Author Chris Bergeron discusses her book Valid: Dystopian Autofiction, trans futures, Love is Blind and the multiverse with Shelf Life Books.

Valid: A genre-bending speculative look at a dark future, Valid shares the story of one trans woman leading a revolution.

Set in a disturbingly transfigured Montreal in the year 2050, Valid is a monologue delivered over the span of eight hours by Christelle, a seventy-year-old trans woman forced to live as a man in order to survive. Speaking to her captor, an ever-more powerful AI, she turns the tables and mounts her own revolution by showing her truest self. Part autofiction, part dystopic speculation on an all-too-possible future characterized by corporate power, ecological collapse, and political havoc, Valid is an ambitious work that is as much philosophical as it is confessional.

Music by Arielle McCuaig.

Chris Bergeron

Back before acid house changed the world, Jaye was already ploughing a unique path playing weird and wonky musics of all flavours at squat parties and industrial based do’s, she flung herself whole heartedly and without concern for her safety into the oncoming tsunami of what we would end up tagging as house, techno or the multitude of varying descriptive titles it has been given and has stayed true to ‘our thing’ ever since.

suoni n.13 _ Jaye Ward

When nobody in power will lift a finger to earn your vote but they're falling all over themselves trying to stomp out a robust protest movement, that tells you what the powerful are actually afraid of and where you should really be focusing your political energy.

Reading by Tim Foley.

When Your Rulers Ignore Voters But Are Terrified Of Protesters, That Tells You Something

I don't spend my time attacking the US war machine because I have any special love for Hamas, Iran, Russia, China, or any other power. I do it because the US empire is quantifiably the most destructive and tyrannical force on this planet, by an extremely massive margin.

Reading by Tim Foley.

I Criticize The US Power Alliance Because It's The Most Destructive Force On Earth

It's actually a brilliant self-reinforcing scam. It works like this:

Step 1: Murder people in the middle east in the name of fighting "terrorism".

Step 2: This causes people to hate you and your allies and to want to retaliate with violence.

Step 3: Designate these people "terrorists".

Step 4: Send more war machinery to the region to go fight "terrorism".

Step 5: Murder more people in the middle east in the name of fighting "terrorism".

Do you see how this cycle would repeat over and over again, leading to more and more US military expansionism in the middle east? That's exactly what we've been seeing, and it's exactly what the US empire wants.

Reading by Tim Foley.

The US Empire Deliberately Stokes Hatred And Violence In The Middle East

Interviews with Stefan Christoff, some Profs 4 Palestine (on the embroidered banner pictured here), Kevin Lo, and more, following the Artists 4 Palestine talk that morning. 

We experienced lots of technical difficulties this day so apologies for the audio quality and some interviews cutting off.

Day 7 (3 May 2024) 3-6pm: Artists for Palestine and more

Our problem is not that more and more people are opposing Israel's empire-backed atrocities in Gaza with more and more aggression, our problem is that people are not opposing it aggressively enough. Our problem is that too many people still have their minds jacked into the mainstream worldview and ignore the most urgent matter of our time, letting their thoughts be preoccupied with frivolous garbage and trusting that our leaders are doing what's best for us.

Reading by Tim Foley.

The Problem Isn't Civil Disobedience, It's Civil Obedience

It's important to understand that there's nothing unusual about the western empire's depravity in Gaza or the mass media's constant lies and distortions about it - they do these things constantly, year after year. What's unusual is that people are waking up to it.

Reading by Tim Foley.

It's Not Unusual That We're Being Lied To, It's Unusual That People Are Noticing

And this just says so much about the nature of this "democracy" - a word which literally means "rule by the people". If the people were actually in charge, there would be some option available to them to end the worst thing happening in the world right now. But the people are not in charge. When it comes to matters of the most importance, they never get a vote.

Reading by Tim Foley.

If You Can't Even Elect A Candidate Who'll End A Genocide, How Real Is Your "Democracy"?

Hundreds showed up in the city to protest the Dakota Access Pipeline in Toronto on Jan. 28, 2017.

The Scope News

Solidarity with Standing Rock protest in Toronto

Twenty years ago, workers at the Calgary Herald went on what would become an eight-month strike, citing editorial overreach, a torqued political slant, and unfair treatment in the newsroom. Herald striker Terry Inigo-Jones joins Team Advantage to discuss his experience taking on the Herald and its then-owner, Conrad Black. This story has it all, folks— Canadian media concentration, scabs who you'll now recognize as right-wing hacks, a literal press baron, police intimidation and brutality, private security goons, and much much more.

Day 7 (3 May 2024) 3-6pm: Artists for Palestine and more

CKUT 90.3FM

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