Wednesday, August 6th, 2014 – Disorientation Week at York, and the Toronto Palestinian Film Festival

York Community Report: Frosh week, also known as Orientation week at colleges and universities across North America has become a right-of-passage for post-secondary students. The week has come to be associated with parties, pranks and even recently sexual assaults. OPIRG York however is trying to change the conversations had at Orientation week at York University. To learn more about Disorientation week Christian Deo sat down with Volunteer coordinator at OPIRG Victoria Barnett as well as Zora – the Special Events and Program Coordinator for the summer of 2014. To learn more about OPRIG, please visit http://www.opirgyork.ca/ or tweet at @OpirgYork

Download this interview here.

 

Independent Arts Report: An outdoor screening of Laila’s Birthday is scheduled for this Friday, August 8th at Christie Pitts Park in Toronto by the Toronto Palestinian Film Festival. The screening comes to the public as TPFF gears up for their annual showings in September. NEWS NOWs Christian Deo spoke with TPFF spokeswoman Dania Majid about Palestinian film, the significance of the festival and the outdoor screening. For more on the Toronto Palestinian Film Festvial, please visit http://tpff.ca/ or tweet at @TPFF

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Wednesday, July 30th – Yves Engler on Israel-Palestine, and Magic Mike

Over the weekend a Pro-Israel rally got violent at Queenspark. The violence proves tempers are flaring even here in Canada, thousands of kilometers away from the conflict in Israel Palestine. Yves Engler was present at the rally and was quoted saying provocative statements in the Toronto Star.

Engler has joined us in the past to talk about his books, “The Black Book of Canadian Foreign Policy and the Ugly Canadian: Stephan Harper’s Foreign Policy.

He joined NEWS NOW live to talk about some of the issues permeating protests, his provocation directed towards and Israeli crowd and some of the talking points regarding pro-Israeli/pro-Palestinian views.

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Michael Penkul aka Magic Mike came to the CHRY studios to talk about an often overlooked form of performance art, magic.

Magic Mike started performing at the age of 4 and has since been developing his skills and learning new tricks. Currently performs at parties, weddings, corporate events and stage shows, living out his passion. He performed at The DOTs Toronto’s Best Kept Secret event in late June and joined Hailee Ingelton to discuss some of the tricks up his sleeve. Tweet Magic Mike at @Michaelpenkul with #magicmike #magic #spokenwordwednesdays

Download this interview here.

Wednesday July 23, 2014 – Israel-Palestine & World Pride, Mink Farming, and Simon Yohanness

Should political statements be acceptable in Toronto’s World Pride Parade? Dianne Moore, a member of the controversial group Queers Against Israeli Apatheid (QuAIA), thinks so. Moore joined Christian Deo on Wednesday to talk about this years World Pride event, the current crisis in Israel/Palestine and a video shot by York U Prof John Greyson called ‘The Disappearing Map.’ For more information on QuAIA, visit http://queersagainstapartheid.org/. You can also tweet them at @QuaiaVoice and @QuaiaTO.

Download this interview here.

 

On July 16th the Canadian Government announced through a press release it would be relaxing loan repayment dates by eight months for Canadian Mink Farmers as they respond to “a dramatic shift in the world mink market”. This has animal rights groups wondering why a program that is usually reserved for agricultural farmers is being applied to fur farms. Mark Howie of Fur Bearer Defenders joined the NEWS NOW team live in studio to talk about the issues with the fur industry, animal rights and the importance of biodiversity. Christian Deo reports. Learn more at  http://furbearerdefenders.com/, or visit their twitter @FurBearers.

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Continuing our focus on spoken word artists in Toronto, Simon Yohanness otherwise known as Stretch, is the next artist to be featured on Hailee Ingelton’s Toronto Artist series. Stretch is a spoken word artist that has graced many stages in Toronto with his poetic flow and creative words. He spoke about his journey as an artist, his inspirations and kicked off his interview with a live performance in the CHRY studios. Tweet Stretch @StretchTO with #spokenwordwednesday and #torontoartist

Download this interview here.

 

CHRY Specialized Programming: Anti-Apartheid Frequencies

Anti-Apartheid Frequencies

CHRY 1055 presents Anti-Apartheid Frequencies, a six-hour specialized program that explores the many struggles against colonialism, imperialism, and capitalism in Palestine. Throughout this series, the News Now team explores various topics relating to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including:

• Palestine 101
• What is BDS?
• The Academic Boycott
• The Boycott of Sodastream
• Pinkwashing
• Jewish Voices Against Apartheid
• Harper goes to Israel
• Apartheid in Canada
• Anti-Black Racism in Israel
• Students Against Israeli Apartheid Divestment Campaign and Campus Repression at York University

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In the first hour, the PrOPIRGanda  Collective discuss the history of Palestine, Apartheid and the BDS movement.

Download this session here

 

In the second hour,  Arshia Lakhani of Students Against Israeli Apartheid discusses the academic boycott and what their organization is doing on the York Campus. Then, Kat Lapoint of the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid discusses the Sodastream Boycott.

Download this session here

 

In the third hour, Natalie Kouri-Towe of Queers Against Israeli Apartheid discusses pinkwashing. Then, Noa discusses Jewish Voices Against Apartheid.

In the fourth hour, Yves Engler speaks to the News Now Collective about Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s recent trip to Israel.

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In the fifth hour, The News Now Collective discusses Apartheid in Canada and its relationship to Israel. Next,  they speak to Kimalee Phillip regarding Anti-Black Racism in Israel.

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In the final hour, News Now speaks with the Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA) regarding their divestment campaign and campus repression.

Download this session here