I talk to Judi Rever, author of the important new book In Praise of Blood: The Crimes of the Rwandan Patriotic Front. We start with the inception of the military force that would become the RPF in 1980s Uganda and follow it through the civil war and genocide to contemporary Rwanda and the Congo. The mind-boggling deaths and atrocities of the many Central African wars and the central role of Paul Kagame are the focus of this interview.
Audio
The Ossington Circle Episode 29: Media and Empire with… Justin Podur
In this episode Justin Podur is the guest and guest interviewer Dan Freeman-Maloy asks the questions. We talk about media, Herman and Chomsky’s propaganda model, activism in a time of social media monopolies, and empires. The first of a series.
The Ossington Circle Episode 28: Turkey’s Invasion of Syria with Sardar Saadi
In this episode I talk to Sardar Saadi about Turkey’s invasion of Afrin in Syrian Kurdistan. We recap the past few years of Syrian Kurdistan and the many players in the Syrian Civil War, and lament the continuing absence of an antiwar movement that could address the escalating and neverending wars in the region.
The Ossington Circle Episode 27: Science and Academic Publishing with Bjoern Brembs
I talk to scientist Bjoern Brembs about the problems with proprietary journal companies control over scientific publishing. We imagine a better world of open science that is technologically feasible, discuss the German consortium negotiation with the journal companies, and think about what academics could start to do in this world about the problem.
The Ossington Circle Episode 26: Free Milagro Sala! With Jorge Garcia-Orgales
I talk to Argentinian-Canadian union activist Jorge Garcia-Orgales about Milagro Sala, an Indigenous politician and activist who is currently a political prisoner of Argentina’s right-wing government.
The Ossington Circle Episode 25: The Venezuela Crisis with Greg Wilpert
I talk to Greg Wilpert, founder of venezuelanalysis and author of Changing Venezuela by Taking Power, about the Venezuela Crisis, the Constitutional Assembly, and possible ways out of the crisis. We started with a detailed discussion of the economic crisis in Venezuela that I think will be of great interest.
The Ossington Circle Episode 24: How the World Breaks with Stan Cox and Paul Cox
I talk to Stan Cox and Paul Cox, authors of How the World Breaks: Life in Castastrophe’s Path from the Caribbean to Siberia. We discuss how we think and talk about disasters, the aid industry, and the uses and excuses associated with the concept of ‘resilience’.
El Circulo Ossington Episode 23: El Caso de Parex y la Extraction en Colombia desde Canada
El primer episodio del Circulo Ossington en castellano. Hable con Manuel Rozental, Oscar Sampayo, y Anna Zalik sobre la compania Parex y sus actividades de fracking en Colombia.
The Ossington Circle Episode 21: Venezuela’s Crisis with Maria Paez Victor
I talk to Maria Paez Victor of the Canadian, Latin American, and Caribbean Policy Centre and the Louis Riel Bolivarian Circle about Venezuela’s revolution, Chavismo, Maduro, the Venezuelan opposition, and the idea of the upcoming Constituent Assembly.
The Ossington Circle Episode 22: Honduras and Empire with Shipley and Coleman
I talk to Tyler Shipley, author of Ottawa and Empire: Canada and the Military Coup in Honduras, and Kevin Coleman, author of A Camera in the Garden of Eden: The Self-Forging of a Banana Republic. Both are scholars of Honduras and its relationship to the Empire, and the conversation stretches back into the 20th century and the 1954 strike, coming back to our times to focus on the 2009 coup against the elected government of Mel Zelaya and what has happened since.