25.5 Mb 128 kbps mono 28 mins

Fred Fuentes reports from Caracas on the regional election results this November in Venezuela ('State' Governers, and Mayors). While the 'Chavista' VSUP increased its' total vote, the right wing opposition clawed back two State governorships, and a key Mayoral position in Metropolitan Caracas (Venezuela's capital).

Fred points out that a strong push by the right wing parties and candidates has have failed in a strategy to undermine the pro Chavez government and its program, serving mainly to eliminate some of the weaker elements in the administration.

It has also served to show up the fascistic tendencies of the opposition, with the opposition Mayors and Governors attempting to dismantle some of the facilities of the grass roots organisations (like a community youth TV channel) within days of winning their seats.

This hints at some future confrontations between the back and forward looking sectors of Venezuelan society.

7m17s, 1.7MB

2008-11-25 Tues

*Black 'chopper alert' flag flies in Nimbin today*....................................................*NimFM's finances*...........................*special 2 day market in Nimbin for Comm Centre handover*

AGM photo shows, (L - R): Mim (Ass Treas), Bob (Pres), Gary, Judy (Treas), Jack, Katrina (Sec), Gail, Ian, Stewart, Ron, Peah, Rick.....(ta to Gary for it)

5m32s, 1.3MB

2008-11-24 Mon

*new 2009 NimFM committee, + Presidents, Vice Pres, & Treasurers's report*

8m13s, 1.9MB

2008-11-18 Tues

*NimFM's AGM soon*....................*NimFM's 9th Birthday party soon*.....................................*Industrial hemp workshop in Lismore on Sat*

5m40, 1.3MB

2008-11-17 Mon

*Nimbin Fashion Show*

9.2 Mb 128 kbps mono 10 mins.

Burke Stansbury from CISPES talks about the move to extradite former ARENA president of El Salvador, Cristiani, along with 14 others to be put on trial for their responsibility in Human Rights violations. The best known of these is  the massacre of 6 Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her daughter, nineteen years ago. This could have serious implications for ARENA's prospects in next year's elections. While the extradition order is being considered by a Spanish court, protesters in the US are demonstrating outside the US training camp where the Salvadoran Atlacatl battalion, notorious for this and other brutal massacres, were trained. The Atlacatl battalion was also responsible for the massacre of El Mozote, where an entire village was wiped out.

3Mb 128 kbps mono 3:05 mins

Fred Fuentes from Caracas  - The Australian brigade.

9.4 Mb. 128 kbps mono 10:15 mins

Fred Fuentes reports on developments and possible outcomes of this month's regional and state elections in Venezuela.

8Mb 128 kbps. mono 8:40mins

Burke Stansbury from CISPES reports that a number of former high ranking military and a former President of El Salvador and leader of the ARENA party may be extradited to Spain to be tried for crimes and human rights violations during El Salvador's civil war.

11.5Mb 128kbps mono 12:36mins

Fretilin threatens to withdraw from Parliament.


Timor remembers the Santa Cruz massacre, while human rights discussion is sidelined. Like a lot of debate on critical issues in the Parliament of Timor Leste. Jose Teixeira explains why the opposition Fretilin party is contemplating a walkout, with some members of the government AMP coalition.Jose is deeply concerned that a recent legal decision is not being taken seriously by the current government.

8mb 128kbps mono 8:43 mins

Timor remembers the Santa Cruz massacre, while human rights discussion is sidelined.

10m5s, 2.3MB

2008-11-11 Tues

*Town Hall meeting report*.....................*Aboriginal Centre opening soon*...................................*Don't forget NimFM's AGM & party*

6:m47s, 1.6MB

2008-11-10 Mon

*Meet the new Mayor tonite*.....................*Lost dog Found*

23 Mb 128kbps. mono   25:10  mins

Fretilin Parliamentarian Jose Teixeira talks about former Fretilin Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri's recent Australian tour and some of the successful outcomes. He discusses issues being debated in Timor Leste at the moment, some of them quite disturbing  - like the approval in principle by the AMP government for a Club Med type development on environmentally protected wetlands, and the huge biofuel project for an Indonesian company.

12.6Mb 128kbps mono 13:51 mins

Burke Stansbury of CISPES gives us an update on the pre-election situation in El Salvador. The governing ARENA party is showing signs of strain, with a contorversial vice presidential candidate selected in the face of increasingly unfavorable polls. At the same time they are stepping up the 'dirty' propaganda campaign against the FMLN.

9min, 2MB

2008-10-21 Tues

*Nimbin Chamber of Commerce meeting*................Update on Marijuana crusader, Rock*.....................*Dont forget about the film festival*

10mins, 2.3MB

2008-10-28 Tues

*Happy High Herbs has some good news & some bad news*.................*Thuggish behaviour by laneway boys leaves a woman with broken arm after they upended her into a rubbish bin. Community Safety meeting soon*.....................*Tunt Falls Theatre presents 'A Hot Godly Wind' on the W.E.*.....................*Happy 19th to Lara Bowman today* 

9m30s, 2.7 MB

2008-10-27 Mon

*All the results from the NIMBIN FILM FESTIVAL*.................*Rainbow Cafe's mum-to-be loses child*.......................*Pink Ribbon Day at the Bowlo*

12.5Mb 128 kbps mono 13:32

Nimbin Community Radio 2NimFM caught this exclusive interview with Mari Alkatiri when he was in Australia to talk about his vision for Timor Leste as a potential bridge for Asian, Pacific, and Western cultures. Timor Leste is unusually well placed for this role historically, culturally, and linguisticly, having kept its' unique identity through successive waves of colonisation by the Portugese, invasion by the Japanese in WWII, and occupation by the Indonesians in 1970s and 1990s.

Here is the first four minutes of his well received presentation at the Australian National University. Following is an exclusive ten minute interview with community radio 2NimFM just before Mari Alkatiri's meeting with Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. Mari fields questions about the need for justice for the people of Timor Leste, the controversial Peace March, now deferred because of the threats of repression from the current Prime Minister, and a broad outline of how the Fretilin Party (of which he is the General Secretary) is organised.  Fretilin  ranks are open to the younger generation, which is strongly represented in the party organisation.

      Finally, Mari briefly comments on his own role in the Fretilin party.

7.9Mb. 128kbps. mono 8:32 mins.

Part 3 of 3

Fred Fuentes, back from two weeks in Bolivia talks about renewed power to the people and the popular organisations, after the Morales government survived the crisis of last September. Bolivian society showing new openings and seeking new ways forward.

10Mb 128kbps mono 11 minutes.

Part 2 of 3

Fred Fuentes in Caracas, just back from Bolivia after two weeks of assessing post-crisis Bolivia. In this section he talks about the new strengths of the Morales government, from the popular social organisations, and support from other Latin American nations. The US and the right are caught on the back foot. US influence in the region has been significantly weakened, with many regions refusing to accept US aid money.

12.2Mb 128kbps. mono 13:19 mins.

Part 1.
Fred Fuentes returns to Caracas after two weeks in Bolivia assessing the situation there after the attempted right wing coup last month. Morales seems to have outmanouevred the ultra-right's attempts to unseat him and appears to have made his own position stronger, while his enemies are in disarray. He is so confident of his support in the popular social movements now that he is holding another referendum next month.

10Mb 128kbps mono 10:26 mins

With the onset of the Wall Street crash, Venezuela invited 40 political economists to Caracas, to debate the crisis and propose alternatives. The conference titled ‘Responses from the South to the Global Economic Crisis’. Chaired by Venezuela’s Planing and Development Minister Haiman El Troudi and Luis Bonilla from the Centro Internacional Miranda, the group presented papers and debated for four days, before presenting the Venezuelan Government with a joint statement.

Dr. Tim Anderson was one of the Political Economists invited an he spoke to Nimbin Community Radio 2Nim FM about how the Latin American countries are preparing for the imminent world recession. Unlike the more developed nations Latin American countries are investing in the social and public sector rather than bailing out the private sector, to buffer themselves from the Wall Street meltdown.

16Mb. 128kbps mono 17:12 minutes

Burke Stansbury talks about the CISPES attendance at the Social Forum of the Americas in Guatemala recently, where representatives from Latin American countries discussed the meltdown of the US financial system. The recent gains of social organisations and movements could well be a buffer for those who will be most affected by recession, but historically such gains have brought on a backlash by entrenched interests. The establishment by the US of an International Law Enforcement Academy in El Salvador has seen a corresponding increase in the number of disappearances and extra-judicial murders and assassinations of individuals involved in social movements and the opposition party FMLN, and there is a strange reluctance to allow outsiders to see the curriculum or the teaching methods. ILEAs have been set up in a number of key Latin American countries, and are seen as a replacement for the notorious US based School of the Americas, which was closed down in the 90s due to its association with the training of some of Latin America's worst military dictatorships, and the teaching of 'death squad' methods.

7m41s, 1.8MB

2008-10-20 Mon

*Mysterious police activity in Nimbin*..........................*Nimbin Film Festival coming up*......................................*Chamber of Commerce meeting tomorrow*

10Mb 128kbps mono 10 mins 10:40mins.

Coral Winter talks about the launch of a book she has co-authored with Jim MacIlroy based on their experiences of a year spent in  Venezuela, and some 400 interviews they conducted with people involved in the grass roots activities that are building the new Venezuela

2.4 Mb. 128 kbps mono 2:40mins

Jose Teixeira - extract from longer interview. Jose answers the question about the likely effects of the US financial crisis on the economy and general stability of Timor Leste.

13.3 Mb 128kbps mono 14:43mins

Jose Teixeira, Fretilin Parliamentarian talks about the last week in the Parliament of Timor Leste, when a rebuke was delivered by the leader of the Fretilin team.  He goes on to explain the latest rumblings in the National Police of Timor Leste, and the mistakes made earlier that have generated the current tensions.

(Note: Sound quality in this segment is good)

7Mb 128kbps mono   7:30 mins

Jose talks about a proposed Peace March to highlight some of the issues troubling Timor Leste, and ominous threats to suppress it from the Prime Minister.

(Note: Sound quality is patchy)

9.2Mb. 128kbps mono 10 mins

Lara Pullin with the latest update on the lead up to El Salvador's elections next year. As the FMLN continues to outstrip the governing ARENA coalition in the polls, the government politicians are resorting to more and more desperate tactics. Recently the foreign minister for El Salvador argued in the US for the kind of intervention used just a few years ago to swing the results in favour of the ARENA coalition. The US Ambassador in El Salvador assured a visiting delegation that the US did not intend to intervene again, but with the ARENA foreign minister lobbying furiously in the US, anything could happen.

[Picture: Schafik Handel, FMLN leader and Presidential candidate in the 2004 elections that he narrowly lost. Some say it was stolen from him. Although he died recently, his charisma remains.]

Pat 1 of 3

12.4Mb 128kbps. mono  13:35mins

Dr. Francisco Dominguez, from the Department of Latin American and Brazilian studies of Middleton University in London was on the phone to community radio 2NimFM with some of the details, and the background of the events in Bolivia over the last few weeks, and the implications of some of the latest developments. On September 11 (the anniversary of the 1973 coup in Chile) President Evo Morales expelled the US Ambassador for his role in encouraging violence and racist thuggery led by prominent avowedly right wing public figures in resource rich regions. These figures are leading a drive to 'break away' from the central government of Bolivia, but their tactics include violence, burning, looting, destruction of radio stations that don't support their agenda, and racist vilification and public humiliation of indigenous people. The last straw was a genocidal shooting down of scores of unarmed indigenous people who had gathered in protest against the racially motivated violence.

Part 2 of 3.

8.3Mb. 128kbps mono 9 minutes.

In the second part of this interview, Dr. Francisco Dominguez talks about the regional implications, and the implications for Latin America, of the coup attempt in Bolivia. A surprising number of Latin American countries have rallied in support of the President Evo Morales' central government, and have rejected US interference in Latin American affairs  -  including governments that in the past have been traditionally aligned with the US administration. Far from 'dividing and ruling' the coup attempt in Bolivia has rallied almost all of Latin America in a united front. It is an historic first, with some far reaching long term effects that at this stage, can only be guessed at by most Western observers. The role of Venezuela, which has broken the political stranglehold on its economic autonomy has been critical.

Part 3 of 3.
6.43Mb  128kbps. mono 7mins

In the final part of this interview Dr. Dominguez talks about the reasons President Morales called in the military, declaring martial law, only as a last resort. He explains some of the background of the military and its role in Bolivia's turbulent history.

8mins, 1.8MB

2008-09-30 Tues

*Nimbin man, Peter Lepatourel, dies in tragic mower accident*.......................*All the prize winners in NimFM's $1700 grand radio raffle*

 

8mins, 1.9MB

2008-09-29 Mon

*'Weave & Mend' report (sorry about bad audio in parts)*........................*Spring Arts Expo*

11 Mb. 128Kbps mono 12:05mins

Lara updates us on the looming elections next year in El Salvador. A double barrelled election with the regional and state elections separated by less than a month from the Presidential election in March. The governing party ARENA has already tried to change electoral law to prevent international observers arriving  - an important issue when it is understood that El Salvador does not have the equivalent of a domestic organization to oversee  elections. Perhaps it has something to do with the commanding, and growing lead of popular support for the opposition FMLN.

9.5Mb 128kbps mono  10:19 mins.

Tim Anderson, lecturer in Political Economy at Sydney University has researched land tenure and ownership in the South Pacific, Latin America, and more recently, Timor Leste. He published a report about the implications of an Indonesian Biofuel project the AMP government signed onto. He cites pressures on the government of Timor Leste to change the Constitution allowing foreigners to buy and sell land in Timor Leste. Some of Timor's political leaders appear to be wavering in their original intent to keep Timorese soil in Timorese hands. And is it just coincidence that USAID and AUSAID have recently launched a US$500,000 project to establish who owns what land in Timor Leste? Traditional communal ownership of land could suffer in the growing push for privatisation. Traditional communal ownership of land could suffer in the growing push for privatisation, as well as the population's drive for self sufficiency in the face of growing costs in basic foods world wide - largely as a result of multinational corporations turning  land over to the production of food crops to biofuels.

15.1 128kbps mono 16:34 mins

One of the legacies left by the former Indonesian occupation of Timor Leste was an increased level of crime and corruption. Jose Texeira talks to community radio about an incremental increase in the levels of semi-organised crime, especially since the 'troubles' of 2006. President Jose Ramos Horta had also expressed growing disquiet about the level, and the nature of crime in Timor Leste and was taking steps to initiate an enquiry, but his initiatives were interrupted by the attempt on his life last February 11.

(Note, sound quality is poor)

Episode 2 : Eostro Girl Vs the Evil Unreal-Estate Agents of Doom
3.27 MB , 7min 09sec
Can Eostro Girl save Nimbinville from the Agents of Doom and their vat of sticky 'sales pitch'??
Tune in and drop out ; 100% local nimbin flavour ; get your weekly radio cereal right here for FREE!
Music - 'Dangerous'(acapella version) from Wu-tang Clan feat. Wycleff , 'You Love It' from Peaches
Read by Mim, taken from Rancid Candy 12-2pm every Monday on 102.3 NimFm

9m36s, 2.2MB

2008-09-23 Mon

*Equinox party @ the Blister & introducing reporter Abby Bowman*......................*Weave & Mend coming up*

9mins, 2MB

2008-09-22 Mon

*Nimbin Headers win Grand Final*.....................................*Hemp cake wins @ Nimbin Show*..........................*Happy 40th to DJ Starshine*

9.5Mb. 128kbps mono 9:50 mins

Julie Webb, independent journalist, and reporter for Scoop has spent several years reporting from Latin America, including Cuba. Julie brings home to us the horrific impact of two hurricanes on Cuba (under reported in mainstream media) and the effects on the lives of the Cuban people, how they are responding, and some aspects of the international reaction to the reports.

13.7Mb. 128kbps 15mins

Pt2

In this second part of a three part interview, Julie Webb, freelance journalist and reporter for Scoop talks about the frustration of the Cuban government in trying to deal with the effects of two hurricanes that have devastated the country, while still under the restrictions of the US economic embargo. Even lifting the illegal embargo for six months, would make a world of difference to the Cuban people, and their efforts to recover from the aftermath of the hurricane, far more than 'gifts' of food and materials would. Julie describes the history of the illegal blockade, and its long term effects on Cuba and its people.

11.2Mb 129kbps mono  12:14mins
Pt 3
Part 3 of a three part interview with Julie Webb, independent journalist and correspondent for Scoop. Much of Cuba looks like ground zero on a nuclear strike. She describes in graphic detail how this hurricane is like no other. Where to go if you want to assist. (Australia Cuba Friendship Society), and what else is happening in the region.

Eostro Girl : Your Weekly Radio Cereal
Size - 5.43MB ; Length - 11min 40s
Episode 1: Our heroine gets into sticky trouble via the evil Unreal Estate Agents of Doom. Can she save Nimbinville from encroaching suburbia and the terribly contagious brick venereal disease before it all turns to shit?
music -electric ladyland, hendrix;seven nation army, alice russell and quantic
Read by mim, Rancid Candy 12-2pm every monday on 102.3 nimfm

16.1Mb 128kbps. mono  17:36mins

On the anniversary, almost to the day of the coup against Salvador Allende in Chile on September 11 19793, right wing forces in Bolivia attempted to seize control of the country in a Civil coup against the elected government of Evo Morales. At the time of this interview 18 people had been killed by the right wing gangs, hundreds of indigenous people badly beaten by the racist youth group, and the US Ambassador expelled for his complicity in organising the thuggery.
The Venezuelan government expelled the US Ambassador in sympathy, and for his part in coordinating opposition figures in an attempt to take over the government of Venezuela, and other Latin American nations have declared their support for the governments of Bolivia and Venezuela. Latin America is in the process of declaring its autonomy from the 200 year hegemony of the United States in controlling its affairs.
Lara Pullin gives us the details of the event of this historic week in world history.

10m39s, 2.4MB

2008-09-16 Tues

*Rock talks about getting booked by undercover cops*..............................*Police media report*.................*What's on in Nimbin this week*

12m23s, 2.8MB

2008-09-15 Mon

*How Nimbin & all of Lismore voted in the Council elections on Sat*...............................*Darlene & Ash got married*...........................*Undercover cops in town*

5.4 Mb 128kbps. mono 5:46mins
Part 1.
Julie Webb correspondent for 'Scoop' from Latin America gives us the background history of five Cubans who have spent ten years in a US prison for the simple act of passing on information about expatriate Cuban terrorist cells in Florida and Miami. These remnants of the Batista regime of the 1960s, who fled to the US when Castro's revolutionary forces came to power have not been able to accept the historical reality of the Cuban revolution, and continue to plot  and plan a comeback. They have been responsible for numerous deaths and plots not only in Cuba, but in the US. The FBI responded to this information by imprisoning the people who (perhaps naively) passed the compromising information about these terrorist cells on. Ten years later they are still in gaol. Julie Webb reports.

5.3Mb 128kbps 5:45 mins

The background on the Cuban expatriate 'mafia'  - the criminals who left Cuba when Castro's revolutionary forces came to power and were forced to abandon the mafia backed rackets in gambling, prostitution and drugs. They want it back, and their influence in the US political system has meant that the Cuban Five are victims of 'payback'. And the US justice system in Florida is happy to go along with it.

6.8Mb 128kbps mono   7:25
Part 3.
Julie Webb correspondent for 'Scoop' explains the inordinate influence that the Miami Cuban expatriate 'mafia' have on the US political system, resulting in the perversion of justice for the 'Cuban Five' now spending their tenth year in gaol. She outlines the repudiation and disappointment with the US justice system both domestically and internationally, with high profile identities delivering a petition and five people being arrested in a huge demonstration to demand justice for the Cuban Five. The travesty of justice is significantly harming respect for the US and its' political integrity.

24mins, 5.4MB, 2008-09-09

Raine talks with Jenny Dowell, who is running for mayor.

8m19s, 1.9MB

2008-09-9 Tues

*In Meet-the-Candidate we speak with Jenny Dowell who is running for Mayor*.................................*Entry time for Nimbin Film Festival*

11mins, 2.5MB

2008-09-08 Mon

*Council elections on W.E. Tonight in 'Meet the Nimbin Candidate' we have Warren Nugent, our local baker.*.........................*Blue Moon Cabaret*..............................*Happy 55 to Inez*..................*Snakes appearing*....................................*Anne marries Tim at last*

20Mb. 128kbps mono  21:48mins

Jose Teixeira is an MP for the Fretilin party in Timor Leste. He was also involved in the negotiations with Australia in the 'Timor Gap' treaty, as the deputy Minister for National Resources. He spoke to community radio 2NimFM on the tricky subject of Australia allowing 'guest worker' visas to East Timorese nationals. The Australian government recently passed legislation to allow  temporary work visas to Pacific Islanders. A similar arrangement for 'guest workers' from Timor Leste is still pending. Jose presents the East Timorese side of the difficulties involved in the scheme.

9.9Mb. 128kbps mono  10:45mins

Burke Stansbury of CISPES (Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador) talks with 2NimFM from Washington about the general swing to the left in the Central American region, which could impact upon the elections in El Salvador next year.

16.7 Mb 128kbps mono  17:49mins

Lara Pullin, Latin American solidarity activist has breaking news from El Salvador. The FMLN opposition party is confident enough of its popular support, and its chances of winning next years election, that they have tabled legislation repealing the 'amnesty law', granting impunity to those accused of gross human rights violations and war crimes, during the 12 year civil war. The law was passed in 1993 as part of the 1992 'Accord' that marked the end of the civil war.
Repeal of the amnesty law will will impinge heavily on the ARENA party (that leads the current governing coalition) and the military. The founder of the ARENA party, Roberto D'Aubuisson was widely believed to have ordered the assassination of Archbishop Romero and other Death Squad murders, while certain army units were responsible for the elimination of entire villages, including children and infants.
As the elections next year draw nearer tensions are mounting, with FMLN leaders calling on their supporters not to react to increasing incidents of anti-FMLN violence.

12.5Mb. 128kbps mono 13:45mins

Coral Winter has seen nine Australian brigades going over to Venezuela for the last four years, and will soon be going again. She spent over a year in Venezuela as a regular correspondent. In this interview she explains what the next brigade (leaving in November) can look forward to - a very interesting Venezuelan election, as well as meetings with key community organisations and leaders). She tells us what attracts her to Venezuela and why Australian brigades have an international reputation, with people of other nationalities coming on board.

10Mb. 128kbps 10:30mins
Janelle Saffin MHR spent several years working in Timor Leste with the now President, Jose Ramos Horta. During Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao's recent state visit to Australia and his meeting with Australian PM Kevin Rudd, Rudd politely declined to commit Australia to accepting Timorese guest workers, when Xanana raised the question. The issue will come under consideration. Janelle explains some of the reasons for the Australian Prime Minister's response, some of the more complex issues, and other aspects of the government's position on Timor Leste.

11mb. 128kbps mono 12:05 mins
Jim Dunn, human rights observer and author of numerous articles several histories of Timor Leste puts the attitude of this and other Australian governments under close scrutiny, when he comments on Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao's recent state visit to Australia and his meeting with Australian PM Kevin Rudd. Rudd politely declined to commit Australia to accepting Timorese guest workers, when Xanana raised the question.

7.5 Mb. 128kbps mono 7:56mins.
Professor Damien Kingsbury comments on possible reasons for Australia's procrastination in allowing Timorese guest workers to come to Australia on temporary work visas. The Australian government has recently passed legislation allowing temporary work visas to Pacific Islanders, but it appears the Timorese are lower on the list of the Rudd government's priorities. The state visit by Timorese Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao provided him with the opportunity to raise the matter, but Australian PM Kevin Rudd deferred a decision until early next year.

6m34s, 1.5MB

2008-09-2 Tues

*Local Council elections soon; Nimbin's Len Martin from the Greens gives his policy speech*...........................*Warning! Magpies start swooping in Nimbin*

8m25s, 2MB

2008-09-1 Mon

*THE HEMP BAR IS DEAD*..............................*Ex NimFMite, Gabi Bliss launches her new CD at the Buddha's Belly restaurant near Mt Warning*

9m13s, 2.1MB

2008-08-27 Wed

*Interview with Michael Balderstone from the Museum, & Sam & Gary from the Hemp Bar re the eviction notices on the 2 shops*

10m50s, 2.5MB

2008-08-26 Tues

*THEY'RE TRYING TO CLOSE THE HEMP BAR !!!*.....................................*small fire lets us know fire season is near*

8mins 1.9MB

2008-08-25 Mon

*IS THE MUSEUM TO BE CLOSED DOWN?* ..........................*Update on Happy High Herbs raid*.............

9.5 Mb  128kbps mono 10:20 Mins

On the situation in Bolivia, Fred looks at the role of the military, which after several hundred years of  dominating the politics of countries like Bolivia seems to be changing with a new era of social reform.

11.6Mb 128kbps mono 12:41 mins

Fred (Frederico) Fuentes, based in Latin America talks about the recent referendum in Bolivia, called by the first elected indigenous president, Evo Morales. In spite of right wing calls to challenge the political empowerment of this man (with threats to secede from the central government and form 'autonomous' states) the referendum actually strengthened the position of a President who is introducing moderate reforms that act to phase out the negative influence of multi-national corporations and global privatisation.

 15.8Mb 128kbps mono 17:18 mins

Lara Pulling, speaking for the Canberra committee of the FMLN, talks further about the importance of next year's elections in El Salvador to the Salvadoran people. The government coalition is trying everything to sabotage the FMLN's 20 point lead in the polls, including the separation of the Presidential election from the local elections with a two month gap. The UN is scrutinising closely the claims of the FMLN that the ARENA led coalition has failed to respect the terms of the Peace Accord of 1992. The FMLN has respected the Accord meticulously, but the ARENA government has failed on a number of counts.

13Mb. 126kbps mono 14mins 19 secs.

Peter Murphy of the SEARCH foundation has been involved with Timor Leste since 1975. In this interview he talks about the controversial budget put to the Timorese Parliament by Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao. Some parliamentarians in his governing AMP coalition have raised eyebrows, and the decision to dip into the Oil Fund to prop up the budget for an amount my than double what is laid down in the constitutional guidelines has been questioned both within Timor Leste and by international advisors and observers.
Peter also comments on more recent findings of the investigation into the attempt on the life of President Jose Ramos Horta on February 11, and suggests that there should be an independent international investigation.

14Mb 128kbps mono 14mins 9seconds.

Burke tells us why the governing ARENA party is pulling out all the stops in its effort to continue in power in El Salvador. With the 2009 elections coming up early next year the opposition FMLN is showing a twenty point lead in all the polls.
The FMLN is not rushing into a radical makeover of the economy - decades of conservative and reactionary rule have made neo-conservative policy institutional structures. Next year's FMLN presidential candidate, Mauricio Funes is proposing moderate reforsm. But in the Latin American context it will mean that El Salvador will join the growing number of Latin American countries liberating themselves from US hegemomy and intervention, with the ability to develop themselves freely away from the the influence and impositions of the IMF the World Bank, and Washington.

8m43s, 3.8MB

2008-08-19 Tues

*The Nimbin Central School Olympics*........................................*Giant blackout last night*...................................*Death of Mary the cat*.......................*Platypus spotted in Nimbin*

8m, 1.8MB

2008-08-20 Mon

*RAID ON HAPPY HIGH HERBS*............................*Film competion coming up*...............................*How Nimbin Demons went in the AFL footy final*

12.7 Mb  128kbps mono 13mins 37 secs

Local artist Bo Kaan was caught in action at the monthly Nimbin market, with backing from Don and Ren sitting in. Bo is famous for his hard hitting lyrics, mastery of the rock blues genre and gravelly voice. Top piece is 'TV man', followed by the 'Mindshape' song, and then a bit of a dig at the USA/CIA ... and oops ... did we say too much?

10m49s, 2.5MB

2008-08-12 Tues

*Nimbin's Olympic Connection*...........................*Hemp protestor, Rock, returns from jail*..................................*Sue Bowman's new program*...............

10mins, 2.3MB

2008-08-12 Tues

*Oasis proprietor, Andrew K, talks re new developments*.............................*Nimbinite James Helliwell has passed away*................................*NimFM's more power gets to new areas*..............................*Bamboo workshop from Aug 26*

4m27s, 1MB

2008-08-05 Mon

*Oasis has been Sold*...........................*Sound Lounge finishes new music studio... +... more cracker bombs fall on it*

11m27s, 2.6MB

2008-08-04 Mon

*WORLD POETRY CUP SPECIAL*

12.3Mb. 128kbps. mono 13 minutes

Burke Stansbury on the US. harassment of CISPES 

CISPES, the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador was established in the USA in the 1980s when US trained Death Squads were systematically killing opposition to the US backed military regime in ritual terrorist assassinations. When US citizens organize themselves to resist the brutality of US foreign policy they came under scrutiny by the US police and intelligence services. It seems that old habits die hard. Current members of the CISPES have been investigated and harassed by the FBI because they have brought to public attention the return of Death Squad tactics in El Salvador, to break down opposition to the US backed government there with overtly terroristic tactics. In a previous interview Burke Stansbury gained an admission from the US Ambassador in El Salvador that the US had actively intervened in the 2004 elections.

It remains to be seen whether the US is trying to influence the results of next year's elections, but the fingerprints are all over the return of the Death Squads and the more recent harassment of CISPES.

Burke, and CISPES can be contacted at burke@cispes.org

15Mb. 128kbps. mono   16mins

Fred Fuentes is back in Caracas after a quick speaking tour of Australia, and already plugged in to the always volatile world of Venezuelan politics. He talks with community radio about the lead up to the regional elections coming up this November, and the prospects of the VSUP (the Venezuelan United Socialist Party) that is the core party of President Hugo Chavez' government coalition. The Chavista project of building grassroots democracy in Venezuela from the bottom up continues, but there are challenges ahead.

9Mb. 128kbps. 9mins 45 secs

Clinton Fernandes travels frequently to Timor Leste. He lectures to the Australian Defense Force Academy at the University of New South Wales, and has scrutinised the Commission for Truth and Friendship report closely and critically. He believes it is disappointing, but a stepping stone for further action for justice for the people of Timor Leste, who seem to have been left out of the political equation.

8.7 Mb. 128kbps mono 9mins 15 seconds

Professor Damien Kingsbury, political scientist and observer of Timor Leste comments about the outcome of the recently released report of the Truth and Friendship Commission on the horrific reprisals visited upon the people of Timor Leste by Indonesian militias, in the wake of the 1999 independence referendum. The results were predictable, but disappointing to the people of Timor Leste, who have yet to find justice after the long years of brutal Indonesian occupation.

12m42s, 5.8MB

*Full NimCoC report* ...................................*High visibility police*..........................*Diana Anaid to support Kids In Community awards*

8m43s, 2MB

2008-07-28 Mon

*Bringabong break-in*...........................*Weird weather in Nimbin*

11Mb. 128kbps mono 11mins 33 seconds

Jim Dunn, a researcher and human rights expert who has been following the situation in Timor Leste since before the 1975 Indonesian invasion talks about the implications for Timor Leste and Indonesia, of the recently released report of the Truth and Friendship Commission. The Commission was set up to establish what everybody knew  - Indonesian responsibility for the massacres and wanton destruction that took place in 1999 after the independence referendum. But where does it go from here?

10mins, 2.3MB

2008-07-22 Tues

*Echinda spotted in Nimbin*..............................*more details on new IT shop 'NimbinValleyDotCom*

7m18s, 1.7MB

2007-07-21 Mon

*New computer shop in Nimbin, NimbinValleyDotCom*................... *Missing Greensleaves (ie original 73 Aquarius Festival newsletter) issue* ....................................*NimFM goes STEREO & doubles POWER*

1 MB (text mostly, due to technical difficulties)

2008-07-15 Tues

*New Apothecary Show, with Helen Cameron, on NimFM, Tues 12-1pm*

14 Mb.  128kbps 14 mins 48 secs
(hi fidelity version for rebroadcasting)

Burke Stansbury from Washington. He has just returned from a fact finding mission to El Salvador with  CISPES where he had an interesting conversation with the US Ambassador there. While the Ambassador admitted that there was political intervention on the side of the ARENA party by the US to influence the results of the last Salvadoran elections, the Ambassador claims that the US State Department has no intention of influencing upcoming elections of 2009. Burke  is skeptical, and in this interview he explains why.

July 19 1979 was the day of the Triumph of the Sandinista Revolution.

5m 45s, 1.4MB

2008-07-14 Mon

*Broken glass & break-ins @ 'Hemping Around', 'Fashionating', 'Tribal Magic', the Apothecary, the Butcher's, & the Newsagency*......................*Local AFL*............................*Art Expo @ the Aboriginal Cultural Centre on Friday*

9min, 2MB

2008-07-08 Tues

*CTC continues to morph into a training organisation*.........................*Council funding for small grants due soon*

8m15s, 1.9MB

2008-07-07 Mon

*New art gallery @ the Pizza Shop*.........................*New type of clinic for cannabis users who want to stop*

18.43Mb 128kps mono 20mins 07 seconds

Peter Murphy of the SEARCH Foundation brings more insights into what motivates the students to demonstrate in Dili, Timor Leste, and the controversial policy decisions that seem to be coming from the Prime Minister's office. Towards the end of this interview Peter describes the efforts being made by the President and other parties and actors to maintain a sensible discourse without disrupting Timor Leste's fragile stability.

Students ... not exactly rioting, and an extraordinary police response. Now, around 40 students arrested, protesting at a general perception that the AMP government is misspending moneys, and doing deals that should be managed far better than they have been. Damien Kingsbury, Associate Professor of Political Science at Deakin University talks about the pressures Timor Leste's Prime Minister, Xanana Gusmao is under, for pushing policies that may be politically unwise.

8m18s, 1.9MB

2008-07-01 Tues

*NimFM presenter, Joel Satterly, dies*......................*Happy 56th to Salty @ the Hemp Embassy*..............*Independence from America Day preparations*......................*Hemp Embassy robbery update*

5m27s, 1.3MB

2008-06-30 Mon

*Blackyard Talent Quest in Mingle Park*..........................*Nimbin alley boys are bad security @ doof.*.................*local AFL results*

8m35s, 2MB

2008-06-24 Tues

*Nimbin Magazine needs more volunteers*............................*Crochet at the Hardware store*

11:22, 2.6MB

2008-06-23 Mon

*Bomb at the Sound Lounge*............................*Industrial Hemp Association starts up*.........................*Nimbin's unofficial mayor, Michael Balderstone's Birthday do*.................................*NimFM's Wolfgang has close shave with death*

9.313.3 Mb 64kbps. mono 9 mins 51 secs

Julie Webb talks about the Asia Pacific Conference. And Cuba is getting lots of respect! Why? Cuba's influence in the Pacific is outside the parameters of the industrial military complex, and the gaining of economic autonomy from US based multinational corporations. Medical and literacy assistance and education, social programs, seem to be winning more respect than the World Bank and the IMF when it comes to the real issues that need to be dealt with by the Asia Pacific Forum.

17.3Mb. 64kbps mono 19 minutes
Jim Dunn and security services fun and games.
The release of former militia members who devastated Timor Leste in 1999  has been controversial. Jim Dunn, a former Consul, an investigator for the United Nations into the war crimes committed by high ranking Indonesian officials in Timor Leste, is critical of the way the Timorese government was forced into a position whereby the 'Indonesian' diplomacy boat, should  not be rocked too hard. Human rights issues simply go overboard.

23.Mb 64kbps 25 mins
Tim Anderson. Cuban medical education.
Tim Anderson, academic in Sydney University speaks about a video documentary he has produced as a result of his visits to Timor Leste, and more recently, Cuba, where he interviewed students who are beneficiaries of the one thousand scholarships Cuba granted to the Timorese.  The Australian government, thus far has proved reluctant to match this generosity, although over 300 Cuban doctors in Timor Leste, over the last five years, have shouldered the burden of community health services.
 Tim will be doing further research expeditions in Timor Leste, in the near future, but meanwhile his video documentary will be released with multilingual translations in Australian. Watch this space.

15Mb.  64kbps mono 16mins 18seconds.

Janelle Saffin, Federal member for Page spent over three years working in Timor Leste, before taking on her political career. She was present during the mayhem of the 1999 referendum, and worked at times as an adviser to the President Jose Ramos Horta, during the period when he was the Foreign Minister for the East Timorese government. She talks to community radio 2NimFM about the controversial Truth and Friendship Commission, which was supposed to expose human rights abuses by the Indonesian militia. She clears up some of the confusion about the Commission, which has been criticised in the past for being ineffective and powerless to prosecute offenders. Particularly relevant at this time, with recent (and not so recent) press revelations about Australian intelligence services selectively gathering, and also holding back, information under political pressures, on the grounds of maintaining diplomatic relations. Diplomatic relations seem to still be supervening human rights issues, despite the lessons of history.

12m40s, 2.9MB

2008-06-17 Tues

*Happy 7th birthday to Abby Bowman*

8m37s, 2MB

2008-06-16 Mon

*Funeral for Paul Johnson*...................................*Happy 60th to Michael Balderstone*...................................* New 'Humming Bird Bistro' opens at the pub.*.............. + more

8Mb. 64kbps. mono 8mins 32 secs.
Ian Browne, former Nimbin resident now working in Darwin has been teaching Aboriginal children horticulture, but finds that the 'kids' have been teaching him as much about bush tucker and remedies as they have been learning from him. An environmental project with the Darwin Botanical gardens is about to go up on the web, and next term the team will be doing a multimedia video project.
  A  far cry from recent media reports that the education system is 'collapsing' around the aboriginal communities. Darwin educators are not impressed!

6.3 Mb. 64kbps mono 13mins 41 secs.

Fred Fuentes, latest report from Caracas. Fred gives us the insider's view of the most recent Chavez call on the Colombian FARC guerrillas to consider putting the armed struggle aside and release their hostages unconditionally (he made a similar statement in January that went unnoticed). This has been exploited by the opposition within Venezuela as a sign of a 'weakening' of Chavez' authority, but the recent PSUV (Venezuelan Socialist Party) preselection results bode well for the developing grass roots foundational support for Chavez in the upcoming November elections.

4.9Mb  64kbps mono 10mins. 38secs.

Lisa MacDonald from GreenLeft Weekly  talks about Chavez recent address to the Colombian FARC guerillas to release their remaining hostages and to think about setting aside the armed struggle. The FARC did try this in the 1980s, but resumed their armed struggle when Death Squads and Paramilitaries selectively assassinated or kidnapped the key figures in their movement. Nevertheless, Washington, which has been accusing the Venezuelan government of supporting the FARC, during the recent hostage release negotiations, is suddenly at a loss for words.

10.5Mb. 128kbps mono 11mins 34 seconds
Linda Seaborn of the Tasmanian Committee in Support of the FMLN (El Salvador's main opposition party) talks about why a delegation of Australians should go to El Salvador as observers, before and during next year's elections. The current government has a long record of turning a blind eye to, if not actively promoting, human rights violations, and this year the political opposition is particularly targeted. Already the ARENA government of El Salvador has been challenged for its corrupt political practices in previous elections, and is demonstrating a distinct reluctance to subject itself to scrutiny for the coming elections, discouraging international observers. But some Australians are determined to see honesty and fair practice prevail.

8.4Mb 64kbps mono 18mins 19secs

Coral Winter is back after coordinating the distinctive presence of the Australian 'Mayday' brigade to Venezuela, that included appropriately, a large contingent of Australian Unionists. The Howard government's ambassador had the Australian embassy in Venezuela closed down when a Washington inspired coup against President Hugo Chavez failed, but hopefully that will change, if Australian Green Senator Bob Brown (with the Australian 'brigadistas'), returns after his own visit, with the news that President Hugo Chavez is not a 'dictator', but a popularly elected leader who increases his electoral popularity regularly with each electoral contest.

7.4Mb. 64Kbps mono  16 minutes

Rob Wesley Smith, experienced campaigner for East Timor independence since 1974, points out the flawed motivation of the Northern Territory government, and the perverse logic of the Australian government, to encourage the development of a refinery in Darwin, to exploit the gas and oil reserves of the Timor Gap. Apart from the absurd reasoning processes ( - Timor Leste needs employment, therefore biofuel agriculture is good, but a gas refining plant should come to Australia to create jobs here, but Timorese can come as guest workers ...   )    -  the environmental issues and the impact on Darwin and the lifestyle of the people of Darwin and the local ambience is virtually ignored. Collective glaucoma, anyone?

34.2 64kbps mono 1hour 14min 45 seconds

36.4Mb 64kbps mono 1hr. 20mins

36.2Mb. 64kbs mono 1hr 20mins (radio broadcast quality)

18 Mb 32kbps mono 1hr 20mins (lo fidelity for fast download)

10m30s

2008-06-10 Tues

*update on Hemp Embassy robbery*....................* 4 new NimFM presenters' (Jamie, Ron, Linda, & Marie) first words on radio*................*What's on in Nimbin this week?*

7m42s 1.8MB

2008-06-09 Mon

***Robbery @ the Hemp Embassy***.................................*How Lil's son went in the State Rugby*.........................*New presenters @ NimFM: Jamie Lovechild, Ron Stephens, Linda, Marie*

 12Mb. 64kbps mono 25mins 47secs

Jim Dunn has just returned from a five week visit to Timor Leste where he has had conversations with the President Jose Ramos Horta and other top political leaders. He had time to observe the situation in the streets of Dili, the halls of Parliament, the countryside and the refugee camps. Jim has some 'filthy' questions about why, Human Rights violations against the Timorese people over the last 75 years are still not recognized. Even Indonesian visitors are surprised that the Generals and Colonels who devasted Timor Leste have not been called to account. Most have actually been promoted. Is it the role of the suffering Timorese people to be an instrument of the power games of others?

36.2Mb. 64Kbps mono  1hr 19mins 11secs
NimFM has found the rest of the Shoalwater files. The NimFM team covered the anti-war action over a 6 part series. In this (2nd) part we hear the speeches of major anti-war activists from the Pacific region, the United States, and Australian Aboriginal people. And of course, anti-nuclear activist Helen Caldicott.  Watch this space for more details.

3.71MB. 64Kbps, mono  8:06 minutes

Lisa McDonald from the Venezuela Solidarity network has some rather acerbic comments on a New York Times article, following an effort by the Chavez government to clean up the Venezuelan Intelligence apparatus ... the NYT would do well to delve a little bit deeper into the history of  US/Venezuelan "Intelligence" efforts.

41.1Mb. 96kbps mono 59:55 minutes

Part 1.

NimFM's intrepid team of radio reporters hit the demonstration against US Australian military exercises at Shoalwater Bay almost a year ago. This first, of a 6 part sequence features interviews with film producer David Bradbury, the Quaker Church, Benny Zable, Johnny Chai, and peace activists from Hawaii and the Pacific. And then there is the street theatre ... drumming, speeches and rallying ...

27.Mb 64kbps mono 59:55 minutes

A quick and nasty download of the Shoalwater files, lo fi version, but if you're in a hurry ...

7m12s, 1.7MB

2008-06-03 Tues

*Lil's son off to state rugby*....................*How Lil's Shed opening went*

7m20s, 1.7MB

2008-06-02 Mon

*Opening of Lil's Shed tomorrow*......................*The Coffee Shop staff runoff unexpectedly*................*Lost badge-making machine found*.............*Fibre expo*.............*This week's live music*

6.3 Mb 128kbps mono 6:52minutes

Lara Pullin with the latest update on the situation in El Salvador where the governing ARENA coalition has scrapped the agreements on electoral reform with the Organisation of American States. With even the most conservative polls giving the FMLN opposition party a commanding 20 point lead, the right wing ARENA party is resorting to increasingly desperate tactics in a bid to steal next year's elections  -  even threatening to expel independent observers who will be arriving there to observe the elections, including a number of Australians.

19.3Mb 128kbps mono 21:08 minutes

Fred Fuentes in Caracas reports on important struggles being played out within Venezuela's governing PSUV (United Socialist Party of Venezuela). While President Chavez' power base is with the grass roots organisations, some of the entrenched bureaucrats and more conservative politicians are fighting off challenges from delegates representing these grass roots organisations, tooth and nail. PSUV is currently going through a kind of 'pre-selection' process, and the more conservative elements are using all kinds of dirty tricks to hang on to their influence within the party.

12.5MB mono 128Kbps 13:11 minutes.

Jose Texeira, a Fretilin Parliamentarian and the party's media spokesman was in Australia this week and granted 2NimFM an interview where he clarifies some of the issues at stake in the weakening of the AMP governing coalition. One of the older parties, the ASDT, and several smaller parties, are concerned at the lack of transparency of at least one of the appointed AMP Ministers with an apparently covert agreement with an Indonesian Biofuel company to turn a quarter of East Timor's arable land to sugar cane production for biofuels.  It took over three months to force the AMP government to make the details of the deal available for public discussion. Jose says that this need not necessarily lead to an early election, this will depend very much on the government's response to questioning. The ASDT has already signed an agreement to run as a coalition party with Fretilin, should elections be called.

(In photo: Film-makers Nathan & Shelley Koenig from Woodstock, R&L; + Nimbin's ambassador Benny Zable, C.)

6m52s, 2MB

2008-05-27 Tues

*CTC morphs into training organisation*.......................*Badge making machine lost*.................................*Stomach bug in Nimbin*......................*Repeat screening of Woodstock Downunder & Woodstock: Can't Get There from Here, due to popular demand. (more info re WCGTfH on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMdo7liG4fc & Aquarius O8 Festival on www.aquarius.rainbowregion.com )*

5.1Mb. 64Kbps mono   11:10mins

Note: sound quality is poor, due to a bad phone line to Caracas, but the news content is of great interest.

Fred Fuentes on the most recent escalation of hostile manouevres against the Venezuelan government. A US plane invades Venezuelan air space, at the same time that Colombian troops are found inside Venezuelan territory. Then, a day later, 60 more!
And by a strange coincidence, there is a major international media campaign about the FARC (Colombian guerilla movement) computers alleged to have been found when Colombian troops invaded Ecuadorean territory last March. Washington claims that it establishes a 'compromising' link between the Venezuelan government and the FARC guerillas, but everyone who has read further than the first paragraph of the Interpol examination of the computers recognises an eerie similarity between this finding, and the Bush administration's wolf cry of 'weapons of mass destruction' in the lead up to the war in Iraq.

Little Nimbin bud photo by 'Blossom', digital production by CTC

9m20s, 2.2MB

2008-05-26 Mon

*** 'Little Nimbin' wins Cannabis Cup. ***

14.3Mb. 64 kbps 31:23mins

Jorge Schafik Handal, son of the guerilla commander, and Salvadoran presidential candidate of the same name, addresses a meeting of Resistance, in Brisbane, where he fields some keen questions from youthful members of the Socialist Alliance, and others. He is on a mission to Australia to garner support for a team of independent observers for next year's elections in El Salvador, which by all indications, the governing ARENA coalition, will try to steal, despite the FMLN's commanding lead in the current polls.

Jorge explains some of the problems confronting the FMLN, and their ways of dealing with them.

23.5Mb. 64kbps mono   25:36 mins

Jorge Schafik Handal, son of the FMLN guerilla commander in the same name has been in Australia seeking observers for the Salvadoran elections next year, which he believes the governing ARENA coalition will try to steal. In this segment he acknowledges the support he has received from all sectors of Australian society.

52mins, 12MB

The Woodstock connection are still there (+ Vernon turns up too), blabbing on about the Aquarius 08 Festival, & eventually take over the station from poor Lynne. Talk about sponteneity!

30mins, 7MB

It's Aquarius Festival 2008 in Nimbin, & Nathan & Shelley from Woodstock turn up to 'shoot the breeze' with NimFM's Lynne

8m40s, 2MB

2008-05-20 Tues

*Medical cannabis trial to start*............................*Pearl Bowman's 21*...........................*'Imagineering the Village Green' on Thurs.*...........................*Woodstock Film Festival on Fri*

9m45s, 2.3MB

2008-05-19 Mon

*Football weekend with both codes having home games.*...............................*Ian's mum pays a visit*................*Nimbin Magazine's think tank*...............................*+ Ryco from Katoomba drops in to tell us about their Winter Solstice Film Festival*

6.2 Mb 128kbps. 6:46 mins

Fred Fuentes, based in Caracas, the capital of Venezuela observes the coordinated efforts of the US to 'split off' resource rich states in Bolivia and Venezuela and Ecuador, as a last ditch attempt to counter the election of left of centre governments, and the growing popularity of these governments in more and more of the Latin American nation states. Venezuela, with the inspired leadership of Hugo Chavez has been able to break the stranglehold of latin american economic dependency. Latin America is finding its own way, independently of the superpower to the north, but the Empire still tries to strike back, using the full  bag of tricks.

5.4Mb. 128kbps mono 6 mins

Lara Pullin phones back with breaking news of the political harassment of Human Rights organisations and a Women's organisation. After a series of phone calls making death threats, the offices of the women's organisation was vandalised. Salvadoran police had no interest in investigating because 'nothing had been stolen'.

13.1Mb  128kbps mono  14:20 mins

Lara Pullin details the tactics used by the US to maintain its grip on Latin America  - from a multimillion dollar police training institution in El Salvador, to a billion dollar military base in Colombia, uncomfortably close to the Venezuelan border.

11.3mb 128kbps mono 12:20 mins

Lara Pullin with a weekly report, and just in case anyone hasn't realised it yet, the Salvadoran Death Squads are real, they are back, and they are sheltered by their former operatives and sponsors with government posts in the ARENA party.
One of 13 peasant activists who demonstrated against water privatisation laws has been assassinated. The Suchitoto 13 (demonstrators) arrested and threatened under anti-terrorism (!) laws had the terrorism charges dropped, but the Death Squads were able to administer their own version of justice with impunity.
Lara Pullin gives us the background on this latest travesty of human rights.

9.6Mb. 128kbps. mono 8mins
Bob Boughton, senior lecturer in Adult Education has just returned from Timor Leste where he goes regularly as a government consultant for their Adult Literacy campaign. While the campaign was showing signs of great promise Bob sees progress hamstrung by sudden switches in government policy on the administrative side of things. The campaign has gone backward since Xanana's AMP colition initiated a restructuring of the Public Service. Bob was also in Timor Leste when the Social Democrat party split, and announced its commitment to support Fretilin in the next elections.

14mins, 3.2MB

2008-05-13 Tues

*Wild dingoes spotted in Nimbin. Young reporters, Abby & Ella, give an eye witness account*

10.5 Mb 128kbps mono 11:28 mins

Estanislau Da Silva was a former Prime Minister of Timor Leste, when the Fretilin was the party in government. Before that, he was the Minister for Agriculture in the Fretilin government. He is in Australia this week to attend the launching of a book by a Timorese man, Naldo Rei  (click here to see Radio National ABC interview) who grew up in Indonesian occupied Timor Leste, as a committed supporter of the Fretilin led resistance movement.

Estanislau Da Silva spoke to 2NimFM and Latin Radical at a very opportune time. Australian mainstream media is playing down the commitment of the second largest (social democrat) political party to run with Fretilin as a renovated government coalition in next year's elections. But it looks like the beginning of the end of Xanana Gusmao's hastily cobbled together AMP coalition, designed to keep Fretilin out of power after last year's election result, when Fretilin won the largest vote, but was denied the opportunity to try to form a government, by Presidential intervention.

Da Silva does not dwell on this. He moves on and is at his most eloquent and passionate (as a former Minister for Agriculture) when he speaks about the Fretilin party's commitment to resist the pressures of corporate Agribusiness, and a commitment to develop, as far as possible, self sufficiency in basic food products by enabling small farmers. The current government appears to be more interested in encouraging corporate agribusiness investment. Da Silva says Fretilin is committed to resisting corporate pressures to use Timor's precious acreage to grow biofuels - the main factor in a looming global shortage of basic food products. Important, when even corporations like Nestles are saying that there is no such thing as a global food shortage - it is the diversion of food crops to produce biofuels that is causing the rise in food prices.

0.25MB (text only, due to technical difficulties)

2008-05-12 Mon

*Aquarius 08 Celebrations info*.......................*Lost cat found*....................*Local AFL Footy*.......................*Another motorbike accident*...................*Police presence to continue in Nimbin*

11m46s, 2.7MB

2008-05-06 Tues

*CTC's computer courses*

2.6MB

2008-05-05 Mon

*All the stats on this year's Mardi Grass. *........................*Motorbike accident death*........................*What's coming up in Nimbin*.

10Mb. mono 64kbps 20mins

Lara Pullin talks about Jorge Schafik Handal, a visiting dignitary from El Salvador currently touring Australia and bringing us up to date on the situation in El Salvador that is becoming increasingly volatile.

Jorge Schafik Handal is in Australia to invite independent observers to come to  next year's elections to frustrate anticipated attempts at fraud, and to ensure that the election results are recognised. The pro US ARENA party, which presently leads a coalition that keeps the FMLN out of power is notorious for fraud, corruption and the use of violence to intimidate opponents. Already a number of public figures associated with the FMLN have been brutally assassinated by Death Squads.

4.9 Mb. 6 mins 96kbps. mono

Jorge Schafik Handal is the son of the man of the same name, who was chief guerilla commander of the FMLN liberation front (Commandante 'Simon'), during the civil war in El Salvador during the 1980s.
Jorge himself has been a militant of the FMLN for 34 years and an important figure for the front, in his own right. The FMLN is now a legally constituted political party, and according to local polls will win the upcoming 2009 elections by a landslide. 
Jorge Schafik Handal is in Australia to invite independent observers to come to  next year's elections to frustrate anticipated attempts at fraud, and to ensure that the election results are recognised. The pro US ARENA party, which presently leads a coalition that keeps the FMLN out of power is notorious for fraud, corruption and the use of violence to intimidate opponents. Already a number of public figures associated with the FMLN have been brutally assassinated by Death Squads.

Spanish. English account to follow.

3mins, 0.7MB

2008-04-29 Tues (incomplete due to technical difficulties)

*Miranda's new mural on top of newsagent completed*.............then technical difficulties.

15mins 3.5MB

2008-04-28 Mon

*Nimbinites off to court to support locals arrested in April Fool's Day raid*...................................*Bushwalker found safe & well*........................*remembering ANZAC Day in Nimbin*...................*New computer courses coming up at Nim's CTC*

 8Mb. 96kbps mono 11 minutes.

Final day of Mardi-Grass, the Hemp Olympics, the combi-procession and the Big Parade have all happened. Now it's time for speeches, and star of the moment was Lisa Yeates, long term activist for the environment and drug law reform with a record tracking back to the 1970s. Lisa tells it like it is through word and song.

74.7 Mb. mono 96kbps 10mins

Note: poor sound quality

Lara Pullin with the most recent news updates from El Salvador. The Suchitoto 13, who demonstrated to stop the privatisation of the water resources of Lake Suchitoto (part of a strategy of North American mining companies) have finally managed to defeat terrorism charges, with the harsh penalties they entail. But they are still fighting further legal harassment, and other popular organisations, unions and grassroots communities continue to be assailed by the neo-liberal, neo-conservative ARENA government.

4.8Mb mono 96 kbps 6:46 mins

Note: Inferior sound quality

Lara Pullin with exciting news from El Salvador. Among other things, FMLN parliamentarian and activist Jorge Schafik Handal, son of the revolutionary guerilla leader Commandante Simon will be visiting Australia to invite independent observers - politicians, unionists, and human rights organisations - to come to next years election in El Salvador, which is promising to become a very dirty campaign.

11.5 Mb. 96kbps. mono 16:51 mins

Lara Pullin continuing her update on the steady increment of pressure on El Salvador from the US through the ARENA party, which is pushing the envelope of legality in repressing attempts by grass roots organisations to resist the push for ever more 'privatisation' - even to the point of using anti-terrorist laws against legitimate protest, and persecuting those who claim legal recourse against the perpetrators of new death-squad activities and homicides.

9.35 Mb. 13:45mins. mono 96kbps.

Fred takes us right down to the nitty-gritty of the tensions building in Bolivia - largely due to not very well disguised US nodding and winking to right wing crypto-fascist organisations working as a catspaw to US corporate interests.
The recent meeting of ALBA - a Latin American entity of nations finally making an attempt to break free of US hegemony  -  has announced its support for the Bolivian government. The  US is making blatant attempts to undermine the fledgeling government. But will it work this time, as it has in the past? Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says no, and his voice is a visionary voice backed with oil resources that puts his vision outside and beyond the limitations and imaginative backwardness of corporate USA - and includes the real struggle against planetary climate change.

10 Mb. 11 mins mono 128 kbps.

Lara reports on the latest development on the situation in El Salvador. Tensions are growing as the divide between the major opposition party, the FMLN, and ARENA (which created the Death Squads of the 70s and 80s) present for the Presidential elections next year. And of course, as usual, the USA is playing a hegemonic role  - and, as usual on the side most people would not normally like to see in a position of supremacy.

13mins, 3.1MB

2008-04-22 Tues

*Police search the Sound Lounge today*................................*Vic, from Billen Cliffs has died*.................................*Nimbin cartoonists will have an animation course available soon*......................*& more*

2.5 MB

2008-04-22 Tues

*Police search the Sound Lounge today*................................*Vic, from Billen Cliffs has died*.................................*Nimbin cartoonists will have an animation course available soon*......................*& more*

8min46s, 2MB

2008-04-21 Mon

*Don Sharpe's colourful funeral*............................*Red Tape attacks Mardi Grass*..................................*April Fools Cops didn't give a receipt for cash they confiscated, claims a Nimbinite.*

5KB (text)

2008-04-21 Mon

*Don Sharpe's colourful funeral*............................*Red Tape attacks Mardi Grass*..................................*April Fools Cops didn't give a receipt for cash they confiscated, claims a Nimbinite.*

6m50s 1.6MB (audio version)

2008-04-15 Tues

*More details on Don Sharpe's funeral*.......................*'Finish the Skate Park' petition circulates, as direct action to use it continues....................*More police patrolling the streets

20KB (Text version)

2008-04-15 Tues

*More details on Don Sharpe's funeral*.......................*'Finish the Skate Park' petition circulates, as direct action to use it continues....................*More police patrolling the streets

7mins, 1.6MB

2008-04-14 Mon

*NimFM committee man, Don Sharpe, died today; (includes an ad done by Don. See also Don's radio play 'Horsemen of the Sky' in NimFM's  archives 2006-Sept. 25 Mon).*...........................*Gary at the Hemp Bar got busted for pot* 

11m24s, 2.6MB

2008-04-8 Tues

*Tour of Nimbin's Autumn Art Expo*......................*another art expo coming up at Blue Knob Hall*

8mins, 1.8MB

2008-04-7 Tues

*Ian returns from holidays into the aftermath of The April Fool's Day raid on Nimbin by police!!!!!!!!!!!!!**........................... *Hemp Embassy's Michael Balderstone to go on TV to present Nimbin's side re raid. It's on 'State Focus' on 2008-04-20 Sun 8.30am Channel 10*................... *Nimbin proprietors given a hard time on Development Applications (i.e. D.A.'s)*

10mins 2.3MB

(Sorry about late posting but I've been on holidays).

2008-03-25 Tues

*Results of the ice-man at the pub incident.*......................*Heidi talks about Woods inquiry into DoCS.*.........................*Blue Knob Hall Concert coming up*

17.6mb. 192 kbps stereo. 12:51 mins.

John Kaye from the Greens' party talks with Peter Pedals on 2NimFM about the wrong of the hard Right's power policies.

9mins, 2MB

2008-03-24 Mon Easter

***Kids take direct action to reclaim derelict Skate Park***.....................*More direct action planned by Benny Zable to bring solar power & underground lines to Nimbin*...........................*Autumn Arts Extravaganza opens*...................*Mid-East music at Tuntable Hall*.....................*Soccer: pre-season Cup on Sunday*

[Note: poor sound quality - technological fixes on the way]
2.4Mb. 56kbps. mono 5:49
Lisa puts us in the picture, with the latest development in the ExxonMobil  legal challenge to the Venezuelan government's buyout of foreign ownership shares in the oil industry  - often referred to as 'nationalisation'. The Venezuelan government just wants 51% control over its national resources. Exxon Mobil rejected the Venezuelan government's generous compensation/bouyout offer (although most other oil companies were happy enough), and tried to freeze 3.5 billion dollars of Venezuelan assets around the world. The London judge threw it out of court.

3.6 Mb.56kbps mono 8:56 mins

Fred Fuentes in Caracas Venezuela reports on the continuing effects of the confrontation with Colombia several weeks ago. The latest meeting of the Organisation of American States was remarkable in the inability of the US to dominate proceedings, as it has done in the past.

3.67Mb. 56kbps mono  9:10mins

Lara Pullin tells us how the political tensions leading up to next year's Presidential elections in El Salvador are not just limited to this tiny nation of 6 million people. The solidarity organisation CISPES has been targetted by the FBI in the US, because its activists sent an invitation to the FMLN's presidential candidate, and hosted him for a speaking tour of the US. Suddenly Quakers, human rights advocates and other US citizens have been accused of being terrorists, or terrorist supporters.

3.24Mb. 56kbps 8:026 mins

Lara Pullin describes the political tensions in El Salvador which are growing even though it is almost a year before Presidential elections are to be held. Death Squad activity is on the rise, and much of it seems to have been sponsored by the US, while peasant dissidents are classed as 'terrorists' because of their opposition to a growing campaign of privatisation.

Roberto Perez shares his experience of sustainable development and permaculture in Cuba. He works for the Foundation for Nature and Humanity in Havana.

Participating: Robyn Francis from Erda Institute, Nimbin.
Questions by Wolfgang and Matthias from Nimbin Radio 2NIM-FM 102.3

9m48s, 2.4MB

2008-03-18 Tues

*Activist Benny Zable chains himself to power pole in support of solar power, & putting power lines underground. (Live soundage & interview)*

10m29s, 2.4MB,

2008-03-17 Mon

*St Pat's day in Nimbin*.............................*39 Hrs make-a-film contest results*.......................................*New street murals*..........................*Petition to free Rock*

19.3MB 64kbps mono 42:13min

Roberto Perez talks about the Cuban way into a sustainable future.

Recorded Live at NIM-FM, Nimbin, 13 March 2008

6.8Mb 64kbps mono 14:52 mins.

Rachel Evans describes three month stay in Bolivia where she witnessed the social revolution of the Morales government  - the first indigenous leader to be elected in a country that suffered 193 coups in two hundred years  - mainly between rival factions of a military elite. The veins of Bolivia's rich mineral resources were open, first to Spain, and then, after the war of independence from Spain, the US. Now, for the first time the Bolivian people are reclaiming their right to be free from exploitation, but not without a lot of kicking and screaming from the entrenched oligarchic and military elite. Morales has his work cut out for him.

9mins, 2MB

*Nimbin's cannabis crusader, Rock, a.k.a. Peter Till sent to jail after he walks out on judge*.......................................*Roy, from the CTC who run the 39 Hours Film contest, discusses it with Martin Jansen.*...................*'Woods Inquiry into DoCS, which seeks public feedback on their treatment by DoCS will be in Lismore, Thursday March 27, 1.30 to 3.30pm. Extra info is on www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/cpsinquiry *

6m14s, 1.5MB

*Chibo Mertinec's birthday on Thursday.*............................*Nimbin's make-a-film-in-'39 Hours' contest this weekend*........................*Cuba's Robert Perez talks about Permaculture on Friday. (See Mattias's special interview with him posted below in 4 parts, or in 'Latin Radical' category where the posting is 'Roberto Perez - Empowering Community' for in-depth info!)*.............................*special weather girl, Abby Bowman*

11.2Mb. 96kbps mono  17:20 mins

Fred Fuentes gets us focussed on just how important the recent reconciliation of three Latin American countries  - Colombia, Equador, and Venezuela  - is to Latin America. Last week they were close to being on a war footing. The three countries declared that they were reconciled at an Interamerican conference in Santo Domingo, usually regarded as being of little importance, because the agenda is usually driven by the US. It has become obvious to the Latin American world community that the 'divide and conquer' regional wedging politics of the US is just not on. The Colombian President Uribe, isolated in the Latin American community has had to back down on his warlike actions of last week. It seems that a new pattern has been set for Latin American forums and meetings of national leaders that is becoming less responsive to the US agenda. Chavez' peace initiatives (not to mention his credentials) have been strengthened by the incident, in spite of increased efforts by the US driven media to demonise him.

10.2MB 96kbps mono 14:51min

Roberto Perez shares his experience of sustainable development and permaculture in Cuba. He works for the Foundation for Nature and Humanity in Havana.

Participating: Robyn Francis from Erda Institute, Nimbin.
Questions by Wolfgang and Matthias from Nimbin Radio 2NIM-FM 102.3

Recorded at Djunbung Gardens, Nimbin, 10 March 2008

12.4MB 96kbps mono 18.05min

Roberto Perez shares his experience of sustainable development and permaculture in Cuba. He works for the Foundation for Nature and Humanity in Havana.

Participating: Robyn Francis from Erda Institute, Nimbin.
Questions by Wolfgang and Matthias from Nimbin Radio 2NIM-FM 102.3

Recorded at Djunbung Gardens, Nimbin, 10 March 2008

9.05MB 96kbps mono 13:10min

Roberto Perez shares his experience of sustainable development and permaculture in Cuba. He works for the Foundation for Nature and Humanity in Havana.

Participating: Robyn Francis from Erda Institute, Nimbin.
Questions by Wolfgang and Matthias from Nimbin Radio 2NIM-FM 102.3

Recorded at Djunbung Gardens, Nimbin, 10 March 2008

12.2MB 96kbps mono 17:54min

Roberto Perez shares his experience of sustainable development and permaculture in Cuba. He works for the Foundation for Nature and Humanity in Havana.

Participating: Robyn Francis from Erda Institute, Nimbin.
Questions by Wolfgang and Matthias from Nimbin Radio 2NIM-FM 102.3

Recorded at Djunbung Gardens, Nimbin, 10 March 2008

5m14s, 1.2MB

*'Lonely Planet' film makers film naked radio.* ...........................*Pre-international Women's Day Gathering*...................................*Bush Theatre rumour.*...................................*NimFM's new satellite dish installed*

9m40s, 2.2MB

*World first HEMP WALL is constructed at Hemp Embassy.*.........................*Shoalwater Bay protest film screens tonite*....................................*Correction: LINA EVE's 'Bad Girl' art expo continues on to March 15*..................................*SCOOP! NimFM's for. corresp., Warwick Fry, reports that Columbia & Venezuela are ready for war tonite. Extra info available on his special podcast posting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

10.3Mb. 96kbps mono 15mins

Fred Fuentes calls community radio station 2NimFM with breaking news from Caracas. Troops are being mobilised to guard the borders with Coloumbia, in Venezuela and Ecuador after Colombia's incursion into Ecuador to 'take out' a FARC (Columbian rebel) guerilla leader. Tensions are high in both Ecuador and Venezuela. The Colombian government seems to be piqued that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has achieved something that the Colombian government couldn't bring itself to do for the last decade  -  achieved the release of high profile hostages by the Colombian FARC guerillas. The Colombian military intervened at a critical moment in last months hostage release in an apparent attempt to sabotage the efforts of Hugo Chavez, but without success. With the assistance of US satellite intelligence they located a temporary camp of a Colombian guerilla leader (who had committed himself to releasing more hostages shortly) a few kilometers inside Ecuador, strafed it with cluster bombs, and made an incursion into Ecuadorian territory to find the leader's body, and put it on display in the Colombian press. All done without consultation with the President of Ecuador. Now both Ecuador and Venezuela have severed diplomatic relations with Columbia. Colombia has deployed troops to the Venezuelan border, and a further escalation will put all three countries on a war footing. Important regional meetings and conferences between South American presidents to decide economic and political issues have been cancelled or disrupted. Latin America is experiencing a political and social earthquake.

10.4 Mb. 96kbps mono 15:11 mins.

Fred Fuentes in Caracas reports that while the recent makeover of the PSUV (The United Socialist Party of Venezuela) is straining the political system, President Chavez' vision for Venezuela and Bolivarianism has not been compromised, and the empowering of the grass roots could mean that the corruption and bureaucratism that had become entrenched over the decades of the last century may be challenged. Meanwhile, external pressures to break down the will of the Venezuelan program for change are being resisted. This includes the challenge of Exxon Mobil, and the aggressive attitude of the neighbouring Columbian government  - not to mention the glowering resentments of Washington.

11.8 96kbps. mono 17:15 mins

Lara Pullin of the Australia Venezuela Solidarity Network follows up Lisa MacDonald's call for a week of action - solidarity for Venezuela and protests against Exxon's high handed action in attempting to freeze US$13billion worth of assets of the Venezuela's state controlled oil company that ploughs oil revenue back into social programs for the people and renewable resource projects. With record profits, exceeding the gross national product of many nations (US$36 billion last year), Exxon is bullying many countries to fit their climate change targets to Exxon's agenda  - including the targets tentatively set by Australia's new Rudd Labor government.

9.04 Mb 64kbps mono 20 mins.

James Dunn, former diplomat and Human Rights activist draws on his experience to speculate on the prospects for Timor Leste, now that Alfredo Reinado and his band of armed supporters no longer seem to be such a disruptive influence on East Timorese politics. He talks about the importance of Human Rights and accountability in the development of democratic nation states.

6mins, 1.4MB

*New art exhibition 'A memory that persists' at the Blue Knob Hall*

10mins, 2.4MB

*Soccer season starts in Nimbin*.......................*Results of chopper raids*..........................*Lina Eve from Cawongla's art exhibition & interview*

4.9MB  96Kbps 5:30 mins

Bob Boughton, senior lecturer in Adult Education at the University of New England in Armidale has spent many months over many years in Timor Leste advising the Timorese government on education programs and policies.  He doesn't accept the mainstream media take on recent events, and suggests the international community should have looked a little more closely at the events that disrupted Timorese governance in March 2006.

5M41s, 1.3MB

*Your newsreader's brother & mate dropped into Nimbin for a visit*.......................*'Outcasts' motorcycle club pays Nimbin a visit*

4m44s, 1MB

*Rain continues*...............*Greens rally @ Town Hall to protest sell-off of electricity*

5.1Mb. 64kbps. mono 11:06 mins

Lisa McDonald of the Australia Venezuela Solidarity Network (AVSN) fills us in on the latest attempt to undermine the sovereignty of Venezuela by the US based transnational corporation Exxon, which has taken out legal action against the Venezuelan state oil company. Exxon seems to believe that a non-privatised oil company that spends its profits on social programs is a blight on the planet, and has managed to have $US13 billion worth of Venezuelan assets frozen around the world while it sues for a US$180 million in compensation.  Oddly enough, US$13 billion is exactly what the Venezuelan State oil company spends on social programs for the Venezuelan people!

4.9Mb. 64Kbps 10:34mins

Janelle Saffin, recently elected as the Federal member for Page recalls the three years she spent working in Timor Leste as an assistant to Jose Ramos Horta, who was shot and seriously wounded by a rebel commander on February 10 2008.

17m 35sec 4Mb

 

Sorry seems to be the hardest word,  North Coast Hospitals in shambles,  Highway repairs reprioritized,  Slow down in School Zones,  Mobile phones linked to rise in youth crime,  TB screening breakthrough,  Tree preservation dangers,  Man on Murder charges.

3.53Mb 64kbps mono  7:43mins

Stuart Munkton from the Latin American desk of Green Left weekly resports on the expulsion of a US spy from Bolivia, and a reprimand to the US Ambassador. The spy made the mistake of approaching a Fullbright scholar doing research in Bolivia, to report on the activities of Cuban and Venezuelan doctors and literacy teachers working in Bolivia.

5.7 Mb 64kbps mono 12:20 mins

Jim Dunn, former diplomat, adviser to Timorese President Jose Ramos Horta, and Human Rights activist, reviews the traumatic events of the last week in Timor Leste. The stampede of much mainstream media  in Australia to label the attack on the President and Prime Minister of Timor Leste a coup is ill advised, he says, and it would be misjudging the situation to say that Timor Leste has been further destabilised by the events of last week. And the jury is still out on what exactly was Reynado's motivation.

3.4Mb. 64kbps. mono 7:08 mins.
Tim Anderson, Lecturer in Political Economy at Sydney University talks about his recent experience with the Cuban medical brigades in Timor Leste and a visit to Cuba where he gathered materials for a documentary on the 600 Timorese students studying medicine there on Cuban scholarships. He has written a letter challenging the Rudd Labour government to match this level of Cuban aid, and invites other Australians to do the same.

9m43s, 2.22MB

Sorry Day in Nimbin, interview with Aunty Liz Johnson, + live cross to Chibo down at Parliament grounds, Canberra.

6m46s, 1.6MB

*Preparations for Sorry Day in Nimbin*.............*Latest on the Chopper raids*......................................*Amelia's birthday*

6.4Mb. 32kbps. mono 29 minutes

In the week before Rudd's 'sorry' speech aboriginal activists and their supporters gather at the aboriginal tent Embassy in front of Old Parliament House where they have maintained a presence since 1972. Jen talks about her memories of the early days of aboriginal struggle for their rights

16Mb 23 mins 96kbps mono

Robert Wesley Smith, a long term Timor activists who recalls happier days for Alfredo Reinado, the man who was shot down in his attempt to kidnap, control, or kill the President of East Timor, Jose Ramos Horta, last Monday February 10 2008. Wes is on the phone from Darwin, after seeing the plane come in, medivac - ing the seriously wounded President from Dili to Darwin.

1.43 Mb 64kbps mono 3:8mins

A preview of a longer interview with Robert Wesley Smith, a long term Timor activists who recalls happier days for Alfredo Reinado, the man who was shot down in his attempt to either kidnap, control, or kill, the President of East Timor, Jose Ramos Horta, last Monday February 10 2008. Wes is on the phone from Darwin, after seeing the plane come in, medivac - ing the seriously wounded President from Dili to Darwin.

Photo:Alfredo Reinado, shot down by Horta's security personnel.

Picture by independent East Timorese media organisation "The investigative journalist centre" (http://www.cjitl.blogspot.com/)

3.9Mb. 64kbps mono 9 mins.

Kiraz Janicke in a phone interview from Caracas has the details of the attempts by the US based multinational corporate giant Exxon, to lock up US$12 billion worth of Venezuela's assets in a specious legal claim for a few hundred million dollars, against Venezuela's State owned oil company. In retaliation, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is threatening to cut off oil supplies to the US  - over ten percent of its intake.

11m40s 2.7MB

NimFM's foreign correspondent, Warwick Fry, brings us breaking news from East Timor that their president, Jose Ramos Horta has been shot.*...................*Chopper raids in Nimbin*.......................*Our MP Thomas George visits us*......................* New tourism officer brings news of money for North Coast Tourism......................*Short films in Bush Theatre tonite*....................*Nimbin Players go to Sydney*.................*on Sat Nimbin celebrated Bob Marley's birthday*...................*New Nimbin Aquarius village still going ahead*

6m22s, 1.5MB

*NimFM's Don Sharpe in hospital*..........................*Bush Theatre update*

8m39s, 2MB

*Blue Knob Hall Film night report*..........................*Broken bottles on Sat Night*.................*Flooding*........................*Pancake Tuesday in Nimbin tomorrow*..............................*Yes, Chantico was bitten by a snake*

8Mb 64kbps mono 17 mins.

Kiraz Janicke, based in Caracas is on the phone to Latin Radical for the latest developments in the media war against the government of President Hugo Chavez. Chavez' success in negotiating a successful hostage release, without military intervention stuck in the craw of the US and the government of Columbia. Columbian embassies and Consulates have organised demonstrations against the FARC around the world (including Australia) in an effort to discredit the Chavez government and torpedo his promotion of peace talks between the FARC (which controls over 30% of Columbia) and the Columbian government. Meanwhile, Chavez has evicted the US drug enforcement officials of the DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency) with a rise in big drug busts by Venezuelan authorities, commended by the UN monitoring authority. Right wing paramilitaries are infiltrating into Venezuela across the Columbian border to disrupt land reform programs by Venezuelan peasant farmers.

Finally, how to join an Australian brigade to Venezuela, and see for yourself.

10Mb 11mins 96kbps Mono

Lara Pullin on El Salvador's coming elections. Pt 1

El Salvador suffered terribly in a civil war that lasted through the decade of the 1980s. After the FMLN fought the US backed military to a standstill in 1989 a peace was negotiated over the next 2 years, and in 1992, amid much jubilation an 'accord' was signed with the FMLN which became a major, legally registered political party, and narrowly lost winning government against a five party coalition led by the right wing ARENA party.

Next year, 2009, will be another presidential election. But over recent years it seems that ARENA is reverting to form. The founder of ARENA, Roberto D'Aubuisson ran the notorious Death Squads through the 1970s and 1980s, and is believed to be the intellectual author of the assassination of Archbishop Romero in March 1980.  The Death Squads are back, and the head of the National Police of El Salvador sees no need to investigate the political violence, assassinations of leading FMLN Mayors and political figures.

And guess who has been chosen to be ARENA's Presidential candidate next year? If you guessed the head of the National Police, you win a free bag of tortillas.

Check out the CISPES website, for more information:
http://cispes.org/

5.6 Mb 11 mins 64kbps mono

Lara Pullin on the El Salvadoran elections Part 2

Lara talks about some of the details of the return of the Death Squads in El Salvador, and the incremental increase in their activities, including the assassination of a Mayor, and  threats against a Public radio station that caters to the people, rather than the commercial  media moguls.

She analyses possible reasons for the violent reaction of the right wing governing party. Is it possible that they might lose the next Presidential election.  Does the influence of Venezuela allow political parties more scope to be independent of the interests of the US?

(More information on El Salvador here:
http://cispes.org/ )

Picture: The Mayor, Wilbur Funes, assassinated several weeks ago by the resurgent Salvadoran Death Squads. Government prosecutors refuse to investigate this and other murders.

6m55s, 1.6MB

*Chinny's (1942 - 2008) life in brief, & Chinny's memorial service coming up*...................*Has Chantico been bitten by a snake?*

10m48s, 2.5MB

*Exclusive interview with Diana Anaid, Nimbin's international hit singer, at our Australia Day Gig*.................................*Death of Chinny.*

16Mb mono 128kbps 20 mins

Canadian couple John Riddell and Susan Weiss talk to Latin Radical about their experience on the Australian Venezuela solidarity brigade. Not only were they witnesses to the recent plebiscite, but they were able to observe the workings of the "Community Councils" which the Chavez government is trying to empower. People are encouraged to work together at a community level and given the means to circumvent entrenched bureaucracies.

Note: Sound quality is poor. This was a phone interview on a noisy international connection. Nevertheless, it is worth hearing what John and Susan have to say.

Once again we all wax lyrical about just about anything that our communally trashed minds can think about. But as a diversion this week, we have Hugh, director of the still-being-made Lonely Planet film, which will trace the adventures of Steve, the Lone Motor Cyclist, as he rides from Bulla in Victoria to Cooktown in Queensland along the Great Dividing Range. Hugh would like to have Steve on the Hemp Show and was checking out  what was required. (Nakedness & Truth, obviously). He was also searching for the mythical "Hippy Commune" where Steve could stay and work off his board. Mull up and Jump Aboard.

Hello, hello again. This week Jack & I kick off with some thoughts for the 2 Graf Artists, 'Flaps' & 'Banish', who died while painting in an underground stormwater drain. We applaud the Victorian Govt. for its Indigenous compo. package. We chuckle at the "Notional" Party's new leader, their great white "Hope against Hope". We empathise with Lungfish, Toothfish and Whales. An attempt to resolve "Creative Differences" vs "Personality Conflict" but slip into the revelation of the Illusion of Wealth. We disect Gaza, The US Primaries but Bob's failing memory fails to split the atom. Finally we dissappear in a swarm of Sandflies.

At last, the PlaySpace all in one file! This week we brew a coffee & discuss fungus, beards, and girls who like both. We extoll the glories of storytellers, feel sorry for poor Brittney, lust after Phil Koperburg's new Chinese made teflon suit and unfortunately name Mrs. Worthington's useless offspring. We note our national love of Conga lines, bid farewell to Soeharto in advance and Sir Ed posthumously, while sparing a thought for how no-one suffers like a Pole, particularly at altitude. All this plus a quick lesson in Hindi to help you, dear listener, to understand the sledging in the next test with India.
Plus more... lots more! Climb aboard and lets go.

Ok, I know it's taken a while to get part 1 up here... consider it a mystery of the universe... BUT, it will not happen again. I promise you this is the last of our bifurcated pods...  from now on I will blend the 2 into 1 which I believe will make all our lives just that much easier. As to the content of this show... it's still very wet, Jack & I have toadstools growing out of our ears and other places, but we're happy... happy as a couple of pigs in shit. Come and join us.

15Mb 128kbps mono 15mins.
Fred Fuentes reports from ground base in Caracas, Venezuela. Are there really food shortages? What are these "Community Councils"? Are they really an instrument to centralise power to the President? Why has President Hugo Chavez and his government so calmly accepted the narrow rejection of the 66 point plebiscite to change the Venezuelan constitution? Fred has been in Venezuela for over a year and has his finger on the pulse of Bolivarian activism. He rounds up this interview with an insightful assessment of how President Hugo Chavez international status has been enhanced by his success in persuading the Columbian FARC guerillas to release hostages, in spite of efforts by the US and the Columbian President to sabotage a successful outcome.

8mins 1.8MB

*Interview with CTC (Community Technology Centre) head honcho, Roy Radle*

7m30s 1.7MB

 

*CTC NOT closing down*............................*Nimbin man sentenced for hash cookies*

58 mins, 13.2MB

Aboriginal activist, elder, & artist, Vincent Forrester, talks about effects of the Fed Gov't intervention in Northern Territory's aboriginal communities.

Vincent comes from Mutijulu Community in NT, & was visiting Nimbin & came in to NimFM to talk with Lynne Oldfield.

In this hour we muse about a famous his-storyan's take on our past, and suggest interesting places for Keith to Shuttle his Wind. We discuss the magic number... 100/day!  We talk about E-waste and  mini cars... we paddle across the Tasman with Justin & James... go fellas! And we revisit our favorite mud volcano in Suribaya.

Bob, freshly back from Wetford Folk Festival, arrives late & bedraggled, talking of strange little Mushroom Men. He relates tales from Wetford,  heaping praise on many including James Morrison &  Babylon Circus. The boys discuss the funeral of local icon, Chicken George, and the poor behaviour of the local Sergeant. Jack instructs us in the Language of Tourism.  They muse about fireworks and the smell of gunpowder.  Entire track from Muyngarnbi included.

Second hour and Bob's still going on about the wet.  He also waxes lyrical on the price of oil and both the lads have a bit to say about the US Primaries.  They take a big deep breath of Chinese air and live to tell the tale. Pakistan and Kenya get sent to the corner to have a long hard think about themselves and David Hicks' bail conditions are dragged out at arms length and fumigated.

6m 56s,    1.6MB

*Rock, Nimbin's cannabis crusader goes to court again* .....................*Your newsreader gets rego for his car again*

4m50s  1.1MB

*Big fight & broken glass in Nimbin*.....................*Our CTC is closing down*..............................*More drug buses on the way*

4mins 25 secs,  1MB  (Welcome to the new year. I hope all our podcastees had an enjoyable Xmas.)

In Nimbin, *Street theatre of the unintentional kind. *.................*Floods*

Ho, Ho, Ho... Oops, apparently I'm not allowed to say that. Politically incorrect or something... whatever. Well, here we are on the last Hemp Hour before Christmas and we've all brought in a little something special to share with our friends. I think it becomes a little obvious that the quality is a bit above average by the level of incompetance shown by all involved. It didn't help that Hudson came in (I think... by which I mean I think he came in, not that I'm confused about ...)
Anyway, we all did our best (except Michael who was a tad of the pace all day)
Bob (The President)

And yes, despite the best predictions of doctors and scientists we are still alive and functioning (?) well into the 2nd hour of the show. We accept a challenge (invitation) from Hudson to come over to the coast and commandeer his radio show on Bay FM (our hot sister station - you should see her in a bikini) on Tues. 15th Jan. Apparently Bay FM (just like us at times) streams live so tune in and have a chuckle.
Bob (The President)

Well boys and girls, here we are only a few sleeps short of good ol' Xmas Day. Jack and I discuss the banality that is the West's idea of a religious festival. We poke deep in the communal psyche and discover nasty green stuff on our fingers. Wanna taste?

Continuing on from where we were so rudely interrupted by the untimely end of the previous pod... I should mention that in honour of the rapidly approaching "Annual Day of Excess", Jack & I are wearing our matching "Kill a Santa for Christ" T-shirts. I'll be away next week so Jack will be flying solo... back in the New Year and let's hope it's a fuckin' beauty!
Bob

Continuing on with more of the same... this is the 2nd part of the 14th's show. Some would say better than the 1st half, possibly because we had had {don't you love it when you can use had twice?) a couple of sessions out on the verandah, keeping the "levels" up. But seriously, I'm sure we say a couple of interesting things... somewhere...

Another dose of the "Good Stuff". The Goddess, The Mayor and The President continue to discuss (their word, not mine) Cannabis Law Reform, Medicinal Marijuana, Hemp Products including edible seed products and all manner of earth shattering stuff. Gasp as they attempt to negotiate a completely trashed radio show through the intricate maze of a Frequency Modulated Highway (102.3)
Enjoy

6mins, 1.4 MB

*Death of the PLANTEM, aka Chicken George, aka John Taylor*

Merry Xmas to all the listeners of NimFM podcasts!!!!!!!!!!  Your support of this tiny little radio station makes us keep on keeping on. Be prepared for some big changes in the new year.

A continuation of the previous hour, Jack and I wax lyrical on many things including fearless mice and glowing cats... naturally land rights and morality rear their heads again. Enjoy dear listener.

Sorry for the gap in podcasts folks... hopefully they'll be more or less regular like a good set of bowels. As to what's contained within this podcast; that's a bit like trying to remember what I had for breakfast last Tuesday... but what I can say is that it contains Bo Kaan's new single "9/11" in its entirety. Jack & I hope you enjoy the various meanderings our minds took on that particular Friday morning. Now that I'm editing our own poscasts I'll pay a bit more attention to what we're saying... promise.
Bob

9m30s,  2.2MB

*Stony Chute rd. finally tarred*...............................*New Mardi-Grass poster out now*.................................*Happy Birthday to Red & Hedda.*

8mins, 1.8MB

****NATIONAL SCOOP. Nimbin protestors confirm asbestos dumped at Timbarra Gold Mine. NATIONAL SCOOP*** ..........................................*Tomorrow Stony Chute rd to be completely sealed* + *2 new bridges for Nimbin rd.* ..................................*NimFM's Adrienne Watt plans a doco on people's 'Centrelink' experience*

6 mins, 1.4MB

*Phil sells FUN-FRUITS to Wayne & Janine*.............................*Koa's bush tucker film premieres in Nimbin tonite*

10mins, 2.2MB

*Carols by Candlelight tomorrow with Val Mace*............................*Free Film Festival was a goer*..............................*Seed Parade tomorrow*.........................*Enviro Centre testing asbestos @ Timbarra Gold Mine*

11mins, 2.5MB

*Robbery at the Rainbow Cafe* ..............................*Peacenik Benny Zable gets robbed on train*...................................*SAS soldier visits Nimbin* ................................*Free Film Festival tonite*.............................*Disabled NimFM DJ, Joel, wins award.*

1.6MB 7mins

*Enviro Centre plans to protest against reopening of Timbarra Gold Mine*......................................*preparations for Seed Parade* ............................* Tech problems at NimFM*

(sorry posting so late; it's due to tech problems at station)

8mins, 2MB

*Men's 'Shed' van found.* .....................*New eatery 'Spangled Drongo' report*

the firey first show after jen returns from America full of herself and proud of her international fame, things get off to a bad start as she attempts to sit in Mark's chair and press buttons on the panel.

16.5 mb mono 32 kbps 90 min
Mark & Jen are back in the saddle for the usual round of verbal abuse contempt, and general swipes at local political correctors and fascism.

12.2 Mb 128kbps mono 14mins

Lisa McDonald of the AVSN  -  the Australia Venezuela Solidarity Network. Lisa talks about the details of the constitutional reforms proposed for the narrowly lost plebiscite for Venezuela's constitutional reform last week.

10.1Mb. 96kbps mono 14:50 minutes; Skype phone interview from Venezuela, Friday December 7 2007.
Fred Fuentes is in Venezuela for the long haul and sends regular reports back to Australia, as well as assisting in setting up brigades from Australia to see conditions in Venezuela on the ground. Fred was in the thick of the huge plebiscite that took place in Venezuela last week, for constitutional reforms designed to institutionalise the sweeping changes the Chavez government is implementing. The plebiscite was narrowly lost, after a ruthless campaign of sabotage and destabilisation by the Venezuelan business class and the CIA, which invested US$8million into the process. Fred gives us an informed and considered assessment of the plebiscite. We get a good analysis of why it did not succeed, what the result means to Venezuela, and most importantly,why the narrow loss was a Pyhrric victory for the Venezuelan right wing opposition.

11.7 Mb. 128kbps mono 12:47 mins

Nelson D'Avila, the Venezuelan Charge d'Affaires to Australia and Oceania addresses the Greenleft Weekly dinner in November descibing Venezuela's leadership role in resisting US pressures to eliminate socialism on the planet.

14Mb. 14:39 mins mono 128kbps.

Glebe Coroner's Court handed down a finding last month that the 5 journalists killed at Balibo in Timor Leste in 1975 were murdered by an invading Indonesian force which both the Australian and Indonesian governments at the time were denying  was in progress, or even planned. The Coroner recommended that there should be further investigation to establish whether this act constituted a war crime.

Jim Dunn, who was the Australian Consul about that time, and who has since been active in the United Nations and Human Rights bodies to claim justice for the East Timorese people talks about the significance of this finding, and what it means for the Timorese, the Australian and Indonesian governments, and the families of the murdered newsmen.