Needs No Introduction

Norway's ambassador to Canada, Her Excellency Else Berit Eikeland, recently spoke in Winnipeg on the subject of Arctic policy, detailing Norway's recent treaty with Russia and our possibly outdated view of the post-Cold War Super Power. 

Did you know that some researchers are predicting that the Arctic could be seasonally ice-free as early as 2013? In this talk, University of Manitoba-based Arctic climate researcher David Barber takes listeners through some of the changes he's observed in Canada's High North during his 30-year career.

Inspired by Jack Layton's letter to Canadians, Raffi, West Coast singer, song-writer and founder of Centre for Child Honouring, turned it into a song: "Layton's last words gave Canada a historic moment. His message of love, hope, and optimism transcend politics -- these are enduring values for young and old to embrace." Listen to the song here and read Beyond Protest, Raffi's blog on rabble.ca.

Panel from the event: "Represent?! Exploring Ethno-Cultural Diversity in Ottawa's Media." The official Ottawa English-language project launch of United Nations Association in Canada (UNA-Canada)'s Multimedia & Multiculturalism (M&M) project. Moderated by Chelby Marie Daigle, M&M Ottawa project coordinator Panelists: Manjit Basi, Host of Trailblazers with Rogers Community Television; Aliaa Dakroury, Communications Professor at the University of Ottawa; Ian Keteku, 2010 World Poetry Slam Champion; Vanessa Lee, CTV Ottawa Reporter Panel recorded by Greg Macdougall and produced by Ellie Gordon-Moershel

This talk was from a session titled Equity in Times of Economic Crisis and was part of the 2011 Congress of the Humanities. David Perley is a sociologist, educater and PhD candidate. He specializes in aboriginal education, race relations and the analysis of social problems. David lectures at the Mi'Kmaq-Maliseet Institute at the University of New Brunswick, St. Thomas University, and the University of Maine. This talk was recorded on June 2, 2011 by Milena Stanoeva and produced by Ellie Gordon-Moershel.

TBD.

The Femme Monologues is a graphic memoir series, written by Marusya Bociurkiw with graphics by Terri Roberton, that appears monthly in Xtra! Toronto and in Capital Xtra! (Ottawa). The series presents short vignettes from a queer/femme/feminist archive, covering such topics as feminist publishing, women's dances, the new queer cinema and the re-emergence of butch/femme culture in the 1990s. It features a wide-eyed femme discovering lesbianism, vegetarian food, women's music and butches for the first time. The first story, "On Becoming A Dissident Writer" (Part 1 appeared June 1, Part 2 is in the Pride Day issue), takes us back to the 1970s, and the funky era of feminist culture, when women's newspapers, record companies, publishers, and hey, even garages sprung up for the first time in Canada. It's about the very first time our femme heroine got published, in a feminist newspaper and the ripple effect that had on her family... and on her own identity.

This provocative talk was recorded at the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences on May 31, 2011 in Fredricton, New Brunswick and began with the question: "How do we bring Indigenous knowledge into the academy, while encouraging its production?" The responses may surprise you. Speakers, including: Malinda Smith, Shanne McCaffrey, Kiera Ladner, Dwayne Donald, D'Arcy Vermette, Andrea Bear Nicholas, addressed the ways in which the academy itself continued to play a part in colonization as well as the ways in which 'indigenizing the academy' may not, in fact, be beneficial for aboriginal peoples and preserving aboriginal cultures. This talk challenges the very foundations of academic institutions as the speakers refuse to mince words; telling truths that most intellectuals and leaders would probably prefer to ignore or leave buried. 'Indigenous Knowledge and Indigenizing the Academy' is certainly one of the most important and riveting conversations on Indigenous issues and academic institutions and is one

Acting Today, Shaping Tomorrow featured a workshop and plenary speakers from across Canada, the United States and around the world that shared the latest on community health innovations in the following themes: * Improving health outcomes for individuals, families, and communities * Advancing health equity * Increasing sustainability of the health system * Building our case and our movement: increasing access to community-governed primary health care

Women's World 2011 is a global conference to advance women's equality through research, exchange, leadership and action. The 30th anniversary will be held in Ottawa-Gatineau from July 3-7th. Juno award winner performer and musician Alida Kinnie Starr will be one of the performers at the upcoming conference. Ellie Gordon-Moershel interviewed her recently about her recent evolutions in music, exploration and representations of identities and what she hopes to see at the upcoming conference.

On Thursday, April 28, activist Jaggi Singh was tried at Toronto's Old City Hall for statements he had made to the media about taking down the G20 "security fence." He had said to the press: "I'm here today to stand with people who question the legitimacy of this fence and support those who want to take down the fence -- to take down those fences and walls that separate us." Singh was charged with "counselling to commit mischief over $5,000" and stated in court: "There is nothing that I can admit to in the conspiracy charges, because there really was no conspiracy. If it was a conspiracy, it was a conspiracy of thousands of people to resist the G20, which of course is not a conspiracy, it's organizing." On April 28, Singh pleaded guilty to urging people to take down the $5-million G20 summit fence erected in downtown Toronto last June. As part of Singh's plea agreement, the counts of conspiracy against him will be dropped, he will not cooperate with the Crown or police or apologize for his actions and the ple

Barbara Marshall spoke at The Medicalization of Sex conference in Vancouver, B.C. on April 29, 2011. The paper and talk she presented was called: 'Sexualizing the Third Age: Medicalization and the Reconstruction of Sexual Life Courses.' This paper takes the medicalization of late‐life sexuality as a starting point for exploring some contemporary ways in which sexuality and gender are constructed and negotiated in aging bodies. She looks at the ways in which the pharmaceutical industry, the medical establishment, and the media play a role in revising standards of sexual functionality, encouraging compulsory sexuality, and reconstructing sexual life courses in ways that have forged new expectations around sexuality in mid‐ and later‐life (the 'third age'). The 'third age' is represented in popular and cultural discourse by a rejection of that which is 'old'. Sexual function and sexual activity are linked to health and vitality, and 'sexiness' becomes an important means of distinguishing oneself as 'not old'. Th

On April 18 2011, rabble.ca turned 10! Bearing Witness, Creating Hope, a celebratory event was held at the Gladstone Hotel in Toronto, featuring a panel discussion moderated by rabble founder Judy Rebick. Tune in to hear some wonderful perspectives and stories from rabble News and Features Editor, Cathryn Atkinson; Mark Surmon, rabble co-founder and current president of the Mozilla Foundation; Olivia Nuamah, director of the Atkinson Foundation;  and  Ben Powess, an aboriginal rights activist and frequent rabble.ca contributor. Join us to take a look back at how rabble as grown and evolved and to hear some perspectives on the current state of Canadian left politics and the upcoming federal election.

Noam Chomsky was called, by the New York Times: "Arguably the most important intellectual alive today" and, for a man so closely aligned with anarchism, the fact that he is cited more than any other living scholar is quite incredible. While Chomsky revolutionized the field of linguistics, he is now most well known for his work on corporate power, political economy, hierarchy, capitalism, and the media. A prolific author, he has penned numerous works, including: Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media , Hegemony or Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance, and Failed States: The Abuse of Power and the Assault on Democracy. Part of the Hart House debates, Chomsky spoke at the University of Toronto on April 7, 2011 about class warfare, the State-Corporate Complex, the way in which corporate power is married to to state power and, how these factors represent a great threat to our freedom and survival.

EVE (formerly Exploited Voices now Educating) is a non-governmental, non-profit organization composed of former sex-industry women dedicated to naming prostitution "violence against women" and seeing its abolition through political action, advocacy and awareness-raising that focuses on ending the demand for paid sexual access to women and children's bodies. EVE operates under a sex-positive feminist model, acknowledging that prostitution is born out of sexism, classism, racism, poverty and other forms of systemic oppression. They invite women with personal experience in the sex industry or with sex-trafficking to connect with them. This talk was held on March 10, 2011 at the Vancouver Public Library in Vancouver, B.C. and was recorded by Laura Wood and produced by Ellie Gordon-Moershel.

This past Saturday, the University of Toronto Faculty of Law and Osgoode Hall Law School of York University hosted a conference titled "Canada 2020: The future of public interest law." The keynote speech was by prominent immigration lawyer and human rights advocate Barbara Jackman. Jackman has been involved in nearly all of the Supreme Court cases related to non-citizen issues. She references the following milestone cases in her talk: In 1985 Singh vs. Canada results in a decision that, indeed,non-citizens are entitled to protection under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In addition, the Immigrant and Refugee Board was created. Baker vs. Canada in 1999: the court found that non-citizens who were applying for permanent residency on humanitarian and compassionate grounds are entitled to administrative due process with respect to their applications -- and that reviewers of these cases have to take into account the best interests of children. In 2002, Suresh vs. Canada: the Supreme Court found that in

Once a "very conservative republican," David Korten holds an MBA and PhD From Stanford Business School and worked for five and a half years as a faculty member of the Harvard University Graduate School of Business. After spending a number of years working in the global South, believing that all these low-income countries needed was to adopt America's capitalist system in order to resolve poverty, his perspective changed and he began to recognize the way in which our current economic system functions (and thrives) based on inequality, environmental destruction and social conflict. Realizing that our global economy was based on the premise that individual greed is the path to collective prosperity and that this concept was completely flawed, David Korten came full circle and became an advocate for an economic system that is life-centred and community-based. He has since authored several books, including: When Corporations Rule the World and The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community. His newest book and

On Feb. 4, journalist Firoze Manji walked in on Egyptian theorist Samir Amin and Mamdou Habashi, a well known Egyptian activist talking politics, and joined right in. Here's the recording he made. Hello and welcome to Needs No Introduction on rabble.ca. What you're about to hear is an impromptu conversation between Egyptian theorist Samir Amin, Pambazuka editor Firoze Manji and Egyptian activist Mamdouh Habashi. Amin is probably best known for developing the theory of Eurocentrism. Habashi is a well-known Egyptian left-wing activist. And Manji's publication Pambazuka is produced by a pan-african network of over 2,600 volunteers and organizations. The three men met on Feb. 4 at the World Social Forum in Dakar, Senegal. A few hours before, Mamdouh had arrived straight from Tahir Square in Cairo. This was not a planned interview - Manji began recording as he saw where the discussion was going. Although the sound quality reflects the spontaneity of the recording, this is rare opportunity to hear these three in d

This podcast presents the fourth and last panel recorded at the “Walking the Talk: Human Rights Abroad” conference held September 27th at the House of Commons. For this portion of the event, discussion focused on how to take action towards corporate accountability through new legislation – namely, NDP International Trade Critic Peter Julian’s proposed Bill C-354. Julian himself moderated the panel, which featured Nick Milanovic of Carleton University’s Department of Law, Terry Collingsworth, a labour and human rights attorney in Washington DC, and Mark Rowlinson of the United Steelworkers’ Canadian National Office legal department. After hearing from these speakers, the discussion grew to include Liberal MP John McKay and Bill C-300 on corporate accountability for mining, oil and gas corporations in developing countries (based on the original Private Member's Bill C-565, proposed by now-retired NDP MP Alexa McDonough). This recording includes the majority of a question and answer period which followed the pan

On September 27th, NDP International Trade critic Peter Julian hosted a conference in Ottawa to assess the impacts of Canada’s industries abroad. Over the course of the day, four panels took place. Each one explored a different aspect of the issue, from the voices of affected communities themselves, to legislative solutions such as Julian’s proposed Bill C-354 to amend the Federal Courts Act in the interest of international human and environmental rights. The third of these panels looked at Canadian legal responses to rights abuses abroad. It was moderated by Ian Thomson, Chair of the Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability (CNCA). Panelists:Mark Arnold, Partner in the Toronto law firm, Gardiner Miller Arnold LLP Dermod Travis, Executive Director, Canada Tibet Committee Cory Wanless, Lawyer with Klippensteins, Barristers & Solicitors