Stealth Game: Community Conservancies Devastate Land & Lives in Northern Kenya ft. Abdinoor Dima Jillo, Isaiah Biwott and Violet Matiru

This episode explores the devastating impact privatized, neocolonial wildlife conservation and safari tourism have had on Indigenous pastoral communities, specifically in Northern Kenya. 

Since its founding in 2004, the Northern Rangelands Trust (NRT) has set up 43 "community" conservancies on over 42,000 square kilometers of land in Northern and Coastal Kenya – nearly 8 percent of the country's total land area. Although terms like “participatory,” “community driven,” and “local empowerment” are extensively used by NRT, this episode amplifies the voices of pastoralist communities who have been dispossessed of their ancestral lands, through corruption, cooptation, and sometimes through intimidation and violence, to create wildlife conservancies for conservation dollars. Guests include:

• Anuradha Mittal, Oakland Institute Executive Director and author of the Stealth Game report
• Abdinoor Dima Jillo, member of the Borana Council of Elders in Isiolo County, Kenya
• Isaiah Biwott, community member Tugen community, Baringo County, Kenya
• Violet Matiru, Executive Director, Millennium Community Development Initiatives, Kenya

Host: Andy Currier

Report available: https://www.oaklandinstitute.org/stealth-game-community-conservancies-devastate-northern-kenya

Art as Resistance ft. David Solnit

If you’ve participated in any mobilizations over the past decade, chances are you’ve seen the work of today’s guest, Oakland Institute Senior Fellow David Solnit.

A climate justice, global justice, anti-war, arts, and direct action organizer, David is also an author, a puppeteer, and a trainer. He was a key organizer in the shutdowns of the WTO in Seattle in 1999 and in San Francisco the day after Iraq was invaded in 2003. Today is he deeply involved in climate action protests. 

In this episode, David reflects on decades spent on the front lines of some of the most important mobilizations and shares his thoughts on the role art can play in resistance movements.

To see David's work firsthand and stay up to date on his current organizing see: https://www.facebook.com/david.solnit

UN Food Systems Summit Resistance: Part II ft. Elizabeth Mpofu, Alejandro Argumedo & Anuradha Mittal

The second episode in a two part series exploring resistance to the upcoming UN Food Systems Summit and mapping out sustainable, bottom-up approaches to food sovereignty. Featuring Elizabeth Mpofu (La Via Campesina), Alejandro Argumedo (Swift Foundation) & Anuradha Mittal (Oakland Institute)

Intro: Chivy Sok

Host: Andy Currier

For more see: //www.oaklandinstitute.org/food-systems-summit

UN Food Systems Summit Resistance: Part I ft. Nnimmo Bassey & Kristen Lyons

The first episode in a two part series exploring resistance to the upcoming UN Food Systems Summit and mapping out sustainable, bottom-up approaches to food sovereignty. Featuring Nnimmo Bassey (Health of Mother Earth Foundation) and Kristen Lyons (Professor of Environment and Development Sociology, U Queensland). 

Intro: Chivy Sok

Host: Andy Currier

For more see: https://www.oaklandinstitute.org/food-systems-summit

Dignity or Exploitation? What Future for Farmworker Families in the US ft. David Bacon

Oakland Institute Senior Fellow, journalist and photographer David Bacon discusses the history of exploitation of the H-2A worker program and how it creates a race to the bottom for all farmworkers. 

Will the Biden administration protect the profits of growers and expand the H-2A program or will it stand with farmworkers who labor in the fields to keep our country fed?

Report: https://www.oaklandinstitute.org/biden-administration-end-slavery-conditions-h2a-guest-worker-program

On the Frontlines of Duterte’s War on Filipino Farmers ft. Kathryn Manga

Kathryn Manga of KMP (Peasants Movement of the Philippines) joins to discuss how farmers faced with land grabs and violent repression continue to struggle for genuine agrarian reform and a better future in the Philippines. 

For the latest news on KMP:

https://www.facebook.com/kilusangmagbubukid/

https://twitter.com/kmp_phl

Music: Mike Mell

”We are Human Beings” Inside the Longest McDonald’s Workers’ Strike ft. Angely Rodriguez & Maria Ceja

Today's episode features Angely Rodriguez and Maria Ceja - two McDonald’s workers who went on a historic strike in response to the company’s failure to provide the bare minimum to protect its workers as COVID-19 ran rampant through their Telegraph Ave location in North Oakland.

To learn more and get involved visit: www.fastfoodjusticeahora.com. 

Hosted by Andy Currier

Music: Michael & Randy Mell

Changing the Path to Development in Papua New Guinea ft. Frédéric Mousseau

The Oakland Institute Policy Director Frederic Mousseau joins to discuss how despite an abundance of natural resource wealth, Papua New Guinea’s reliance on large scale extraction projects has failed to provide development for its people. Instead of allowing foreign corporations to evade taxes and bank profits offshore, PNG must change course to provide people centered development.

https://www.oaklandinstitute.org/extraction-inclusion