From Embers

Recording of a talk by Alexis Shotwell on veganism, relational ethics, and mutual aid. From the event description: “Will eating plant-based foods save us from climate catastrophes? Should everyone eat vegan? How should people who care about the world understand “clean eating”? Is Jordan Peterson pursuing a beef-only diet because he’s an asshole, or because he’s managing a severe disability, or both? Is criticizing factory farmed meat the same as criticizing Indigenous hunting practices? What does any of this have to do with mutual aid? In this conversation, I’ll share some approaches to answering these questions. I’ll explain what I think is a useful distinction between ethical decisions based on substances (what something is) and ethical decisions based on placing ourselves in relationships. I’ll talk about the difference between clean eating and vegan eating, and share why anarchist understandings of political care in the form of mutual aid help us be in good relationships with our devastated, hurting, good

Interview with Kevin Tucker about his latest book The Cull of Personality, which tells the story and surrounding context of the murder of Shipibo-Conibo healer and indigenous rights activist Olivia Arevalo at the hands of Canadian ayahuasca tourist Sebastian Woodroffe in the Peruvian Amazon. Woodroffe was subsequently lynched by members of Arevalo’s community, which became a big story in the Canadian press. We discuss the story, ayahuasca, colonialism, and new age spirituality in a civilized world. Music by Slugdge

Tonight on From Embers we’re talking about the unfolding crisis in Venezuela, and specifically the role of the Canadian state and the Lima Group. We open with a bit of a rant about how tricky anti-imperialist politics can be for anarchists to navigate - somewhat coincidentally, the topic of the week on Anarchist News this week. Then we feature an interview with Lydia of the Women's Coordinating Committee for a Free Wallmapu, a grassroots organization based in Toronto with ties to the Mapuche struggle in Chile. I asked her about Canada’s role in the intervention and recent actions she’s taken to disrupt mainstream narratives about so-called democracy in Venezuela. A few background English-language anarchist articles about Venezuela and the Bolivarian Revolution: Anarkismo Visit Report (2004) Socialism to the Highest Bidder (2006) True and False in Venezeula (2014) Roland Denis Interview (2016) Uruguayan Anarchists on Popular Power in Venezuela (2017) Black Rose statement (2019)

This week's episode features two interviews with people involved in the struggle to stop a new migrant prison from being built in Laval, Quebec. Topics discussed include: -the project and how the government is trying to frame it as a "nice" cage. -senses of strategy and what might work to actually stop a project like this. -actions that have taken place against the prison, how they've gone, and what actions might be on the horizon. Stop The Prison Ni Frontières, Ni Prisons (facebook link!) Solidarity Across Borders  

This week's episode features two perspectives on the right-wing "Yellow Vests Canada" movement and how anti-fascists are taking them on.  Topics include: What, if anything, do these people have to do with the yellow vest movement in France? Are they workerists, xenophobes, populists, fascists or all of the above? How are neo-nazis and other fascists recruiting from inside the movement? Should we as anti-fascists treat the yellow vests like fash or like something else? What's up with the United We Roll truck convoy? Is this really a grassroots movement *for* pipelines? Links: https://twitter.com/VestsCanada https://anti-racistcanada.blogspot.com/ https://ottawagdc.org/  

Today's episode features a conversation with some members of Feminist Action Hamilton, an anyone-except-cis-men collective organizing around anarchist principles. We talk about some of the actions and workshops Feminist Action Hamilton has been organizing over the past year; feelings and motivations around creating an organizing space without cis men; intentions and desires to support each other, learn together, and take action, and some of the messiness and difficulties of organizing when you're not pretending to have all the answers. Feminist Action Hamilton: Facebook

An interview with Craig Fortier, who is an organizer and academic based in Toronto. Among other things, Craig is involved with No One Is Illegal and helps coordinate the Field of Dreamers Cooperative Softball Association, which was featured on a recent episode of Talking Radical Radio. Craig is the author of the short book Unsettling The Commons: Social Movements Within, Against and Beyond Settler Colonialism which was published in 2017 by Arbeiter Ring. In it, Craig draws on more than 50 interviews with organizers within what he calls the “anti-authoritarian current” across Canada and the United States, and discusses what it means to “struggle for the commons” in the context of settler colonialism. Craig’s book recommendations include Undoing Border Imperialism, Red Skin White Masks & Mohawk Interruptus. Music is by LAL and Test Their Logik.

SubMedia is an anarchist video collective based in Montreal. Founded in 1994, they have been putting out high-quality video for more than two decades, featuring satirical takes on the news, “riot porn”, explanations of anarchist concepts, calls to action, and more, always with a strong dose of humour. Their latest project is called Trouble, and features in-depth interviews about a new theme each month. Check with your local anarchist community space to see if they are screening monthly screenings – if not, start your own! I sat down with JR, a member of the SubMedia collective, to speak about the trajectory of the project, some philosophical questions about anarchist media, the spectacle of resistance and repression, their recent coverage of the crisis at Unist’ot’en, and more.

Today's episode features two interviews about solidarity actions with the Wet'suwet'en people currently defending their sovereignty, their lands and their waters by resisting pipeline construction through their territories. In our first interview we speak with an urban Indigenous organizer about several different solidarity actions on unceded Coast Salish territories in Vancouver and some of the broader context, strategy and motivations behind those actions. Our second interview is with two Mi'kmaq land and water protectors in Unama'ki (so-called Cape Breton) about a solidarity action that shut down the Canso Causeway, related struggles against resource extraction throughout Mi'kma'ki, and some of the broader context and motivations behind those struggles as well. Many different solidarity actions have taken place across this territory and around the world - too many to count! Actions and demonstrations have continued to flare up throughout so-called Canada - we encourage you to participate in solidarity acti

This episode features two interviews with organizers of New Years Eve noise demonstrations in Hamilton and in Montreal.  We talk about the rage and sadness we feel about the existence of prisons, noise demonstrations, building traditions and rituals, and our favourite New Years Eve stories. Links: Seven Years Against Prison (2015) Montreal Against Prisons  International Call For New Year's Even Noise Demonstrations (English, 2018)

An interview with Andrew Crosby and Jeffrey Monaghan, co-authors of Policing Indigenous Movements: Dissent and the Security State, available from Fernwood Publishing. The book is based on a series of government records obtained through Access to Information requests. The authors use these records to reveal how policing and other security agencies in Canada have been monitoring, cataloguing and working to silence indigenous land defenders and other opponents to extractive capitalism. We discussed the revelations found in the book, the tricky politics of police accountability, some developments in the Canadian security apparatus in recent years, and some ideas about how movements can stay resilient despite state repression. Music by Police Funeral

IWW organizers in Hamilton and Kingston discuss organizing solidarity pickets at mail processing facilities in Ontario and share different perspectives on supporting postal workers on strike who were recently legislated back to work. Music in this episode: Spanner - Work Lee Reed - Get Mad    

From Embers presents a two-part feature on the Locke Street Affair in Hamilton, Ontario. We sat down and interviewed a defendant in the case who will be in jail when this episode is released. In March 2018, on the weekend of the Steel City Anarchist Bookfair, about 30 people marched through the Kirkendale neighbourhood of Hamilton. Some in the group lit fireworks, attacked luxury cars and smashed out the windows of gentrifying businesses on Locke Street, doing an estimated $100,000 in damage. In the days, weeks and months that followed there was a massive backlash against anarchists in Hamilton, much of it against The Tower, an anarchist social space in Hamilton. 8 people were arrested and charged with a variety of offences including conspiracy, mischief, and "Unlawful Assembly While Masked". Last week, a non-cooperating plea deal was struck that will see two people spend some months in jail, one person on house arrest, and a mix of probation and stayed charges for the rest. In Part One, we discussed the cont

From Embers presents a two-part feature on the Locke Street Affair in Hamilton, Ontario. We sat down and interviewed a defendant in the case who will be in jail when this episode is released. In March 2018, on the weekend of the Steel City Anarchist Bookfair, about 30 people marched through the Kirkendale neighbourhood of Hamilton. Some in the group lit fireworks, attacked luxury cars and smashed out the windows of gentrifying businesses on Locke Street, doing an estimated $100,000 in damage. In the days, weeks and months that followed there was a massive backlash against anarchists in Hamilton, much of it against The Tower, an anarchist social space in Hamilton. 8 people were arrested and charged with a variety of offences including conspiracy, mischief, and "Unlawful Assembly While Masked". Last week, a non-cooperating plea deal was struck that will see two people spend some months in jail, one person on house arrest, and a mix of probation and stayed charges for the rest. In Part One, we discuss the contex

An interview with a member of the collective of prisoners and non-prisoners that produces the Certain Days: Freedom For Political Prisoners calendar.  We talk about sharing projects with our imprisoned comrades, the importance of long-term projects and how our movements are doing when it comes to political prisoner support. https://www.certaindays.org/

This episode features a talk entitled Autonomously and With Conviction: A Métis Refusal of State-Led Reconciliation given on October 12, 2018 at the 13th annual Decolonizing Thanksgiving Dinner in Guelph, Ontario on traditional Neutral/Chonnonton, Anishinabec, and Haudenosaunee territory. It also includes a short interview with the presenter, where we discuss questions about Canada’s project of reconciliation, the state, nations and nationalism, and anarchist possibilities for the future.   Read a transcript of the talk or download a printable version here.   Music in this episode: Burn Your Village to the Ground by A Tribe Called Red NASA x John Mohawk – “War, Peace, Natives” x 2oolman – “Lost in America” (featured on the Indigenous Futurisms Mixtape)

An 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 Radical events in Ottawa

Organizers with Alliance Against Displacement share stories about the Schoolhouse Squat as well as DisconTent City and a few other tent cities on unceded Coast Salish territories. We talk about the context of the housing crisis, how homeless indigenous and working class people are organizing to meet their immediate needs for shelter, safety, and community, building a revolutionary political force in the streets, legal and political strategies, resisting isolation and exclusion at the hands of cops and supportive housing organizations, urban indigenous political identity, ongoing state repression from city and provincial governments, community self-defence and care....and more.   Donate to support organizers targeted by misogynist harrassment and replace belongings seized by the RCMP.   If you're on the facebook, check out: DisconTent City Nanaimo DisconTent city is camp set up to protest the injustices forced upon people experiencing homelessness, and demand affordable housing not shelters! Namegans Nation Sa

A conversation with podcaster and anarchist organizer Aaron Lakoff about his new podcast Changing On The Fly.  We talk about sports and anarchy, the intersections between hockey and radical politics, and what to do about Canadian nationalism.

A few weeks ago the From Embers crew took a road trip out east for the Halifax Anarchist Bookfair and to visit friends and family. We had the opportunity to visit the Treaty Camp established by Mi'kmaq  people to protect the Shubenacadie River from an Alton Gas Natural Gas Project. I sat down with Dale Poulette who is one of the people holding down the camp on a daily basis. He cut his teeth at the anti-fracking reclamation camp in Elsipogtog (Rexton). Dale describes daily life at the camp, tells some funny stories, and opens up about the importance of ceremony, where he gets his strength and his take on the future of this world. The song at the end is "We Shall Remain (It Wasn't Taken Away)" by Kalolin Johnson from Eskasoni, Cape Breton.