Pacific Free Press was launched in March 2007 by Dutch-Canadian Richard
Kastelein of V.O.F. Expathos, in the Netherlands along with Chris Cook- CFUV radio journalist and Editor in Chief of Pacific Free Press. Cook is based in , Victoria, British Columbia.
The site is a sister to Atlantic Free Press and Brick Ogden an American Expatriate in Amsterdam has been a key supporter of this project.
The mission of Pacific Free Press is simple: to dig out nuggets of truth from
the slag-heap of lies, ignorance and witless diversion that has buried
public discourse today. Pacific Free Press provides a new venue for
disseminating hard news and insightful, fact-based analysis of the
harsh realities too often ignored or distorted by the mainstream press.
This week: The thirties had Woody Guthrie, the sixties Bob Dylan and Phil Ochs, and today we have David Rovics, ringing the musical alarm for a society veering dangerously towards oblivion; and, a March fire threatened the continuance of Vancouver's Downtown East Side "ground zero" health provider, the Health Contact Centre, Tui Hill is with the HCC and she'll join us in the second half; and, Janine Bandcroft will be here to bring us up to speed with good goings-on in and around the south island for the coming week.
Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, airing live every Monday, 5-6pm Pacific
Time. In Victoria at 101.9FM, 104.3 cable, and on the internet at:
http://cfuv.uvic.ca. He also serves as a contributing editor to the
web news site, www.pacificfreepress.com. Check out the GR blog at:
http://GorillaRadioBlog.blogspot.com
The World at 350: A Last Chance for Civilization
by Bill McKibben Even for Americans, constitutionally convinced that there will always be a second act, and a third, and a do-over after that, and, if necessary, a little public repentance and forgiveness and a Brand New Start -- even for us, the world looks a little Terminal right now.
It's not just the economy. We've gone through swoons before. It's that gas at $4 a gallon means we're running out, at least of the cheap stuff that built our sprawling society. It's that when we try to turn corn into gas, it sends the price of a loaf of bread shooting upwards and starts food riots on three continents. It's that everything is so inextricably tied together. It's that, all of a sudden, those grim Club of Rome types who, way back in the 1970s, went on and on about the "limits to growth" suddenly seem… how best to put it, right.
All of a sudden it isn't morning in America, it's dusk on planet Earth.
A Declaration of Independents: A New Kind of Politics
by Jack Random Barack Obama has claimed the nomination of his party for the presidency largely on the promise of a new kind of politics, one that transcends traditional party lines.
Obama and Republican John McCain will be competing in the fall for the decisive independent voters.
Green Scare: The FBI's Domestic Terrorism Program
by Kalanu Hello friends; some of you might have heard me ranting on about the Green Scare, the FBI led witch hunt that has seen almost 20 non-violent environmental activists sentenced to hard time in prison as domestic terrorists.
I don't want to get into the whole background story on this. Needless to say, one of the most disturbing cases that we've been watching involves a 19 year old paid FBI agent provocateur named 'Anna', who strung along a young man and entrapped him into planning with her and two others the destruction of a dam in California.
The bombing never happened, and the planning of it would have never gotten as far as it did were it not for Anna, who went out of her way to keep the group together and on track.
by Robin Mathews The NDP has organized and analysed the materials Justice critic Leonard Krog, MLA, requested from Madam Justice Elizabeth Bennett. When he could get no answers from cabinet members or from Deputy Attorney General Allan Seckel concerning the shift in disclosure protocol made unilaterally by Gordon Campbell in May of 2007, Krog sought help from the court.
On March 10, 2008, Madam Justice Elizabeth Bennett ordered release of "the affidavits [six of them] filed by the government on the application for disclosure of documents seized by way of the execution of the search warrants of the Legislature."
Statement of Grassroots Women on Mothers’ Day, May 11, 2008
by Grassroots Women
On the occasion of Grassroots Women’s 5th annual Mother’s Day March and Rally, working class mothers and supporters are taking to the streets to reclaim the political roots of the day in traditions of working class women’s organizing.
By doing so, we advance our resistance to the system of imperialism that prioritizes war and plunder over childcare; that tears apart the families of migrant workers who are exploited as cheap and disposable labour; that exploits the labour of working class women who continue to feed, clothe, care for and educate our children and communities while blaming individual women who are unable to buffer their children from the harsh realities of this unjust system.
Eyewitness Beirut
by PaulaG and the Indy Collective
As reports come in from Lebanon, an indy.ie correspondent is sending in on the ground, first hand reports.
Creative Commons image of Beirut - May 9,2008
The General Strike started on May 7th when unions called for a strike to increase the minimum wage from 300,000 Lebanese pounds to 960,000 due to inflation in food and fuel prices. That's an increase from $200 per month to just over $600 per month, the Government offered a mere $100 of an increase.
It was then revealed that Hizbollah had their own telecommunications network and the government demanded that they shut it down.
There was to be a big demonstration for the 7th but there were rumours that pro-government militia snipers were going to attack the demonstration and protests at the airport road, so the unions backed down. However the strike went ahead and the usually intensely manic streets were empty of traffic.
A nation cannot be born in torture and terror and be born whole; it is a deformity of humankind, an abomination that must be cleansed through repentance and reconciliation if it is to join the civilized world.
Israel, like the United States before it, will be haunted by its past as the living literature that enshrines it captures the hypocrisy of its public statements even as the truth is unearthed beneath the parks, towns and cities that hide the memories of those it devastated to build a mock nation.
by David Rovics
Hi folks; thought I'd mention a few things... First of all, for those of you on the west coast of the US or Canada, over the next month I'll be doing shows in California, Oregon, Washington and British Columbia. (I managed to get into Canada for a wonderful gig in Hamilton, Ontario last week, with a proper work permit, and hopefully will be able to continue to manage that feat...)
Bjorn-Magne has recently finished doing a fabulous animation to my song, "Punk Rock Baby." You can see that and all of Bjorn-Magne's other animations to my songs at http://www.youtube.com/user/Khezerghul.
by Kahentinetha Horn Fascist state “apparatchiks” are constantly taking actions designed to generate a continuous state of fear. They think terror breeds obedience.
MNN has received various reports warning that it is “dangerous” to go into Ontario, which is partly our ancestral Haudenosaunee Territory. We might be arrested on false charges, abducted, “disappeared” or killed in a simulated accident.
On May 1, the BBC website reported an attack on Somalia with the words: "Air raid kills Somali militants." 
This week: The thirties had Woody Guthrie, the sixties Bob Dylan and Phil Ochs, and today we have 
The NDP has organized and analysed the materials Justice critic Leonard Krog, MLA, requested from Madam Justice Elizabeth Bennett. When he could get no answers from cabinet members or from Deputy Attorney General Allan Seckel concerning the shift in disclosure protocol made unilaterally by Gordon Campbell in May of 2007, Krog sought help from the court.
A nation cannot be born in torture and terror and be born whole; it is a deformity of humankind, an abomination that must be cleansed through repentance and reconciliation if it is to join the civilized world. 
