Dispatches from the Fediverse
From Embers
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
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Drag Defence in Quebec
From Embers
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
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The Public Order Emergency Commission
From Embers
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...
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New Communication Infrastructure For Anarchists
From Embers
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
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Quebec Nationalism and Settler Futurity - Refusing Innocence
From Embers
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...
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Escaping Tomorrow's Cages
From Embers
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.
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Student Organizing with Divest McGill
From Embers
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: ...
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Solidarity with the people of Ukraine - Against the Russian State
From Embers
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...
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Carla Bergman on School Resistance, Joyful Projects and Trusting Kids
From Embers
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
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Northern Ontario's Ring of Fire
From Embers
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
info_outlineAn interview with the Punch Up Collective, a small collective of anarchist organizers based in Ottawa, Ontario. We talk about living in the capital of Canada, forming collectives, formality and process, and strategies for sustaining movements in the long term. We also discuss their recent workshop about organizing collectives.
Links:
Full curriculum for the collectives workshop(the link will download a pdf)
A Briarpatch article about the collective