From Embers

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 wi...

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 aga...

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.

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. For an archive of Indigenous resis...

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...

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: https://www.pmpress.org/index.php?l=product...

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, con...

An interview with Mike Gouldhawke about Truth and Reconciliation Day, the Canadian state,  and #LandBack.  Find more of Mike's work here: https://mgouldhawke.wordpress.com/ Also check out his new chapter "By All Means, Anti-Politics" in the new Little Black Cart anthology " Not On Any Map." Music in this episode by AwareNess .    

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." We discuss both state and far right responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, some of the tensions surrounding vaccination, anti-authoritarian strategies for collective care, and...

Interview with Tawinikay about her essay released in spring 2021 Settlers on the Red Road: On Indigeneity, Appropriation and Belonging   which addresses the problem of race-shifting in anarchist and anarchist-adjacent spaces.  Music from Snotty Nose Rez Kids .

This episode features an interview with two members of the Halifax Anarchist Bookfair collective. We talked about how and why to organize an anarchist gathering during the pandemic, anarchy in Halifax, and why we need anarchist bookfairs in 2021. Music by Slow Man Tofu (Kingston) and Desperate Times (Halifax).

For this episode I sat down (in person!) with author, farmer and organizer Aric McBay . We talked about the recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, what climate scientists are now saying about the future of the planet, whether it's still worth trying to stop climate change, and whether and how to maintain hope in the face of increasingly apocalyptic news. To learn about Aric's mos...

This episode features an interview with Skyler Williams of 1492 Land Back Lane, a land reclamation on the edge of the Six Nations of the Grand River reserve near Caledonia, Ontario. This week marks the one year anniversary of the camp which was reclaimed last July in response to plans to develop a subdivision on Six Nations Territory. Skyler speaks about a year spent at the camp, the recent announ...

A discussion with an anarchist participant in the Fairy Creek blockades on so-called Vancouver Island.  Further reading: Five Months of Direct Action... (No More City) The Return of the War in the Woods? (BC Blackout) Desert (The Anarchist Library)

After nearly a year on hiatus, we're excited to finally be re-launching From Embers. In this mini-episode we briefly explain our absence, reflect on why the show still feels important to us, and tease two upcoming episodes.

Tsastilqualus is an elder of the House Umbas from Ma'amtagila (Kwakwaka'wakw) territory. In this final episode of the Victoria Anarchist Bookfair's week of podcasts, Tsastilqualus speaks about her life and views on how Indigenous resistance can be combined with cultural renewal to realize ecological sustainability and Indigenous sovereignty. For years she has been involved in fighting fish farms a...

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 g...

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 femini...

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 libe...

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...

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...

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-Ind...

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 Embe...