It’s time to get ready for the rabble rumble, launching right here next week.

rabble’s first multi-media event, the rumble will be a monthly debates feature. The rabble rumble seeks to promote stimulating and productive debate within the progressive community — at last, infighting that’s a good thing.

The rumble gets going with an online debate — Copyright or Wrong? — Tuesday, October 22 and then moves into high gear with a live debate at Ryerson University in Toronto on October 29, broadcast live on rabble.

Ready for more? Readers can also “join the fray” in a moderated forum responding to our debaters and each other. The debate discussion will remain open until the next rumble begins, and you can download the live debate, audio or video versions, throughout the month.

Our first rumblers are author and cultural critic Susan Crean and Internet consultant Russell McOrmond. They will lock heads over this controversial contention: “With advances in information and communications technology such as the Internet, copyright protection is no longer relevant or necessary.”

Rumblers Crean and McOrmond have been training a long time for this event. Crean is co-chair of the Creators’ Rights Alliance/Alliance pour les droits des createurs which was founded last May and represents Canada’s 140,000 creators. McOrmond is known far and wide in the Web world as an advocate of the public’s right to accessinformation.

rabble figured this disagreement among two of our most importantconstituents, writers and Web heads, was an excellent topic to kick offthe debate.

rabble is joining forces with the CAW-Sam Gindin Chair in Social Justiceand Democracy at Ryerson University to introduce the first new section since rabble launched in April 2001. rabble publisher Judy Rebick is the current occupant of that chair and will be the editor of the rumble. Aria Vasil, a journalism student at Ryerson, will moderate the forum.

If you’re in Toronto, come to the live debate at Ryerson’s Jorgenson Hall,room A250, on Tuesday, October 29. Start time: noon. Or check out the Web cast and post your comments online.