END:CIV

Dispatch #2 of Stop the Flows focuses on burgeoning anti-nuke movement in Japan, following the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Truth be told I had larger plans for this dispatch. But with time and resources lacking, I could only scratch the surface of not just the anti-nuke movement, but of the anarchist and activist scene in Japan. So what you see here is nearly a glimpse into the world of the folks who will end nuclear power in Japan for good.
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Dear subMedia supporters,

It’s been a whirlwind of a year for me. I started touring with END:CIV almost a year ago so far I’ve personally shown it over 100 times. Yep, that’s more than 100 Q and A sessions in four countries and in four languages. I’ve traveled over 40,000 KM by foot, bike, boats, van, buses, jets and trains. Online views of END:CIV are close to 80,000 on multiple platforms and grassroots screenings keep popping up every month. So far I’ve posted 9 translations on the website with a few more in the coming weeks including Turkish, Mandarin, Cantonese and Indonesian. All in all I consider this 5 year project a success.

My newest project has the working title of Stop the Flows. Over the next five years I will document resistance movements that are working towards stopping the flows of hydro carbons, mineral extraction, natural resources and capital, through grassroots and underground organizing. I will publish the dispatches as I complete them with the goal of compiling them into a feature length documentary to be released on 2016.

The first dispatch took me to Central BC where Unis’toten nation are pre-empting the construction of 4 oil and gas pipelines through their traditional territories. You can watch that here. The next dispatch will focus on the growing opposition to an oil pipeline expansion right here where I live in Vancouver. In December I will compile the hours of interviews and footage I gathered while in Japan, for a dispatch spotlighting the growing grassroots anti-nuke movement. In January I hope to travel to Australia to continue touring and gathering material for Stop the Flows and ditto goes for Europe in the spring.

So this is my pitch and appeal for financial support. As you may or may not know, subMedia does no receive money from foundations, corporations or governments. This fact has kept our media truly independent and rogue, videos that don’t mince words or tap dance around the issues. I feel the this type of unfiltered media is crucial in these times, when we are witnessing increased suppression of dissent, but also the birth of a global revolutionary movement.

With that said, consider donating a few bucks to subMedia. The goal is to raise $10,000 by the end of the year to push these projects through the winter.

Thanks again for supporting radical media!

frank

It’s been a whirlwind two weeks in Japan. From the moment of my arrival I knew I was in for a ride. I was supposed to meet Narita. the lead organizer for the tour at Shijuku station. Unbeknown to me, Shijuku station is the biggest train station in Tokyo with an estimated 2 million people going through it every single fuckin day. Alas I did not find him, and had to figure out where the screening was. With no phone, and no a lick of knowledge of the Japanese language, it took me 30 minutes to find an internet cafe (bizarre fuckin place, but that’s another story). Long story long, I make to to Cafe Lavanderia, an anti-capitalist event space to find a packed room still watching END:CIV. The organizers had to add a second screening to accommodate the over 100 people who showed up. Jet lagged, tired, hungry and cranky, I have to gain my composure and take part on a panel discussion with Kanzen Jisatsu Manyuaru best selling author of “The Complete Manual on Suicide” (yeah that’s right) and Ill Commonz. Yeah, that was all within my first 2 hours in Tokyo.

What followed was 14 jammed packed days of screenings and interviews. No, I’m not big in Japan and the media doesn’t want to talk to me, I was conducting interviews for a report I’m preparing on the grassroots anti-nuclear movement here. What’s happening here is not dissimilar to the Occupy Wall Street phenomenon. People here are fed up with the lies, inaction, and misinformation coming from the nuclear industry and their servants in the Government.

Activism here is not seen in a positive light by society in general and during the 80′s and 90′s there was hardly any visible trace of dissent in this country, or so I’m told. Then came the Iraq war, and mass demonstrations broke the spell of Japanese politeness. Those where followed by anti-G8 protests in 2008. So far this year there have been large (10,000′s) anti-nuclear rallies, every month since the Fukushima nuclear disaster. At the centre of this movement is group of merry trouble makers called Amateur Riot. These folks are based in the neighbourhood of Koenji, and consist of 14 tiny shops that sell anything from used furniture and appliances, second hand clothes, to bars and restaurants. These shops have provided safe spaces for activist to organize their actions. But more on that on my video report.

One of my biggest surprises here, has been poverty. Yep, there’s poor people here. And homeless too! There’s also foreign day labourers that are sent to work inside the evacuation zone in Fukushima. Like Canada, Japan guards is reputation as a democratic techno utopia with great zeal. But the economy here is tanking and unemployment growing. Suicides rates are some of the highest in the industrialized world, with over 3,000 in May alone. If you find that your trusted and punctual public transport system is delayed, chances are high that someone jumped in front of a train.

Yep, I’m vomiting all of this onto the page (so to speak) because I still have much to process. But all in all, people here are great. The hospitality I’ve received has been unparalleled and people’s resilience is amazing, even with the spectre of radiation polluting half the island. The fighting spirit I’ve witnessed has renewed my optimism, and hope that my video report further informs North Americans and beyond about the growing movement here.

Tomorrow, I return to Vancouver to join the thousands who will occupy the Vancouver Art Gallery, and by extension the billions who make the 99%.

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I’ve been off for about 5 weeks and I can’t tell you how refreshed I feel. The five months of touring in North America were good, but I came very close to reaching burn out. I made it home a day before a spontaneous insurrection that rocked the streets of downtown following the loss of the Vancouver Canucks in the Stanley Cup finals. Couldn’t expect a better welcome.

Even though I’ve been mostly relaxing – riding my bike, going to the beach, reading Octavia Butler – I did do some work at Sutikalh, a protection camp that successfully halted the building of a ski resort eleven years ago. Supporters continually provide material support to keep this gorgeous area from being developed. I joined a group of about 30 anarchists to help build a cabin, dig a trench for an outhouse and split wood among other tasks.

This week myself and some comrades, embarked on a mini tour of BC to screen END:CIV in Lillooet, Prince George, Smithers and Moricetown. Like most of BC, all of these areas are rich in what capitalists call “resources” and have been exploited for hundreds of years to extract wood and minerals or to dam the rivers for hydro electric generation.

But the issue that has people talking in BC is the proposed pipeline that will bring dirty tar sands oil to the pacific. This pipeline will be over 1,000 kilometres long, and will bring deforestation and potential oil spills to rivers and indigenous communities along the way. It will also create a corridor with high oil tanker traffic that would threaten one of the most beautiful ecological regions left in the planet, the coast of British Columbia.

Even though the pipeline has not been approved, communities are getting ready to oppose it. The final stop on our tour is Moricetown, where members of the Wet’suwet’en nation are holding their second action camp to build resistance against the proposed pipeline.

Finally, here’s a clip from Aric McBay, who is featured in END:CIV, debating conservative talk show host Brian Lilley on Canada’s SunNews, our Fox News equivalent.

Stay tuned for more updates and dates for the END:CIV tour of Japan in the following weeks.