This episode of bLine heads to J-Day, an annual celebration of cannabis culture and a protest against Aotearoa's current cannabis legislation. We spoke with the people at J-Day about what the event represented to them and why cannabis should be legalised. After J-Day, we headed back to the studio to speak with some experts about the ramifications of cannabis criminalisation.
Thanks to all of our guests, everyone who spoke with us at J-Day, PhD candidate at the University of Otago, Wetini Rapana, and Policy Director at the New Zealand Drug Foundation, Jacek Kolodziej.
The organisations of Shakti, the Khadija Leadership Network and Auckland Peace Action have come together to host Let’s Deal With It: A Trans-Tasman Conference Towards Racial Equity. The beginnings of this event came out of the terror attacks in Christchurch. The groups say they want to create a safe platform to establish an open dialogue between Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand to help build a society free of prejudice, racism and hate-based crime. The one-day conference focuses on 'creating awareness of the democratic and political processes, promoting active citizenship, encouraging active citizenship within the context of multicultural dialogue and promoting the self-development of refugee and migrant communities'. Tayyaba Khan is from the Khadija Leadership Network, and Arisha Chandra and Mengzhu Fu are both from Shakti. They are all involved in planning the conference and they joined Lillian Hanly this morning to speak more about what they hope to come of it. Lillian started by asking how the conference came about.
The event is on this Friday the 14th, at the Mt Eden War Memorial Hall from 8-5pm. If you can't make it, it will be livestreamed, so you can find that on the Shakti, Auckland Peace Action and Khadija Leadership Network social media. The panels will also be filmed and available online, you can also get involved in the conversation online if you can’t be there in person.
Every Monday night, Rapley brings you two hours from the underbelly of punk, garage, rock 'n roll, psych and everything dirtbag. Paying special attention to local bands, festivals and goings on in the city that he trashes.
Join him as he fumbles his way from rank amateur to medium heavyweight, as he strives to become mediocre.
This week, Jogai and Jess catch up with Claire Hart from Tearfund to learn more about ethical fashion in New Zealand, and bFM reporter Katie Doyle speaks to Mike King about the People's Mental Health Report. Jogai chats to one of the editors and founders of the online magazine e-Tangata, following a profile by the Newsroom highlighting the need to elevate Maori and Pasifika voices in mainstream media. Producer Jess has a report on the Big Dog Walk coming up this weekend with organiser Alice McKinley, and Labour Leader Andrew Little is back for our weekly chat, discussing concerns in the mental health sector and a new plan to cut back on immigration. All this and more on the Thursday Wire - check out the full podcast here.
Reuben McLaren speaks to newly elected Green Party co-lear Marama Davidson about what her leadership will mean for the party, how the Greens will hold the government to account and what is to be made from Immigration New Zealand’s alleged racial profiling.
Lucy Austin finds out about New Zealand's prospects with Brexit on the horizon and what it could mean for trade and our economy. She has a chat to trade, finance and economic development minister David Parker.
It’s Wire Worry Week and we’re focussing on public transport. Mary-Margaret speaks to Auckland Councillor Richard Hills about the regional fuel tax and what it will do for the transport system.
Lastly, we have The Southern Cross with Jean Bell in studio where we’ll get a run down on the big stories from the Asia pacific Region.
Do violent extremists have common characteristics and backgrounds? Can we predict who among them will become violent? Patrick James is project manager for Profiles of Individual Radicalization in the United States (PIRUS) at the University of Maryland. The PIRUS dataset contains de-identified, individual-level information on the backgrounds, attributes, and radicalisation processes of nearly 1500 violent and non-violent extremists who adhere to far-right, far-left, or single issue ideologies in the United States, covering the years 1948 to 2013. Maria Armoudian spoke to James about the project and the characteristics that lead to violent extremism.
Phil Elverum is the primary songwriter, performer, and producer for Mount Eerie and The Microphones. For around 27 years, Phil has been creating some of the most revered and critically acclaimed indie folk of all time. His music veers between stripped back acoustic guitar recordings, to terrifyingly loud and distorted sonic experiments.
Mount Eerie is currently on the verge of a return to Aotearoa, playing in Tāmaki Makaurau, Pōneke, and Ōtepoti with Black Belt Eagle Scout - another band from Washington State that will bring new and classic Mount Eerie tunes to a new, full band soundscape.
I’ve been obsessed with the music of The Microphones and Mount Eerie since I was fourteen. I think I had the Glow Part 2 album cover as my profile picture on Google for about four years, so suffice to say it was a real privilege to interview him. We had a yarn about the upcoming shows, his previous tours of Aotearoa, twenty years of the Mount Eerie name, and more.
Chris Riddell is a world-renowned illustrator and author of children’s books and the political cartoonist for the Observernewspaper. He has collaborated with artists and writers such as Neil Gaiman, Phoebe Bridgers and Frances Hardinge. In 2018 he travelled to Aotearoa to speak at the Auckland Writers Festival. Most recently, Chris has releasedI Can’t Remember What We Talked About, a slim volume of 24 poems.
Beth and Chris chat about the creative process of art-making and poetry writing, love of nature, designing pop-up books for the backdrop of Phoebe Bridgers’ tour and magical pear tree staffs. Chris reads some poems and they also speak about what it’s like being a political cartoonist in the current political climate.
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