National • News & Public Affairs
WINGS: Women's International News Gathering Service is an all-woman independent radio production company that produces and distributes news and current affairs programs by and about women around the world.
WINGS is at different times horrifying, exciting, funny, eye-opening and definitely inspirational. — Nikki Reece, program producer, Plains FM, Christchurch, New Zealand
WINGS: Women’s International News Gathering Service is an all-woman independent radio production company that produces and distributes news and current affairs programs by and about women around the world. WINGS programs are used by non-commercial radio stations, women’s studies, and individuals. Programs can be heard on local radio stations, on shortwave, on the internet, and on cassettes. The WINGS Mailing List provides updates on stories and new information about women’s media. “Though I have been involved in women’s issues for years, I was still struck by the contrast of your broadcast to the news we are usually hearing — news reflecting male interests in a basically male world. Women’s affairs are a hidden current in the flow of world events.”– Kristin Reilly, listener, Buffalo, New YorkWINGS Mailing List:E-mail [email protected] to receive periodic e-mail updates about WINGS programs and women’s media issues.
September 30, 2023 National, News & Public Affairs
Gaslighting and Philosophy (its not all in your mind)
Kate Manne, Assoc. Prof. of Philosophy at Cornell, focuses on moral philosophy (especially metaethics and moral psychology), and feminist and social philosophy. Her books include "Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny", and "Entitled: How Male Privilege Hurts Women". Her forthcoming book is "Unshrinking: How to Face Fatphobia". She publishes in mainstream periodicals, and her Substack newsletter is called "More to Hate". Her talk "Philosophy and Gaslighting: It's Not All In Your Mind" was featured in the online conference What Good is Philosophy?, a fundraiser for the Ukrainian Academy hosted by the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. The conference was organized and moderated by Aaron James Wendland, Asst. Prof. of Philosophy Kings College London, co-editor of the book "Wittgenstein and Heidegger", and a producer for the CBC Radio series "Ideas". This event was lightly edited for the WINGS format. To watch the original, visithttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FXeGitYkuMTo donate to the Ukrainian Academy fundraiser, visit https://civic.ukma.edu.ua/donate/.
ListenSeptember 23, 2023 National, News & Public Affairs
Mother for Gays (a mother spreads acceptance in homophobic Kenya)
Kenya is a country where homosexuality is heavily stigmatized. According to international polls, more than 80 percent of Kenyans oppose acceptance for homosexual relations, and more than 90 percent oppose same-sex marriage. There are harsh penalties prescribed by law, insults like "mashoga" are tossed about, and violence - and even death - are serious possibilities. In the US, parents of gays played a major role in societal acceptance. Kenyan mother Mary Mumbi tells the story of how she came to terms with her daughter's sexuality and has come to provide emotional support for other gays, to connect with the gay rights movement, and to speak out to family and associates - even in church - about accepting and respecting gay people. She says gays were created by God, and that people who insult them may well have closeted gays in their own families.
ListenSeptember 16, 2023 National, News & Public Affairs
Matrix Societies (suppressed histories explored)
Max Dashu is an American feminist historian, author, and artist. Her areas of expertise include female iconography, mother-right cultures and the origins of patriarchy. In 1970, Dashu founded the Suppressed Histories Archives to research and document women's history and to make the full spectrum of women's history and culture visible and accessible. This interview, conducted in 2003 by the late Kellia Ramares-Watson, brings out Dashu's primary analysis of how and why some cultures have been and still are maternal-centric and focused on peace and survival, while others - especially under pressure from invaders - have become patriarchal and suppressive of women.
Read MoreSeptember 9, 2023 National, News & Public Affairs
African Foods Revival
A movement is afoot to recover traditional African food plants, preserve them, and disseminate the knowledge about how to grow and use them. Many have medicinal advantages as well as nutritional ones, and can be grown without any costly inputs. Anastacia Cheruiyot is a leader in this movement and a consultant in biodiversity conservation, climate-smart agriculture, and value-chain development for indigenous vegetables. She is based in Mombasa, Kenya and is a plant biologist who developed the Haller Foundation's indigenous plant program; she also became a program officer for the African Women's Agribusiness Network.
Read MoreSeptember 2, 2023 National, News & Public Affairs
Vanastree Seed Savers
Vanastree.org is a women-run seed saving collective and agroecology training location in the Malnad region of the Western Ghats in Southern India. They are dedicated to promoting forest garden biodiversity and small scale food systems through the conservation of traditional seeds and tubers. Vanastree means women of the forest and the agrarian communities in their area are part of an age-old way of life where the wilderness, spice orchards, paddies and homesteads are closely intertwined. The role of women farmers and gardeners is seen as integral to the social, cultural and ecological fabric of the unique Malnad region. The women promote small scale farming as vital to food security and positive social change.
Read MoreAugust 26, 2023 National, News & Public Affairs
Haitian Women’s Radio
Rezo Fanm Radyo Kominote Ayisyen (REFRAKA) is the Women's Community Radio Network of Haiti. Since the devastating earthquake that destroyed its headquarters, REFRAKA has recovered, again trains and empowers women broadcasters, and distributes broadcasts with music, news, and life-saving information through community radios across the country. Combating the cholera epidemic brought by foreign troops was a major concern. As of 2021-2023, REFRAKA is funded to work with 30 community stations across Haiti to raise awareness of violence against women and train radio hosts - especially women.
Read MoreAugust 19, 2023 National, News & Public Affairs
Market Women of Haiti (essential and under siege )
Today's program is inspired by the 2021 film "Madan Sara", produced in Haitian Creole and directed by Etant Dupain. Excerpts from this film, including sounds and interviews, are provided. Featured Speakers: Edwidge Danticat, Haitian-American novelist raised by a Madan Sara; Etant Dupain, director of the film Madan Sara; Nora Jeanne Joseph, founder of a Haitian company called RADIKAL that works with and supports Madan Saras; Daruna Nikii, 20-year old Haitian-Canadian, raised by her grandmother, a Madan Sara; Clotilde Achille, a Madan Sara in the film; and, Mildred Trouillot-Aristide, co-founder of The University of the Aristide Foundation (UniFA).
Read MoreAugust 12, 2023 National, News & Public Affairs
Waitress Audio Art
American Dining is an audio project that grew out of The Waitresses, a collaborative performance art group founded in Los Angeles in 1977 by Jerri Allyn and Anne Gauldin. In 1986, an art museum funded Allyn to perform American Dining in restaurants. Audio recordings played on faux jukeboxes, while Allyn performed waitressing along with staff. She toured this piece for 3 years. In 1989, New American Radio commissioned this version. "Drawing from her own experience as a waitress, Allyn creates song-narratives that offer fascinating insights into a world usually unnoticed by customers - the bizarre and very human world of the over-worked waitress. It's a world of men showing off their improvisational genius for sexual word play; of ambiguous relationships to the union; a world where an old and forgotten lady, who once introduced American radio audiences to broccoli is rediscovered. Combining perceptive writing with a skillful delivery, a folksy sound score by Bob Davis of Earwax Productions, and a delightful sense of down-home humor, this work will change your image of American diners and their waitresses forever." [Quoted from New American Radio - somewhere.org ]
Read MoreAugust 5, 2023 National, News & Public Affairs
Kenya Tax Attacks (violence against protests about cost of food)
Faced with record high foreign debt, Kenya's government passed a new finance bill to raise taxes. Part of it has been paused by the Supreme Court, but the increase in the fuel levy has now been imposed. A 100% increase in fuel tax affects everything from food to transport and beyond - devastating the nation's poorest (of whom there are many). Spontaneous demonstrations and protests, and an opposition-party called 3-day demonstration have all been met with police brutality, despite a right to protest being in Kenya's Constitution. Interviews cover politics and logistics of demonstrating and alternative means to get the point across. Featured speakers are Naila Abdullah, a community activist with Sisters for Justice and Harriet Muganda, who works with a broad coalition called the Fast Action Movement.
Read MoreJuly 29, 2023 National, News & Public Affairs
Audio Art on Abortion
The primary content of this program is an audio art piece titled "After Roe." Produced in 1992, it uses a combination of real interviews with imaginary ones, some satirical, to reflect on a past when abortion was illegal in the US and predict a future [now arrived!] in which the Supreme Court has repealed the right to abortion.
Read More