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news from
the cockburn project
at
www.cockburnproject.net
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21 June 2002

Greetings!

All sorts of Cockburn Project publisher, Nigel Parry caught up with
Andy Milne in December, 2001. Milne has a new album coming out in
the fall of 2002 which is a collaborative effort with Bruce. Two new
songs resulted as well as a new twist on Let the Bad Air Out. The
article features studio photos of Bruce and Andy, courtesy of Andy
Milne. Their collaboration was featured in the CBC production: My
Beat: The Life and Times of Bruce Cockburn. Here's a sample of the
interview:

Nigel Parry: How did you end up working with Bruce? This was the
second collaboration of Bruce with someone who is ostensibly a jazz
musician, with his appearance on Michael Occhipinti's album. Who
initiated the contact?

Andy Milne: In both cases it wasn't Bruce's idea to get in touch. I
grew up in Canada, my bass player lives in Toronto so Bruce and I
were a few degrees away. I listen to music with sensibilities, with
some kind of improvisation, music that has some freedom of
expression. In general, I'd have to say the collaboration happened
pretty naturally for me.

Nigel Parry: Was it easy to work together?

Andy Milne: We have a mutual admiration for each other's music and a
desire to create something special. That was the easy part, however I
live in New York and Bruce lives in Toronto, and between both of our
touring schedules, it took some doing to find time to get together to
create.

During May and June 2000, we started working on ideas. Even after you
got together, it took time to get into the zone. It takes a while to
feel each other out. You're in a room together, two people who don't
know each other very well need to find out each other's space. You
need to get to know each other.

In May 2001, the band began recording our new album in the studio,
which continued on until October 2001. Bruce recorded his parts with
us during a couple of days in May.

For the rest of the interview go to: http://cockburnproject.net and
read the front page.

Audrey Pearson has this to pass on from:
http://www.canoe.ca/NationalTicker/CANOE-wire.G8-Labour.html

June 18, 2002

Labour leaders say Chretien agrees to citizen involvement in African
aid plan

OTTAWA (CP) -- Labour leaders representing about 80 million union
members from around the world emerged from a meeting Tuesday with
Prime Minister Jean Chretien saying he agreed to some of their key
demands.

Mamoumata Cisse of Burkina Faso, one of about 30 international labour
leaders at the meeting, said Chretien promised to involve African
citizens groups in the African aid plan he will propose at next
week's G-8 summit in Kananaskis, Alta.

"The prime minister assured us that Canada is determined to ... take
account of the social partners, notably the union organizations at
the local, regional and international levels," she said.

Critics have panned the G-8 African aid package, known as the New
Economic Partnership for African Development (NEPAD), as a top-down
scheme developed without the input of the people it's supposed to
help.

Cisse, of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, said
most of the 90-minute meeting was devoted to NEPAD, but labour
leaders also demanded reforms to global financial institutions such
as the International Monetary Fund.

It is customary for the leader of the host country at a G-8 summit to
meet with labour leaders, but in the past their concerns have rarely
been reflected in the decisions reached.

John Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO, the biggest U.S. labour
coalition, said he expects things will be different this time. "We're
hopeful and optimistic that our points of view will be making it into
the final communique."

At a separate news conference, Canadian social activists, including
Maude Barlow of the Council of Canadians and musician Bruce Cockburn,
stated similar concerns about lack of grass-roots involvement in the
G-8 agenda.

Barlow said there will be more soldiers guarding the G-8 leaders at
Kananaskis than Canada sent to Afghanistan. She estimated the cost of
the 36-hour conference at $15 million an hour.

"All of this is only to promote a set a policies predetermined before
they set foot in Alberta," she said. "We are going to continue to
speak on these issues in what is fast becoming a corporate security
state in Canada."

Cockburn, who will perform at a concert for activists in Calgary
during the June 26-27 summit, said he has seen a lot of top-down aid
financed by G-8 countries in the Third World.

"It doesn't look like development to me."
He said political dissent is a vital democratic right.

"The silencing of dissent by various means, the attempted elimination
of one whole side of the globalization debate, is to me a worrisome
sign of worse to come.

"We need to clearly say that spending $500 million on a two-day
meeting that will be guarded by 5,000 troops to silence our right to
express ourselves is not the Canada that we grew up in."

The Council of Canadians issued a statement calling on its
supporters "to base their activities on the principles of peaceful
protest."

It called on police and government authorities to do the same.

Editor Audrey Pearson reports: Here are some photos from the GAS CD
benefit in Montreal: http://www.gascd.com/mtltour.php

Bruce donated the song "All The Diamonds." The CD is mostly coastal
ocietymusicians singing about the coast and its
ecology/culture/people. Both Bruce Cockburn and Sarah McLachlan
donated a song.

Sales from the CD go to helping conserve the health of our ocean.
Living Oceans Society works to set up marine protected areas, remove
fish farms from the coast, and maintain the moratorium on offshore
oil and gas.

Editor Bobbi Wisby reports that there's another review from Wilfred
Langmaid in our 'One Man's View' series, check it out!

That's it for this issue on this first day of summer!

Peace,
Suzanne Myers
editor@...