Citizen Reporter

I caught up with Joe at CCC2011, just a few weeks ago. He had presented his experience as the target of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police that has left him with little doubt that the present and future of Canada is dark. In this interview we discuss:

Joe on Twitter

Vancouver Media Collective

An investigative journalist in the Netherlands has exposed major security flaws in a major government project which promised safe and easy travel throughout the country. He has been reporting the results of his work to both the public and the government. The goal was to inform the public while also pressuring decision makers to address this problem before further damage is done. The result, however, is that Brenno de Winter is now being prosecuted for his journalistic investigation. Laws that protect a journalist in such a situation? -the Netherlands doesn’t have any. How can that be? In this podcast Brenno explains the saga as he now faces jail time as punishment for having exposed massive flaws in a 3 billion euro investment (OV-Chip Card) carried out with public funds.

Follow Brenno on twitter for the latest info on the case AND the card.

There is a direct connection between armed conflict in Congo and the minerals we use in our phones and computers. Bibi Bleekemolen has been investigating that connection, in an effort to understand how it works, who is involved, and what can be done about it.  Her focus is the role that electronics companies have in the raging conflicts in eastern Congo.

Earlier this year she went along as part of the fairphone fact finding mission to Katanga.  In this podcast we discuss the aftermath of that journey as well as Bibi’s extensive research into the topic.

Recommended Links about Conflict Minerals and Congo:

SOMO

NIZA

Earlier this year Michael Schaap went to DRCongo as part of the Fairphone fact finding mission. The goal was to better understand how the minerals that make up our technology, our mobile phones, are mined and how they travel from miners up through all the middle people and eventually to the mobile phone producers.  Can this process be carried out ethically? Where people are not taken advantage of or abused while doing their work and earning a living? Michael saw first hand how this process works and where things could perhaps change. But does the organization have the resources and support to achieve their goals? What lessons came out of the visit to Katanga?

Since the beginning of 2011 Juan Rodriguez has been working in Afghanistan with the mission to help this country communicate.  This has meant bringing internet connectivity to schools, mobile phones for farmers, and an array of crowdsource projects for health, security, and agriculture.  On one beautiful and relaxed Friday afternoon in Jalalabad, Juan and I sat in the garden of the wonderful Taj to record this program and tell this story.

International Synergy Group

Juan’s Photostream 

You don’t often hear from poets in Afghanistan, but beyond all the politics and violence that gets all the press, they’ve been there all along, writing, reciting, performing…

My guest is Wida Sharifi, a poet and writer based here in Herat. She joins me to tell me about how she got her start in poetry and how the world of poetry works in Afghanistan. We also get into literacy, television, work, and more.

The violence and threats occasionally are reported about in the mainstream media. The threats to funding have also grabbed headlines this year. Almost two years since the murder of Dr. Tiller, what is the state of abortion in the United States? For those who perform the procedure. For those who need or want the procedure. How have things been changing for all the actors involved over the past few years.

To explain the state of things I’m visiting with one of my favorite people,  Leah, of the Philadelphia Women’s Center.

She was last on the program back in December of 2007, discussing the state of abortion in America at that time.

Driving outside of Tbilisi on the way to the ancient city Mtskheta, my hosts and I talk about Georgian language and how it has been effected by decades of Soviet Occupation and migration patterns. We also delve into Russian-Georgian relations today and how war is still very much part of the language and memory of the nation.

You can follow one of the guests on this episode via his twitter account. The other guest will remain anonymous.

I suddenly find myself in the republic of Georgia and the first thing one needs when arriving in a new country such as Georgia is a guide. Mark Mullen knows Georgia, he has been here since the late 90’s and pays close attention to what is going on in the present. Who better to sit down with on my first night in Tbilisi, to talk about this country.

Mark’s Podcast about Georgia