listen to an interview with journalist and filmmaker Raed Rafei giving some insights and reflections as to the 2008 political crisis in Lebanon. throughout this interview recorded in 2008 you can hear the sounds of machine gun fire in the Hamra district of Beirut, people shooting in the air to support an agreement to end the political conflict in Lebanon at the time which revolved around Hezbollah's right to sustain their own system of defensive weaponry.

this interview offers reflections and info about the role of mainstream media in Lebanon within the context of sectarian political lines in the country, important insights offered by a professional media worker who has produced documentary films and also contributed to the LA Times.

this interview was recorded for broadcast on CKUT radio at the time by Stefan Christoff @spirodon as part of the 'Broadcasts from Beirut' interview series that was produced in collaboration with Tadamon! collective http://tadamon.ca

this interview is being uploaded here on Free City Radio for public archiving purposes. info http://freecityradio.org

listen to an interview with journalist Nada Bakri speaking in May 2008 about the political agreement signed in Doha, Qatar, that ended a months long political crisis in Lebanon, signified by a public sit-in lead by Hezbollah in downtown Beirut.

recorded for broadcast on CKUT radio by Stefan Christoff @spirodon in May 2008, now being re-uploaded on Free City Radio. interview transcript live at: http://www.tadamon.ca/post/1507

accompanying photo by Matthew Cassel

listen to an interview with Karim Makdisi, Lebanese academic and writer, who offers a progressive critique of Lebanon's sectarian political system. this interview was recorded in 2008 in the wake of the Doha agreement in Lebanon that ended months of armed clashes in the country.

importantly this interview looks at the social and economic injustices in Lebanon as connected to political decisions being made on sectarian lines. also this interview addresses the NGO industrial complex in Lebanon which in many ways fails to address the broader systemic points of crisis that are at the root of social and economic injustice.

read the full interview transcription here :

http://www.tadamon.ca/post/1492

this interview was recorded for broadcast on CKUT fm as part of a collaboration with Tadamon! collective which in 2008 worked on the "Broadcasts from Beirut" interview series. this interview was recorded / produced by Stefan Christoff @spirodon and is being uploaded here for public archiving purposes. http://freecityradio.org

accompanying photo of Beirut by Krystel Kfoury.

listen to a 2008 interview with the late author / journalist Anthony Shadid speaking on the 2008 political crisis in Lebanon, looking at the then recently signed Doha agreement. In this interview Anthony links the US military intervention in Iraq in 2003 and the sustaining sectarian political crisis in Lebanon.

this interview was recorded as part of the Broadcasts from Beirut project, a collaboration between the Tadamon! collective and CKUT radio. this interview was conducted by Oula Hajjar.

read a transcript of this interview here :

http://www.tadamon.ca/post/1485

this interview is being uploaded for public archiving purposes here on Free City Radio info http://freecityradio.org accompanying photo by Matthew Cassel.

listen to an interview with documentary filmmaker Lina Makboul speaking on the film Hijacker which looks at the life of Palestinian freedom fighter and activist Leila Khaled.

info on the film : www.leilakhaled.com

this interview was recorded at CKUT radio and formed the basis for both an article and print interview in a book of texts compiled by the Cinema Politica Network.

info on the book project :

www.cinemapolitica.org/documentaryactivismbook

this interview was recorded / produced by Stefan Christoff @spirodon at CKUT radio, as part of the Cinema Politica book project, being uploaded here for public archiving purposes. info freecityradio.org

listen to an interview with dub poet and community worker zibz blackurrent speaking on the independent arts in Montreal, looking at the intersections between grassroots cultural expression and front-line community work. zibz speaks about working with marginalized youth in the NDG area of Montreal, looking at the ways that artistic practice can be bound directly to frontline community experiences.

in this interview zibz also speaks about the importance of Kalmunity Vibe Collective as a cultural space in Montreal, the role that the project plays in grounding cultural expression in action and empowerment.

this interview was recorded in the basement of Casa del Popolo in August 2015 during the sound check for a performance by zibz at Wired on Words, recorded / produced for broadcast on CKUT fm in Montreal by Stefan Christoff @spirodon on Free City Radio info : http://freecityradio.org/

accompanying photo by võ thiên việt.

listen to a 2008 interview with writer and alternative cafe owner Bilal El-Amine speaking about the 2008 moves by the then pro-western Lebanese government to uncover Hezbollah's coded communications system, a key tool for organizing the anti-colonial armed battles against the Israeli apartheid state's attacks on Lebanon.

particularly this interview places some context / background on the relationship between the various political factions in Lebanon and the broader conflict between Lebanon and Israel.

also this interview explores the role that mainstream media in Lebanon plays in promoting sectarian views / visions on the country.

this interview was produced for broadcast on CKUT fm in Montreal by Stefan Christoff @spirodon being uploaded now for public archiving purposes here on Free City Radio http://freecityradio.org

accompanying photo by Matthew Cassel

listen to an interview with Arturo Rodriguez from the United Farm Workers speaking on the working death of Maria Jimenez that took place in the summer of 2008. Maria was a farm worker who died from heat stroke within the context of intense summer heat of agricultural fields.

Maria was a migrant worker from Oaxaca, Mexico and this interview puts the death within the context of the broader struggle for migrant justice, regularization and the rights of agricultural workers in the US.

a transcription of this interview was published at the time with the Dominion, which you can read at :

http://www.dominionpaper.ca/articles/1898

this interview is being uploaded for public archiving purposes here on Free City Radio, the interview was produced at the time by Stefan Christoff for broadcast on CKUT fm in Montreal, now being shared via Free City Radio info http://freecityradio.org

graphic is the united farm workers logo

listen to an interview with Jordan Topp recorded in 2003, who was involved at the time in the Coalition Against the Deportation of Palestinian Refugees, a grassroots network of activists and Palestinian refugees in Montreal organizing against the mass, post 9/11 deportation of Palestinian refugees from Canada.

this interview provides some background and context to the struggle of Palestinian refugees against deportation, looking at some of the specifics to the political, social and economic context facing Palestinian refugees from the camps of Lebanon.

this interview was recorded for broadcast on CKUT radio at the time by Stefan Christoff @spirodon & is now being uploaded for public archiving purposes here on Free City Radio http://freecityradio.org

accompanying photo was taken in Ein el-Hilweh refugee camp in southern Lebanon by Stefan Christoff.

listen to a 2003 interview with No One is Illegal activist Harsha Walia speaking in Montreal in 2003 about the organizing of the Action Committee of Pakistani Refugees & the struggle against a wave of deportations of Pakistani refugees that was taking place at the time.

specifically this interview highlights the case of Bilquis Fatima a then 63-year-old Pakistani refugee who was, along with family members, fighting against deportation efforts of the then Liberal government.

this interview was recorded at the time for broadcast on CKUT radio in Montreal by Stefan Christoff @spirodon now being uploaded for public archiving purposes by Stefan Christoff @spirodon