Category: Uncategorized

Les Bélangers, Montreal’s first Haitian street gang, wasn’t the criminal enterprise it was painted as by Quebec police and a willing media in Canada in the 1980s. At first, it wasn’t even a gang; it was a group of friends who fought back against the racist violence that their community was routinely subjected to in city parks and schools, on the metro and in downtown bars. We are joined by the leader of Les Bélangers, Maxime Aurélien, and by Ted Rutland, professor at Concordia University in Montreal; they are together the authors of Out to Defend Ourselves: A History of Montreal’s First Haitian Street Gang.

Episode: 035 Montreal’s first Haitian street gang
Date: 5 September 2023 | Length: 39:57

Briefing Notes

Aurélien and Rutland. Out To Defend Ourselves: A History of Montreal’s First Haitian Street Gang. (Fernwood Press 2023)
Aurélien et Rutland. Il fallait se défendre: L’histoire du premier gang de rue haitien à Montréal . (Mémoire d’encrier 2023)

The Mohawk Warrior Society is one of the most successful militant organizations in North America. Their predecessors were key to the defeat of the French in Quebec and the United States in the War of 1812. Today, the Warriors are best known for their role in the 1990 Oka standoff against the Canadian army. In the new book, The Mohawk Warrior Society: A Handbook on Sovereignty and Survival, the movement for the first time tells its own history.

We are joined by the editors of this unique anthology of resistance, Philippe Blouin, Matt Peterson, Malek Rasamny and Kahentinetha Rotiskarewake and also by Kwetiio and Karennatha who, along with Kahentinetha, are members of the group Kanien’kehà:ka Kanistansera, the Mohawk Mothers.

Episode: 034 Mohawk Warrior Society
Date: 18 June 2023 | Length: 70:23

Briefing Notes

Karoniaktajeh Louis Hall. The Mohawk Warrior Society: A Handbook on Sovereignty and Survival. (PM Press 2023)
The Mohawk Mothers defend unmarked gravesites (APTN)
The Native and the Refugee. (Electronic Intifada 2015)
Jon Elmer on Mohawk blockades (Al Jazeera June 2010)
Jon Elmer on the Mohawk Warrior Society and the Canadian military (Inter Press 2007)
see also The Brief Podcast 023: 500 Years of Indigenous Resistance with Gord Hill

Israel attacks the al Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem and rocket-fire from Lebanon, Syria and Gaza points to the potential for a multi-front regional response to future Israeli violence.

Nora Barrows-Friedman and Jon Elmer discuss the latest events in Palestine.

Episode: 033 Flashpoint Jerusalem
Date: 13 April 2023 | Length: 36:27

Briefing Notes

Our previous episode, 032 West Bank escalation

Israel steps up its military attacks in the West Bank targeting a new generation of Palestinian fighters. Nora Barrows-Friedman and Jon Elmer are joined by Justin Podur to discuss the implications of the internal crisis in Israel and the ramping up of violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.

This joint broadcast with The Brief Podcast and The Anti-Empire Project is part of our interventions series.

Episode: 032 West Bank escalation
Date: 26 February 2023 | Length: 45:07

Briefing Notes

Israeli forces raid Nablus [Al Jazeera 22/2/2023]
Tech Leaders in Israel Wonder if It’s Time to Leave. [New York Times 23/2/2023]
Previous The Brief Podcast episodes on Palestine: Resistance in Jenin; Prison Break; Gaza War.
Previous interventions with the Anti-Empire Project: Colombia’s left turn; Settler Canada

Anti-Racist Action was unified behind a basic principle: “We go where they go. Whenever fascists are organizing or active in public, we’re there.” What began as street fighting in the punk scene soon developed into a militant direct action network with chapters across the US and Canada. Authors, KRISTIN SCHWARTZ and MICHAEL STAUDENMAIER, join us to talk about the newly released movement history, We Go Where They Go: The Story of Anti-Racist Action.

Episode: 031 Anti-Racist Action
Date: 11 January 2023 | Length: 58:52

Briefing Notes

Schwartz, Staudenmaier, Lady, Clay and Hill. We Go Where They Go: The Story of Anti-Racist Action (PM Press 2023); and in Canada: (University of Regina Press 2023)
Documentary about the Baldies, Minneapolis anti-racist skinheads in 1980s [Twin City PBS Oct 2021]
The International Anti-Fascist Defence Fund: Real solidarity for those fighting hate