From Embers

From Embers is a show about anarchist and anti-authoritarian politics in so-called Canada. We are part of the Channel Zero Anarchist Podcast Network.

Ben Morea 04/26/2024

Ben Morea An interview with Ben Morea, recorded after an art show and talk he gave in Kingston, Ontario entitled "Revolutionary Animism – The Unified Field: Art, Politics and Spirituality." Ben Morea is best known as a key figure in the group, The Family (popularly known as ), and the Armed Love commune movement. In this interview Ben recounts stories from his life, reflects on some of the challenges facing anarchists and revolutionaries of yesterday and today, and shares some thoughts on animism, indigenous ways of life, conflict, art, and more. /episode/index/show/fromembers/id/30994538

Event Audio: The No State Solution 03/04/2024

Event Audio: The No State Solution The No State Solution: A Dialogue with Palestinian sociologist Mohammed Bamyeh and Israeli political scientist Uri Gordon How can anarchist perspectives contribute to Palestinian liberation? Professor Mohammed Bamyeh, Department of Sociology, University of Pittsburgh, is author of (2009) Dr. Uri Gordon, author of (2007), is an Independent scholar now based in the UK. This event took place on the unceded Territories of the Lekwungen-speaking peoples now known as the Songhees and Esquimalt in Victoria, BC Canada, and in the U.K. via Zoom on January 28, 2024. Sponsored by , , , (ANVI) /episode/index/show/fromembers/id/30209743

Unionizing Prison Labour 11/18/2023

Unionizing Prison Labour An interview with and , authors of the book . We discuss the background of the book, some historical and legal precedents, the pros and cons of right-based approaches, the core strategic arguments for a prisoners union, and an exciting new initiative by prisoners in Laval, QC to form a union. If you're around Montreal, check out their upcoming at Concordia University on Friday, November 24th. With music from . /episode/index/show/fromembers/id/28701688

AudioZine: Under New Management 10/05/2023

AudioZine: Under New Management On this special edition of From Embers, we’re sharing a reading of Under New Management: Resistance to Prisons in Ontario & Quebec. Originally published in 2018 on It's Going Down under the title this article discusses the establishment of the Canadian prison system and highlights some examples of prisoner resistance in Ontario and Quebec over the decades, with an emphasis on the widespread unrest throughout the 1970s. This AudioZine was first broadcast by in Kingston and has been edited and republished with permission. With music from , Christian Collins, and . /episode/index/show/fromembers/id/28226306

Dispatches from the Fediverse 08/13/2023

Dispatches from the Fediverse Our correspondent Lenny returns to discuss the FBI seizure of the servers of , the largest anarchist instance on Mastodon. We also talk about the continuing discrediting of big tech companies such as Twitter, Meta and Reddit, and what that might mean for people working to build an open-source, decentralized alternative to corporate social media platforms. LINKS (Statement on seizure) Reddit alternatives & With music from /episode/index/show/fromembers/id/27737061

Drag Defence in Quebec 07/19/2023

Drag Defence in Quebec Talking with Louve Rose from P!nk Bloc Montreal about Quebec’s transphobic far right, drag defence, and building a revolutionary anti-capitalist queer organization for both community self-defence and to intervene against gay assimilationism. Links P!nk Bloc MTL – , , August 12 Rad Pride () Music /episode/index/show/fromembers/id/27508218

The Public Order Emergency Commission 01/13/2023

The Public Order Emergency Commission Interview with an anti-fascist observer about insights gained from the Public Order Emergency Commission hearings, a public inquiry into the federal government's use of the Emergencies Act to repress the so-called Freedom Convoy in February 2022. We discuss why governments invoke emergencies, OPP's Project Hendon, how the Convoy was funded, the relationship between convoy organizers and police, comparisons with #ShutDownCanada, liberal conspiracy theories, the scale of economic disruption during the Convoy, and more. Links Our previous episodes on and the - Crimethinc report on the Freedom Convoy from Ottawa during the Convoy Music: Note: Due to a technical glitch, this episode was removed, edited and re-published after it's initial release on January 11, 2023. /episode/index/show/fromembers/id/25552311

New Communication Infrastructure For Anarchists 11/03/2022

New Communication Infrastructure For Anarchists Interview with the author of the , a zine discussing secure digital communication tools from an anarchist perspective. We discuss Signal and its critics, and some new tools being released that incorporate peer-to-peer communication, end-to-end encryption and the . Further reading: Signal PET apps /episode/index/show/fromembers/id/24847494

Quebec Nationalism and Settler Futurity - Refusing Innocence 10/27/2022

Quebec Nationalism and Settler Futurity - Refusing Innocence A conversation with two anarchists following a workshop they gave at the Montreal Anarchist Bookfair entitled 10 years since the strike: the place of nationalism within militant struggle. We discuss the history of Quebec nationalism and its influence in anarchist and radical milieus, responsibilities of settlers in anti-colonial struggle and in relating to land, possibilities and uncertain futures opened up by anarchism as a guiding practice, and more. Further reading: Keshena Robinson - Québec Redux: Settler Coloniality and Reactionary "Decolonialism" Robin Maynard and Leanne Betasamosake Simpson - Rehearsals for Living William C. Anderson - The Nation on No Map: Black Anarchism and Abolition Tuck and Yang - Decolonization is Not a Metaphor Sever - Land and Freedom Music in this episode: Cris Derksen - Our Home on Native Land, Fires Kae Tempest - Tunnel Vision /episode/index/show/fromembers/id/24826713

Escaping Tomorrow's Cages 05/19/2022

Escaping Tomorrow's Cages is a six-part essay being published throughout the month of May that lays out the coming wave of provincial jail expansions in Ontario and propose a strategy for how they might be opposed. We spoke with 3 anarchists involved with the project. /episode/index/show/fromembers/id/23133044

Student Organizing with Divest McGill 04/27/2022

Student Organizing with Divest McGill In this episode I chat with two members of , a student-led organization at McGill University in so-called Montreal. They are fighting to force McGill to divest from the fossil fuel industry and transform the university into something liberatory and accountable to the people whose lives it affects. This spring, they led a more than two-week-long open, social occupation of a university building. All music in this episode is from the 2012 anti-folk opera "" about anarchist participation in the 2012 Quebec student strike. Check it out on Soundcloud here: Learn more about Divest McGill here: /episode/index/show/fromembers/id/22934660

Solidarity with the people of Ukraine - Against the Russian State 04/13/2022

Solidarity with the people of Ukraine - Against the Russian State Conversation with the author of , available online at praleski.org. We discuss some of the political and historic context for Russia’s current invasion of Ukraine including Russian state mythology of anti-fascism, the importance of solidarity with people in Ukraine facing Russian imperial agression, and more. Music in this episode is from a benefit compilation released by titled . Also check out from Anarchist Black Cross Musical Solidarity Group Links: (leftist journal from Ukraine) Letters from Ukraine series published by Endnotes: Everyday Anarchism – /episode/index/show/fromembers/id/22777412

Carla Bergman on School Resistance, Joyful Projects and Trusting Kids 03/24/2022

Carla Bergman on School Resistance, Joyful Projects and Trusting Kids carla bergman is an artist, writer, unschooler and fellow podcaster. We discuss carla’s backstory, being radicalized by parenting, unschooling, the Purple Thistle, pandemic school closures, learning to trust kids, and striving to bring more joy into our projects and lives. Find carla on , and Music by Artwork from /episode/index/show/fromembers/id/22539593

Northern Ontario's Ring of Fire 02/17/2022

Northern Ontario's Ring of Fire A conversation with two members of Friends of the Attawapiskat River (/) about the Ring of Fire mining project and what's at stake. Mining Injustice Solidarity Network: (/) Song excerpt from Sounding Rock drum group, Webequie First Nation /episode/index/show/fromembers/id/22163048

Patriots and Big Trucks 02/08/2022

Patriots and Big Trucks We spoke with a transportation worker about the so-called Freedom Convoy currently occupying capital cities and border crossings across Canada. Links: /episode/index/show/fromembers/id/22058333

Social Networks, Online Life and The Fediverse 02/03/2022

Social Networks, Online Life and The Fediverse This week's discussion features an anarchist who is really into Mastodon. We talk about what's wrong with corporate social media platforms, what we like and don't like about spending time catching up online, and how Mastodon/the Fediverse feels different from hanging out on Instagram. We also get some tips for getting started on this alternative social media platform. Links: Forthcoming sub.media documentary about Facebook that our guest mentions in the interview: Music in this episode is by Deep Sixed: https://deepsixed.bandcamp.com/ /episode/index/show/fromembers/id/22003067

A Stripper's Memoir 01/12/2022

A Stripper's Memoir This episode features an interview with about their recent memoir "This Is My Real Name: A Stripper's Memoir. We talk about stripping, sex work, anarchist community, sex, gender and much more. Buy the book at . /episode/index/show/fromembers/id/21758561

VABF Day 7: Ann Hansen on Prisoner Organizing and Working With Allies 10/29/2021

VABF Day 7: Ann Hansen on Prisoner Organizing and Working With Allies In this interview, Ann Hansen, author of Direct Action: Memoirs of an Urban Guerilla and Taking the Rap: Women Doing Time For Society's Crimes, discusses her work with the Prison for Women Memorial Collective (P4WMC). The group is dedicated to having a permanent Memorial Garden and Gallery for all of the women who died in federal prisons, to be located inside the now-closed P4W Prison. It is their goal to exhibit art, writing and films about the women in prison, so they will be remembered as the fully fleshed-out human beings they were. Ann recounts recent challenges her group faced working with non-prisoner allies. /episode/index/show/fromembers/id/20969399

VABF Day 6: Five Reports From Ada'itx (Fairy Creek) 10/28/2021

VABF Day 6: Five Reports From Ada'itx (Fairy Creek) The Fairy Creek blockades and other blockades on unceded Pacheedaht and Ditidaht territories continue under the invitation of Pacheedaht Elder, Bill Jones. Please consider supporting the Defence of Indigenous Land BIPOC gofundme: and the fundrazr for legal defense and front line support: /episode/index/show/fromembers/id/20969180

VABF Day 6: Jennifer Wickham on Wet'suwet'en Anti-Pipeline Resistance during COVID-19 10/28/2021

VABF Day 6: Jennifer Wickham on Wet'suwet'en Anti-Pipeline Resistance during COVID-19 Jennifer Wickham, a member of Cas Yikh, the grizzly house, in the Gidimt'en Clan of the Wet'suwet'en people and media manager for the Gidimt'en yintah access point who is living on the yintah and working on a feature-length documentary film about Wet’suwet’en sovereignty as a creative producer. In this interview, Jennifer discusses recent developments in the Wet'suwet'en resistance against the Coastal GasLink pipeline construction, the effect of COVID-19 on her community, the legacy of the Residential School system, and the solidarity between Indigenous nations. Learn more about how you can support the Gidimt'en on their website: Check out recent updates from the Gidimt'en resistance here: Follow the Gidimt'en Checkpoint instagram @yintah_access Listen to Sleydo' Molly Wickham's interview from the 2020 VABF last year here: /episode/index/show/fromembers/id/20964473

VABF Day 5: Art and Activism With Musician and Community Activist Stefan Christoff 10/27/2021

VABF Day 5: Art and Activism With Musician and Community Activist Stefan Christoff An interview on multiple intersections of art and activism with Stefan Christoff, a longtime community organizer and musician living in Montréal / Tiohtià:ke. This interview will highlight various forms of expression of the arts within social movements against systemic oppression, injustice and for collective liberation. Stefan will highlight active collaborations and efforts to build support within networks of artists and cultural workers for efforts to defend the rights of precarious workers within the context of the pandemic who are holding down frontline positions. Stefan has collaborated with artists and activists globally and this interview will focus on the intersections of his work within this sphere. /episode/index/show/fromembers/id/20944841

VABF Day 5: Jineoloji: Learning from the Revolutionary Women's Movement in Rojava with Sarah Marcha 10/27/2021

VABF Day 5: Jineoloji: Learning from the Revolutionary Women's Movement in Rojava with Sarah Marcha Sarah Marcha speaks to the revolutionary science of women's equality called Jineoloji that was developed in the autonomous region of Rojava. Jineoloji is an international movement spanning Europe and the Middle East. In this interview, Sarah discusses the leadership roles of women in the system of Democratic Confederalism, and provides examples of the transformative nature of womans' struggles against patriarchy in Rojava. Of particular importance in Sarah's discussion is her account of the all-encompassing role of self-defense in ensuring and maintaining the revolutionary women's struggle. More information about the Jineoloji Academy can be found at: If you have questions, feel free to email: Theme music by /episode/index/show/fromembers/id/20923997

VABF Day 4: Kahala Johnson on Hawai'i, Anarchism, and the Politics of Indigeneity 10/26/2021

VABF Day 4: Kahala Johnson on Hawai'i, Anarchism, and the Politics of Indigeneity Hawaiian activist and land defender Kahala Johnson discusses anarchism through the lens of Indigeneity and shares insights regarding resistance struggles, including land reclamations and direct action blockades that halted the construction of a massive telescope on Mauna Kea, one of the most sacred volcanos in Hawaiian culture. /episode/index/show/fromembers/id/20943668

VABF Day 3: Gord Hill on 500 Years of Indigenous Resistance 10/25/2021

VABF Day 3: Gord Hill on 500 Years of Indigenous Resistance In this interview, Gord Hill discusses the making of his new edition of The 500 Years of Resistance Comic Book and tactics and strategies the history of Indigenous resistance teaches us. He provides an analysis of present day resistance against the right wing, as well as an account of the difference between the ideology of pacifism and civil disobedience tactics. /episode/index/show/fromembers/id/20923589

VABF Day 2: Uri Gordon on Prefigurative Politics 10/24/2021

VABF Day 2: Uri Gordon on Prefigurative Politics Welcome to Day Two of the Victoria Anarchist Bookfair! In this episode, Uri Gordon discusses some issues surrounding the use of the terms ‘prefiguration’ and ‘prefigurative politics.’ He is the author of several books and articles on contemporary anarchism, including Anarchy Alive!: Anti-Authoritarian Politics from Practice to Theory, and Prefigurative Politics between Ethical Practice and Absent Promise. He is co-editor of Anarchists Against the Wall: Direct Action and Solidarity with the Palestinian Popular Struggle, and The Routledge Handbook of Radical Politics. Uri co-founded the Anarchist Studies Network and his work has been translated into 13 languages. The essay discussed can be found on Crimethinc's website: /episode/index/show/fromembers/id/20913512

VABF Day 1: N.O. Bonzo on Anarchy, Art, and Mutual Aid 10/23/2021

VABF Day 1: N.O. Bonzo on Anarchy, Art, and Mutual Aid Welcome to the Victoria Anarchist Bookfair! N.O. Bonzo is an anarchist street artist and illustrator whose work is much admired in the activist community. In this interview, Bonzo discusses their beautifully illustrated edition of Peter Kropotkin’s most famous book, Mutual Aid, and the politics of anarchy and art. Check out Bonzo's edition of Mutual Aid: /episode/index/show/fromembers/id/20911688

Terrain Vague 10/21/2021

Terrain Vague The Terrain Vague, which loosely translates into English as the "wasteland," is a large de-industrialized and partially wooded area on the outskirts of Hochelega, a neighbourhood in Montreal’s east end, and close to the Port of Montreal. That space is under threat from several major development projects, and those who care about the Terrain Vague have been getting organized in the past years, connecting the developments to broader colonial-capitalist strategies at play by the Quebec government, making links with neighbourhood groups, and taking direct action to physically defend the space. I spoke with a francophone anarchist from Montreal about the history and context of the Terrain Vague, the Quebec government vision for the St. Lawrence River, logistical hubs as points of anarchist intervention, questions around settler-led land defence and how it relates to indigenous land defence, and how this project might connect to a renewed push to “Shut Down Canada.” Terms: Terrain Vague - Wasteland Avantage St Laurent - "", formerly known as the Quebec Maritime Strategy CAQ / Coalition Avenir Quebec, ruling right-wing nationalist provincial political party Links: With music from and /episode/index/show/fromembers/id/20875079

Mike Gouldhawke on Truth, Reconciliation, The State and #LandBack 10/07/2021

Mike Gouldhawke on Truth, Reconciliation, The State and #LandBack An interview with Mike Gouldhawke about Truth and Reconciliation Day, the Canadian state, and #LandBack. Find more of Mike's work here: Also check out his new chapter "By All Means, Anti-Politics" in the new Little Black Cart anthology " Music in this episode by . /episode/index/show/fromembers/id/20735489

The state, the virus, the far right: how can anti-authoritarians intervene? 09/30/2021

The state, the virus, the far right: how can anti-authoritarians intervene? Writer, researcher and teacher Dr. Alex Khasnabish talks about a recent workshop he gave at the Halifax Anarchist Bookfair called “You Can’t Police Yourself Out of a Pandemic: Anti-Authoritarian Strategies in an Age of Crisis.” /episode/index/show/fromembers/id/20654492

Settlers on the Red Road 08/31/2021

Settlers on the Red Road Interview with about her essay released in spring 2021 which addresses the problem of race-shifting in anarchist and anarchist-adjacent spaces. Music from . /episode/index/show/fromembers/id/20327702

From Embers

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