Radio Democracy 24/12/08

Yes. The Rhythm, the Rebel...

Radio Democracy was very excited to speak to Brian 'Mr Hardgroove' Hargrove, bass player, band manager, and with Chuck D, co-writer from seminal NY hip-hop crew Public Enemy.

We spoke about 20 years of Public Enemy tours, the state of hip hop today, US politics and the future for the Enemy.

Without further ado... the interview!

Public Enemy are playing a series of dates around the country in the first week of January. Yeah boyee!

We also heard more from Radio Ecoshock out of Vancouver, Canada and a speech given by Gwynne Dyer. See last week for details.

Music
Bring the Noise - Public Enemy
I Don't Wanna be Called Yo Niga - Public Enemy
Fight the Power - Public Enemy
Politician - Kora
Gigantic - Pixies

Radio Democracy 17/12/08

There She Goes, My Beautiful World...

It's now official – Kev, Penny and Co are on the nose. The announcement of the government's long-awaited carbon pollution reduction targets has drawn suitable ire from greenies, a concerned public, and most surprisingly, from industry.

The announcement of a 5-15% target falls well short of the 25-40% environmentalists are saying is essential to stop runaway climate change completely screwing things up.
Many argue the Great Barrier Reef, Kakadu wetlands and Murray-Darling basin are all set for irreparable damage thanks to the 5% figure.

Even 15% is likely to be pretty bleak, should next year's negotiations in Copenhagen actually succeed.

We spoke to Mathew Murphy, Energy Reporter with The Age in Melbourne to get some insight into what the targets actually mean and whether it was all as bad as it seems. He seems to think not, but says there is definitely room for movement into a higher percentage range.

The Australian Youth Climate Coalition's Anna Rose thinks otherwise. We heard last week about the AYCC's 'Your targets = Our Future' campaign, which was anticipating a 5-15% reduction target. The AYCC are going to be at the government's White Paper information sessions around the country, including in Brisbane tomorrow from 9 until 11am, at the Convention and Exhibition Centre on Merivale St, South Brisbane.

Fortunately people seem to care about what's in store – Radio Democracy tried to get in to hear the session and all 370 seats are already booked out. Being outside is always more fun anyway.

While we were on a roll with doomsday scenarios and climate chaos, we heard the first of three excerpts from Radio Ecoshock, featuring journalist and war historian Gwynne Dyer. Dyer was speaking in Vancouver about his latest book and upcoming radio series, which looks at the likelihood of war as a result of climate change.

While hardly the first person to run this argument, Dyer puts a very strong, logical case as to just how we can expect the shit to hit the fan. The first is a massive influx of Mesicans and Central Americans into the United States and increased border control (think Palestine, walls, guns, razorwire etc.), the second a drying up of the Indus River by India, leaving Pakistan thirsty, angry and armed with nukes and finally a collapse – through desertification – of the world's food producing regions. Case in point – the Murray Darling. More next week.

Music
Capital – Gang of Four
Moment of Truth – Blue King Brown
Burn Down the Parliament – The Herd
Cigarettes and Alcohol – The Leftovers
Car Song - Woody Guthrie
Conspiracy to Riot – Sage Francis

Radio Democracy Playlist 10/12/08

Human Rights Day

It is 60 years today since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was signed by Eleanor Roosevelt in the immediate aftermath of World War II.

And while the principles contained in the declaration are certainly noble, it seems sadly, after 60 years, many of these principles are yet to become reality.

The Federal Government has announced a consultation on a possible bill of rights for Australia, to be headed by Father Frank Brennan, who The Australian newspaper describes as a human rights skeptic.

We spoke to Phoebe Knowles, Campaign Coordinator for the Australian Human Rights Group, a coalition of over 60 organisations who would like to see better protection of human rights in this country.

She told us about what form the consultation will take, how people can make submissions and what a bill of rights would mean for Australia. A popular argument is that a bill of rights would prevent policies such as mandatory detention from coming into existence, so we asked Phoebe if this could even be applied to such idiocies as the mandatory internet filter. She thinks a constitutional protection of the right to free speech, association and expression could preempt the existence of the filter (as an example).

My two cents: seeing as 60 years of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights hasn't exactly changed a whole lot, maybe an Australian bill of rights – as much as the UDHR itself – could do with a revision. A lot has changed in the last 60 years, and while the concept of universal human rights should be strived for, perhaps the way we frame the concept needs to be redefined a little, or a lot.

Ahem. Glad I got that off my chest.

Check out the Australian Human Rights Group and the government consultation sites for more information.

Dave was in again with an report on the activities of the 'clean coal' lobby, which are ramping up in anticipation of the government's announcement of its emissions reduction targets next week.

The greenwash is going into overdrive as the dinosaurs refuse to die.

Climate Change minister Penny Wong is currently in Poznan, Poland for a United Nations Climate Change summit and the elephant in the room is Australia’s expected emissions cuts.

Senator Wong is remaining tight-lipped about Australia’s target, but it is anticipated that the Government will announce a figure of 5-15% on Monday.

That’s a 5-15% cut on 2000 levels by 2020.

Like many other environmental groups, the Australian Youth Climate Coalition says this isn’t enough. We spoke to Jess Willis from the AYCC to discuss their ‘Your targets = our future’ campaign.



Music
Door Peep – Burning Spear
Alternative Energy – Combat Wombat
Time to Evolve – Bill Hicks
Paranoid Android – Easy Dub All Stars
Revolution Get Down – The Bellrays
A Public Dis-service Announcement from Shell/... And we thought Nation States Were a Bad Idea – Propagandhi
Eureka – Unkle Ho
Nights in Venice – The Saints

Not working, blogging

The revolution grinds on in earnest.

Watching Gonzo: The Life and Work of Hunter S. Thompson I am reminded yet again that our lot is one that has been railed against since way before my time. HST flipped his lid after the '68 DNC - the sight of Chicago cops clubbing hippies, with the blessing of the Democrats and Chicago Mayor Daley was too much. Fast forward to Denver and St Paul this year, or RNC-NYC in 2000.

Spot the difference.

Here we are forty years later. Hunter did as much for journalism and the mainstream as he did for the counterculture and acid. The parallels between the freak-out 60s psychedlic culture and the acid-eating doof scene of today are so obvious that comparison is vapid and unneccessary... but where is our Hunter, Tim Leary or Merry Bunch of Pranksters? We have the hedonistic individualism, the drugs, the music... but where the fuck are the people? I guess the only difference is that seemingly everyone was doing it in the 60s, whereas now it is just one of a myriad of splintered interest-specific subbacultchas.

The political and the psychedelic were much more connected back then. Since the emergence of rave culture (and its derivatives in the years since) the psychedelic experience - or whatever you want to call getting high and dancing like a muppet - has become an almost exclusively apolitical ritual. Sure, there is a sense of oneness and unity on the dancefloor, in the mud or wherever it may be, but the vast majority of the punters are there to get munted, forget about the ugly world they're forced to inhabit and maybe get laid. There's no tuning in; just turn on and drop out.

What would Hunter do? He blew his fucking brains out, such was his disdain for the zeitgeist.

Happy Birthday Zed!

33 years strong, still a vital part of Brisbane's media landscape (desert?)

This one's for you.




FSU x

P.S. Happy birthday to my sis Meg too. Born on the very day ZzZ came into existence!

Article on Eureka St

Here.

Radio Democracy Playlist 03/12/08

This week RD’s intrepid reporters were at the rally calling for the abolition of the Australian Building and Construction Commission.

Construction unions are gearing up their campaign to see the industry watchdog – a relic of Howard's IR regime – abolished.

The ABCC has proven to be a fairly useless institution, with no major achievements beyond what the unions call a 'criminalisation' of union activity.

They say the $165.4 million earmarked for the ABCC would be better spent on improving health and safety standards, which have dropped in the time of the commission's existence.

New Radical Radio ratbag Eliza and I went to check it out.


Dave was in again to fill us in on the changes to indigenous language teaching in the NT – what seems like a surefire way of further decimating these cultures.

I was going to link to some stories on Sydney Indymedia, but found the following message:

Due to disgruntled trolls spamming the newswire we have gone offline for the time being.

Bummer.

We then heard from Dr Helen Caldicott, and the second part of her interview with Bob Alvarez.

In part one of the interview, Alvarez spoke about the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership proposed by the Bush Government.

Alvarez has written a report on the GNEP – which criticises the effectiveness of the program, which effectively recycles fuel rods from nuclear reactors, extracting plutonium and uranium for further use.

Here’s the rub – the process releases about 15,000 to 20,000 times the amount of radioactivity into the environment that a nuclear reactor does!

A whole heap of dodgy radioactive isotopes are released into the atmosphere, which would seem to make this whole process kind of counterproductive.

In this second part of the interview he speaks of the logisitical and financial limitations of the GNEP and the far reaching implications for the environment and our health.

Finally, we heard about the ABC/SBS review and 'no clean feed' campaigns.

The future of both the ABC and SBS are at a crossroads, with Communications Minister Stephen Conroy reviewing the role of the national broadcasters.

In October Senator Conroy released the Towards a Digital Future discussion paper, which called for submissions on the future direction of the ABC and SBS.

Friends of the ABC and Save Our SBS are asking anyone who would like to see advertising abolished on SBS, or kept away from the ABC to make a submission to the review.

The deadline is next Friday the 12th of December at 4pm Canberra time. Save Our SBS has a sample submission on their website at saveoursbs.org and Friends of the ABC also have information on their site at fabc.org.au.

And while you’re taking the time to write to Senator Conroy, let him know how you feel about the proposed mandatory internet filter. Rallies are planned nationally next week in opposition to the so-called ‘clean feed’, which could block as many as one in 12 legitmate sites and significantly slow down Australia’s third-world internet infrastructure.

Web activist organisation GetUp! Is running an email campaign against the filter – to sign up visit www.getup.org.au/campaign/SaveTheNet .

For more info about next weeks’ rallies, go to stopthecleanfeed.com.

There’s a couple of events taking place for human rights day in the next few weeks. There’ll be a screening of a documentary named HOPE This Saturday at Metro Arts, which tells the story of Amal Basry, who survived the SIEV X tragedy, in which 353 legitimate asylum seekers – including 146 children – drowned at the whim of the Howard Government’s heartless refugee policy.

Zed’s own Andrew Bartlett will introduce the film, which is screening at 6:30 this Saturday at Metro Arts, 109 Edward St, Brisbane
Entry: By donation

Further info: Paul, Ph.3392 3843
 Email: paul@rac-qld.org

There’s also a public forum taking place on Human Rights Day itself, next Wednesday the 10th of December.

The forum will feature broadcaster Phillip Adams and Stephen Keim, former barrister for Dr Mohamed Haneef.

Entry is free, but bookings are essential – to do that call 3136 6400.

Finally, on Saturday the 13th of December, the Aboriginal Rights Coalition are organising an ‘Aboriginal Rights are Human Rights’ rally, calling on the Rudd Government to end the NT intervention and welfare quarantining and drop the charges against Palm Island man Lex Wotton, who was recently jailed for his part in the 2004 riot on Palm.


The rally will take place at 2pm in Brisbane Square, out the front of the Treasury Casino next Saturday the 13th of December. (Update - this is actually at Queen's Park, one block over from the internet filter protest).

The ARC is also having its weekly organising meeting tonight at 6:30 at the TLC building at 16 Peel St Sth Brisbane.


Music
It’s Up to You –Steinski
Rudie Can’t Fail – The Clash
Forward to Death – Nomeansno
By the Time I get to Arizona – Public Enemy
When they Dropped the Atomic Bomb – Jackie Doll and his Pickled Peppers
Rall0 – Salmonella Dub (feat. Hirini Melbourne & Richard Nunns)
Pledge of Resistence – Saul Williams