theparadigmshift

Well here at the Paradigm Shift we like to do what we say we're going to do...so in covering the wikileaks media storm, we decided not to focus on the allegations of slander against the websites founder, nor the hype of whether or not the information released will 'put the allies' at risk (perhaps it's the powers sending them to war that are doing that?!), but instead we chose to analyse what the leaks actually mean - what is the significance of the reams of data that has been released (as they used to say is history class) as primary source material. Listen on to find out, and enjoy the guest hosting of Canadian Thomas this week too!

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The Paradigm Shift played host to another alter-narrative segment this week, in a celebration of the female voice and perspective. We managed to cram six guests into the 4zzz studio! The majority of our plethora of guests were from The QUT Women's Collective, who talked us through their reworkings of well known rap,rock and pop songs with misogynistic lyrics into subversive parodies of former chart topping hits. They also told us about their glorious annual Rap Reversal event that happens at Browning St. Studios in West End. We did broadcast some awesome live songs from the studio, but sadly they were distorted beyond repair and we couldn't broadcast them However you can find some great clips of the QUT Women's Collective in action here and here.

As if that wasn't enough, we also broadcast some passionate spoken word from local performance poet Betsy Turcot and chatted to her about the importance of hosting an all female edition of local bi-monthly spoken word event Words or Whatever at West End's Blackstar Cafe, which happens every two months. Enjoy the words and the tunes!

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November 29 is the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinians, as initiated by the UN (perhaps to ameliorate their decision to partition the territory in 1947?!) so this week we looked at the Boycott/Divestment/Sanctions campaign initiated by Palestinian civil society in 2005. We spoke to Hamish Chitts from Justice for Palestine (Brisbane) about the rationale behind the campaign, some companies and products to target, the recent BDS conference in Melbourne and actions Justice for Palestine has taken in support of the campaign. November 27 is Buy Nothing Day so we also spoke briefly about that effort to encourage society to look more critically at the issue of consumption. Surprisingly (is it?) there are also critics of Buy Nothin Day. Apparently there are many non-spending activities to participate in in November! Sound quality in this podcast isn't world class, so if such things bother you check out this site instead: http://bdsmovement.net/

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In 2006 Hamas won the elections in Gaza and Israel and Egypt responded by (officially) sealing their borders with the occupied territory, allowing no one and nothing in or out without their ok. In the years since the blockade of Gaza has intensified - Egypt is currently constructing an underground steel barrier while a 3-nautical mile sea blockade is also in place. The United Nations has declared the blockade illegal under the Geneva Convention. In May 2010 the 9th - since the 2008 war in Gaza - flotilla set out to attempt to break the blockade of Gaza and to draw attention to the situation in Gaza. The flotilla was carrying humanitarian aid, construction materials and medical supplies, 663 participants from 37 different nations were on board. While 5 flotillas (pre-2008) war had been allowed through, none have been permitted since and, unfortunately, the Mavi Marmara was no exception. In an operation named "sea breeze/sky winds" the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) boarded and seized the 6 ships, killing 9 on board, injuring many others and capturing the ships and supplies. This week we talked to two students from the Gold Coast who took part in this flotilla, they told us about their motivation to participate, their experiences on the journey and their experiences with the IDF raid.

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2010 marks 100 years since the establishment of the Spanish CNT (the National Confederation of Workers) so this week we spoke to some people involved in putting on an event in Brisbane to mark the anniversary. They told us about the CNT as it existed in the early 20th century and during the Spanish civil war: the development and activities of the CNT, and its relevance today. We were given a thorough rundown of one of the autonomous groups working with the CNT, the Free Women's groups, and also heard about the divisions that existed within the Republican forces who fought the fascists. Howard Zinn makes a special appearance!

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As part of our coverage of the Australian 2010 federal election we spoke to - let's face it - our preferred candidate for the senate in Queensland - Sam Watson who ran with the Socialist Alliance. In this interview he spoke to us about the lack of coverage of Aboriginal issues in the election campaign; the key issues and, given that it was circa radiothon (4zzz's main fundraising drive) the role that 4zzz has played in Brisbane's political landscape over the past 35 years.

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The 2010 Australian federal election was coming up so we talked about voting. Over the course of an hour we tackled some of the more obscure of the 60 candidates running for the senate in this increasingly idiotically named state of Queensland; Thomas expounded the virtues of proportional representation and preferetial voting, and we heard from some opinionated members of the Queen Street Mall public. Finally, we talked about anti-voting organising as an alternative to as-some-would-say this farce of a democracy! Contrary to all expectations the actual election/resulting parliament turned out to be mighty interesting, but we'll leave that to others to talk about!

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This week we pissed off all our friends (not really) by taking on the saviours of the world - the Actvists, by which we mean the white (mostly), middle class (mostly) folks in the west who identify as activists. We took our starting point from an article called "Give Up Activism" from a zine called Do or Die. From there we pontificated ourselves through the course of an hour in the process looking at consumer activism, the activist role, activist tactics and the assumptions that lie behind them, among other things. We finished off by putting each other on the spot for "solutions". You'll be rewarded for listening with a few toons but, be warned, you will encounter plenty of sarcasm and dry humour.

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The second part of our Intervention show features the "alternative" to the Intervention, the case of the Ampilatwatja walk-off and protest camp. We spoke to two people who didn't make it to the Conference but did make it to the protest camp. The camp was set up by community members in July 2009 after seeing that two years of Intervention Spending hadn't produced anything positive on the ground. Aleisha and Bridget told us about the community's frustration in not being listened to or respected, their claim to the U.N. to be recognised as refugees, and the continuing lack of response from Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin. On the positive side we learned about their hopes and plans for the future: their self-provision of basic services and infrastructure that we suspect the government never intended to provide in the first place. Once again we learned that Aboriginal communities do not need paternalism, but may appreciate solidarity.

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