The Pod Report

This episode, we talk about the Fairtrade value chain and suggest a way to make Fairtrade Fairer than it already is. We also interview Natasha Shurgar, who used to work for Divine Chocolate Company. www.divinechocolate.com When I caught up with her, she was in the midst of a Fair Trade Fashion Show she had organised featuring clothing from People Tree, Bishopton Clothing and Traidcraft (see www.peopletree.com , www.bishopstontrading.co.uk and www.traidcraft.org.uk respectively ). The Fairtrade Market is now worth over £200 million in Britain alone and is helping secure a sustainable livelihood for around 5 million farmers worldwide. Its not a perfect system and could definitely be improved, however, its a LOT better than unfair trade, often known as conventional trade.... We feature Jazz band Flattstreet from Canada. Originally published in 2006

This edition, we report not one, not two but three major environmental victories in the battle to save the planet! Two major Ancient Forests have had large areas of them protected; The Great Bear Rainforest in Canada and the Amazon! In addition, Greenpeace got French President to turn a major toxic warship around and head back to France. It was on its way for shipbreaking in India. Also Paula Toledo features with two tracks, 'Joan' and 'Left to Stain'. see www.paulatoledo.com Originally published 2006

This session, we talk about work/life balance, the role of you in life going to work each day and what you get out of it. In a wider context, I talk about civil society, 'The State' and business and how your working life fits into the bigger scheme of things. The only reason why I've marked this one 'explicit' is due to one of the two bands on this episode using certain types of language to describe the majority of people's lives working and toiling as a wage slave and getting no quality of life out of this daily existence. I want you to log onto the pod report this issue and record a comment online as to what area or sector do you work in, whether you get any job satisfaction out of it and do you feel you're 'living to work' or 'working to live'. Is this daily existence of yours what development is supposed to be all about? Let us know at www.podreport.podomatic.com The two bands featured are Jagaver www.jagaver.co.uk from Brighton UKwith Living to Work and Moral Decline http://www.myspace.com/moraldecline with 'Overworked Underpaid' from the USA.

This week's podcast celebrates a recent Greenpeace Ocean's Campaign Victory in Britain against ASDA - WalMart's Fish Procurement policy. ASDA were regarded as bottom of the 'Seafood Chain' League Table in regards to procurement policy. Greenpeace conducted a campaign over the last 6 months to get ASDA to change its smelly fish buying practices and culminated in a Greenpeace occupation of its Headquarters in Leeds, England. Result, ASDA agreed not only to publish a public policy on sourcing sustainable seafood within the next six weeks, but also to remove skate, dogfish (huss), Dover sole and ling from it's shelves with immediate effect. They've also agreed to look closely at taking similar action on swordfish and marlin within the next six weeks. See http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/oceans/supermarkets/asdaprice.cfm The 2nd half of the podcast is devoted to how the USA is controlling Freedom of the Press by foreign Journalists to help it to write history in ‘real time’. How far will the US go in this endeavour, killing of foreign journalists and deliberately targeting them appears to be highly likely…along with strict control on foreign journalists entering into and out of the USA. The US Government does not like criticism of its actions globally it seems… See http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=10003 for details. Our two bands featured this week both stem from Germany. They are Kitchen Cowboys www.kitchencowboys.de/ and Simon Saiz http://simonsaiz.de/ respectively.

I keep saying, podcasting really needs to 'get out there' get into the field and carry out 'podjournalism'. As a Pod Journalist I believe in getting out and going directly to the issues and this week's episode is no exception... Yeah, I go for a 'Walk in the Countryside'. Out into the wilds of rural Wales I track for hours up and down hills dodging sheep, bracken, gorse, Range Rovers, Dirt Bikes, barbed wire fences and Rubbish! Yeah, lots and lots of Rubbish! We bring the low down on the true nature of the 'rural idyllic' as it stands today, everything from nappies to animal feed to salt grit to coke cans...you can find it out here, in the countryside... Featured artist this week is Pauline Taylor. I couldn't get her website to work but it's www.paulinetaylor.co.uk or download her music from the iTunes music store. (Originally published 17 Jan 2006.)

The 1930s, 40s and 50s saw various Social Movements of the Left in the Western World seek to smash facism, fight for Social Justice and Workers rights and document and publish to the world's media, the plight of the poor. This espisode explores the New York Photo League ( http://photography.about.com/library/weekly/aa100801a.htm ) and Magnum Photo Agency (www.magnumphotos.com). We also broadcast the Pod Report for the first time directly on location in Paris Montparnasse Cemetary. We explore the neighbourhood as it was in the 1930s where it was a hang-out of the Surrealist Movement to modern day Montparnasse where the same familiar landmarks remain but it is now inhabited by an entirely different sub-culture, that of the rich Parisians...The modern day Surrealist Movement still goes strong in Paris (see http://surrealisme.ouvaton.org/ ) For some hot Reggae see Jammin INC ( www.jammin-inc.de ) and for some cool Jazz see The Core ( http://thecoremusic.blogspot.com/ ) I feature 'Propoganda' and 'Mobius Triplet' respectively. This episode was partly recorded on location, in Paris. Originally Published 8th Jan 2006.

It's the end of the year for 2005 so we reflect on world events and disasters that occurred in 2005. From Katrina, to Dafur, to the Pakistan earthquake to the Tsunami to the war in Iraq… and make a few predictions for 2006... 2005 was also the year of the Anti-Social Behaviour Order and we interview Keith Parkins who has been threatened with an ASBO by the corrupt Council of Farnborough in the UK. What for? For trying to stop a major town centre development to make way for a major supermarket that will clear half the town centre and many businesses and poor council estates in the process! Originally published in Dec 2005.

Welcome to a most strange edition of The Pod Report...this week we go on a journey to innerspace and explore Surrealism, our right to be free and the big brother creep of our freedom being taken away from us in the name of the 'War on Terror'. Stranger than science fiction, slowly but surely, drip by drip, the authoritarian nature of society closes our right to be free in both our public worlds and our private ones... Surrealism challenges us to lead a life that is quite different where we merge our unconscious mind and the poetic with the outer reality of everyday life to regain our freedom despite the enclosure of public spaces and the creepy voyerism of CCTV land...See www.londonsurrealistgroup.org.uk for more details about Surrealism. We also have an exclusive interview outside 'Podlab 9' with an artistic group in Wales that spends its time turning up to a random place and creating public art to increase people's quality of life...only to be arrested and their right to freedom of expression harshly curtailed! Reclaim the streets do a good job of gaining back our freedom. See www.reclaimthestreets.net and you to can join in the festive fun! Finally, Paula Toledo from Canada gets to 'Break it Down' (see www.paulatoledo.com for details) and Jammin INC from Germany take us into System Overload (see www.jammin-inc.de ). Dec 2005

This week, I talk about the WTO 6th Ministerial Conference to be held on the 13th to the 18th December 2005 and explain to the listener the low down on what's on the table for negotiations. Sadly, its the usual 'divide and rule' style tactics coming out from the EU to arm twist developing countries into bending to their will. This time around, they're trying to drive a wedge between the newly industrialising countries (e.g., Brazil, India, China) and the agriculturally dependent ones it seems...See www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/FreeTrade/HongKong.asp Then, we have yet another exclusive interview this time with Camcorder Guerillas from Scotland. The interview is with one of the Media Activists (Indigo) of this 30 strong video activist group. I apologise to listeners due to the soundquality of this episode in advance. However, the essence of this espisode is a 'must have' and I hope you enjoy it! See www.camcorderguerillas.net for details. We feature two songs from Anne Davis this podcast. See www.annedavismusic.com for more! Yes, the world is watching! Originally produced: December 2005

Airport Expansion is going on unabated and many of us don't realise the speed and rate that they're expanding at...this ediition focuses on Airport Expansion in Britain and what you can do to stop it. We're likely to double air traffic in Britian by 2015 from 1995 levels. This is being driven by such things as cheap flights and various tax breaks on things like aviation fuel amongst other forms of corporate welfare. For a good overview check out www.airportwatch.org.uk and for facts go to www.transport2000.org.uk You can take action online by going to www.airportpledge.org.uk and sign the pledge to help stop Airport Expansion in Britain. Undercurrents have also produced a good documentary on stopping Swansea Airport Expansion plans which they managed to do! See www.undercurrents.org/reachforthesky/ We have a special interview with Farnborough Stop Airport Expansion Activist Keith Parkins on with a key examination of what's going on on the ground to stop the skies being littered with jets. See http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/11/327534.html and http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/11/328072.html for full details. We feature Adrina Thorpe (www.adrinathorpe.com ) "Fly Fly Fly" and the lovely French Canadian artist Paula Toledo ( www.paulatoledo.com ) with "Fly Away" in keeping with the theme. Finally, check out Russel'ss site on activist posters at www.endofprint.org This Podcast was created Back in late 2005

Its the first ever MISTY Awards! The satirical 'Oscars' for the Independent Media Activist Community here in Britain. Boy, do we have a great show this week! First off, find out how 'The Creative Media & Business Alliance' are trying to get access to your private internet data via the backdoor in the European Parliament by including 'Internet Download Piracy' through anti-terrorist legislation! Yes, Sony BMG, Disney and EMI are behind some hardfaced lobbying to criminalise millions of people who are downloading music and video from the internet.... Then its off to the MISTY's (www.undercurrents.org ) with exclusive interviews with Elvis and Seize the Day! That's right, Elvis was seen at the MISTY Awards at the Dylan Thomas Centre in Swansea, Wales and The Pod Report gets to 'make history' by interviewing Elvis with show host Andy Parnell dressed as a Tiger! Then long time Political Activists and veterans of the Newbury Bypass protest in Britain and top hit Political Musicians have their say on why mainstream media awards are a mockery to global justice. To find out more about Seize the Day go to www.seizetheday.org and you too can do the Shackle Shuffle... Featured artist Adrina Thorpe (www.adrinathorpe.com ) gets to sing 'sorry' in honour of Aussie Prime Minister John Howard...all this on The Pod Report 05! November 2005

The Pod Report no. 4 covers the Greenpeace Direct Action outside Downing Street this week (Monday 14th November) where the host of the show was personally involved in dumping tonnes of coal in an effort to blockade Tony Blair's offices much like he's blocking efforts to seriously tackle Climate Change on the world stage. We then go on to explain how reality does not match up to his rhetoric on the issue. See www.greenpeace.org.uk/climate/ for full details of the action. Next we talk about the up and coming MISTY awards and the Beyond Tv International Video Festival that will be taking place next weekend at the Dylan Thomas Centre in Swansea. The Pod Report will be covering the event and broadcasting interviews with other media activists in the field. See www.undercurrents.org/beyondtv/ Finally, we talk a little about the Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army (CIRCA) who will be conducting workshops on 'Clowning Around' for global justice on Sunday at the Beyond Tv festival. Go to www.clownarmy.org for details about the group. The two singers we showcase on this show are Anne Davis (www.annedavismusic.com ) and Adrina Thorpe (www.adrinathorpe.com ) Check them out! November 2005

This week, we focus on the newly formed Stop Climate Chaos campaign in Britain with 18 NGO's forming an alliance in the same way that the 'Make Poverty History' campaign formed a large coalition. This is probably the 1st time the Development and Environment NGO's are working very closely to look after a common interest, since Climate Change affects us all and will hit the poor the hardest. Go to www.stopclimatechaos.org for details. Next, we take a hard look at the recent Greenpeace Action in the Philippines against a coal fired power station near Manila. The peaceful direct action had to stop early due to a violent and brutal attack by Coal plant security guards against the Greenpeace Activists with one volunteer hospitalised. Our report features an audio interview with activists whilst the action was going on. Go to http://www.asiacleanenergy.org/blogs/index.php?blog=2 to read activist Pam's hourly blog whilst the action was going down. Finally, we look at what the cause of the riots that have been occuring in Paris and across France. In particular we look at the trigger and the provocation led by the police that kicked the riots off in the first place (including the deaths of two teenage youths). The mainstream media fails to cover this point in any detail so you'll get a chance to hear what is not being said too loudly... Go to www.indymedia.org for full details.

This second ever pod report details some interesting events that happened this week. Firstly, 3 World Development Movement activists who took part in a direct action at the G8 summit were found not guilty this week on a charge of 'breach of the peace'. See www.wdm.org.uk for details. Secondly, we report on the mass lobby for Trade Justice that took place outside the houses of Parliament in Britain with over 8000 people attending.(see www.tjm.org.uk for details). Thirdly, we also report that Brecon celebrates gaining 'Fairtrade Town' status, awarded by the Fairtrade Foundation (www.fairtrade.org.uk). Finally, we have a world exclusive interview with Vicki Thomas, one of 8 Greenpeace activists who took solar panels and insulation bats onto John Prescott's roof (he's the Deputy Prime Minister of Britain). She was convicted yesterday on two counts by the judge at her recent trial and she reveals what the mainstream press did not mention. Don't miss it! See www.greenepeace.org.uk for details on this rooftop action.

The Pod Report is produced by Andy Parnell for the Global Justice activist community around the world with a strong emphasis of coverage in Britain. This first podcast was produced using my mac's microphone so apologies for sounding like I'm in a cave! I hope to produce future editions using more refined equipment by the next podcast. This first podcast talks about Nestle Partner's Blend Fairtrade marked coffee and the stir it has caused inside the coffee drinking activist community in Britain. I highlight the debate going on around nuclear power and the promotion that Sir David King (Chief Scientific Advisor to the British Government) did recently of nuclear new build; along with George Monbiot's analysis on this (G'day George if you're listening to this podcast!). Finally, we take a look at the new directions that the Greenpeace Oceans campaign is taking against supermarket's procurement policy on fish, with particular regard to ASDA/Wal-Mart.