the world, that potions made from albino body parts will give them lucky powers. The UN passing this resolution on November 18, 2014 is a shout out to all the people around the world who are by themselves with this condition, and suffering in isolation because its such a rare condition. Thanks to Lois Grant for the audio of my speech and to Carol Off & jeff Douglas at CBC Radio One's As It Happens for the interview

East Van Calling: Albinism at the United Nations

Interview with Indigenous comedian & media maker Ryan McMahon about recently launched Indian & Cowboy Media platform. I&C is a network of writers, artists, storytellers, musicians, directors and producers. The platform aims to disrupt, engage and empower in the digital "wild west" by reclaiming indigenous histories through the intersection of media, technology & good old fashioned storytelling. Ryan McMahon is an Anishinaabe comedian and writer from Treaty 3 territory, Couchiching First Nation. He’s a graduate of the prestigious Second City Conservatory and the brains behind Indian and Cowboy Media. www.indianandcowboy.com Music used in the podcast can be found at RPM.fm, including Plex and Nick Sherman.

East Van Calling: Ryan McMahon on Indian & Cowboy Media

The Tsilhqot'in Nation marked 150 years since their war chiefs were wrongfully executed by the colonial government of what is now British Columbia, Canada. In the 1860s, British settlers tried to build a road to the Caribou gold fields – right through Tsilhqot’in territory. The nation had been decimated by smallpox and the road was seen as a path for more disease. The nation fought back and the colony responded with military force - touching off the Chilcotin War. Authorities invited the Tsilhqot’in to peace talks, but instead their war chiefs were arrested, tried and hanged on October 26, 1864. Before his execution, Chief Lhatsassin declared that the Tsilhqot’in had meant “war not murder.” The road was never completed. In June of this year, the Supreme Court of Canada affirmed Tsilhqot’in ownership of its territory for the first time in the country’s history. Chief Roger William credits the war chiefs for the win. “Our people really feel that the sacrifices of those warrior leaders are the reason we won Aboriginal title.” On October 26, 2014, the provincial government exonerated the Tsilhqot'in chiefs and apologized to the nation for their wrongful execution. “We call it a good start,” says Chief William, but “there’s more work ahead.” Credits: Percy Guichon was recorded live at the Union of BC Indian Chiefs' office, on June 26, 2014 Lisa Hale's intro was originally broadcast on Tuesday, Oct 28, 2014 on NationalNativeNews.net radio network Marilyn Baptiste clip: "Blue Gold: The Tsilhqot'in Fight for Teztan Biny (Fish Lake)" Image: Shawnswanky.com Music: Rebel Spell "Tsilhqot'in"

East Van Calling: The Chilcotin War, 150 Years On

Young mums fight for housing! In the shadow of the 2012 Olympics site, an East London working class neighbourhood is derelict and boarded up. But the E15 mothers are not going quietly. Their struggle has resonated with people in gentrifying 'hoods around the world... and Russell Brand After the heady days of the Olympic party, the austerity hangover is biting deep across the UK. Last year, the local government in this part of East London, Newham Council, cut funding to the Focus E15 shelter. First residents to receive eviction notices were young single mothers living at the shelter. The mothers had few options. Private rents have vaulted past affordability. Across London, local governments have been moving low-income residents out - to Birmingham, Manchester, or Hastings – where rents are still within what social assistance allows. The E15 mothers faced the same thing in Newham. Jasmin Stone, 20, doesn’t want to raise her daughter in a city hundreds of kilometres away, but in East London where her family lives. They are her support network and childcare providers. After searching for days and finding no local affordable housing, Stone and 28 other E15 mothers facing eviction started to organize. They set up a “Social Housing for All” stall every Saturday at Westfields, Europe’s ‘largest urban shopping Centre,’ built for the Olympics over the heart of Stratford. They drew up a petition, held rallies, occupied local government offices and threw a party in the showroom used to promote the upscale developments that would replace social housing in the area. They refused to be pushed out and were rehoused in East London, but the campaign didn’t stop there. In September, tired of waiting for authorities to solve the housing crisis, the mothers re-occupied a block of the “decanted” social housing flats just next to the Olympic site. And now they’re attracting solidarity from around the UK and from celebrities like Russell Brand. They also attracted the ire of the local mayor and council, who tried to dismiss them as a “agitators and hangers-on.” Carpenters Estate A lively, working class community since the nineteenth century, the Carpenters’ Estate is now deserted. No children play amid the boarded up 1960s era red-brick flats and cottages. Traffic-less swathes of pavement and parking lots stretch off in all directions. On the horizon looms the 35-story Olympic observation tower – the ArcelorMittal Orbit. Its sculptured vertical steel loops bring to mind a crumpled, up-ended roller coaster. The estate is just beside the Olympic district, but access is blocked to the few remaining residents. After WWII, a massive public housing program built neighbourhoods like this across the UK – social housing on a scale hard to imagine in Canada. But now a specter haunts the empty streets of Carpenters; the ghost of Margaret Thatcher. In the 1980s, the notorious Conservative Prime Minister began dismembering the welfare state and initiated the long sell-off of public housing. Now, shuttered pubs, shops and community centres foreshadow plans to clear the way for upscale housing developments. But around a corner, empty streets give way to people, activity and the sounds of babies playing. In five foot high letters, banners against one building read: “These People Need Homes! These Homes Need People!” Activist Mothers In September, we stopped by and talked to some of the E15 mothers over tea. Sam Middleton, 20, padded out to meet us in pajamas. She said the flats were in good shape, with water and electricity still hooked up. “It may just need a lick of paint, or a change of a carpet here and there or whatever, but it's perfectly fine.” With vintage wallpaper and fittings, this could be your grandmother’s apartment. The mothers didn’t sneak in. They told the world – part of a bold campaign for “social housing not social cleansing.” The council objected and shut off the water. This didn’t get Stone down. “Yesterday when our water went, within half an hour, there was people coming with hundreds of bottles of water, and it was so overwhelming, and it made us all really teary because it just shows how people really agree with what is happening,” she said. “They think, obviously social housing shouldn't be something of the past.” This is the key to the E15 campaign, and the reason it has resonated with communities across London. Neighbouring shops and residents have posters of support in their windows. “Newham's slogan was ‘Live, Work, and Stay’" Middleton said. “Obviously you can't exactly stay here [due to high rents], but they do want you to work here - the poor serving the rich, yet again.” Just like Vancouver, the Games came with big promises. But for Middleton, the shine has come off the Olympic legacy. “Everybody at the start obviously thought ‘yes we've won the Olympics, it's going to be great,” she said. “But then you see places like this around the stadium…where a majority of the flats and homes are boarded up. Then you're going to get luxury buildings going up.” Stone jumps in: “Yeah, with the Olympics, we was all given false hope and promises that there would be a lot more housing. There was a lot more housing, but not for the local people. In fact, it's actually pushed the local people out…just being pushed further and further and further away.” Then, Stone broke off mid-sentence. Her two year-old was calling for her. We were also interrupted by a visit from the police. They were curious, but nonplused. Squatting has a long history in Britain and used to be afforded some legal protection. Newham council did not respond to repeated requests for comment. Cultural Vandalism A train ride away in Oxford, George Monbiot, campaigning journalist, author and Guardian columnist, was enthusiastic about the E15 mothers’ campaign. Over yet more tea, he talked about big sporting events as “opportunities, excuses, to create a sort of cleansing of old areas of cities. And a creation of opportunities for developers which wouldn't otherwise be there.” A longtime critic of the Games, Monbiot said that developers are “allowed, then, to do things, which under no other circumstances they'd be allowed to do; to bulldoze whole areas of cities and destroy really rich and varied cultures within those places. And to replace them with extremely lucrative buildings which can be sold off for very large amounts of money. And to do spectacular acts of cultural vandalism, which under any other circumstances just would horrify the nations in which those were taking place.” “Stick together and fight” Whether it’s East London or East Vancouver, the demands of activists are the same: safe, decent, affordable housing. Between 2001 and 2013, property values have risen 303% on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside – putting most housing beyond what social assistance pays. This summer, a protest camp was organized in Oppenheimer Park around demands similar to the E15 mums. At one point, there were two hundred tents. The City has won an injunction to have the site cleared, but housing could well be the key issue in the upcoming municipal election. The current mayor’s promise to eliminate homelessness falls flat next to a city park packed with tents. The E15 mothers went to court to fight a similar injunction in early October. They agreed to vacate the flats after Newham council apologized and committed to open some of the boarded up estate for housing. “We walk out of this building with our heads held up high,” Stone said. And the E15 campaign has won some concessions, as Newham Mayor, Sir Robin Wales, announced: “next week we will begin moving families who need them into temporary homes on the Carpenters Estate.” Stone’s advice to others being forced out of their neighbourhoods: “stick together and fight.” “We've proven that you can make a difference,” Middleton added. “You can stay together, and you can stop being forced away from your local area, so I think it's really, really important for people to stand together in solidarity.”

East Van Calling: Young Mums Fight for Housing in the Shadow of the London Olympics

Is a far north Indigenous broadcaster headed for radio silence? Staff were let go. All live programing has ceased to remote communities across the Canadian arctic. For over three decades, CKLB broadcast in Gwich’in, Sahtu, Tlicho, Dehcho, Denesuline, and English. Old school, analog repeater stations were held together with duct tape. They relayed country music, news, cultural programming and crucial weather & emergency information from Yellowknife to 33 remote communities across the Canadian arctic. That is, until late July of 2014. East Van Calling spoke to CKLB’s director of radio, Dëneze Nakehk'o, just after he signed-off and let go 90% of his staff. Over the last couple of years, government funding has become “increasingly unreliable and inconsistent.” CKLB was the largest broadcaster of Dene language programming in the world. They aired government proceedings and community gatherings as well as critical information on environmental emergencies, and lots of country music. WIth the onslaught of southern signals, northern indigenous languages are in trouble. These languages provide direct access to an ages-old repository of hard-earned cultural and environmental knowledge. The little radio station has been key to their protection and revitalization. It’s not just losing a signal. Entire world-views, ways of living, are jeopardized. Support www.CKLBradio.com

East Van Calling: Snow on the Dial - The Voice of Denendeh Falls Silent

The City of Vancouver & big developers plan to erect up-scale condo towers on top of traditionally low income neighbourhoods. Hyper-gentrification is already displacing East Van residents. Two speeches from Garth Mullins to local residents and city planners opposing the massive changes planned for Grandview-Woodland, East Vancouver, Canada. Theme music "This Town" by the Quickness "Notice of Eviction" and "Vancouver Uber Alles" by Legally Blind

East Van Calling: In Defence of East Van

Clean crack pipes become available in 2 repurposed vending machines on Vancouver's Downtown Eastside - to reduce HIV, Hep C transmission. BUt social conservatives are not happy. After an article I wrote appeared in VICE in early February 2014, right wing pundits and politicians began trying to manufacture outrage over two crack pipe vending machines in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. Yet, giving clean crack pipes to drug users has been legal and publically subsidized in Vancouver for years. The idea is to stem the spread of Hep C and HIV among crack cocaine users who share pipes.. It’s the same, evidence-based, pragmatic approach that’s behind needle distribution: harm reduction.

EAst Van Calling: Crack Pipe Vending Machine

Is the Internet really such a threat to radio? This media scholar & internet activist says no. Radio can still teach us something about risk, about the unexpected I interview Ethan Zuckerman, the guy responsible for the “Cute CatsTheory of Digital Activism.” This is the idea that the same tools that distribute LOLcatz can be used for subversive communication by activists. Ethan is a self-described “big, white, American geek” and is director of MIT’s Center for Civic Media. He wrote "Rewire: Digital Cosmopolitans in the Age of Connection" I asked Ethan about the future of radio in a wired world. I figured he probably doesn’t own a radio. But I was wrong.

East Van Calling: Ethan Zuckerman

Radio documentary, podcast and poli-sci punk.

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East Van Calling

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