From Embers

Conversation with a former political prisoner in canada about her experiences in the federal system and her recently published prison memoir. We discuss changing prison conditions in the now-closed Prison for Women (P4W) in Kingston and Grand Valley Institution in Kitchener, the importance of relationships with other women in prison, legal and political strategy following her arrest, the difficulties of telling stories about one's life and other people in it, and more. Her memoir is available from Between the Lines Books at btlbooks.com

An interview with a member of a Montreal-based collective that is researching and raising awareness about police crackdowns in gay cruising areas. Links: Cruise Control collective page (facebook link) Ultra Red audio activists, Los Angeles, USA  

We return to the rising wave of renters struggles across the province of Ontario. On May 1st, tenants in the Stoney Creek Towers in Hamilton declared a rent strike, demanding that their corporate landlord drop an above-guideline rent increase of almost 10% over three years, and that the property managers perform numerous needed overdue repairs to their units. I first interviewed Jason of the Hamilton Tenants Solidarity Network back in May. The HTSN helped initiate the rent strike and works to support tenant self-organization and struggle across the city of Hamilton, and increasingly in coordination with like-minded groups across Ontario. In this follow-up interview we discuss the East Hamilton Rent Strike as it enters its fifth month. The second interview in this episode is with a tenant organizer in the neighbourhood of Herongate in Ottawa, where another massive real estate company is attempting to conduct the largest urban eviction campaign in Canada, after having bought up a literal quarter of the neighbou

This episode first aired in May 2018 and featured two interviews with tenant organizers in Ontario. The first interview is with Jason from the Hamilton Tenants Solidarity Network about the East Hamilton Rent Strike launched on May 1st. The second interview is with Adam from the Limestone Solidarity Network in Kingston.

Conversations about prison organizing in Canada - interview with a Halifax organizer about the Burnside Jail protest and conversation about Prisoner Justice Day organizing in Nova Scotia and Ontario Burnside prisoners' statement: https://www.halifaxexaminer.ca/province-house/the-prisoners-at-the-burnside-jail-are-engaged-in-a-non-violent-protest-here-is-their-statement/ Info on the US prison strike: https://itsgoingdown.org/prisonstrike/ https://incarceratedworkers.org/campaigns/prison-strike-2018 Conversation about PJD organizing included thanks to CKUT Prison Radio - Prison Radio airs the second Thurday of every month from 5-6 pm Eastern and the third Friday of every month from 11 am-12 pm Eastern. Montreal listeners can tune in to 90.3 fm or listen online at ckut.ca. Check out their website at prisonradioshow.wordpress.com Black Power Hour is a weekly show airing Wednesdays 9-10 pm Atlantic on CKDU 88.1 fm in Halifax. The show "blends conscious hip hop with discussions of political, cultural, and social i

85 years ago this week, in the midst of another long hot summer, a series of anti-semitic and xenophobic provocations in Toronto escalated into a full blown riot at Christie Pits. Tonight we bring you two interviews to mark the 85th anniversary of the Christie Pits Riot in Toronto. The first is with Cyril Levitt, co-author of the book The Riot at Christie Pits. The 2nd edition is being released this week through New Jewish Press with a new foreword and postscript. The second interview is with Isaac, a member of the Toronto General Defense Committee, a local of the Industrial Workers of the World. Isaac is organizing a Commemorative BBQ at Christie Pits this Sunday, August 19th in the spirit of anti-fascism. From Embers is also proud to announce that we are now a part of the Channel Zero Anarchist Podcast Network, which links anarchist podcast projects across the world. In the coming weeks we will be fully integrating into the network, while still broadcasting every Wednesday night at 8pm on CFRC 101.9FM in Ki

An interview with a comrade who recently published a critique of Max Stirner's The Ego And Its Own.  We discuss anarchist morality and ethics, why we hate the state, whether anarchism means building a world with no masters or slaves, egoism, individualism, killing the cop inside your head, and whether dead philosophers matter. 

An interview with an anti-fascist based in Montreal. We discuss the history of the Quebec far right dating back to the 1930s, anti-fascist resistance in 1990s Montreal, and the contemporary context, including an important victory against La Meute on July 1, 2018. Links: Montreal Antifasciste Montreal Counter-Information

I talk to Rosa, a friend and anarchist person of colour living in Montreal, about racism, identity politics, identity-based organizing and projects she's involved with. Thanks to Rosa for the music selections!

A post-Canada Day reflection on resistance to colonial celebrations.  Interviews with two Indigenous organizers, one about "Canada Day" here in Kingston, Ontario, and another on "Australia Day," also known as Invasion Day, which meets massive protests across Australia each January. Links: Background on the resistance to colonial birthday parties in Kingston. Idle No More Kingston (facebook link!) Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance (also a facebook link!) Canada Day actions in Kingston in 2016, 2017, and this year. Some background on "Australia Day" and corporate media coverage of Invasion Day. After The Apology  

An hour-long investigation into efforts in recent years to resist the Trans Mountain Pipeline and its world. Our first interview is with an anarchist who participated in an anti-pipeline camp on Burnaby Mountain in 2014. Our second interview is with Kanahus Manuel, a Secwepemc woman currently involved in the struggle against the pipeline which runs through her territory. Links: Wreck: A Vancouver Anarchist Publication Defend the Territory by Warrior Publications Secwepemcul'ecw Assembly Tiny House Warriors Facebook Page Tiny House Warriors GoFundMe Unsettling Canada by Arthur Manuel

A conversation with a friend who recently gave an "introduction to anarchism" workshop and is also writing an article called "Making Our Relationships More Free." He's putting forward an anarchism that seeks a collective, relational freedom rather than an individual one. Topics include: - how to frame anarchism to people who don't understand it yet. - a forthcoming anthology about the place of individualism in anarchism. - the difference between freedom and capacity. - the definition of freedom, and how to envision freedom without relying on liberal or capitalist conceptions of the individual. - how we get free through changing and remaking our relationships with other people and other living things. - the possibility of global revolution. - the difference between anarchist analysis and revolutionary strategy. Links: The Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address The Dispossessed by Ursula K. LeGuin 23 Theses on Anarchism: Revolution is More Than A World The Revolutionary Abolitionist Movement Entanglement: On anarc

Stories from the Québec anti-G7 mobilizations, June 7-9. Two interviews, one with a RRAG7 (Réseau de Résistance Anti-G7) organizer in Québec and one with an Ontario anarchist previously charged with conspiracy for organizing against the Toronto G20 summit in 2010. Music by Keny Arkana.

Two interviews with people involved in supporting the thousands of refugees currently crossing irregularly into Canada from the United States through Southern Quebec.  Topics include migrant justice, border policy, countering the far right, and solidarity. For more information on Solidarity Across Borders: http://www.solidarityacrossborders.org For more information on Bridges Not Borders: http://www.bridgesnotborders.ca

An interview with anarchist and surrealist author Ron Sakolsky. We discuss his life, free jazz, academia, the intersections of surrealism and anarchy, mutual acquiescence, maroon communities, and his day to day life on Denman Island, BC. Ron's latest book "In Search of the Masterless Men of Newfoundland" is available from Little Black Cart. This interview was recorded at the 2018 Montreal Anarchist Bookfair. The music is by John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman.

Stories about dealing with repression and an interview about conspiracy charges, infiltration, and movement defense

Reflections from May Day events in different places across so-called Canada and short interviews with organizers from Halifax, Montreal and Kitchener

Conversation about organizing in a rural context with an anarchist living in Prince Edward County, Ontario.