Victoria Anarchist Bookfair: The Podcast

 In this interview, Ann Hansen, author of Direct Action: Memoirs of an Urban Guerilla and Taking the Rap: Women Doing Time For Society's Crimes, discusses her work with the Prison for Women Memorial Collective (P4WMC). The group is dedicated to having a permanent Memorial Garden and Gallery for all of the women who died in federal prisons, to be located inside the now-closed P4W Prison. It is their goal to exhibit art, writing and films about the women in prison, so they will be remembered as the fully fleshed-out human beings they were. Ann recounts recent challenges her group faced working with non-prisoner allies.Links:P4W Memorial Websitehttps://p4wmemorialcollectivedotcom.wordpress.com/From Embers Podcast Feedhttps://fromembers.libsyn.com/Victoria Anarchist Bookfair Feed https://victoriaanarchistbookfair.ca/category/podcasts/ 

 Jennifer Wickham, a member of Cas Yikh, the grizzly house, in the Gidimt'en Clan of the Wet'suwet'en people and media manager for the Gidimt'en yintah access point who is living on the yintah and working on a feature-length documentary film about Wet'suwet'en sovereignty as a creative producer. In this interview, Jennifer discusses recent developments in the Wet'suwet'en resistance against the Coastal GasLink pipeline construction, the effect of COVID-19 on her community, the legacy of the Residential School system, and the solidarity between Indigenous nations.Links:Learn more about how you can support the Gidimt'en on their website: https://www.yintahaccess.com/Check out recent updates from the Gidimt'en resistance here: https://www.yintahaccess.com/newsFollow the Gidimt'en Checkpoint instagram @yintah_accessListen to Sleydo' Molly Wickham's interview from the 2020 VABF last year here: https://victoriaanarchistbookfair.ca/gidimten-clan-spokesperson-molly-wickham-on-wetsuweten-anti-pipeline-resistance/From Embers Podcast Feed:https://fromembers.libsyn.com/Victoria Anarchist Bookfair Feed:https://victoriaanarchistbookfair.ca/category/podcasts/ 

 Five conversations with blockaders presented together. The Fairy Creek blockades and other blockades on unceded Pacheedaht and Ditidaht territories continue under the invitation of Pacheedaht Elder, Bill Jones.Links:Defence of Indigenous Land BIPOC gofundmesadpkas:https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-for-indigenous-land-defenders-fairy-creek)Fundrazr for legal defense and front line support:https://fundrazr.com/last_stand_for_forestsFrom Embers Podcast Feed:https://fromembers.libsyn.com/Victoria Anarchist Bookfair Feed:https://victoriaanarchistbookfair.ca/category/podcasts/ 

 An interview on multiple intersections of art and activism with Stefan Christoff, a longtime community organizer and musician living in Montréal / Tiohtià:ke. This interview will highlight various forms of expression of the arts within social movements against systemic oppression, injustice and for collective liberation.Stefan will highlight active collaborations and efforts to build support within networks of artists and cultural workers for efforts to defend the rights of precarious workers within the context of the pandemic who are holding down frontline positions. Stefan has collaborated with artists and activists globally and this interview will focus on the intersections of his work within this sphere.Link:From Embers Podcast Feed:https://fromembers.libsyn.com/Victoria Anarchist Bookfair Feed:https://victoriaanarchistbookfair.ca/category/podcasts/

 Sarah Marcha speaks to the revolutionary science of women's equality called Jineoloji that was developed in the autonomous region of Rojava. Jineoloji is an international movement spanning Europe and the Middle East. In this interview, Sarah discusses the leadership roles of women in the system of Democratic Confederalism, and provides examples of the transformative nature of womans' struggles against patriarchy in Rojava. Of particular importance in Sarah's discussion is her account of the all-encompassing role of self-defense in ensuring and maintaining the revolutionary women's struggle. If you have questions, feel free to email: jineolojicenter@riseup.netLinks:Jineoloji Academy:http://jineoloji.org/en/From Embers Podcast Feed:https://fromembers.libsyn.com/Victoria Anarchist Bookfair Feed:https://victoriaanarchistbookfair.ca/category/podcasts/

 Hawaiian activist and land defender Kahala Johnson discusses anarchism through the lens of Indigeneity and shares insights regarding resistance struggles, including land reclamations and direct action blockades that halted the construction of a massive telescope on Mauna Kea, one of the most sacred volcanoes in Hawaiian culture.Link: From Embers Podcast Feed:https://fromembers.libsyn.com/Victoria Anarchist Bookfair Feed:https://victoriaanarchistbookfair.ca/category/podcasts/ 

 In this interview, Gord Hill discusses the making of his new edition of The 500 Years of Resistance Comic Book and tactics and strategies the history of Indigenous resistance teaches us. He provides an analysis of present day resistance against the right wing, as well as an account of the difference between the ideology of pacifism and civil disobedience tactics.Links:Archive of Indigenous Resistance:https://warriorpublications.wordpress.comThe 500 Years of Indigenous Resistance Comic Book: Revised and Expanded:https://arsenalpulp.com/Books/T/The-500-Years-of-Indigenous-Resistance-Comic-Book-Revised-and-ExpandedFrom Embers Podcast Feed:https://fromembers.libsyn.com/gord-hill-on-500-years-of-indigenous-resistanceVictoria Anarchist Bookfair Feed:https://victoriaanarchistbookfair.ca/category/podcasts/ 

In this episode, Uri Gordon discusses some issues surrounding the use of the terms ‘prefiguration' and ‘prefigurative politics.' He is the author of several books and articles on contemporary anarchism, including Anarchy Alive!: Anti-Authoritarian Politics from Practice to Theory, and Prefigurative Politics between Ethical Practice and Absent Promise. He is co-editor of Anarchists Against the Wall: Direct Action and Solidarity with the Palestinian Popular Struggle, and The Routledge Handbook of Radical Politics. Uri co-founded the Anarchist Studies Network and his work has been translated into 13 languages.Links:Prefigurative Politics, Catastrophe, and Hope: https://crimethinc.com/2018/06/12/prefigurative-politics-catastrophe-and-hope-does-the-idea-of-prefiguration-offer-false-reassurance 

N.O. Bonzo is an anarchist street artist and illustrator whose work is much admired in the activist community. In this interview, Bonzo discusses their beautifully illustrated edition of Peter Kropotkin's most famous book, Mutual Aid, and the politics of anarchy and art. Check out Bonzo's edition of Mutual AidLinks: The From Embers Podcast Feed:https://fromembers.libsyn.com/no-bonzo-on-anarchy-art-and…The Art of N.O. BONZO:https://www.instagram.com/nobonzoMutual Aid: An Illuminated Factor of Evolution by PM Press:https://www.pmpress.org/index.php?l=product_detail&p=1185Victoria Anarchist Bookfair Feed:https://victoriaanarchistbookfair.ca/category/podcasts/ 

Suzanne is a Metis activist from Blackfoot territory in Southern Alberta that has been a visitor on L'kwungen/ WSANEC/ Esquimalt territories for four years. She is in the second year of Camosun College's Indigenous Studies program. On august 9th, Grassroots activists from across so-called Vancouver Island meet at Lizard Lake and decided to mount an emergency logging road blockade in defense of dwindling Old Growth rainforest. At the end of Reid mainline, on a high ridge on the Western side of Fairy Creek, this coalition of folk has been preventing falling, blasting and extraction of this ancient stand. This action continues under the battlecry: No Roads into Fairy Creek! Learn more at oldgrowthblockade.com

Ann Hansen is former member of the anarchist organization Direct Action and served over 7 years in prison for her involvement with that collective. She is now living on a self-sufficient farm and works on prison-related issues as a member of the Prison for Women (P4W) Memorial Collective. Naphtali is a white non-binary trans Jew who is into prison abolition, anti-zionism, indigenous and black liberation, night-bouquets, and community care.

Queen Sacheen is co-founder of Ancestral Pride, with whom she has produced many zines. She has spent a great deal of time advising Settler-anarchists on how to be in solidarity with Indigenous resistance movements. She is a warrior who has taken part in many actions, including Standing Rock. Finally, Sacheen is a proud mother, Matriarch, dula and medicine woman. Find Queen Sacheen (Nuu-chah-nulth & Coast Salish) on Facebook by searching for Sacheen Kinish, or Ancestral Pride and/or Xhopakelxhits Apothocary. Please support via e-transfer and PayPal to: mamazonscreatrions@gmail.com.

Ruth Kinna is a world-renowned political theorist and historian of ideas who has authored numerous books on anarchism, nineteenth and early twentieth-century socialist thought, utopianism and contemporary radicalism. She is a professor of political philosophy at Loughborough University and editor of the UK-based journal, Anarchist Studies.

Kathy Ferguson is an US-American author, political philosopher, feminist, historian, anarchist, and professor of political science and women's studies at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. She has authored of one of the best critical biographies of renowned anarchist Emma Goldman: Emma Goldman: Political Thinking in the Streets. Visit http://www2.hawaii.edu/~kferguso/ to learn about the 1000 women who helped build the anarchist movement during Emma Goldman's life time.

John Zerzan is author of numerous publications exploring the pre-modern dimensions of our being. His weekly radio program, AnarchyRadio can be found here: https://www.johnzerzan.net/radio/.

Ozlem Goner is steering committee member of the Emergency Committee for Rojava, New York, and associate professor at the City University of New York. Her research interests focus on political sociology, ethnographies of the state and nationalism, comparative and historical sociology, race and ethnicity, social movements, qualitative methods, and classical, poststructural, postcolonial and feminist theory. For updates concerning the situation in Rojava and to donate to the struggle, visit: https://www.defendrojava.org/rojava

As in other places, unhoused people in Victoria face severe challenges in their daily lives ranging from a lack of food, sanitation and medical services to harassment by police and security. One particularly disturbing development are growing resentments and assaults by community members who are unwilling to share green spaces with those who need them for survival. In this episode we hear from a grass-roots front-line supporter and member of the Lived Experience of Homelessness Network (LEOHN) about the increased challenges due to the Covid-19 pandemic as well as the importance of mutual aid and a caring community.

Tsastilqualus is an elder of the House Umbas from Ma'amtagila (Kwakwaka'wakw) territory. In this podcast, Tsastilqualus speaks about her life and views on how Indigenous resistance can be combined with cultural renewal to realize ecological sustainability and Indigenous sovereignty. For years she has been involved in fighting fish farms and clear cuts in her traditional unceded territories to ensure the survivability of wild salmon. Currently, Tsastilqualus is in the process of rematriating the lands she calls home. She is the founder of the Matriarch Camp, located on unceded Ma'amtagila territory where she recently installed a tiny ‘Big' house. Please support the Matriarch Camp by sending e-transfers to: matriarchcamp@gmail.com.

Molly Wickham (Sleydo) is a member of the Gidimt'en Clan of the Wet'suwet'en Nation. She has been tirelessly active in the Wet'suwet'en' Nation's assertion of sovereignty over their unceded territories. This interview discusses the current state of affairs regarding the Coastal GasLink pipeline's pending extension under a pristine river and the RCMP's continued harassment of Indigenous and non-Indigenous land defenders. Visit yintahaccess.com to apply to join the fall work camp on Gidimt'en territory, or connect with them by email at yintahaccess@gmail.com. You can also find them on Facebook and Instagram.

Find out what you can expect in the Victoria Anarchist Bookfair's 2020 podcast!