Toban Black on the Media Co-op

( “Clean Harbors” )

Toban Black on the Media Co-op

An audio interview with Zak Nicholls, a human rights activist who lives in Sarnia, Ontario.

Last week’s action at Parliament Hill represents a mockery of the proud tradition of civil disobedience. The “civil disobedient” asked...for permission to be arrested without defying law or social convention, and without disrupting Parliament’s daily operations. The sentiment, "arrest me please, because I care and believe power listens to the polite and well-reasoned," may well represent the image of their government some Canadians wish were true, but it is not reality.

By Simon Enoch - October 4, 2011

The purpose here is...to call out the ethical oilers selective use of "ethics" to justify the continued exploitation of the tar sands. This is the real hypocrisy, as Harper and the ethical oilers apply selective ethical criteria to one product, but not to others. We certainly could adopt an ethical trading policy that put considerations of human rights, indigenous sovereignty and environmental sustainability as the basis for our international trade. However based on those three considerations alone, I doubt Alberta tar-sands would make the cut.

By John Vidal - Monday, October 3, 2011

Court documents now reveal that in the 1990s Shell routinely worked with Nigeria's military and mobile police to suppress resistance to its oil activities, often from activists in Ogoniland, in the delta region...According to Ogoni activists, several thousand people were killed in the 1990s and many more fled that wave of terror that took place in the 1990s.

Toban Black on the Media Co-op

They speak about Canadian asbestos exports, victims of asbestos exposure, a history of asbestos around Sarnia-Lambton's Chemical Valley, and other related topics.

Friday, September 30, 2011 - Common Dreams

Two ice shelves that existed before Canada was settled by Europeans diminished significantly this northern summer, one nearly disappearing altogether, Canadian scientists say in newly published research...The loss is important as a marker of global warming, returning the Canadian Arctic to conditions that date back thousands of years, scientists say.

Saturday, September 24, 2011 - Common Dreams

Canada's energy minister shot back on Friday at Hollywood celebrities protesting a plan to build a $7 billion oil pipeline to Texas from Alberta in the first public indication that the protests are getting under Ottawa's skin..."Criticism of the oil sands - and now the proposed Keystone XL pipeline - is a major concern for us, with implications for our energy industry, our economy and our energy security..."

By Benjamin Dangl - September 24, 2011

Earlier this summer, an anti-mining Indigenous movement in Peru successfully ousted a Canadian mining company from their territory. “In spite of government repression, if the people decide to bring the fight to the bitter end, it is possible to resist the pressure of mining and oil companies...”

By Dave Zirin - Monday, September 19, 2011

At another sold-out football game in Lincoln last Saturday, an ad for the TransCanada Keystone oil pipeline played on the stadium's HuskerVision Jumbotron...At the end, came the notice that the video was "brought to you by The Husker Pipeline.” Tens of thousands of fans proceeded to swallow their beer, put down their food and boo. It was actually more than booing. It was more like loudly seething.

By Sherwood Ross - September 08, 2011

Farmers along the banks of El Salvador’s Lempa River believe tomatoes gleam brighter than gold. They would rather put the river to work for farming, fishing, and drinking than to allow the multinational Vancouver-based Pacific Rim Mining Co. of Canada use the river water to extract the rich veins of gold buried nearby---a process that involves applying toxic cyanide-laced water to separate gold from the surrounding rock.

By Ted Glick - Znet Commentary

...[F]or those who are turned off by all of [the Obama] administration’s many betrayals of his campaign promises and unsure of what they’ll be doing about the Presidential election, and for those who have had it with both Republicans and Democrats, the campaign to defeat the Keystone XL pipeline is a classic unifying issue, an urgent issue. The next few months are key.

By JORDAN FLAHERTY - August 29, 2011

...[T]he vast changes that have taken place in New Orleans since Katrina have had little to do with weather, and everything to do with political struggles. Six years after the federal levees failed and 80 percent of the city was flooded, New Orleans has lost 80,000 jobs and 110,000 residents. It is a whiter and wealthier city, with tourist areas well maintained while communities like the Lower Ninth Ward remain devastated. Beyond the statistics, it is still a much contested city.

The papers have been hyping it all week and it’s finally here: Thursday July 21st, the supposed hottest day of the year. We’re in downtown St Catherines, watching as the scorching heat pushes everyone off the north side of St Paul Street in favour of the shady south side.

August 24, 2011 - Intercontinental Cry

Another fifty-two environmental activists were arrested on Monday for taking part in the Tar Sands Action, a peaceful two-week protest that's urging President Obama to reject a permit for the risky Keystone XL pipeline.