Talking Radical Radio

In episode #280 of Talking Radical Radio (July 24, 2018), Scott Neigh interviews Dave Gehl and Ed Lehman, members of the Regina Peace Council. Over their decades of involvement in issues of war and peace, they have seen the peace movement grow and shrink multiple times. They believe that the world needs a large and vigorous peace movement now more than ever, and they are doing what they can in Saskatchewan to try and revive it. Scott Neigh interviews them about the Regina Peace Council and about its ongoing work for peace. For a more detailed description of this episode, go here: http://talkingradical.ca/2018/07/24/trr-regina_peace_billboard/

In episode #279 of Talking Radical Radio (July 17, 2018), Scott Neigh interviews El Jones. She is a poet, educator, and organizer based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and is that city's former poet laureate. She is deeply involved in working for justice for prisoners through a combined prisoner-led radio show and community organization called Black Power Hour. They talk about the fight against the injustices of policing and prisons, and about the importance of not just speaking out on issues but of getting involved in collective efforts to make radical change on the ground. For a more detailed description of this episode, go here: http://talkingradical.ca/2018/07/17/trr-jones_prisoner_justice/

In episode #278 of Talking Radical Radio (July 10, 2018), Scott Neigh interviews Kym Hines, Hugh Lampkin, and Cynthia Travers. They are all social justice activists with lived experience of homelessness, who live in Victoria, Vancouver, and Kamloops, British Columbia, respectively. They talk about the Poor Persons Walk, an action taking place in a number of British Columbia communities later in July. For a more detailed description of this episode, go here: http://talkingradical.ca/2018/07/10/trr-poor_persons_walk/

In episode #277 of Talking Radical Radio, Scott Neigh interviews Bonnie Brayton. She is the executive of the DisAbled Women's Network Canada, the country's only national advocacy organization focused on the needs and rights of women with disabilities. She talks about the issues that disabled women and girls face and about DAWN Canada's work. For a more detailed description of the episode, go here: http://talkingradical.ca/2018/07/03/trr-disabled_womens_network/

In episode #276 of Talking Radical Radio (June 26, 2018), Scott Neigh interviews Cathy Crowe, who was worked for decades as a street nurse in Toronto. Not only has she delivered community-based primary health care to homeless and poor people over that time, but has also been involved in a wide range of activism, organizing, and advocacy around homelessness, poverty, and housing. They talk about that long history of involvement, about what she describes as the "post-apocalyptic scene" that resulted the last time Ontario elected a hard-right government, and about her initial thoughts on what it means for the province and for those of us concerned about social justice to be facing a new era with Doug Ford and the Conservatives in power. For a more detailed description of this episode, go here: http://talkingradical.ca/2018/06/26/trr-cathy_crowe/

In episode #275 of Talking Radical Radio (June 19, 2018), Scott Neigh interviews Behc Jax-Lynx and Cara Tierney. They work with a small organization called Building through Education and Community Knowledge, which uses educational approaches to push organizations in rural and suburban Ontario to do better when it comes to equity for transgender and gender-diverse people. They speak about the barriers that trans and gender-diverse people face, about their work, and about their broader vision for the kinds of social change that they are working towards. For a more detailed description of the episode, go here: http://talkingradical.ca/2018/06/19/trr-trans_education/

In episode #274 of Talking Radical Radio (June 12, 2018), Scott Neigh interviews Sadie Epstein-Fine and Makeda Zook, the editors of a new anthology called Spawning Generations: Rants and Reflections on Growing Up with LGBTQ+ Parents. They talk about the importance of queerspawn (i.e. people with LGBTQ+ parents) having the space to tell their own stories, about the book, and about its launch on June 18 at Glad Day Books in Toronto. For a more detailed description of the episode, go here: http://talkingradical.ca/2018/06/12/trr-queerspawn_anthology/

In episode #273 of Talking Radical Radio (June 5, 2018), Scott Neigh interviews David McDonald, an academic whose work has focused on issues related to public services and privatization. They talk about his role as a co-organizer of The Future is Public, a conference happening in Montreal on June 15 and 16 that will bring together more than 150 activists, trade unionists, and researchers from across North America to discuss struggles and successes from around the world and to begin figuring out what it might mean to articulate a vision for public services that is not just anti-privatization but one that is resolutely pro-public when it comes to things like water, health care, education, energy, transportation, and all the rest. For a more detailed description of this episode, go here: http://talkingradical.ca/2018/06/05/trr-future_is_public/

In episode #272 of Talking Radical Radio (May 29, 2018), Scott Neigh interviews Taylor MacLean and Darius Mirshahi. MacLean is a cleaning worker in Halifax. Mirshahi is an organizer with SEIU Local 2 in the same city, in particular with their Justice for Janitors campaign. They talk about anti-Black racism in the workplace, about precarious work, about an injustice faced by MacLean and a number of other Black cleaning workers, and about the human rights complaint and community campaign that the workers and their supporters have mounted in response. For a more detailed description of this episode, go here: http://talkingradical.ca/2018/05/29/trr-halifax_janitors/

In episode #271 of Talking Radical Radio (May 22, 2018), Scott Neigh interviews Wendy Goldsmith and Ron Rosseau. Goldsmith is a social worker who lives in London, Ontario. Rousseau is a postal worker in the Yukon, as well as the president of his local of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers and the Vice President for Indigenous peoples of the Canadian Labour Congress. They speak about their involvement in this year's efforts by the Canada Boat to Gaza and its international counterpart, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, to break the Israeli siege of Gaza. For a more detailed description of this episode, go here: http://talkingradical.ca/2018/05/22/trr-canada_boat_to_gaza_2018/

In episode #270 of Talking Radical Radio (May 15, 2018), Scott Neigh interviews Mohammad Ali, the Socialist Vocalist. Ali is a hip hop artist based in Toronto known for his sharp political lyrics and for his deep commitment to struggles for social justice. They speak about Ali's music, about his involvement in activism and organizing, and about the ways that social movements in Canada need to do a better job at engaging with and supporting the arts. For a more detailed description of this episode, go here: http://talkingradical.ca/2018/05/15/trr-socialist_hiphop/

In episode #269 of Talking Radical Radio (May 8, 2018), Scott Neigh interviews Erinn Atwater and Dan Ballard. They are two of the three founders of the Open Privacy Research Society, an innovative new not-for-profit organization based in Vancouver that is devoted to developing new tools for online security, privacy, and anonymity using an approach that centres the needs of people who are marginalized in a variety of ways. For a more detailed description of this episode, go here: http://talkingradical.ca/2018/05/08/trr-open_privacy/

In episode #268 of Talking Radical Radio (May 1, 2018), Scott Neigh interviews Shazma Abdulla and Vijay Kolinjivadi. They are members of a Montreal-based collective called Garam Masala -- an acronym short for Groupe d'action révolutionnaire sud-Asiatique de Montréal and Montreal Alliance of South Asian Leftists and Allies. They speak about the group and about its grassroots political work in Montreal, particularly in the context of the city's South Asian communities. For a more detailed description of this episode, go here: http://talkingradical.ca/2018/05/01/trr-garam_masala/

In episode #267 of Talking Radical Radio (April 24, 2018), Scott Neigh interviews Sandi Mowat, the president of the Manitoba Union of Nurses. The current government in the province is committed to transforming the delivery of healthcare, but the experiences of MNU members show that the changes to the system so far have not been good for patients, have not been good for nurses, and have not been good for the quality of patient care. In response, nurses in Manitoba are taking a number of approaches to stand up for patient care and to oppose the cuts. Scott and Sandi talk about the MNU, about the current political moment and what it means for healthcare in Manitoba, and about what nurses are doing in response – including the rally they will be holding outside the provincial legislature in Winnipeg on May 2. For a more detailed description of this episode, go here: http://talkingradical.ca/2018/04/24/trr-manitoba_nurses/

In episode #266 of Talking Radical Radio (April 17, 2018), Scott Neigh interviews Prescott Demas, a Dakota man, originally from Chanupa Wakpa and currently living in Regina. He was one of a number of Indigenous people and allies who, in the wake of the acquittals of Gerald Stanley and Raymond Cormier in February, set up the Justice for Our Stolen Children Camp in a park across from the Saskatchewan legislature. They talk about the verdicts, about the camp, and about what needs to happen for us to truly begin moving towards justice. For a more detailed description of this episode, go here: http://talkingradical.ca/2018/04/17/trr-justice_for_stolen_children/ ‎

In episode #265 of Talking Radical Radio, Scott Neigh interviews Lucas LaRochelle, an online project that is attempting to explore what queer space means and what queering space can look like. Scott Neigh interviews them about the site, about the recent instance of it being hacked by a Trump supporter, and about the radical queer vision that underlies the project. For a more detailed description of this episode, go here: http://talkingradical.ca/2018/04/10/trr-queering_the_map/

In episode #264 of Talking Radical Radio (April 3, 2018), Scott Neigh interviews Sheila Murray, Beatrice Ekoko, Lidia Ferreira, and Michelle Sullivan. They work with the Lighthouse Project, a pilot that aims to develop new approaches for building resilience in a number of Ontario communities in the face of the growing spectrum of threats presented by climate change. They talk about those threats, about what exactly resilience might look like, and about the different approaches they are using to get there. For a more detailed description of this episode go here: http://talkingradical.ca/2018/04/03/trr-lighthouse_project/

In episode #263 of Talking Radical Radio (March 27, 2018), Scott Neigh interviews Julie Lalonde, a long-time women's rights advocate and public educator whose work focuses on sexual and gendered violence. Two years ago, when a man she had been in a relationship with for a couple of years more than a decade before unexpectedly passed away, she was finally able to reveal that he had been stalking her that entire time. She talks about her work since then to bring stalking into broader conversations about gendered violence, in part through incorporating it more fully into her public education work, and in part through founding a new project specifically focused on stalking called Outside of the Shadows. For a more detailed description of this episode, go here: http://talkingradical.ca/2018/03/27/trr-outside_of_the_shadows/

In episode #262 of Talking Radical Radio (March 20, 2018), Scott Neigh interviews Dorene Bernard and Rebecca Moore. Dorene is a Mi'kmaq woman of the Otter Clan from Sipekne'katik First Nation and a residential school survivor, and she describes herself as a grassroots grandmother, a water walker, and a water protector. Rebecca Moore is a Mi'kmaq woman from Pictou Landing First Nation and a water protector. They talk about the treaty camp and other grassroots Mi'kmaq resistance that is blocking the Alton Natural Gas Storage project, a key piece of fossil fuel infrastructure in Nova Scotia that would help pave the way for the re-introduction of fracking in the province. For a more detailed description of this episode, go here: http://talkingradical.ca/2018/03/20/trr-alton_gas_resistance/

Episode #261 of Talking Radical Radio (March 13, 2018) features an interview with Trudy Govier, who has been a peace activist in Calgary, Alberta, since the early 1980s. She was one of the founders in 1982 of the group known now as the Ploughshares Calgary Society, and today she is still involved. She talks with Scott Neigh about how the world and peace activism have changed in the last three and a half decades, and about the ways in which the Ploughshares Calgary Society is still patiently and persistently working towards a more just and peaceful world. For a more detailed description of this episode, go here: http://talkingradical.ca/2018/03/13/trr-ploughshares_calgary/