A merry final show for 2010 from Dissident Island

It's that special time of year...when wage-slavery gives way - ideally - to time off, trips home, vegging on the couch, overeating and celebrations with family and friends...and Dissident Island Radio's got something to fill any moments of holiday boredom: our latest show! Featuring Michael Albert on Parecon, GBC Legal, news on the Ratcliffe trial, a discussion on benefit cuts, Wikileaks, 'citizen journalism' and so very much more...  [download episode 72]

Seasons Greetings!

Episode 72 of Dissident Island Radio, which aired live during the Red & Black Club at LARC on 17 December 2010 started off with the oft-promised and never aired interview with Michael Albert on the subject of Participatory Economics. The interview was conducted during the London Anarchist Bookfair 2010 [1, 2].

After an excellent 'Jingle Bells' rendition on the recorder, Wayne got on the mic to talk about Green & Black Legal. GBC Legal is inspired by environmental direct action groups such as Earth First! and Climate Camp (green!) as well as the Anarchist Black Cross (black!), the decentralised prisoner solidarity and legal support network that's been around for over a century. GBC Legal is a growing and ambitious group looking to provide practical skills, support and legal advice (in that fantastic anarchist tradition of mutual aid) to new and not-so-new folks taking to the streets, protesting the so-called austerity measures and 'cuts' being pushed through parliament by a much hated Con-Dem government.

Next on the show we hear about the end of the controversial Ratcliffe trial's "guilty" verdict outcome, where 20 climate activists were found guilty of conspiring to commit aggravated trespass. The defendants were amongst 114 activists arrested at a Nottingham school in April 2009, on the verge of taking action to shut down the Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station.

After some announcement, the show rolled on to a 'HOT TOPIC' - and a controversial one at that! Starting off with vox-pops from Fieldgate Street and segwaying into a rather hilarious discussion between warring sides...Neil and Patrick stepped up to play devil's advocate and represent the Tory cause, just to make things interesting, expressing a rather articulate version of arguments sometimes alluded to in shitty mainstream news-rags, in regards the reasoning and justification behind benefit cuts ('bankers do all the real hard work of society, why should hard working tax payers support people who've never had a job in their life?') - while Anja and Brian were able to retort with some sound ideas (the dole is a support system for marginalised people in a fucked up capitalist world, why are we cutting social welfare when corporate welfare is a hugely bloated mechanism, who in their honest mind wants to work in a McJob?!'). You'll have to listen to see which side came out ahead!

After a musical track, GDM, one of the Tachanka collective, discussed the political significance and relevance of the Wikileaks and cablegate phenomenon - the leaking of diplomatic cables - as well as the online hackers' struggle against corporate services. [see statement of support]

And the last bit of talky talky included some independent journos, namely rikki [indy articles] , guy smallman and martha (an indymedia london collective member), discussing the recent wave of protests and recent trends in 'citizen journalism'.

It all wraps up with over an hour of some of our favorite and cheesiest (sometimes mutually exclusive but not always) 80's tunes. We even found an original copy of Men at Work on vinyl. Nice...

So yea. 2010 - it's been an exciting year...protests, parties, mobile sound systems, panel discussions, the island turning 3 years old...and last but not lease - a Karaoke benefit party at LARC on 28 December, 8pm onwards. So come on down if you're in town. It's gonna be awesome.

And definitely see you in 2011...

-chickpea
(one of dissident island radio)

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PPS: we had some mic problems during the show...ah well.

Contact email: dissidentisland [at] riseup [dot] net