On December 7th, 2005, federal agents conducted a nationwide sweep of radical environmentalists involved with the Earth Liberation Front — an organization the FBI has called America’s “number one domestic terrorism threat.” IF A TREE FALLS: A STORY OF THE EARTH LIBERATION FRONT is the remarkable story of the group’s rise and fall, told through the transformation and radicalization of one of its members, Daniel McGowan. Part coming-of-age tale, part cops-and-robbers thriller, the film interweaves a chronicle of McGowan facing life in prison with a dramatic investigation of the events that led to his involvement with the ELF. Using never-before-seen archival footage and intimate interviews — with cell members and with the prosecutor and detective who were chasing them — IF A TREE FALLS asks hard questions about environmentalism, activism, and the way we define terrorism.

So thankfully, we have people like Amy Goodman of DemocracyNow.org who has been compiling a detailed overview of where Haiti stands 6-months after we all watched Port-Au-Prince leveled by an earthquake and were momentarily moved to do something to help.

The bad news is of course, that almost none of the desperately needed aid money pledged by wealthy nations while the headlines and photo ops were in full swing has been paid to Haiti’s reconstruction efforts, leaving the population living in nightmare conditions.

If the obvious horror of the human toll being exacted in Haiti by this negligence isn’t enough to motivate us here in the First World to help, perhaps we should consider what kind of precedent it sets for the inevitable moment when the city/ province/ state in which we live becomes the epicenter for some over-the-top natural or human-made disaster. Will anyone be there to help us? Or will they just follow precedent and use it as a photo op and make pledges that will never be kept while our families suffer and die in squalor?

To be honest, that is the prime motivation behind any involvement i’ve ever had in anything to do with politics or activism or any garbage like that: if they can do it to those people, they can do it to me. To me, justice isn’t about some liberal do-gooder nonsense, it’s about self-preservation. i know it’s boring compared to music and sports and movies and beer and irony and being clever and all that, but I believe it is in our best interests to pay attention and do something to help when other people are getting fucked over.

We still recommend financially supporting Partners In Health directly. Or if you’re one of those people who just has to get something in return, you can make that same donation in exchange for a download of 3 fun songs recently recovered from our early records.

Speaking of sports, former NHL enforcer Georges Laraque and even current Canucks d-man Dan Hamhuis are encouraging people not too forget about Haiti, so as you can see, the two things don’t have to be mutually exclusive.

In other news, fuck are you people going to get sonically slapped in the fucking face by our new stuff. haha.

When Jordy-Boy isn’t busy dodging bullets over on Toronto Street, we continue to dig deep down here in the lab, seeking new ways to pound, pummel and otherwise titillate the Propagandhi listening public.

In other news, you know that when Gary Coleman going to the hospital or the Canadian debut of the colossally stupid iPad are much bigger matters of public interest than, say, this or this or this, it’s all over. You know that right? It’s all over.

doot-doot-doodle-oodle oot doot do doo! doot-doot-doodle-oodle oot doot do doo! DOOT-doodle-do-doo! DOOT-doodle-do-doo! doodle-doodle-doodle-doodle-do-do-do-doo!

Let’s hope our pal Chris Pastor (aka Jamaica Plain) has better luck with his Ship to Gaza Project.

i think the solution is obvious: we need US congress to push through a $7,000,000,000+ bailout that British Petroleum never has to repay or account for and we need them to do it NOW!!!!

Event: RALLY TO PROTEST ISRAEL’S MASSACRES IN GAZA, PALESTINE
What: Rally
Host: Canada Palestine Support Network (Winnipeg)
Start Time: Saturday, January 3 at 2:00pm
End Time: Saturday, January 3 at 3:30pm
Where: Manitoba Legislature

Not Unrelated.

Saturday June 21st..
Aboriginal Day!
Time to celebrate The First Nations people and the first culture on this continent! It’s a great opportunity to go to a powow at The Forks in Winnipeg at 1:00! There is also a big concert there at 6:00. See ya there, I hope!!

Participating in these events is a great way to learn about other cultures, see what other citizens of your city are up to, and make some new friends…

See you there!!

In Winnipeg the festivities will take place at 5:15 pm in Central Park! Last year was a blast and this year should be even more fun! Come on down. I swear it’s great. See you there!

5:15 pm Central Park Dancers

5:40 pm Nicaraguan Folk Ballet

6pm Les D’s

6:30 pm Shabach choir

7pm Argentinian Duet

7:20 pm Karen Bamboo Dancers

7:45 pm Latin Motion

8pm Co-Africa dancers

8:20 DJ Boney

9pm Crown Boyz rap group

If you are not from Winnipeg check out if anything’s happening near you!

Ciao!!!

Special mad props to Marty G., Caitlin N., Johnny T., Salvadore C., Brian N., Yaniv K., and Jason S. for their generous support! It was a pretty fun day, not to mention a record-setting one for both attendance and funds raised.

Really, any day that ends with Jord tending bar and Murray Moon attempting The Macarena is ok in my books.

(Emphasis on “ok”)

the idea is for participants to collect pledges in exchange for destroying their feet, ankles, hips and lower-lumbars on this treacherous, gruelling, savage, perilous, high-risk jog through a pleasant municipal-park on a sunny summer day…with their friends.

so this year i’m collecting pledges on behalf of the Winnipeg chapter of the Canada-Haiti Action Network who “are united by a determination to raise awareness of what is actually happening in Haiti, and the real effects of the Government of Canada’s support for the February 29, 2004 coup d’etat that overthrew Haiti’s democratically-elected government…”.

if you’re interested in helping me with a pledge, send an email off to info@propagandhi.com with the title “Run Chris Run!” and be sure to include your pledge amount! thanks for your support folks!

Also, Pat Mooney will be in town tomorrow, Tuesday April 29 at 7:00 pm – 9:30 pm in Eckhardt-Gramatté Hall, 3rd Floor Centennial Building, University of Winnipeg, as part of a panel on global impacts of growing biofuels on food, farmers and human rights. I’ve seen this guy speak before and he’s pretty excellent if i remember correctly. Check it out if you got time.

And thanks for coming out to the Albert on Friday if you were there!

That was fun and about 14 years overdue! It was funny to play those old demo songs, too bad we somehow forgot to play Government Cartoons too! Shit! We’ll have a tally tomorrow of how much got raised for the Tyendinaga Legal Defence Fund but i’m pretty sure it was over $3000 grand. That’s great. (Thanks to Sam and the Albert, Barney and Dustin for sound and of course Pip Skid and Big Trouble in Little China for supporting the cause…much appreciated!)

Imagine that you lived in a house with your family and that one day a bunch of men kicked down your door and starting rummaging through all your stuff, taking whatever they wanted, coming and going when they pleased, leaving you not only traumatized, but without the means to ensure the security and survival of your family. If you’re like me, i think you would have a reasonable expectation that not only could you pick up the phone and call the cops to come stop the crime in progress, but also that your neighbors would be outraged and come to your defense. But what if your neighbors turned a blind eye to it? And what if the police not only didn’t come to your defence, but rather showed up, threw you and your family in the back of their patrol car and protected the thieves as they continued to pillage your home? What would you do? What options would you have left?

In my opinion, this is the position the Tyendinaga defendants have found themselves in. They’ve been abandoned by their neighbors (the majority of Canadian citizens who prefer buying stuff to justice) and hung out to dry by the authorities who have the power to stop the continued pillaging of their land.

The least (truly the least) we can do is help them defend themselves against further persecution with the threadbare legal recourse they have left, no?

Insert Pastor Martin Niemöller “First they came…” poem here. Yadda yadda…

PS. read this

I have two things to announce here in Winnipeg that will be happening in early October. First of all is the return of the mighty K’Naan. October 4th at the West End Cultural Center. Check this out as well….
Also this(start is the same as the last one don’t be fooled!)

He is heading across western Canada so wherever you live head on out!

Sunday October 7th is the Winnipeg Walk For Darfur. So if you’ll be around at that time head on down and do some good. We will still be in Brazil at that time.

Here’s the schedule of events.

Assiniboine Park, October 7th, (sites 5 and 6, Signs will be posted.)

1:00 – 2:00: pre-registration near the duck pond shelter
2:00: 5 K fun run and 1 K walk begin
2:30-5:00: Entertainment, prizes, food, and fun for the whole family.

Speakers / Entertainers

- Noureddin Suleiman – Winnipeg Representative for Darfur Association of Canada
- Michael Nuul Mayen – President, African Student’s Association University of Winnipeg, acting member of Concerned Africans Group
- Samuel (aka Hott Dogg), Lost Boys of Sudan
- DJ Marchello, Spinning for Social Justice, University of Manitoba

Displays:

Little Travellers “Little Travellers” are beautiful, beaded pins made by women affected by HIV/AIDS in South Africa. The pins are sold for $5 with 100% of the proceeds going to help fight HIV/AIDS in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa, where over 40% of adults are infected. http://www.littletravellers.net/

If you happen to be around the Winnipeg area, consider coming to this speaking event tonight. Roger Annis will drive another nail into the coffin of the notion of Canadian humanitarianism and benevolent foreign policy this evening, as he relays information gathered during his recent visit to Haiti. Please refer to his blog site below for an important perspective that you won’t see or hear via complicit media outlets such as CNN, CBC, CTV, Global, etc…

Should we blindly trust the intentions of the government and business interests of countries such as Canada, the USA, and France in Haiti!??! METHINKNOT.

Roger (niceguy) Annis dispels the delusions and helps to show what regular people can do to put a wrench into the repressive designs to keep poor people poor, and rich people stinking rich.

Tuesday, September 11th/07

HUMAN RIGHTS DELEGATE TO HAITI TO SPEAK IN WINNIPEG

MAIN PUBLIC SPEAKING EVENT:

HAITI TODAY: ECONOMIC CALAMITY, FOREIGN INTERFERENCE

MONDRAGON BOOKSTORE, 91 ALBERT ST (EXCHANGE DISTRICT)
7 PM

ADMISSION: FREE (donations accepted)

Roger Annis, trade union activist, and member of Haiti Solidarity BC, and
the Canada Haiti Action Network (CHAN), participated in a human rights
delegation to Haiti from August 5 -18, 2007. The delegation, sponsored by
the US based Fondasyon Mapou and the Haiti Priorities Project, had
arranged meetings in Haiti with US/Canadian/French embassies,
representatives from international financial institutions in Haiti,
grassroots and popular organizations, and Haitian government
representatives.

Further information about the delegation can be found at:

http://www.fondasyonmapou.org/delegation.shtml

Mr. Annis also posted a blog while in Haiti, which can be accessed at:

http://thac.ca/blog/9

Come and Celebrate!

We invite you to join us in celebrating World Refugee Day June 20, 2007,
beginning at 4:00 until 8:00 pm in Central Park.

Featuring Rabi the Caribbean Drummer, Burundi dancers, a drama by Somali
playwright Muuxi Adam, performance by Mijok aka Hot Dog from Sudan,
Nicaraguan folk ballet dancers, Rodrigo Munoz and Papa Mambo, keynote
speaker, refugee stories and more.

Every year on June 20 the world honours the courage, resilience and strength
of refugees. The province of Manitoba brings in over 10,000 newcomers every
year, individuals and families who become part of our communities. World
Refugee Day is a chance to get to know some of the newcomers to our
province, and to come together to focus global attention not only on the
plight of refugees and the causes of their exile, but also on their
determination and will to survive and on the contributions they make to
their host communities.

Come visit Central Park, for a special event organized by the Institute for
Community Peacebuilding, Central Park Market, Knox Centre, with the help of
a number of individuals in the community and support from MIIC, Welcome
Place. Our world refugee day event will be held from 4:00 to 8:00 pm on
Wednesday, June 20th in solidarity with events being held all over the
world. Drop by after work to celebrate the strength and resilience of the
newcomers who enrich our communities in so many ways.

For more information contact David at 953-3865 or Janine at 475-3816.

As you see above, Wednesday June 20th is World Refugee Day! Over 100 countries celebrate the achievements and acknowledge the efforts of the worlds 17 million refugees.

At this years “celebration” there will be a bunch of singers from all over the world including the singer “Hotdog”. A portion of Hotdogs story is that he came to the ‘Peg after making his way through Sudan at the age of 6 when his parents were killed in the war. He is awesome, heavy, and heartfelt, and always delivering the goods in a really intense way.

In our glorious little city of Winnipeg the festivities will be from 4-8 pm in Central Park (by the way if you press on this link check out the “blue marker” on Kennedy and Sargent to see a great interview with our friend Asili Gelle. She is awesome. Also check out the marker on the south side of Qu’appelle avenue for another interview with Somalian refugee, Mayran Kalah. As soon as you’re done that check out the east side of Carlton street to see The Welcome Place where we, Proragrandhises, donate our RUN FOR RIGHTS pledges, some other coinage, and spend a lot of time volunteering. If you keep thumbing around you can find some more cool interviews with people around here including the awesome Immigrant Womans Sewing Collective.)

I’d like to suggest a book called Human Cargo as part of my build up to World Refugee Day. What a truly great book.

A refugee is someone with “no durable solution” to the problems that face them in their home country. At some point in your life your world may turn upside down and you may possibly find yourself seeking refuge somewhere very unfamiliar. It is absolutely our job as citizens of this city to make newcomers feel welcome and make their introduction to our city the best in can possibly be. A lot of people come here having faced severe and painful pasts and are looking forward to a life here. It’s devastating to see some of these dreams slowly erode when the reality of this place sinks in.

People endlessly email us asking “what can I do?” in regards to helping make the world a better place. I’ll suggest that you could check out a refugee welcoming center in your area is a good place to start. From there you will meet people from all over the world and see tons of stuff going on in your city that you may have never known existed. Certainly many opportunities will arise. I can tell you that my life has improved about 1 million percent since I have been volunteering. To me, there is nothing better . If you have no friends, and you probably don’t if you’re visiting a Propagandhi webpage, here’s a good way to get some. And you don’t have to listen to anybody talk about their record collection! Yay! Hahaha.. jest jokin.

O.K. let’s get to it! There’s a lot going on in this world. Find the World Refugee Day celebration in your town/ city and head out! See you ‘Peggers in Central Park!

…Oh yeah, by the way, Hannah will be cleaning toilets so come and take a giant, rotten, dump at intermission!! yeehawhaw…

-Hamroid.

Wednesday, June 20th is World Refugee Day. A rally is planned for 7:30 that evening at Crescent Fort Rouge United Church (corner of Wardlaw & Nassau in Osborne Village). The purpose is to show support to the family and to remind the Government of Canada that their claim for refugee status here in Canada has wide support.

It is a “rally”, not a fundraiser and is open to all who want to show support. Some prominent community leaders will bring brief messages of support and several artists have offered their talents to entertain. Confirmed artists include Shawna Dempsey, Cara Luft, Nathan Rogers, & Jeff Preslaff. Bringing messages of support from the wider community are Joyce Milgaard, Marty Dolin, Jennifer Howard, David Ball and others.

The family is in their 10th month living in sanctuary and still awaiting word from the Government of Canada on their Humanitarian & Compassionate application. There is room for more than 700 – please come and get the word out so that others can come too. We want to send a strong message that people care.

on saturday june 9th, we’ll be taking part in a major fundraising effort in winnipeg. the 5th annual RUN FOR RIGHTS is taking place, to raise $ for 14 Winnipeg organizations working for social justice and human rights. Chrissy-boy and Jordy-boy are taking pledges to support the Canada-Haiti Action Network (CHAN), while Beaver-boy and Toddy will be raising $ for Welcome Place, a Winnipeg based organization that assists refugees new to our city.

for more info on CHAN, please visit the CHAN website.

to contribute financial support directly to the CHAN-Winnipeg credit union account, please click here.

all funds raised will go directly to assist these organizations based in Haiti, working to expose the Canadian/American/French anti-democratic, imperialist policies which are currently active in repressing the rights of Haiti’s poor majority. (See the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti and Confédération des travailleurs haitiens.)

your assistance is critical, and will be greatly appreciated!!!