Talking Radical Radio

In episode #299 of Talking Radical Radio (December 11, 2018), Scott Neigh interviews Tim McSorley, a former co-ordinator of the Voices-Voix coalition and a current member of its strategy group. They talk about the work of Voices to monitor and document the ways in which space for democratic dissent, debate, advocacy, meaningful participation, and protest has been systematically eroded, initially under the Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, but more recently under Justin Trudeau's Liberals as well. For a more detailed description of this episode, go here: http://talkingradical.ca/2018/12/11/trr-voices-voix/ ‎

In episode #298 of Talking Radical Radio (December 4, 2018), Scott Neigh interviews Terri Monture, a Mohawk woman from Six Nations of the Grand River who lives in Toronto. They talk about Indigenous Land Defence Across Borders, a project that is working from an Indigenous feminist perspective to engage in solidarity exchanges in which Indigenous people from North America and Palestinians visit each other's territories, learn about each other's struggles, and build relationships. For a more detailed description of this episode, go here: http://talkingradical.ca/2018/12/04/trr-ildab/

In episode #297 of Talking Radical Radio (November 27, 2018), Scott Neigh interviews Alana Cattapan. She is an assistant professor of public policy at the University of Saskatchewan, and she is part of the organizing committee of Rise Up!, a digital archive of feminist activism in Canada between the 1970s and the 1990s. They talk about the importance of preserving social movement histories, about remembering Canadian feminist struggles, and about the work of Rise Up! For a more detailed description of this episode, go here: http://talkingradical.ca/2018/11/27/trr-rise_up_feminist_archive/

In episode #296 of Talking Radical Radio (November 20, 2018), Scott Neigh interviews Julius Arscott -- a public sector worker and an active member of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, currently serving as a member for the Toronto region on its executive board. Arscott is also a co-founder of the Workers Action Movement (WAM), which brings rank and file militants from different unions together to push for changes in direction in the movement. Neigh and Arscott speak about grassroots left politics in the labour movement and about the activities of WAM. For a more detailed description of this episode, go here: http://talkingradical.ca/2018/11/20/trr-workers_action_movement/ ‎

In episode #295 of Talking Radical Radio (November 13, 2018), Scott Neigh interviews Isabelle Leblanc. She is a family physician in Montreal and the president of Médecins québécois pour le régime public (MQRP), which translates to Quebec Doctors for Medicare. They talk about the importance of the public health care system and about the work of MQRP to defend and improve it. For a more detailed description of this episode, go here: http://talkingradical.ca/2018/11/13/trr-mqrp/

In episode #294 of Talking Radical Radio (November 6, 2018), Scott Neigh interviews Shira Taylor and Lauren Chang. Taylor is a graduate student in public health at University of Toronto, and the creator and director of Sex Education by Theatre (SExT). Lauren Chang is a cast member of SExT, and she sometimes raps under the name "Ms. G." They talk about their approach to sex ed, about theatre for social change, and about the ongoing work of SExT. For a more detailed description of this episode, go here: http://talkingradical.ca/2018/11/06/trr-theatrical_sex_ed/

In episode #293 of Talking Radical Radio (October 30, 2018), Scott Neigh interviews long-time community organizer, independent journalist, and hockey fan Aaron Lakoff. They talk about Lakoff's new podcast, Changing On The Fly, which explores the intersections of hockey and social justice. For a more detailed description of this episode, go here: http://talkingradical.ca/2018/10/30/trr-hockey_and_social_justice/

In episode #292 of Talking Radical Radio (October 23, 2018), Scott Neigh interviews Luke Stewart. Back in 2010, Stewart was one of the many grassroots activists and organizers who took to the streets of Toronto in opposition to the G8 and G20 meetings being hosted that year by Canada. He was also one of the many people who directly experienced the now infamously bad behaviour on the part of the police during the protests. Neigh and Stewart talk about the summit protests and about Stewart's ongoing lawsuit against the police, which he says is one measure among the many we must take to hold them accountable. For a more detailed description of the episode, go here: http://talkingradical.ca/2018/10/23/trr-g20_lawsuit/

In episode #291 of Talking Radical Radio (October 16, 2018), Scott Neigh interviews Dan Scratch and Renee Vaugeois. Scratch is a high school teacher in Edmonton with over a decade of experience of incorporating concern for social justice and human rights into his teaching practice. Vaugeois is the executive director of the John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights. They talk about the RAD Educator Network, a new Alberta-based network of classroom teachers and other educators who are committed to social justice. For a more detailed description of this episode, go here: http://talkingradical.ca/2018/10/16/trr-rad_network_alberta/ ‎

In episode #290 of Talking Radical Radio (October 9, 2018), Scott Neigh interviews Patty Krawec and Karl Dockstader. Krawec is an Anishinaabe woman with roots in Lac Seul First Nation in northern Ontario. Dockstader is an Oneida man of the Bear Clan, and his family is from the Oneida Nation of the Thames. Both grew up and live in the Niagara Region of southern Ontario. They talk about the many shapes that grassroots work can take in urban Indigenous contexts, and particularly about the many ways that they themselves have been involved in Niagara. For a more detailed description of this episode, go here: http://talkingradical.ca/2018/10/09/trr-niagara_indigenous/

In episode #289 of Talking Radical Radio (October 2, 2018), Scott Neigh interviews Robyn Maynard. She is a Black feminist writer and long-time anti-authoritarian organizer who has been active in movements around racial profiling, police violence, migrant justice, sex worker rights, and harm reduction, mostly in Montreal. Since the publication of her book *Policing Black Lives: State Violence in Canada from Slavery to the Present* (Fernwood Publishing, 2017), she has been doing launch events and speaking engagements in communities across the country. Maynard talks about the book, and about what she has learned via conversation with activists and organizers in the course of her touring about the book's uptake in movement contexts and about the state of Black struggles in Canada today. For a more detailed description of this episode, see here: http://talkingradical.ca/2018/10/02/trr-policing_black_lives/

In episode #288 of Talking Radical Radio (September 25, 2018), Scott Neigh interviews long-time organizers Amanda Wilson and Dan Sawyer of the Punch Up Collective. In recent years, Wilson and Sawyer have found that many people they talk to want ways to get together with others to work for social change, but in our disconnected, fragmented, neoliberal age have few options to do so. They believe that one possibility that could work for almost anyone is to get together with a handful of other people with whom you share political values and priorities, and form a *collective*. They talk about collectives in general, about Punch Up in particular, and about their work to support other people in forming collectives of their own. For a more detailed description of this episode, go here: http://talkingradical.ca/2018/09/25/trr-cultivating_collectives/

In episode #287 of Talking Radical Radio (September 18, 2018), Scott Neigh interviews Indygo Arscott. Arscott is a grade eleven student attending an arts-focused high school in Toronto. They are gender nonbinary. They are Ojibwe, of the Marten Clan. And they are one of the instigators of the We The Students Do Not Consent day of action, happening on September 21st (or, for those for whom that is a PA day, on September 20th). On that day, students from schools across the province are invited to walk out of class or to take some other action, as they are able, to show their opposition to the new Ontario Conservative government's attacks on Indigenous-focused curriculum, on health curriculum that deals with sexual education, and on classrooms more generally. For a more detailed description of this episode, go here: http://talkingradical.ca/2018/09/18/trr-ontario_school_walkout/ ‎

In episode #286 of Talking Radical Radio (September 11, 2018), Scott Neigh interviews Farrah Khan and Shannon Giannitsopoulou. They are Toronto-based feminists and co-founders of the grassroots organization Femifesto. They talk about Femifesto's work to transform rape culture to consent culture, particularly Use the Right Words: Media Reporting on Sexual Violence in Canada, a free guide for journalists that provides language and frameworks to report on sexual violence in ways that do not normalize it and that do not shame and blame survivors. For a more detailed description of this episode, go here: http://talkingradical.ca/2018/09/11/trr-femifesto/

In episode #285 of Talking Radical Radio (September 4, 2018), Scott Neigh interviews Annelies Cooper, Gita Madan, Craig Fortier, and Robyn Letson. All of them are involved, in one way or another, in grassroots activism and organizing, and they all also play softball in a league that seeks to bring the values of movements fighting for justice and liberation to the world of recreational sports. They talk about the barriers and problems faced by many people in mainstream recreational sports cultures, about why grassroots movements should pay more attention to sports, and about the radical vision of the Field of Dreamers Cooperative Softball Association. For a more detailed description of this episode, go here: http://talkingradical.ca/2018/09/04/trr-field_of_dreamers/

In episode #284 of Talking Radical Radio (August 28, 2018), Scott Neigh interviews Evan Balgord, the executive director of a new organization called the Canadian Anti-Hate Network. They engage in investigative journalism focused on white supremacist, white nationalist, far right, violently misogynist, anti-Muslim, or otherwise overtly hateful groups. They aim to supply information in a strategic way to anti-racist community groups, media, and law enforcement as part of multi-pronged campaigns to shut hate groups down. Neigh and Balgord speak about the current landscape of far-right hate groups in Canada and about the work of the Canadian Anti-Hate Network. For a more detailed description of this episode, go here: http://talkingradical.ca/2018/08/28/trr-canadian_anti_hate_network/

In episode #283 of Talking Radical Radio (August 21, 2018), Scott Neigh interviews Amara Possian and Jodie Tonita. Both of them have connections, of various sorts, with social change work oriented towards building movements in both Canada and the United States. Both have experience with grassroots organizing on the ground, and both are now involved in contributing to movements in ways that are a step or two back from the frontlines and instead focus more on strategic thinking, long-term work, and the infrastructure necessary to build the collective power it will take to win. They talk about their movement building work, about leadership in movement contexts, and – despite the important differences between the two countries – about what movements in Canada can learn from what's happening in the United States. For a more detailed description of this episode, go here: http://talkingradical.ca/2018/08/21/trr-learning_from_us/

This week's episode of Talking Radical Radio is a re-broadcast of episode #257, which was originally broadcast in February 2018. In it, Scott Neigh speaks with Joyce Fossella and Val Joseph. Fossella is from the Lillooet Nation. Joseph is from the Kwakwaka'wakw Nation. Both work as part of the Warriors Against Violence Society, an organization in Vancouver that responds to gender-based violence using a holistic approach that is grounded in Indigenous cultures and in the context of the ongoing reality of colonial violence and trauma from the broader society that impacts Indigenous people. They talk about their experiences, about the connections between interpersonal gendered violence and legacies of colonial violence, and about the work of the Warriors Against Violence Society. For a more detailed description of this episode, go here: http://talkingradical.ca/2018/08/14/trr-rebroadcast_warrrios_a_v/

In episode #282 of Talking Radical Radio (August 7, 2018), Scott Neigh interviews Ralph Jean-Paul of Winnipeg and Travis Ross of Montreal about the Canada-Haiti Information Project, founded almost a decade and a half ago as the Canada-Haiti Action Network. They talk about events in Haiti, about Canada's complicity in injustice there, and about the past and present of action in Canada in solidarity with popular struggles in Haiti. For a more detailed description of this episode, go here: http://talkingradical.ca/2018/08/07/trr-canada_haiti_info_project/

In episode #281 of Talking Radical Radio (July 31, 2018), Scott Neigh interviews filmmaker and community activist Kai Reimer-Watts. Reimer-Watts' first feature-length documentary is *Beyond Crisis*, "a meditative call to action that explores what it means to be living in this new era of climate change, as told by over fifty diverse voices from across Canada, the U.S. and beyond." They talk about climate change, about the film, and about building the kinds of collective responses to climate change that the world needs. For a more detailed description of this episode, go here: http://talkingradical.ca/2018/07/31/trr-beyond_crisis/