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The Hatchet

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The Hatchet
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  • Hockey's Recurring Nightmare
    The Hockey Canada trial has been going on for two months now. And during that time, the Canadian media has meticulously covered every twist and turn that’s taken place in the London, Ontario courthouse.Five men — Michael McLeod, Dillon Dubé, Alex Formenton, Cal Foote and Carter Hart — have been accused of sexually assaulting a twenty-year-old woman, who is only being identified as E.M., after a Hockey Canada gala in 2018.All of them have pled not guilty and the judge is set to render a verdict on July 24.And while I’ve been following the trial closely, I’ve been especially interested in how the media has been covering the story, and the way that the public has been reacting to it all.Two years ago, Jordan and I made a series at Canadaland that focused specifically on the deep, systemic issues with hockey culture.And what became incredibly clear to us is that most of the media and the powers-that-be in the hockey world don’t understand or are unwilling to acknowledge what’s going on in the sport.During this trial, that’s become even more obvious. Because hockey doesn’t just have a problem with sexual violence. It has a problem with gang rape.Between 1989 and 2018, there was, on average, one alleged case of gang rape by professional hockey players every two years. And those are just the accusations that went public.And yet, every time this happens, the hockey world acts like it’s the first time. And the media tends to go along with it. Even when the press talks about the problem of sexual violence in hockey, they refuse to acknowledge the specificity.A handful of journalists and researchers — foremost amongst them Laura Robinson, who has been covering this for years, — have tried to explain what’s really happening.The truth is that, from a young age, many junior hockey players are hazed, beaten and sexually abused. And then are groomed by older players into engaging in group sex with their teammates. Sometimes these encounters are consensual for the girls and women involved. But too often, they’re not.All of this broader context has been missing from much of the coverage around the Hockey Canada trial.And that’s why I was relieved when I read a piece in The Globe and Mail by Andrea Werhun on this topic. Werhun is a writer and performer, best known for her memoir Modern W***e, which details her experience working as an escort and stripper. She was also a consultant on the most recent Academy Award Best Picture winner, Anora.And Werhun’s piece digs into all of this necessary context. And she also focuses in specifically on one piece of testimony from the complainant, in which she describes taking on a “porn star persona” during that night in the hotel room, as a coping mechanism.That quote became a cornerstone in the defence’s narrative disputing the allegations. And something that I’ve seen constantly brought up again and again in online comments that accuse EM of being a liar.My conversation with Werhun isn’t about trying to evaluate the criminal guilt or innocence of the men who are on trial. We won’t be digging into the conflicting stories or analyzing the specific evidence.This is about trying to understand the broader cycles of violence within men’s hockey.Featured in this episode: Andrea WerhunTo learn more:“Porn isn’t to blame for sexual assault” by Andrea Werhun in The Globe and Mail“The Problem Hockey Won’t Name” from Canadaland COMMONS“Anatomy of a scandal” by CBC’s The Fifth Estate“Legal decision for the ‘Hockey Canada 5’ won’t come for weeks, but judgment can be rendered” by Dan Robson and Katie Strang in The AthleticSupport us at hatchetmedia.substack.comThe Hatchet is a podcast and newsletter dedicated to exposing power and money in Canada. We deliver important, original and fascinating journalism about how this country actually works.Music: I dunno by grapes (c) copyright 2008 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. Ft: J Lang, Morusque This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit hatchetmedia.substack.com/subscribe
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  • What Isn’t Being Said About Iran
    It’s so hard to know where to start a story. Choosing a starting point shapes the entire message and moral of whatever story you’re trying to tell.And that’s especially true when it comes to something like the recent Israeli and American bombardment of Iran.The simplest way to start would be to parrot what most Western governments and the mainstream media have been saying. For them, you need to begin with the fact that Iran was months, maybe even weeks, away from developing nuclear weapons. And that’s why Israel had to act. That of course ignores the fact that Rafeal Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, says that there’s no evidence they were developing an atomic bomb. But let’s ignore that for now.Instead, we could decide to start the story at another point, even a few weeks earlier. Let’s say June 3. That was when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu began to be cross-examined during his corruption trial, which might see him land in prison. Netanyahu has succeeded numerous times in dragging out the trial, which has been going on for five years now, because he’s been leading the country, especially during times of war. However, this month, his coalition government appeared like it might fall apart. But while he’s at war with Iran, that’s certain to not happen.Maybe we could go back even further, say to 2022 when Iranian women were leading the largest protest movement in fifty years after a young woman, Mahsa Amina, was killed by the regime’s morality police. Will the bombardment by two hostile powers strengthen similar opposition movements or will it be the most hardcore and militaristic elements of the government that gain the upper hand? That’s not a question I see being asked by much of the media these days.Of course, we could go back even further. To 2018 when Donald Trump pulled the US out of an Iranian nuclear deal that had been working. To 2003 and George Bush’s Axis of Evil of speech and the invasion of Iraq. To the mid-90s when Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued a fatwa against nuclear weapons, in all circumstances. To 1992, when Nentanyahu, then a backbencher, claimed that Iran was only a year away from developing a nuclear weapon.All the way back to the Islamic Revolution of 1979, that created this theocratic regime and caused millions of Iranians to flee the country. To the western-backed coup of 1953 that brought the hated Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi back to power because the democratically elected prime minister was planning on nationalizing the country’s oil reserves. Or maybe it would be best to start the mid-1800s, when Iran was so dominated by the Russian and British empires that they couldn’t even appoint their own cabinet ministers without foreign approval.Where you begin the story in some ways will determine what you think of it. And I think that helps me explain just how weird politicians and the mainstream media get when it comes to talking about this attack on Iran. They’re desperately grasping for any justification that they can get a hold of. At one moment, it’s all about ensuring that Iran doesn’t get nuclear weapons. Another, it’s retaliation for terror attacks and Iran’s support for Hezbollah or Hamas. Then all of a sudden it’s about regime change and freeing the Iranian people from tyranny. It reminds me so much of Iraq, which I’ve been thinking about a lot in the last few months. And while so far we haven’t heard any talk of a ground invasion, the Iraqi example is illustrative. Western governments and the media convinced themselves beyond any doubt that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. Which of course wasn’t true. But if you had the temerity to suggest that it might not be, you were labelled either naive or heartless or an apologist for a monstrous regime.So during this moment, I wanted to talk a woman whose work I’ve followed for years, and who has been one of the most aggressive and thoughtful critics of the Iranian Regime. Samira Mohyeddin arrived in Canada as a child in 1979, one of so many refugees of the Islamic Revolution. She’s a longtime journalist whose work often focuses on highlighting the crimes of the Iranian government. But she’s also been an outspoken critic of Israel, especially the ongoing genocide in Gaza. So I wanted to know how a woman like Samira is thinking about everything that’s going on. And where the story starts for her.Featured in this episode: Samira MohyeddinTo learn more:“Iranians deserve a path to freedom that is also free from violence” by Samira Mohyeddin in The Globe and Mail“‘I urge you to hear the voices of the Iranian people.’ Nobel laureate Narges Mohammadi remains unbowed” by Samira Mohyeddin in The Globe and Mail“IAEA chief: No evidence Iran is building a nuclear weapon” in Al-Jazeera News“Dragging Out Netanyahu's Trial Is a Delay of Justice for the Israeli Public” by Sami Peretz in HaaretzSupport us at hatchetmedia.substack.comThe Hatchet is a podcast and newsletter dedicated to exposing power and money in Canada. We deliver important, original and fascinating journalism about how this country actually works.Music: I dunno by grapes (c) copyright 2008 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. Ft: J Lang, Morusque This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit hatchetmedia.substack.com/subscribe
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  • What's Coming Up Next for The Hatchet
    Arshy and Jordan sit down to give a quick update about how things have been going, a sneak peak at some upcoming projects, and the future of The Hatchet. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit hatchetmedia.substack.com/subscribe
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  • Carney's AI policy is artificial and not very intelligent
    We’re now a month-and-a-half removed from the last federal election. And it feels like we’re finally starting to get a sense of how this government is going to, well, govern. Domestically, there’s been legislation on resource development and a lot of new powers for cops and border guards. Plenty of increased spending on defence and tax cuts. And internationally, Mark Carney has been doing a lot of hobnobbing with foreign leaders.Especially this week, where he’s been hosting the G7 summit in Alberta. So Jordan and I just wanted to explore some of the early signals that we’re getting from this government. There’s so much we could talk about, but for this episode we’ll be digging into the feds new AI approach and their approach to relations with India.And, it’s safe to say, neither of us are particularly impressed. Support us at hatchetmedia.substack.comThe Hatchet is a podcast and newsletter dedicated to exposing power and money in Canada. We deliver important, original and fascinating journalism about how this country actually works.Music: I dunno by grapes (c) copyright 2008 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. Ft: J Lang, Morusque This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit hatchetmedia.substack.com/subscribe
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  • Why Did the Duck Cross the Border?
    Point Roberts is one of the most unique places in North America. It’s a tiny spit of land right across the American border from the Vancouver suburb of Delta. But because it’s surrounded on three sides by water, it’s not connected to the rest of Washington state. It’s a community built by both Canadians and Americans — a physical manifestation of what the relationship between our two countries can look like when it’s at its best.But tensions are at a boiling point right now. And the biggest casualty of it all might be the most innocent and beautiful of all of god’s creatures — the rubber duck. Featured in this episode: Krystal King, Neil King, Donald FalkTo learn more“US Border Towns Are Being Ravaged by Canada's Furious Boycott” by Thomas Seal in Bloomberg News“Point Roberts starts to feel the cold shoulder from Canada” by Andrea Woo in The Globe and Mail“Canada's Nationalism Hits an Isolated U. S. Town” by William Borders in The New York TimesSupport us at hatchetmedia.substack.comThe Hatchet is a podcast and newsletter dedicated to exposing power and money in Canada. We deliver important, original and fascinating journalism about how this country actually works.Music: I dunno by grapes (c) copyright 2008 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. Ft: J Lang, Morusque This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit hatchetmedia.substack.com/subscribe
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About The Hatchet

The Hatchet is a weekly podcast and newsletter dedicated to exposing power and money in Canada. Hosted by Arshy Mann, The Hatchet delivers important, original and fascinating journalism about how this country actually works, in a way that no one else can. hatchetmedia.substack.com
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