Avi Lewis

I was just listening to a great 30-minute interview with Avi Lewis on CBC radio a little earlier and it reminded me of just what we've been missing with him no longer on Canadian TV, with him no longer entertaining and informing us with his progressive ideas, provocative interviews and passionate insistence on justice. It also reminded me of the letter I sent to the CBC last month:

You want to watch something that'll get you thinking? Well, then check out this short 7-minute film by Alfonso Cuarón and Naomi Klein about Naomi's new book "The Shock Doctrine" and learn all about "disaster capitalism" and its greatest proponent, that nasty Milton Friedman, friend and advisor to Thatcher, Reagan and, yes, even Pinochet.

Last night I watched Avi's fourth show on CBC (The Big Picture with Avi Lewis Part 4 - Hot House), which was about the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict and, more specifically, at least as a starting point, the Palestinian leaders in Israeli jails. It was, as you'd imagine, a fiery debate, the most intense of the four shows so far. Avi said at the outset that if you already have a fixed perception then you'll simply see what you already know, but I couldn't help being unable to see past the fact that there are 10,000 Palestinians wasting away in Israeli prisons for supposed crimes against Israel, but no Israelis in Palestinian jails serving time for crimes committed against Palestinians - even though far more innocent Palestinians have been killed over the years than Israelis. Like everything else in this conflict it's a ridiculously unfair, unjust and unbelievable reality. Once you reject the silly notion that Palestinians killing Israelis is "terrorism" while Israelis killing Palestinians is not, you're left with the pretty asinine situation of 10,000 Palestinians in jail, while all the Israeli killers walk free, often right into the highest posts of government.

I hope you all checked out Avi Lewis' show again last night ("The Big Picture with Avi Lewis: Part 3 - Can We Save Planet Earth?"). Debating how to deal with global warming may not have stirred up quite as passionate of a debate as the shows from the past two weeks on torture and religion did; but, really, it's the much bigger - and much more important - topic by far.

An open letter to all those who made the smart choice and watched Avi Lewis' show on CBC last night ("The Big Picture with Avi Lewis Part 2 - The Root of All Evil - Is religion the root of all evil in the world?")

I needed to sleep on it, but now I've come up with the Funniest Fundamentalist Freaks from Avi's show last night. Ok, so I didn't really need to sleep on it or even think about it for more than a second, but, hey, it was late last night and some people need to get to bed by 3:00... or at least 3:30.

Here's the list: