Unsettling

Today we’re joined by Brennain Lloyd from Northwatch to discuss the prospective construction of a nuclear waste repository near Ignace in northwestern Ontario. What are some of the risks of burying nuclear waste? How is Canada’s industrial sector presenting nuclear waste and nuclear waste management to the public and does this image hold? What is the historical context of nuclear energy production and waste management in Canada?  How do you build a broad-based collective opposition movement to a large-scale industrial project threatening the environment and Indigenous lands? From the early days of anti-nuclear activism in Canada and We the Nuclear Free North to the industrial technicians of pro-nuclear ideological optics and the colossus of industrial energy, Kiegan Irish, Alex Boos, and Brennain Lloyd explore such questions and more! Thank you immensely to Brennain for sharing your time, knowledge and expertise. A big thank you to Jacob Irish for postproduction and to our listeners for tuning in. 

AND WE ARE BACK! Back with a new name and back with a new episode, back-to-back, and today’s all about settlers and Land Back. In this episode, Kiegan Irish and Alex Boos explore a variety of questions about the nature of settler subjectivity, its transformability, and ways to theorize settler solidarity politics with Indigenous Land Back struggles. From the Red Paper to Wasáse, from the Yintah to your grocery list, we weigh in on the intricacies of settler colonialism and a range of possible disruptions to it. So, sit back, stand up, run, move your body, break a window, do whatever tha fuck you wanna do as you click play, turn that volume dial up, and give it a listen. If ya hate it or if ya love it, let us know, drop us a line, discourse with us. A big thanks to our listeners and supporters and a standing ovation to Jacob Irish for his tireless commitment to post-production and editing. We love you!

In this episode, Kiegan Irish and Alex Boos are joined by Benjamin Pillet, a PhD grad from Université de Québec à Montréal who now lives on a sustainable farm with his family in Paspébiac, to discuss his journey from France to Turtle Island, the concept of Anarcho-Indigenism, settler solidarity publishing, activism, decolonization, anarchism, postcolonialism, theories of the state and more. 

In this episode, Kiegan Irish and Alex Boos are joined by Montreal-based poet William Vallières for an enriching discussion on the nature and history of fascism and what the legacy of studies on fascism can offer us when interpreting politics in the world today.

We also extend our gratitude to Jacob Irish for his generous and continued support with postproduction. And thank you to our listeners for sticking with us!

Feeling lonely? As the first round of vaccines rolls into Canada, a yearning for the revitalization of social relations long severed and strangulated by the social distancing and confinement required to fight COVID-19 grows stronger. But what kinds of social relations are we going to build now and commit to the future? What can we build together in the face of crisis at home or abroad? In this episode, Kiegan Irish and Alex Boos are joined by friends Ryan Faulkner and Héloïse Muller to discuss how community organizing in Greece has handled one of the EU’s worst economic crises and the growing “refugee crisis” and to walk us through their experiences volunteering for autonomous zones in Greece. 

Seven months into the global pandemic, Kiegan Irish and Alex Boos revisit one of Mark Fisher’s papers called “Post-Capitalist Desire.” At a time when societal collapse, economic recession, world-historical crises, homelessness, unemployment and fascist tendencies are on the rise, we believe it is crucial to think about the situation of the political left in public discourse and how it is taking shape today. What could a post-capitalist world look like? How do we think through capitalism to its end and beyond in the settler colonial context of Canada? In what ways are Fisher’s reflections on the challenges the political left faces adaptable to our lives today? How have things changed and what are some ways that we can fight for a better future together? From Occupy to #WetsuwetenStrong, new Left media to fashion and music, we explore all of these questions and more!

In this episode, Kiegan Irish and Alex Boos are joined by Mike Fong to discuss Erin O'Toole's recent conservative party leadership election, the legacy of Canadian conservative politics and Canadian political economy. What shape is Canada's right-wing discourse taking? How do today's conservative party politics tie in with right-wing radicalization practices and what are some of the stakes at play for the political left and Indigenous politics? What strategies could the liberals implement to impede a conservative government if a vote of non confidence is held in the upcoming Fall? Join us in this episode as we consider all these questions and more!

In this episode, Kiegan Irish and Alex Boos discuss some of the events transpiring at 1492 Land Back Lane, where Haudenosaunee land defenders and allies have been actively holding Haudenosaunee territory since July 19, 2020, before diving into a film analysis of Winnipeg film director Matthew Rankin’s The Twentieth Century. Join us as we revisit the plot, themes, historical resonances and symbolism of Rankin’s film in effort to comprehend what this film can tell us about Canadian history, politics, identity and the construction of a national psyche.