Welcome to Gorilla Radio, recorded August 14th, 2024
The everyday horrors visited upon the civilians of Gaza and the West Bank, and neighbouring Lebanon and Syria by Israel is difficult to keep up with. It muddles the mind and shocks the consciousness of those trying to first stop the massacres, and secondly catalogue the atrocities so those committing these heinous crimes are called to book. That confusion is not an accident, it's a strategy; a cynical ploy to ensure the killing can go on for as long as the rest of the World allows. It's clear: Israel will not stop; it must be stopped.
But, that's a formidable task, when there are powerful people and institutions in countries across the West invested in Israel's continuance, regardless of its crimes against humanity and conscience. There have been few victories up until now and those, like rulings against Israel at the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice, have done nothing to slow the slaughter. In Canada this week another small victory was counted in the form of the revocation of charitable status for the JNF, or Jewish National Fund of Canada, a key Israel ally in this country.
Yves Engler is a Montreal-based political activist and the author of thirteen books, including ‘Canada and Israel: Building Apartheid,’ and his latest, co-authored with Owen Schalk, ‘Canada’s Long Fight Against Democracy’. Yves’ also a prolific essayist, whose writing appears across the internet and at his website, YvesEngler.com, where I found his recent piece, 'JNF throws fit after losing charitable status'.
Yves Engler in the first half.
And; it's been just more than two weeks since Venezuela's election and according to some inside and outside the country, the president is still to be determined. As in 2018, the election of Nicolas Maduro is unacceptable to right-wing activist and their oligarchic sponsors in Venezuela; and, as had been the case with Maduro's predecessor, the late Hugo Chavez, another Chavismo victory is anathema to the United States. That holds true too for faithful U.S. satellite, Canada whose foreign minister, Melanie Joly says, "...electoral data collected by citizen witnesses and independent international observers provides credible evidence that the results claimed by Maduro authorities of this election don’t reflect the will of the Venezuelan people."
Joe Emersberger is a Canadian-Ecuadorian author, journalist, engineer, and active member the UNIFOR trade union. Emersberger co-authored with Justin Podur the book, 'Extraordinary Threat: The US Empire, the media and twenty years of coup attempts in Venezuela', and his articles can be found at Mint Press News, FAIR.org, Counterpunch, Znet, Telesur English, and at his Substack page, Unedited Anti-Imperialism.
Joe Emersberger and the threats becoming less extraordinary to Venezuela's democracy in the second half.
But first, Yves Engler and delegitimizing Canadian tax deductions for Israel.
Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, broad/webcasting since 1999. Check out the Archive at Gorilla-Radio.com, GRadio.Substack.com, and the GR blog at: https://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.com/
Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Yves Engler, Joe Emersberger August 14, 2024