Author: Jon Elmer

The Framers of the Constitution faced three significant insurrections in the decade following the Declaration of Independence: ongoing Indigenous resistance to colonization; revolts of the enslaved; and an armed uprising of farmers had the American project in doubt. It was in this struggle that the Constitution of the United States was written. Not as a document for economic or political justice, but in defence of property.

In part three in our trilogy on rebellions of the enslaved and the origins of the US we are joined by ROBERT OVETZ to discuss his new book, We the Elites: How the US Constitution Serves the Few.

PART TWO: Slave rebellions (with Gerald Horne)
PART ONE: Slave ship revolts (with Marcus Rediker)

Episode: 030 Origins of the US Constitution
Date: 7 November 2022 | Length: 57:11

Briefing Notes

Ovetz. We the Elites: How the US Constitution Serves the Few (Pluto Press 2022)

Robert Ovetz was last on The Brief Podcast to talk about The Great Railroad Strike of 1887

The trans-Atlantic slave ship was part factory, part prison, part war machine and it was a critical component in the establishment of race, class and capitalism in the Americas. MARCUS REDIKER is back on the show to discuss his book, The Slave Ship: A Human History, the first dedicated account of the vessel and the remarkable story of resistance that marked every aspect of its journey.

Episode: 028 Slave ship revolts
Date: 6 September 2022 | Length: 57:02

Briefing Notes

Rediker. The Slave Ship: A Human History (Penguin 2007)
Marcus Rediker’s books at Beacon Press
Marcus Rediker’s website
Marcus Rediker on The Brief Podcast 016: The Golden Age of Pirates (1650-1730)

Colombia has voted leftist ex-rebel Gustavo Petro to the presidency in an historic election. We are joined by political activist and Colombian surgeon, MANUEL ROZENTAL.

Justin Podur joins Nora and Jon as well for roundtable on the impact of the elections in Colombia. This show is a joint operation with The Anti-Empire Project and The Brief Podcast.

Watch the rountable
Patreon bonus on US counterinsurgency [11:38]

Episode: 027 Colombia’s left turn
Date: 20 June 2022 | Length: 36:59

Briefing Notes

Ex-rebel wins runoff to be Colombia’s 1st leftist president [AP 20/6/2022)
Chomsky on Plan Colombia (2000)

Eight years into a catastrophic war of aggression led by Saudi Arabia and the United States – including UAE and Qatar – a two month ceasefire has for the first time been extended. We are joined by ISA BLUMI, author of Destroying Yemen: What chaos in Arabia tell us about the world.

Episode: 026 Destroying Yemen
Date: 8 June 2022 | Length: 58:16
Patreon bonus: Isa Blumi on Ansar Allah’s resistance [16:58]

Briefing Notes

Blumi. Destroying Yemen: What chaos in Arabia tells us about the world [University of California Press 2018]
Fenton on Saudi arms deals in 010 of The Brief Podcast
Two Major Saudi Oil Installations hit by drone strike (New York Times 2019)

Veteran al Jazeera journalist, Shireen Abu Akleh, was shot and killed by the Israeli army during an IDF raid in Jenin earlier this month. Asa Winstanley and Nora Barrows-Friedman are joined by Jon Elmer to discuss Shireen’s murder and the armed struggle in Jenin.

This episode is a joint effort with the Electronic Intifada podcast. Video production is by Tamara Nassar.

Episode: 025 Resistance in Jenin
Date: 25 May 2022 | Length: 50:38
Watch the broadcast    Read the transcript

Briefing Notes

“Al Jazeera reporter killed by Israeli forces.” [Al Jazeera]
“They were shooting directly at the journalists.” [CNN]
Elmer. “Remembering the second intifada.” [Al Jazeera]

Thomas Sankara’s assassination in October 1987 abruptly ended the life of a revolutionary Pan-Africanist who transformed Burkina Faso in four years of remarkable revolution. We are joined by AMBER MURREY and AZIZ FALL to discuss Thomas Sankara, his political project in Burkina Faso, his anti-imperialism abroad and their book A Certain Amount of Madness: The Life, Politics and Legacies of Thomas Sankara.

Episode: 024 Sankara’s revolution
Date: 18 February 2022 | Length: 73:45
Patreon bonus: Aziz Fall on the Sankara trial [17:26]

Briefing Notes

Murrey with Aziz. A Certain Amount of Madness: The Life, Politics and Legacies of Thomas Sankara (Pluto 2018)
Sankara. We are the heirs of the world’s revolutions (Pathfinder Books)
Burkina Faso Military Coup Reflects Wave of Insecurity in West Africa (Black Agenda Report)
Turse. “Another U.S.-Trained Soldier Stages a Coup in West Africa.” (Intercept 2022)
GRILA: The Group for Research and Initiative for the Liberation of Africa

GORD HILL joins us to discuss colonization and resistance in the Americas on the occasion of the release of his revised and expanded The 500 Years of Indigenous Resistance Comic Book.

Episode: 023 Indigenous resistance
Date: 20 January 2022 | Length: 55:01

Briefing Notes

Hill.The 500 Years of Indigenous Resistance Comic Book (Arsenal Pulp Press 2021)
Warrior Publications
Gord Hill on The Brief Podcast 003: Indigenous blockades

Kabul’s US-backed government collapses as its soldiers surrender en masse to the Taliban. We are joined by MAX BLUMENTHAL, author of The Management of Savagery, to discuss the end of the US occupation of Afghanistan.

Episode: 022 Fall of Kabul
Date: 6 October 2021 | Length: 53:43

Briefing Notes

Blumenthal. The Management of Savagery (Verso 2019)
“Surprise, panic and fateful choices: The day America lost its longest war.” (Washington Post 28/9)

An historic prison escape by Palestinian militants from Israel’s maximum security Gilboa prison. We are joined by TAREK LOUBANI to discuss the great escape and the experience of life in Jenin during the intifada.

Episode: 021 Prison break in Palestine
Date: 14 September 2021 | Length: 43:15

Briefing Notes

A Hole, a Tunnel, a 32-Yard Crawl: Palestinians Still Free After Jailbreak(NYT)
Elmer. Remembering the second intifada. (Al Jazeera Oct 2010)

GEO MAHER joins us to reflect on the summer of rebellion that followed the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis and how we build toward a World Without Police.

On the Bookend, it’s Peter Collins’ posthumous collection of artwork Free Inside: The Life and Work of Peter Collins. We hear an archival interview of ours with Peter from prison in 2004.

Episode: 020 Without police
Date: 31 August 2021 | Length: 48:37

Briefing Notes

Cops fleeing Minneapolis 3rd Precinct
Maher. A World Without Police: How Strong Communities Make Cops Obsolete (Verso 2021)
Black Lives Matter May Be the Largest Movement in U.S. History (NYT)
Collins. Free Inside: Life and Work of Peter Collins (Ad Astra 2018)
Peter Collins gallery

A Canada Day reckoning as Indian Residential School properties become crime scenes with the (re)-discovery of unmarked graves of Indigenous children. We are joined by TYLER SHIPLEY to discuss Canada’s first foreign policy – its genocide of the Indigenous nations in the path of capitalist settlement.

Tyler Shipley is the author of Canada in the World: Settler capitalism and the colonial imagination.

This broadcast is a co-production of The Brief Podcast and The Anti-Empire Project.

Settler Canada (special broadcast)
Date: 29 June 2021 | Length: 59:58

Briefing Notes

Shipley. Canada in the World: Settler Capitalism and the Colonial Imagination (Fernwood 2020)
Daschuk. Clearing the Plains: Disease, politics of starvation, and the loss of Indigenous life. (Univ of Regina Press 2013)
PowWow at Duck Lake (National Film Board 1967)

We discuss early US labour militancy and the birth of modern policing with ROBERT OVETZ, author of When Workers Shot Back.

Episode: 019 Great Railroad Strike of 1877
Date: 15 June 2021 | Length: 62:42

Briefing Notes

Ovetz. When Workers Shot Back: Class conflict from 1877 to 1921 (Haymarket 2019)
Zinn on 1877 from A People’s History of the US

We reconvene the roundtable to discuss the ceasefire in Gaza. Nora Barrows-Friedman is an editor at the Electronic Intifada; Jon Elmer is a journalist who lived for years in Gaza; Justin Podur is the author of Siegebreakers, and Tarek Loubani is an emergency room doctor, often at Shifa, Gaza’s main hospital.

This broadcast is a co-production of The Brief Podcast and The Anti-Empire Project.

Episode: Ceasefire in Gaza (special broadcast)
Date: 26 May 2021 | Length: 51:12

Recorded on Day 7 of the war in Palestine, this roundtable brings together decades of experience working in Palestine. Nora Barrows-Friedman is an editor at the Electronic Intifada; Jon Elmer is a journalist who lived for years in Gaza; Justin Podur is the author of Siegebreakers, and Tarek Loubani is an emergency room doctor, often at Shifa, Gaza’s main hospital.

This broadcast is a co-production of The Brief Podcast and The Anti-Empire Project.

Episode: War in Palestine (special broadcast)
Date: 17 May 2021 | Length: 60:17

On the morning of 9 September 1971 the inmates at Attica took control of the prison. Holding guards as hostages, the men negotiated in good faith seeking redress of the shocking conditions inside the prison.

We are joined by HEATHER ANN THOMPSON to discuss her book about Attica and we feature an interview from our archives with the late SPLITTING THE SKY, a central figure in the uprising.

Episode: 018 Attica prison uprising
Date: 7 April 2021 | Length: 69:44

Briefing Notes

Thompson. Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy (Pantheon 2016) [more of Heather’s work here]
Sam Melville’s An Anatomy of the Laundry (Attica pamphlet 1971)
Attica Manifesto (1971) in Mariame Kaba’s Attica primer

We speak with MAX HAIVEN, author of Revenge Capitalism, about the opioid crisis and its roots in neoliberal Empire and GARTH MULLINS, host of Crackdown podcast, about drug user-led resistance to the drug war.

Episode: 017 Revenge capitalism & the drug war
Date: 3 February 2021 | Length: 63:52
Bonus: Max Haiven on Empires of Pain: 8:14

Briefing Notes

Crackdown podcast: The drug war, covered by drug users as war correspondents
Haiven. Revenge Capitalism: The Ghosts of Empire, the Demons of Capital, and the Settling of Unpayable Debts (Pluto Press 2020)
Empires of Pain: A story of racism, opioids and revenge

The Golden Age of Piracy and the disruption of early capitalism on the seas. We speak with MARCUS REDIKER about pirates, the pirate ship and the revolutionary Atlantic.

Episode: 016 Pirates (1650-1730)
Date: 19 October 2020 | Length: 47:02

Briefing Notes

Marcus Rediker’s books at Beacon Press

NBA players walk off the court after a police shooting in Wisconsin, sparking a work stoppage across professional sports. And federal troops are deployed to Portland in an attempt to quell the country’s most sustained protests against police violence. We speak with DAVE ZIRIN and MAC SMIFF about the wildcat strikes in pro sports and 100 days on the streets in Portland.

And in the debut of our new segment, The Bookend, we speak with VICKY OSTERWEIL about her new book, In Defense of Looting: A Riotous History of Uncivil Action (Bold Type August 2020)

Episode: 015 NBA wildcat strike
Date: 17 September 2020 | Length: 58:30

Briefing Notes

ACLED. Demonstrations & Political Violence in America: New Data for Summer 2020
Kenosha shootings. New York Times Data Visualizations Unit
The “takedown” of Michael Reinoehl by a federal fugitive task force resembled an execution. Rolling Stone
Dave Zirin’s work at The Nation
Mac Smiff on Twitter
Osterweil. In Defense of Looting: A Riotous History of Uncivil Action

Demonstrations continue across the United States against police violence and increasingly against the institution itself. We speak with VICKY OSTERWEIL and ZOÉ SAMUDZI about riots, looting and abolishing the police.

Episode: 014 Riots and abolition
Date: 18 July 2020 | Length: 58:30

Briefing Notes

Cops fleeing Minneapolis 3rd Precinct
Black Lives Matter May Be the Largest Movement in U.S. History (NYT)
Vicky and Zoé’s discussion at Jewish Currents
Anderson and Samudzi. As Black As Resistance: Finding the Conditions for Liberation (AK Press 2018)
Osterweil. In Defense of Looting: A Riotous History of Uncivil Action (Bold Type 2020)

Israel moves with White House-backing to declare sovereignty over their illegal West Bank settlements and annex the Jordan Valley border. We speak with ALI ABUNIMAH about the deepening Israeli apartheid in Palestine.

Episode: 013 Israeli annexation
Date: 29 June 2020 | Length: 47:46

Briefing Notes

Map of West Bank Access Restrictions (UN OCHA)
UN OCHA weekly reporting on Israeli violations
Palestinians in Jordan Valley Fear Annexation (New York Times)
Israeli annexation plan draws apartheid comparisons (Associated Press)
Palestinian Boycott National Committee
Ali Abunimah’s writing at the Electronic Intifada
Abunimah. The Battle for Justice in Palestine (Haymarket 2014)

The United States is rocked by protests against police violence as hundreds of thousands march from coast to coast. We are joined from New York by MARGARET KIMBERLEY and from Boston by BENJAMIN DIXON.

Episode: 012 Uprising in America
Date: 11 June 2020 | Length: 53:45

Briefing Notes

Cops fleeing Minneapolis 3rd Precinct
Siege of 3rd Precinct in Minneapolis (Crimethinc)
Rebellions Get Results: A List So Far (Rampant Mag)
Trump hides from protests in White House bunker (New York Times)
Kimberley. Prejudential: Black America and the Presidents (Penguin 2020)
Margaret Kimberley’s columns at Black Agenda Report

Brazil’s new far-right government plunges the country into fascism. We speak with Brazilian scholar and activist DIANA AGUIAR about the downfall of the Worker’s Party and the rise of Jair Bolsonaro.

Episode: 011 Bolsonaro’s Brazil
Date: 2 June 2020 | Length: 71:47

Briefing Notes

The Minneapolis Rebellion So Far, According to the People Living It (Teen Vogue 1/6)
Secret Brazil Archive: The Intercept‘s 14-part series on Operation Car Wash
Edge of Democracy, (Netflix 2019)
Review: Edge of Democracy (New York Times 2019)
Sader and Silverstein. Without Fear of Being Happy: Lula, the Workers Party and Brazil (Verso 1991)
Year of Lead: Washington, Wall Street and the New Imperialism in Brazil (Brazil Wire 2019)

Saudi Arabia’s $14 billion weapons deal puts Canadian armoured vehicles on the frontlines of the war in Yemen. We are joined by ANTHONY FENTON to discuss the machinations of Canada’s junior-partner imperialism.

Episode: 010 Canada’s Saudi arms deal
Date: 16 May 2020 | Length: 66:00

Briefing Notes

Lukacs. Saudi Arabia deploying Canadian-made weapons in Yemen (National Observer 2018)
Fenton. Trading values to sell weapons: The Canada-Saudi relationship (The Conversation 2019)
Fenton, Elmer. Building an expeditionary force for democracy promotion [University of Toronto 2013]
O’Keefe. Liberals refuse to cancel Harper’s Saudi arms deal (Ricochet 2016)
Minhaj. Trudeau interview on Patriot Act (Netflix)

India jails students, writers, and rights activists as the media works in effective coordination with the government inflaming sectarian divides, suppressing dissent and lionizing Modi. We speak to SHALINI GERA and FRENY MANECKSHA about India’s Hindutva crackdown.

Episode: 009 India crackdown
Date: 3 May 2020 | Length: 53:46

Briefing Notes

Under Modi, India’s press is not so free anymore (New York Times 2/4)
Roy. Intimations of an Ending (The Nation 22/11)
Anand Teltumbde’s Letter To The People Of India Before His Imminent Arrest (13/4)
What Really Happened In Bhima Koregaon – Fact Finding Report

Kashmir’s autonomous status is revoked by India’s far-right government and the military occupation is tightened with a total communications blackout. We speak with ATHER ZIA and MOHAMAD JUNAID about the resistance in Jammu and Kashmir.

Episode: 008 Kashmir siege
Date: 18 April 2020 | Length: 63:24

Briefing Notes

India’s ‘draconian’ blackout sets worrying precedent, warns UN [Guardian Aug 2019]
India faces defiance in ‘Kashmir’s Gaza’ [AFP Aug 2019]
Besieged Kashmiri neighborhood in test of wills with India’s Modi [Reuters Aug 2019]
Ather Zia. Interview on Resisting Disappearance: Military Occupation and Women’s Activism in Kashmir [Jadaliyya]
Ather Zia. Listening through the silence [Adi Magazine (Spring 2020)]
Arundhati Roy. The Silence Is the Loudest Sound [New York Times Aug 2019]

India’s sectarian citizenship law set off months of protests that were met by government-incited mobs sacking markets, neighbourhoods and mosques as police looked on. We are joined by KAVITA KRISHNAN to discuss the Delhi pogrom and right-wing nationalism in India.

Episode: 007 Delhi pogrom
Date: 30 March 2020 | Length: 55:13

Briefing Notes

How Delhi’s Police Turned Against Muslims [New York Times 12/3]
Delhi’s Muslims despair of justice after police implicated in riots [Guardian 16/3]
Vigilante Groups Attack Minorities (Human Rights Watch 2019)
Krishnan. Fearless Freedom (Penguin 2020)

Bernie Sanders’ presidential bid has run into a wall, as the COVID-19 pandemic puts the Democratic Party primary campaign into suspended animation. We are joined by GEORGE CICCARIELLO-MAHER to discuss grassroots mobilization and electoral politics.

Episode: 006 Bernie 2020
Date: 21 March 2020 | Length: 38:18

Briefing Notes

Ciccariello-Maher. We Created Chávez: A People’s History of the Venezuelan Revolution (Duke 2013)
Ciccariello-Maher. Building the Commune: Radical Democracy in Venezuela (Verso 2016)
Ciccariello-Maher. Decolonizing Dialectics (Duke 2018)

In December, The Washington Post published a trove of internal documents and interviews with those in charge of the war in Afghanistan. The takeaway? They knew they were losing and they lied about it from the first days of the 20-year war and occupation.

Episode: 005 Afghanistan Papers
Date: 17 March 2020 | Length: 52:49

Briefing Notes

The Afghanistan Papers (Washington Post 2019)

The Taliban and the White House have signed an agreement that would ultimately see US troops withdraw from Afghanistan. After two decades of war, tens of thousands killed, and trillions spent – the US stands to leave a ruined Afghanistan in defeat.

We debate “winning” and “losing” imperial wars.

Episode: 004 Taliban pact
Date: 11 March 2020 | Length: 50:58

Briefing Notes

The Agreement for Bringing Peace to Afghanistan (US State Department 29/2)
Press Briefing by US officials on Taliban agreement (State Department 29/2)
ICC authorizes Afghanistan war crimes investigation (Amnesty International)
The Afghanistan Papers (Washington Post 2019)

Police move in on the Mohawks at Tyendinaga, setting off a further wave of blockades, disruptions and direct action from coast to coast. ANNA ZALIK joins us to discuss the oil and gas industry (begins at 8:18), and GORD HILL talks indigenous resistance (begins at 38:38).

Episode: 003 Blockade standoff
Date: 29 February 2020 | Length: 65:23

Briefing Notes

Map of Wet’Suwet’en Solidarity Economic Disruptions and Actions.
Arrests, travel disruptions as Wet’suwet’en solidarity protests spread across Canada. (CBC 25/2)
Behind CN, CP’s quiet deal to skirt railway blockades and keep Canada’s vital goods moving (CBC 25/2)
Gord Hill. 500 Years of Resistance. (Arsenal Pulp 2010)

After the RCMP raided and dismantled the Wet’suwet’en roadblocks, rail, port and transportation blockades have spread across Canada in solidarity.

And they are growing.

Episode: 002 Blockades expand
Date: 15 February 2020 | Length: 27:21

Briefing Notes

Map of solidarity actions
CN, VIA rail traffic shutdown (CBC 13/2)
Shipping vessels stalled off B.C. coast (CBC 15/2)
History of Canadian Wealth (Myers 1914)

The Wet’suwet’en evict Coastal GasLink, who are trying to build a gas pipeline through their territory. We discuss the context of their struggle against the Canadian state and corporations, and talk with JEFFREY MONAGHAN, author of Policing Indigenous Movements: Dissent and the Security State.

Episode: 001 Pipeline blockade
Date: 5 February 2020 | Length: 58:23

Briefing Notes

Monaghan and Crosby. Policing Indigenous Movements: Dissent and the Security State (Fernwood Press)
Yellowhead Institute national study on injunctions (Nov 2019)