Category: Voices & Weekend Voices

Locally produced radio magazine on cultural & community events & people. Every Wednesday from 4:00 – 4:30 PM

Weekend Voices 2/09/08

Executive Producer/host: Amy Browne

Contributing Producer: Jim Campbell

Topic:  As the 2008 Camden Conference is getting under way, today we bring you one of the talks given at the 2006 Camden Conference.   The topic is China, past and present in this piece, produced by Jim Campbell, that originally aired in 2006.

Most Americans have begun to pay attention to China only in the last decade as China has become an economic power in the world. But there are another 5000 years of Chinese history. At the 2006 Camden Conference, Prof. Michael Tsin took on the unenviable task of highlighting the events from that history that have brought China to its place in the world today – in one talk! 5000 years in 55 minutes – hold on!

For information on this year’s Camden Conference, Religion as a Force in World Affairs, which will take place February 22-24, 2008 :  www.camdenconference.org

Voices 2/05/08

Producer/host: Amy Browne

Guest: Martin Steingesser, Artistic Director and Author of  “The Thinking Heart”, a performance piece in two voices with cello.  Based on the journals and letters of Etty Hillesum: An Interrupted Life and Letters from Westerbork, written as she experienced the Holocaust.

“The Thinking Heart”will be performed at the Belfast Free Library on Friday, February 15th at 7p.m. and followed by a discussion.  Performers are Martin Steingesser, Judy Tierney and Robin Jellis, and the discussion will be led by Raffael Scheck, Colby College Professor of Modern European History

“The Thinking Heart” is sponsored by the Maine Humanities Council

FMI: Martin Steingesser at windspooning@yahoo.com

Weekend Voices 2/02/08

Executive Producer/host: Amy Browne

Contributing Producers: Debbie and David Wildey

Guest: Zoe Weil, President and Head of Faculty of the non-profit Institute for Humane Education

Topic: An interview with author and educator Zoe Weil to explore the role of education in helping to solve global, systemic problems while creating a more healthy and just society in which all of us can live peacefully, sustainably and humanely. She shares elements for instilling the desire and creating the capacity for students, and all of us, to learn, think, care, and act. She presents  considering a variety of issues as being interconnected, rather than single focus, as a way to find solutions to problems in order to best benefit all.

What is critical thinking? And how can it effect students’ ability to process information?
Are there ever corporate influences in the school curriculum? What can someone who is interested in education reform do?
What are some examples of humane education tools? Where can a list of organizations, books, videos, other resources and a variety of free, non-corporate, activities on human rights, environmental preservation, animal protection, media literacy, and cultural issues be found?

FMI: www.humaneeducation.org

Weekend Voices 1/26/08

Executive Producer/host: Amy Browne

Topic: Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space co-founder Bruce Gagnon’s 2006 keynote speech at the 2006 WERU Full Circle Fair, Blue Hill, Maine

Bruce Gagnon is the Coordinator and co-founder of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, a long time activist, author and film maker. He organized the largest peace protest in Florida history in 1987 at the first test flight of the Trident II nuclear missile. 10 years later he organized the Cancel Cassini Campaign. Project Censored has twice named his stories among the most censored of the year (1999 and 2005). In 2005 his book Come Together Right Now: Organizing Stories from a Fading Empire was published. Gagnon’s work has been published in Earth Island Journal, National Catholic Reporter, CounterPunch, Z Magazine, Space News, and many others, nationally and internationally. He is a member of the National Writers Union and a former farm workers union organizer. His videos include 2003’s Arsenal of Hypocrisy and The Battle for America’s Soul (2005) which have been shown extensively on Free Speech TV. Gagnon also hosts a local cable show and publishes a newsletter.
For more information: www.space4peace.org or 207-729-0517

Also features music by Ethan Miller and Kate Boverman, who performed at the 2006 Full Circle Fair FMI: www.riotfolk.org

Voices 1/22/08

Producer/host: Amy Browne

Guest: Bruce Gagnon, Co-founder and Coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space

Topic: StratCom

FMI:  Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space: www.space4peace.org  or 207-443-9502;  for Robert Shetterly’s portrait series  “Americans Who Tell the Truth” which includes Bruce Gagnon:www.americanswhotellthetruth.org

Weekend Voices 1/19/08

Executive Producer/host: Amy Browne

Contributing Producers: Meredith DeFrancesco, Carolyn Coe

Topic: A human rights crisis in El Salvador may be coming to a head next month as the courts there will once again have an opportunity to decide whether to go forward with terrorism charges leveled against several community member associated with the movement to protect water rights in the Salvadoran countryside.

As is the case around the world, there are efforts in El Salvador to privitize water services.  Last summer as people in the impacted communities spoke out against those plans, the right-wing, Bush friendly Salvadoran government responded with violence and several arrests.  Then, following in the footsteps of the Bush regime, they charged the protesters with “terrorism”, using a new law clearly designed to criminalize dissent.

WERU has followed the case of the Suchitoto 13—as the defendants have become known, over the past several months.  As we await news from the hearing scheduled for February 8th, today we’re going to listen back over the past several months as the case, and the grassroots support, have unfolded.  We start with a RadioActive program that originally aired in July of 2007, and then hear updates from the Radio Sumpul Sister Station reports that have aired since then.

FMI: www.elsalvadorsolidarity.org