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 Nations"

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.

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