COVID-19

Episode 184 – Emergency Acts?

In this episode, Sandy and Nora deconstruct the decision to invoke the Emergencies Act, and why this game of political chicken being played by the Liberals is dangerous and will backfire.

Episode 183 – Cutting through convoy contradictions

In this episode, Sandy and Nora talk about the contradictions of this moment: from vaccine mandates to partisan politics, and how we should orient our struggles.

Episode 175 – B.C. on fire

In this episode, Sandy and Nora talk about British Columbia: from fires to floods, from RCMP to a lack of climate action. Plus, they talk about Iqaluit activists fighting for suicide prevention measures and the COVID-19 vaccine for kids.

Episode 174 – What comes after the vaccine mandates?

In this episode, Sandy and Nora talk about the limits of vaccine mandates, and ask why politicians have not been forced to explain what happens when every Canadian who is willing to be vaccinated, is vaccinated. Plus — we remind listeners that Iqaluit still does not have drinking water.

Episode 158 – Media silence in the face of catastrophe

In this episode, Sandy and Nora talk about how Canadian media ignore catastrophe.

 

Episode transcript

Episode 155 – Connecting Islamophobia and colonialism

In this episode, Sandy and Nora explore the connection between colonialism and Islamophobia. Plus, they talk about COVID-19 ravaging Northeastern Ontario.

Transcript available here.

Photo from CBC News.

Episode 148 – The Liberals and their Trolls

In this episode, Sandy and Nora talk about the CERB, the vaccine and how Liberal Trolls are on the attack against online against Liberal critics.

Episode transcript here.

Episode 147 – Worst Case Ontario (and AB, BC…)

In this episode, Sandy and Nora talk about the chaos of the Third Wave, about how police will not fix anything and why these politicians would rather see people in ICU than stop the spread of COVID-19.

Episode transcript.

Episode 146 – NDP Convention and the Third Wave

In this episode, Sandy and Nora talk about the bad and the bad from the NDP Convention 2021 and try to find some encouraging words in the face of the rising Third Wave.

Transcription here.

Episode 143 – anti-mask fascism

In this episode, Sandy and Nora talk about the rise of anti-Asian racism, the connection between the anti-mask movement and how Canada’s mainstream media has written about China since the start of the pandemic. We also take a short tour of the latest Liberal scheme: the NDP’s student debt promise.

Episode transcript.

Episode 141 – Happy Birthday to COVID-19

In this episode, Sandy and Nora look back at the year that was. We take stock of the good news (there was some!) the bad news and the shitty news. We also talk the NDP: not defending Palestine.

 

Read the transcript here.

Episode 138 – dignity in life versus dignity in death

In this episode, Sandy and Nora talk about ableism in Canada’s medical and political establishment — illustrated both through Canada’s COVID-19 death toll and through Bill C7, Medical Assistance in Dying legislation.

 

Episode transcript.

Episode 136 – Even more COVID

In this episode, Sandy and Nora talk about COVID news: from new viral strains to new travel restrictions, why does Canada seem to be perpetually aiming to do the absolute least?

Episode 133 – an American coup in DC?

In this episode, Sandy and Nora talk about everything we still don’t know about the racist insurrection in Washington DC. They ask why are the details so sketchy, and why are journalists pretending it’s over? Also: nationalize telecoms and the internet now.

Join our Discord: https://discord.gg/Mu8HQZUE

Episode 129 – Sandy and Nora Live at the Vancouver Podcast Festival

In this episode, Sandy and Nora cover a lot of ground: from media to unions, from COVID-19 to how Sandy and Nora come up with show topics to how their relationship has changed over the years (including: do they ever fight?!)

This episode was recorded as part of the Vancouver Podcast Festival.

Episode 128 – doing nothing about COVID workplace outbreaks

In this episode, Sandy and Nora talk about how COVID outbreaks are still most common in workplaces, and yet, no politician has a plan to address workplace health and safety, which will exacerbate the pandemic and make things even worse.

Episode 126 – is it ignorance or is it malice? It’s malice.

In this episode, Sandy and Nora talk about how the pandemic has not harmed people equally, and how discussions about the racialized impact are being erased from mainstream media’s coverage.

Episode 112 – How do we know what we know?

In this episode, Sandy and Nora talk about how changing the way you think about the world can help you make better political predictions. By understanding how power operates, we can anticipate how power will react, and pivot our demands accordingly.

Episode 111 – the end of Canada’s old stock media?

In this episode, Sandy and Nora talk about how COVID-19 may land a death blow against Canada’s mainstream media.

Episode 106 – ok, so what now?

In this episode, Sandy and Nora talk about how to seize this moment and make sure that our political demands are met. COVID-19 has changed Canada’s status quo, and already politicians are resisting calls for widespread change.

Unedited transcript can be found here.

Episode 101 – will politicians let COVID-19 kill the arts?

In this episode, Sandy and Nora ask why artists have been forgotten in the pandemic response, and argue that we need to give them money to survive and practice their art, with no strings attached.

To use the discount code mentioned in the show to order Nora’s book, go here: https://fernwoodpublishing.ca/books

 

Cover image is from here: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/how-street-artists-around-world-are-reacting-to-life-with-covid-19-180974712/

 

Episode 100 – Universal income? Basic.

In this episode Sandy and Nora celebrate 100 by going back to a debate that has surfaced in the past few weeks: universal basic income. They argue that a UBI, in absence of a strong social support system, would be a mistake.

Episode 99 – The economy is code for white supremacy

As politicians and some activists demand that the economy be opened, Sandy and Nora examine how opening the economy is upholding whiteness and reinforcing white supremacy.

Episode 97 – Education in the time of coronavirus

In this episode, Sandy and Nora argue that the pandemic has exposed how higher education’s obsession with money has damaged its capacity to work in the public interest. Education under coronavirus: what should it look like?

Episode 96 – Deaths in long-term care, death by police

Sandy and Nora talk about the harrowing stats coming from long-term care, and how police have not stopped killing people, even though we’re all locked down.

Correction: in this episode, Nora confused Stratford, Ontario with Woodstock, Ontario. This has been something she has been doing since she was like 5. Elizabeth Wetlauffer’s murders did not take place in Stratford.

Episode 95 – Trudeau’s coronavirus schemes

In this episode, Sandy and Nora talk about all the ways in which Justin Trudeau and the federal Liberals have avoided the easiest way to help all Canadians and instead, chosen programs that are more bureaucratic, cumbersome and that will leave so many people behind.

Note: since this was recorded on Sunday, April 5, the Liberals have announced that they intend to expand the CERB, with more details coming later on.

Episode 94 – resistance in the age of pandemic

In this episode, Sandy and Nora talk about what resistance might look like with everyone locked down. How do we disrupt the status quo when we’re living through an incredible moment of disruption? We talk through the options that we still have.

Read the show transcript here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TTjedwtUWfgiy4O6YTV0fBh543l3RO7udPsK-MoQ38I/edit?usp=sharing

Episode 92 – COVID-19 and the crisis of neoliberalism

In this episode, Sandy and Nora grapple with the calm before the storm and try to explain why different generations of people are reacting differently to the COVID-19 pandemic.