From Embers

As in other places, unhoused people in Victoria face severe challenges in their daily lives ranging from a lack of food, sanitation and medical services to harassment by police and security. One particularly disturbing development are growing resentments and assaults by community members who are unwilling to share green spaces with those who need them for survival. In this episode we hear from a grass-roots front-line supporter and member of the Lived Experience of Homelessness Network (LEOHN) about the increased challenges due to the Covid-19 pandemic as well as the importance of mutual aid and a caring community. To support and donate visit or contact: https://www.facebook.com/Indigenous-Harm-Reduction-Team-2268634883463900/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/MutualAidVictoria leohnetwork@gmail.com https://solidvictoria.org/ https://www.safersexwork.ca/ http://avi.org/ For more information follow: https://povertykills2020.ca/ https://twitter.com/BeaconHillFolks https://www.facebook.com/LkwungenWSANEC

Ozlem Goner is a steering committee member of the Emergency Committee for Rojava, New York, and associate professor at the City University of New York. Her research interests focus on political sociology, ethnographies of the state and nationalism, comparative and historical sociology, race and ethnicity, social movements, qualitative methods, and classical, poststructural, postcolonial and feminist theory.  For updates concerning the situation in Rojava and to donate to the struggle, visit: https://www.defendrojava.org/rojava  

Ruth Kinna is a world-renowned political theorist and historian of ideas who has authored numerous books on anarchism, nineteenth- and early twentieth-century socialist thought, utopianism and contemporary radicalism. She is a professor of political philosophy at Loughborough University and editor of the UK-based journal, Anarchist Studies.

Ann Hansen is former member of the anarchist organization Direct Action and served over 7 years in prison for her involvement with that collective. She is now living on a self-sufficient farm and works on prison-related issues as a member of the Prison for Women (P4W) Memorial Collective. Naphtali is a white non-binary trans Jew who is into prison abolition, anti-zionism, indigenous and black liberation, night-bouquets, and community care.

Queen Sacheen is co-founder of Ancestral Pride, with whom she has produced many zines. She has spent a great deal of time advising Settler-anarchists on how to be in solidarity with Indigenous resistance movements. She is a warrior who has taken part in many actions, including Standing Rock. Finally, Sacheen is a proud mother, Matriarch, doula and medicine woman. Find Queen Sacheen (Nuu-chah-nulth & Coast Salish) on Facebook by searching for Sacheen Kinish, or Ancestral Pride and/or Xhopakelxhits Apothocary. Please support via e-transfer and PayPal to: mamazonscreatrions at gmail.com.

John Zerzan is author of numerous publications exploring the pre-modern dimensions of our being. His weekly radio program, AnarchyRadio can be found here: https://www.johnzerzan.net/radio/.

Kathy Ferguson is an US-American author, political philosopher, feminist, historian, anarchist, and professor of political science and women's studies at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. She has authored one of the best critical biographies of renowned anarchist Emma Goldman: Emma Goldman: Political Thinking in the Streets.   Visit http://www2.hawaii.edu/~kferguso/ to learn about the 1000 women who helped build the anarchist movement during Emma Goldman’s life time.

Molly Wickham (Sleydo) is a member of the Gidimt'en Clan of the Wet'suwet'en Nation. She has been tirelessly active in the Wet’suwet’en’ Nation’s assertion of sovereignty over their unceded territories. This interview discusses the current state of affairs regarding the Coastal GasLink pipeline’s pending extension under a pristine river and the RCMP’s continued harassment of Indigenous and non-Indigenous land defenders.   Visit yintahaccess.com to apply to join the fall work camp on Gidimt'en territory, or connect with them by email at yintahaccess@gmail.com. You can also find them on Facebook and Instagram.

From Embers will be collaborating with the Victoria Anarchist Bookfair over the next week to bring you some really great audio content that they're releasing in lieu of an in-person event. Their real-life bookfair is, like so many events, cancelled, but they've made the best of the situation and put together an impressive week of online events, many of which you'll find right here on the From Embers feed. To get us all ready and excited for the week, we put together this interview with three members of their collective. We talk about anarchism, bookfairs, COVID, how to make our events and actions meaningfully anticolonial, and much more. Stay tuned throughout this week as we host the virtual bookfair.

Radio Pandemic was founded by From Embers and friends just as the COVID-19 crisis hit Kingston, as many people were scrambling to figure out how to navigate the new uncertain terrain of physical distancing, government lockdowns and online organizing. We wanted to facilitate a conversation about the rapidly changing context in our city and beyond, and established a call-in show that airs on CFRC 101.9FM twice a week. Someone from the Montreal Anarchist Bookfair was interested in the project and hosted a conversation with the collective as part of this year’s event. The following is an edited version of that discussion.

A conversation with a member of the It's Going Down collective about their pre-pandemic text "Livewire: Against Automation, Against UBI, Against Capital." We revisit the text in the context of the pandemic, ever-increasing trends towards automation of various sectors in Canada and the USA, and the Canadian government's emergency relief benefit (CERB), which many have compared to universal basic income. Read the whole text as a zine here: https://itsgoingdown.org/new-zine-pdf-version-of-livewire-against-automation-against-ubi-against-capital/  

In the context of ongoing COVID-19 outbreaks in Canadian prisons and jails, I was curious about other times in history that prisoners have faced similar situations and especially times when prisoners have been released as a result. Today’s interview is with a local prison historian about epidemics and public health in Canadian prisons, mostly about the 19th and early 20th century. Also some stories about prisoners being released, what health care was like inside and outside of prison walls, and what kind of world people were returning to.

Following the mass shootings in Nova Scotia last week, the federal government rushed to impose an extensive and immediate ban of semi-automatic firearms. We reached out to Ron in Edmonton, author of the article “The History of Gun Control in Canada” on the counter-info website North Saskatchewan Resistance. We spoke about the shifting regulatory context in Canada, the problem of mass killers from an anti-fascist perspective, arming the vulnerable and the oppressed, and the possibilities associated with anarchist interventions into gun culture. Post-interview note from Ron: At 41:29 I say 'Arm trans women' which has become a slogan for leftist and LGBTQ2+ firearms rights advocates. I then list other identity groups that those concerned with changing gun culture should endeavour to arm. Among these was women. This was not to imply in the slightest that trans women are not women. Defend equality and keep TERFs out of our spaces. Article referenced in the discussion: “The Firearms Act and Canada’s First Nati

A conversation with the folks behind Fagdemic ("Fag harm reduction for coronaworld") Lots of practical harm reduction advice around sex, hookups, and substance use (or changes in your substance use) as well as talking about shame, negotiations around intimacy and care, reducing the harms of police, and individual and community autonomy in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

We speak with Alexander McClelland and Zoë Dodd about criminalization in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2016, they published “An Anarchist Response to Hep C & HIV.” We spoke about the Canadian healthcare system, the problem with government approaches to “Public Health,” Hep C & HIV criminalization and what it can tell us about what’s happening in the present crisis.   Resources: Toronto Overdose Prevention Society “We can’t police our way out of a pandemic” by Alexander McClelland Interactive map of charges and violations related to COVID-19 Cathy Crowe How to Have Sex in a Police State

An interview with Montreal-based counselling and somatic therapist Parneet Chohan on the Covid-19 pandemic, anxiety, communication, reading the news, and caring for ourselves and each other through troubled times.

An interview with Salam, a member of the Syria Solidarity Collective based in Toronto. We talk about the Syrian uprising, anti-imperalism and the left, the ongoing need for international solidarity with the people of Syria, and more.

Talking with a non-native anarchist who spent time at Kanonhstaton in 2006, a land reclamation led by members of Six Nations blocking the development of a private subdivision on their territory. We discuss his experience at Six, dynamics on the ground before and after the police raid, and the possibilities and complexities of anarchist-indigenous solidarity with the current wave of Wet'suwet'en solidarity in mind. With music from Tru Rez Crew and Lee Reed.

This week's episode features an interview with Gord Hill, a member of the Kwakwaka'wakw nation whose territory is located on northern Vancouver Island and adjacent mainland in the province of "British Columbia." He has been involved in Indigenous people's and anti-globalization movements since 1990 and is the author of The 500 Years of Resistance Comic Book and The Antifa Comic Book. Music by Tribe Called Red, Iroqua WhiteWolf, Macka B and Snotty Nose Rez Kids. Interactive Map of Wet'suwet'en Solidarity Actions Tips For Staying Safe At Blockades To Come Elsipogtog in Five Minutes

An interview with Dtsa'hyl, a hereditary chief of the Wet'suwet'en Nation. The Wet'suwet'en people have defended their land against pipelines for more than a decade. After an RCMP raid on their territory on February 6th, a national movement was sparked to shut down Canada and protest against the infringement of Indigenous sovereignty. Music in this episode by Lee Reed and Snotty Nose Rez Kids