The Brief

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

The Benjamin Dixon Show

Benjamin Dixon’s twitter feed

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)

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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)