Backbeat provides the soundtrack to your New Year's party with your requests, my favourites and music to celebrate the calendar change. Tune in to hear Rosetta Tharpe, The Louvin Brothers, Django Reinhardt, David Vest, Sinead X Sanders, Reid Jamieson, David Wilcox, Bobby Parker and lots more.

Today, we begin with a question that cuts deeper than headlines: What is the war on Gaza really about? They want you to believe it’s religious. They want you to believe it’s ancient hatred or a sudden eruption of violence. But look closer. Think deeper. Because nothing about this war feels spontaneous, accidental, or purely reactive. Was this truly a retaliation for October 7th— or was October 7th the spark that activated a plan already drawn in the shadows? When you watch Gaza being flattened at a pace no military operation could improvise, you start to wonder whether the goal is not retaliation, but removal. Not security, but emptying the land for something else. And here is where the story widens. Some analysts whisper about a future canal— a new trade route that could rival or even replace the Suez Canal. A canal that would run through the very land now being erased. A canal that would shift global power, global trade, global alliances. If such a project existed— who would benefit? Who would lose? Who would quietly support it from behind the curtain? The United States is locked in conflict with Russia and China. China remains the manufacturing engine of the planet. Russia is cut off from Europe and searching for new routes, new partners, new leverage. And the Suez Canal—though Egyptian in name—remains under Western influence. So imagine a new canal emerging. A canal outside Western control. A canal that shifts the balance of power toward Beijing and Moscow. A canal that turns Israel into a strategic command node in a new global supply chain. Is Israel being protected for its own sake— or for a larger geopolitical design? Is Gaza being destroyed for “security”— or for a future that has nothing to do with religion and everything to do with trade, power, and empire? I’m not telling you what to believe. I’m asking you to think. To question. To see the map beneath the rubble. Because wars are never only about what they claim to be. And Gaza—small, besieged, unbroken Gaza— may be sitting on a future powerful nations are willing to destroy an entire people to control. Stay with us. As we peel back the layers. As we follow the money, the routes, the alliances. As we ask the questions the world avoids. This is This Week in Palestine. And today, we look beneath the surface.

With record extreme cold and heat - in December! - leading scientists finally admit: "The world lost the climate gamble". What comes after failure? Hear the latest in a full-length talk by Professor James Dyke from the Global Systems Institute at the University of Exeter. First, the best estimates of what to expect this year and next in the climate casino.

New Years music into selections from The Well > a new compilation from Independent Project Records

Sonic Café, Born Under a Bad Sign, that’s Albert King from 1967, so hey welcome to the café, I’m Scott Clark and this is episode 464. This time the Sonic Café gives you some very, very interesting things to share with friends, for example, what’s the true difference between a million and a billion, how smart was Albert Einstein, what social media companies want from you and more. Our very, very interesting, music mix is pulled from 56 years, listen for, The Sweet Sounds of Heaven, a wonderful collaboration between the Rolling Stones, Lady Gaga and Stevie Wonder from 2023, Love and Rockets steaming cover of the Temptations Ball of Confusion, also Be Bop Deluxe captured live, the Doughboys, Black Keys, David Bowie from 1970 and many more. All that plus another very, very interesting Sonic Café mash-up. Around the bottom of the hour we’ll spin, Puddles Pity Party with his mash of Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven with the theme from Gilligan’s Island. So yeah, all that and more, and it’s all very, very interesting, All from that little radio café on the Pacific Coast presenting eclectic radio, that’s fun, and very, very interesting. From 1993, here’s the Counting Crows, and we’re the Sonic Café.

Twenty nine political activists associated with the banned group Palestine Action are in British jails. Most have already been held on remand far longer than the normal six-month maximum which the law allows before trial. Four of these political prisoners have now been on hunger strike for well over a month. One of the hunger strikers, Kamran Ahmed, was hospitalized on November 25th due to the effects of the hunger strike on his body, but discharged three days later. Kamran’s sister, Shahmina Alam, and spokesperson from Prisoners for Palestine, Francesca Nadin, join the Electronic Intifada’s Asa Winstanley to discuss the demands of the hunger strikers whose conditions are deteriorating rapidly. Forced and sustained starvation is “shaving years off” of Palestinians’ lives, especially children, whose cognitive and growth development is dependent on good nutrition in their earliest years. Host Nora Barrows-Friedman joins Dr. Thaer Ahmad, an emergency room physician from Health Care Workers for Humanity who has worked extensively in Gaza to discuss Israel’s use of starvation as a key weapon in the genocide.

Twenty nine political activists associated with the banned group Palestine Action are in British jails. Most have already been held on remand far longer than the normal six-month maximum which the law allows before trial. Four of these political prisoners have now been on hunger strike for well over a month. One of the hunger strikers, Kamran Ahmed, was hospitalized on November 25th due to the effects of the hunger strike on his body, but discharged three days later. Kamran’s sister, Shahmina Alam, and spokesperson from Prisoners for Palestine, Francesca Nadin, join the Electronic Intifada’s Asa Winstanley to discuss the demands of the hunger strikers whose conditions are deteriorating rapidly. Forced and sustained starvation is “shaving years off” of Palestinians’ lives, especially children, whose cognitive and growth development is dependent on good nutrition in their earliest years. Host Nora Barrows-Friedman joins Dr. Thaer Ahmad, an emergency room physician from Health Care Workers for Humanity who has worked extensively in Gaza to discuss Israel’s use of starvation as a key weapon in the genocide.

A weekly 30 minute review of international news and opinion, recorded from a shortwave radio and the internet. With times, frequencies, and websites for listening at home. 3 files- Highest quality broadcast, regular broadcast, and slow-modem streaming. Germany, France 24, Japan, and Cuba.

It's a look and listen back to our favorite picks of 2025! Join Patricia Fraser for a reprise of the best in contemporary Celtic music counted down in chronological order. Happy New Year (Bliadhna Mhath Ur) from Celt In A Twist!

Simply the best. This hour, we present choice cuts from our favorite global albums of 2025, as culled from our monthly top 30 charts. Get our calendar by subscribing to our weekly e-blast at worldbeatinternational.com and play along! Happy New Year from World Beat Canada Radio!

This episode is “Father David Gierlach - Priest for Peace”. Father Gierlach, originally from upstate NY but now based in Hawaii, was a sucessful attorney for many years, but then chose to fulfill his lifelong dream of becoming a priest. Unlike most members of the clergy, who go along to get along even if that means ignoring or even supporting war and genocide, Father Gierlach has been outspoken in his insistence that the church must build the beloved community, one based on peace and respect for human rights. Father Gierlach was interviewed by longtime peace activist and civil resister Jack Gilroy on December 16, 2025.

Groovy over the top Cheeze From the 1960s.....fun, yet with a horror movie tone Cheeze from the 1950s, and a Catbox Cover that even Barry Manilow might hate.

Denise and Johnny talk about what Christmas means to them and discuss strategies for staying sober and sane during the holidays, along with some fabulous Christmas time music.

French Seduction: An American’s Encounter with France, Her Father, and the Holocaust. In a passionate blend of autobiography and cultural history, love, sex and art collide with hatred, withering French xenophobia and death, Eunice Lipton, our guest in this edition of Radio Curious, describes her book, “French Seduction: An American’s Encounter with France, Her Father, and the Holocaust.” Lipton, who lives in Paris and New York received her Ph.D. in art history at New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts. I spoke with her from her home in New York City the last week of March 2007. Because she describes painting as her favorite companions, we began when I asked her to tell us about her friends who she calls art. Eunice Lipton recommends “The Good Soldier: A Tale of Passion,” by Ford Madox Ford. Originally Broadcast: March 28, 2007

Trump Marching to War with Venezuela Unless Congress Intervenes; Israel Increases Repression and Attacks on the Local Economy in Occupied Palestinian West Bank; Impeachment: The Antidote to Trump’s Authoritarian Presidency.

Oscar Brown Jr. talks about his life, his music, his poetry and his politics from his start as one of the first Black radio hosts to the influence of Paul Robeson and his life as one of the premier songwriters and performers in the country.

Dan Kovalik presented on the book he authored with Jeremy Kuzmarov, called "Syria: Anatomy of Regime Change."

Track: Funky Mule Artist: Ike Turner Album: A Black Man’s Soul Label: Pompeii Year: 1969 Track: Save The World Artist: Tenacious D Album: Post-Apocalypto Label: Columbia Year: 2018

Marc H. Morial is President and CEO of the National Urban League, the nation's largest historic civil rights and urban advocacy organization. Our conversation with Marc Morial begins with some of the biggest political lessons we have learned in 2025 and what we can look forward to in 2026. We also discuss the rise of Democratic Socialism and the impact of Mamdani’s campaign in NYC. In the second half of the show, we discuss a variety of things ranging from the impact of tariffs on Black Americans to the future of DEI. Marc also leaves us with some solid advice to fortify us in the new year.

Twenty-twenty-five’s queerest news and feature stories in review; this week’s Rainbow Rewind remembers Frank Kameny, Ma Rainey and key late December happenings; quick-study Kazakh Senators pass a “no promo homo” bill, Trump’s vile war on trans kids escalates, Congressional Republicans criminalize trans kid caregivers, a North Carolina County disbands its library board over a trans kid picture book, and St. Petersburg, Florida counters demolished rainbow crosswalks with multi-colored bike racks, Those stories and more this week, when you choose “This Way Out.” [NOTE: “NewsWrap” and the “Rainbow Rewind” segments return on our week of 12 January 2026 program.]