Listen to “The Intersect: Prisons and Pandemic” on Spreaker.
On episode 132 of Unpacking the News Meenakshi Mannoe (Vancouver Prison Justice Day Committee) and Montreal academic and activist Ted Rutland (The Anti-Carceral Group) join host Andre Goulet to discuss decarceration, abolition and the past, present and future of Prison Justice organizing in an era of COVID-19.
On episode 83 of 49thParahell host Rob Rousseau takes a few minutes to strike a balance between laughing at the state of the Canadian far right and being alarmed by what they’re up to and where they could be going. Then writer, activist and Couchiching First Nation interdisciplinary artist Susan Blight joins the show to talk about our summer of upheaval, abolition, Indigenous solidarity, keeping the protest momentum going, Landback, disingenuous Liberals and much more.
In 1972, the B.C. New Democrats led by the charismatic Dave Barrett won an upset victory in British Columbia, defeating the 20-year reign of Social Credit’s W.A.C. Bennett. In a stunning “legislation by thunderbolt,” Barrett’s government passed 367 bills in three years, introducing a wide range of progressive reforms. Join Team Advantage as they survey what the Barrett government accomplished, and consider more generally the possibilities and limitations of social democratic strategy within the Canadian context.
Jason Kenney’s UCP government has used the pandemic to their advantage, passing a number of outrageous laws that accelerate handouts to Alberta’s most profitable corporations, while cracking down hard on the rights of citizens to protest. On another new episode of Calgary’s best Marxist podcast, Team Advantage convene to discuss Alberta’s Job Creation Tax Cut, Bill 1: Critical Infrastructure Defence Act, and Bill 32: Restoring Balance in Alberta’s Workplaces Act.
On a new episode of the Progress Report host Duncan Kinney kicks off the inaugural edition of the Red String, a monthly column from Laura Kruse on conspiracy theories and Alberta, from Freemasons to aliens to Q and everything in between. Read Laura’s remarkable story on a favourite conspiracy theory (that isn’t a conspiracy theory) titled McKinsey, bread price-fixing and the UCP’s incoming evisceration of Alberta’s post-secondary system.
On this week’s Tech Won’t Save Us, host Paris Marx is joined by Curbed‘s urbanism editor Alissa Walker to discuss how Elon Musk’s Boring Company transportation system has changed over the past few years, what his plans in Las Vegas mean for workers and transit users, and why tech companies are distracting us from a real vision for better cities.
On a very chill and laid back new episode of Victoria’s Out of Left Field the crew discuss some recent events ranging from the federal Liberal government’s We charity scandal, Chrystia Freeland’s checkered past, the Portland protests, Alberta’s new draconian anti-protest law and more!
On the latest Oats for Breakfast the Toronto socialists interview Freddie deBoer about his book new ‘The Cult of Smart: How Our Broken Education System Perpetuates Social Injustice’, where he argues that, to the extent that educational outcomes are the result of inherent differences between individuals, a system that distributes rewards based on educational outcomes should be regarded as unfair.
On a new episode of Canadian media criticism show Big Shiny Takes the boys read Marc and Craig Kielburger’s book “ME to WE: Finding Meaning in a Material World” to try to figure out what it is WE does, beyond holding stadium-sized pep rallies for schoolchildren and owning property, and discuss two Postmedia pieces that are part of a clear effort at image rehabilitation for the Kielburgers.
A new IPSOS poll shows that 51% of Canadians support defunding the police and reinvesting that money into healthcare, mental health, and housing, including 66% of Millenials and 77% of Gen Z. On a new episode of his popular Left Politics, History and Culture YouTube show, academic Chriso Aivalis shows that, much like in the USA after George Floyd, Canadians are realizing that police do not offer value for what they cost, especially in terms of how they harm marginalized communities.
