With some help from friends (you know who you are) I have the video of last night's talk here - uploaded to vimeo this time.

I'll be speaking with Dan Freeman-Maloy on Haiti in Toronto on Tuesday Feb 2.

-------

Relief, Occupations and the Haiti Crisis:
Canada/US policy and the regional response

with Justin Podur and Dan Freeman-Maloy

Tuesday, February 2
Centre for Social Justice
489 College St (W of Bathurst), Suite 303
7 - 9pm

Everyone agrees that the Haiti earthquake is a serious situation. Serious enough for the US to send thousands of Marines, to take over the airport, to suspend Haiti's sovereignty and take over the operation. Serious enough to unify the bitter partisan divide and put Bush, Clinton, and Obama together to raise funds. Serious enough for benefit concerts and the invention of new forms of philanthropy, where people can donate through their cell phones. But the Haiti earthquake is apparently not all that serious:

I recorded this video last night (using my new flip HD and PiTiVi editing suite).

Part 1

Part 2

If you are thinking of donating to Haiti relief efforts I would recommend either of these two organizations:

The Haiti Emergency Relief Fund

or

Partners in Health

A friend asked me for my take on the hacked climate change emails. Before formulating my thoughts I went to realclimate.org to see if they had anything. They do... and it's indispensable as usual.

On October 10/09 Venezuelan former mayor, now state legislator Julio Chavez spoke at the University of Toronto sponsored by Hands off Venezuela and the Louis Riel Bolivarian Circle. He came in sporting the unassuming Bolivarian fashion: red T-shirt, red baseball cap (with a Canada logo on it), jeans, and sneakers, and fired up a powerpoint presentation.

Just over a month ago (Oct 14/09) Palestinian geographer and director of the "Center for Global Consciousness" Saed Abu-Hijleh spoke at the University of Toronto. Traveling to the North American continent was no escape: Canadian Border services had put him through the ringer at Pearson airport, the border agent asking him whether he would "say anything against Israel" during his time in Canada. "Why did they give me a visa if they were going to humiliate me? I've had Canadians stay at my house in Nablus, but when I come to Canada I get treated like this."

Congo Week is coming to the University of Toronto. I'll be speaking on October 20th and my friend Brad Macintosh on October 15th. If you're in Toronto, check it out. Schedules here at:

http://friendsofthecongouoft.wordpress.com/

Seriously. The Colombian magazine, Semana, and its owner, Alejandro Santos, just won a COHA award for Excellence in Print Journalism.

Santos comes from one of Colombia's most powerful families and Semana, while I'll admit that it is an indispensable source (like El Tiempo), is thoroughly an establishment outlet. COHA, meanwhile, is also indispensable, but perhaps I thought it was a little more oppositional in outlook than it actually is. So I was a little surprised to see the award.