WHILE MAHATMA GANDHI is best remembered for his campaign to end British colonialism a half-century ago, the greater part of his life's work was devoted to renewing India's vitality and regenerating its culture from the ground up.

He was a tireless champion of what he called swadeshi or local self-sufficiency. He felt that the soul of India was contained in the village community and that the freedom of the Indian people could only be achieved by creating a confederation of self-governing, self-reliant, self-employed people living in villages and deriving their right livelihood from the products of their homesteads.

As history would have it, Gandhi's ideas were widely ignored following India's independence, especially his teaching of frugality and resource conservation.

Like many nations in the developing world, India flirted for a time with socialism but then abandoned it in favor of Western-style market reforms.

Today all the mainstream political parties in India are committed to a high-tech future, one that will most likely bring short-term economic prosperity to some Indians but not without long-term social and environmental consequences.

But there is a growing movement underway to reclaim Gandhi's ideas. More and more people, in India and elsewhere, are beginning to question the value of free-market reforms and deregulation.

As they see it, the push toward economic globalization has had a host of negative outcomes, from deepening economic disparities and overcrowded cities to ecological destruction and the flattening of local traditions and cultures.

One of the most prominent of Gandhi's intellectual heirs is Vandana Shiva, a physicist and philosopher of science by training who has developed a considerable reputation as a champion of sustainability, self-determination, women's rights and environmental justice.

AFTER A VERY TOUGH DECISION, the winners of 94.9 CHRW's Stories in Sound audio documentary competition have been selected.

A panel of six judges scored the 5-10 minute documentaries, with entries submitted from everyone including Western journalism students, 94.9 CHRW volunteers, high school students and community members.

The first place documentary, Jackie Washington at Eighty-Eight, was created by Allison Brown.

A look back at the legendary folk and blues musician's life, Brown incorporated interviews with Washington, live recordings and anecdotes from his contemporaries to tell his story.

Second prize was awarded to Western student Anna Abouzeid for Las Chicas Del Café, a documentary on organic and fair-trade coffee makers in Nicaragua.

Five people were arrested inside.

Thirty-three point three grams of crack cocaine ($2,680) was located inside the apartment. A small quantity of Ritalin, oxycontin and hash was also found when persons were searched. $1,971 in Canadian Currency was also seized.

Michael Sztogryn, 39 years old of London, is charged with possession of crack cocaine for the purpose of trafficking, possession of crack cocaine, possession of cannabis resin (hash) and possession of Ritalin.

Richard Davies, 44 years old of Kirkland Lake, is charged with possession of crack cocaine for the purpose of trafficking, possession of crack cocaine and fail to comply with an officer in charge undertaking.

Her Worship the Mayor Anne Marie DeCicco-Best
and Members of City Council
The Corporation of the City of London

RE: PROCEDURAL UNFAIRNESS/ REGULATORY CAPTURE ~ Council-approved private meeting(s) between "taxicab industry stakeholders" and the civic administration PRIOR to the May 5 public participation meeting and AFTER the circulation of the notice of the public participation meeting and the original staff report

I wasn't able to obtain a copy of the Added Communications at the meeting itself, but if I had, rest assured that I wouldn't have stayed for the full, four-hour meeting because after reading the new staff report the next day, I realized that the public participation meeting was a charade due to the procedural unfairness of permitting "taxi industry stakeholders" to meet privately with the civic administration PRIOR to the public participation meeting and AFTER the original staff report was circulated and the date set for the public participation meeting at Centennial Hall.

Please be aware that the "taxi industry stakeholders" are not the only interested parties in this situation regarding more wheelchair-accessible taxicabs.

SOON AFTER Martin Luther King's birthday became a federal holiday in 1986, I began prodding mainstream media to cover the The Martin Luther King you don't see on TV as he campaigned militantly against U.S. foreign and economic policy. Most of his last speeches were recorded. But year after year, corporate networks have refused to air the tapes.

Last night NBC Nightly anchor Brian Williams enthused over new color footage of King that adorned its coverage of the 40th anniversary of the assassination. The report focused on the last phase of King's life. But the same old blinders were in place.

NBC showed young working class whites in Chicago taunting King. But there was no mention of how elite media had taunted King in his last year. In 1967 and ‘68, mainstream media saw Rev. King a bit like they now see Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

Back then they denounced King's critical comments; today they simply silence them.

This man grabbed the woman by the throat and held her up against a wall while demanding money from her.

The man proceeded to touch the female in a sexual manner and was interrupted by a passing vehicle.

We now know that the public participation meeting was a sham from the get-go as the cab bosses were granted council-approved private meetings with senior City staff prior to the public participation meeting on May 5 and after the staff recommendations were widely circulated and after the public participation meeting date was set and widely circulated.

The Accessibility Advisory Committee was not privy to this private meeting(s), nor were the London Taxi Driver's Association, who support the removal of the licence cap on wheelchair-accessible taxicabs.

At this stage of the game, only elected politicians should be permitted to be lobbied, not City staff, noting that after the private meeting(s) with the cab bosses, City staff substantially changed their report.

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,

Today, we are here discussing a very critical issue concerning a considerable sector of our society.

As of today, the City politicians will decide the current and the future mobility of the disabled community in London.

But before making such a decision, I would like to remind everybody that those disabled people who are sitting in the front rows are our mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers.

The vast majority of the disabled people all over Canada are some of those who built Canada, and some of those who defended Canada and some of those who maintained the independence and freedom of Canada.

So once they became disabled, why others are not grateful to them, but to the opposite they treat them with negligence and disregard.

Who is stone-hearted to deny them freedom of mobility, a better life and better communications? And how many times family of a disabled person have to cancel a family gathering such as Christmas, Easter or a birthday party because of non-availability of accessible cab?

Here is the new report (click on "read more" below) from the civic administration that was walked into the public participation meeting as an "Added Communication" on May 5 at 7 p.m.

Read it and you'll see that the "taxi industry stakeholders" had a council-approved private meeting(s) with senior City staff prior to the scheduled public participation meetings to ... ah ... iron out a few last-minute details.

Also note that the City's Accessibility Advisory Committee was not invited to this private meeting, nor were any members of the disabled community, nor the general public.

Everything was worked out before the public participation meeting, making the public meeting a charade.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is what is called "Regulatory Capture" where the industry to be regulated has undue influence over the regulator, often to the detriment of the public interest.

Simply stated, both City staff and several elected officials have folded like a $5 accordion under intense pressure from the cab bosses and their minions.

It speaks volumes about the credibility of the claims and accusations made by the self-serving cab bosses and their minions.

Ignoring the fact that everyone on city council has a "personal agenda" -- otherwise they wouldn't seek elected office, let's examine what Steve Orser has accomplished by sitting on a variety of industry advisory committees and taxi task forces, dating back to 1994, before he landed on city council in November of 2006.

Orser has advocated the following policy initiatives through to their implementation:

Quite the "personal agenda" that Jamie Donnelly is complaining about.

And to top it off, now Orser supports more wheelchair-accessible taxicabs to serve the disabled, driven by owner-operators.