In this episode, Sandy and Nora talk about how everything is going — people aren’t seemingly doing too well. They talk about the need for the left to get its shit together, to focus less on internal issues and start or continue doing anything.
In this episode, Sandy and Nora argue that the reluctance of anyone in power to discuss the fall of the American empire is going to come back to bite us all on the ass someday soon.
In this episode, Sandy and Nora talk about the refusal of people in power to accept blame and instead, externalize their guilt however they can. Plus, we talk about how everything in society feels to be hanging by a thread.
In this episode, Sandy and Nora talk about a new Toronto Star investigation that has found that the Charter of Rights and Freedoms is regularly being violated by Canadian police.
In this episode, Sandy and Nora talk about what has just happened in Ontario, why voter turnout was so low and what we need to do to resist austerity. Plus, what are the lessons in other parts of Canada?
In this episode, Sandy and Nora talk about the Buffalo shooting and how Canadians journalists have oriented around it. They call out journalists for not going deep enough into the issues and how liberal politics interact with the far right to make everything worse.
In this episode, Sandy and Nora talk about the fight for abortion in the US and what Canadian activists need to be watching for. Plus, they talk about lies and the Conservative leadership race.
In this episode, Sandy and Nora talk about the rise in radical worker action across North America. Plus, they revisit the Disability Filibuster — this time, raising concerns about what we’ve already seen under expanded MAID.
Listen to Sandy and Nora on MAID last year: https://sandyandnora.com/episode-138-dignity-in-life-versus-dignity-in-death/
Image credit: CUPE
In this episode, Sandy and Nora talk about organizing and relationships: are we striving too much to curate the perfect organizing spaces? Do we have the collective skills to ensure the level of accountability we wish we could see in organizing? Plus, we talk about Rich Chiarelli, the asshole and France’s new/old president.
Please check out: Anti-war workshop recording:
https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=1041515076791089
Document for anti-war coalition agendas:
Document for anti-war coalition committees:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Wbh6hoQRu1YnDw0awCKbAq7xXbWteD–PR0Hu-T8V6E/edit?fbclid=IwAR0BeJohWeuG9pi_Gv1mvO1VflKQSitF5ZtLLcUV5HnpDL-YpSo0tRe2i8g
In this episode, Sandy and Nora examine Pierre Poilievre’s Conservative Leadership campaign and ask: why? What did we do to deserve this? Also, they talk about COVID again, but not that much.
In this episode, Sandy and Nora talk about the federal budget and how much it sucks. Plus, they also talk about Palestine activism on campus, anti-Blackness within the Ontario NDP and Pierre Poilievre’s troll following.
In this episode, Sandy and Nora examine political choices being made right now, and ask — why are Canadians so complacent? Plus, Sandy gets into Slap Discourse and Nora did a commercial for what??
In this episode, Sandy and Nora talk about the NDP-Liberal deal that gives cover to justify pouring billions into Canada’s war aspirations. Plus, they talk about Jerry Dias and corruption at Unifor.
In this episode, Sandy and Nora look at propaganda, and how its playing itself out in Canadian media as we march towards war.
In this episode, Sandy and Nora talk about mutual aid and how it sometimes mirrors charity too closely. Plus: facial recognition software in Ukraine, Canada’s flexible refugee policy (all of a sudden…) and Patrick Brown’s exoneration (he creeps on 19 year olds, not 18 year olds, allegedly).
In this episode, Sandy and Nora talk about the impact of neoliberalism on leftwing organizing. Plus, they talk about the economic benefits of going to war.
In this episode, Sandy and Nora talk about how leftwing people need to orient themselves around war.
Sandy and Nora break down the pro-COVID Convoy and remind listeners to keep their eyes on the ball. You can watch the 5th anniversary commemoration of the shooting at the Ste-Foy mosque here, in English: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yu1JqGkSBSQ
In this episode, Sandy and Nora examine the current, flame some politicians and ask the question: how do we walk the line between COVID-19 pessimism and a little bit of optimism?
In this episode Sandy and Nora look back at 2021 and ask: did we learn anything? Also, omicron.
In this episode, Sandy and Nora talk about police violence in Quebec City, Hamilton and Wet’suwet’en and ask what it will take for people to demand and end to policing. Plus, they talk COVID variants and a peculiar CBC report.
In this episode, Sandy and Nora talk about how extremes are changing how we politically debate, and how deep political education and organizing are our only hope.
In this episode, Sandy and Nora talk about the way in which social media platforms force us into binaries, which is a disaster for leftwing organizing, which requires us to talk through nuance.
In this episode, Sandy and Nora talk about the alarming space in Canadian media that TERFascist ideas are receiving, and ask what the end game is in platforming transphobia.
In this episode, Sandy and Nora discuss how systemic racism operates within democratic structures, and the need for renewal. They talk about the Green Party, the NDP and more broadly within the left.
You can check out Nora’s new podcast here: https://shows.acast.com/take-back-the-fight/episodes/take-back-the-fight-series-teaser
In this episode, Sandy and Nora talk about how Canada’s democracy is in crisis and is it time for a new left political party? Plus we deconstruct the media establishment’s obsession with The Two Michaels.
In this episode, Sandy and Nora discuss the winners and losers in #elxn44 — and what everyone needs to learn about the success of the PP party.
In this episode, Sandy and Nora talk about the legacy of 9/11 in Canada, and how the English-language debates reveal more about the state of Canada’s democracy than pundits and politicians will admit.
In this episode, Sandy and Nora talk about how the election is going — and how none of the major parties are acting as if we have just surviving a global pandemic. We also talk about the ongoing struggle at Fairy Creek.
In this episode, Sandy and Nora talk about the important issues that the current federal election should cover, but near certainly will not.
In this episode, Sandy and Nora talk about the need for left-wingers to identify, engage with and create rhetoric. Plus, Sandy has information about Ontario police destroying documents and we talk about the BCCLA.
In this episode, Sandy and Nora talk about the federal government’s recent decision to vet all scientific research funding as a matter of national intelligence agencies. Plus, they talk about tuition fees in Newfoundland and Labrador and the importance of physical space for activism and organizing.
Episode transcript.
In this episode Sandy and Nora talk about crime and punishment, and why society gets nowhere when it throws people into the criminal justice system. Plus, they talk about the Notwithstanding Clause and wtf is up with the Green Party?
CW: discussion of child suicide in the second half of the episode.
In this episode, Sandy and Nora talk about COVID-19 — again — and how the world that politicians want us to think we’re living in is not the world we are living in.
Episode transcript here.
In this episode, Sandy and Nora talk about medical racism, bill C-7 passed into law and … the Queen.
You can see the Disability Filibuster here.
Last week, the Liberals introduced Bill C-22 – the Liberals’ long-awaited amendments to Canada’s criminal code. Sandy and Nora discuss the changes, how they are a mixed bag of good and bad, and how the Liberals never take seriously the concerns of Black and Indigenous communities.
In this episode, Sandy and Nora explain why many on the left have been critical of the recent decision to place several new groups on Canada’s terrorist list, including the Proud Boys. The episode starts with a round-up of news we are watching this week.
In this episode, Sandy and Nora look back at 2020 and try to say so-long to 2020 with a bit of optimism and lots of anger.
This is Part 1 of Audience Appreciation Night – Sandy and Nora take questions and comments from listeners and talk about policing, education, organizing and pacing yourself for the long haul of radical action.
Join us on Sunday, Nov. 29 at 8:00 EST, 5:00 PST for a live video chat as we celebrate the almost end of 2020.
Get your ticket! The event link will be emailed to all ticket holders on Sunday afternoon.
Tickets are available here: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/sandy-and-nora-listener-appreciation-night-tickets-130749805187
In this episode, Sandy and Nora talk about the need for conversations about big thinking. How can we use the pandemic to build new projects, new economies and new ways of organizing ourselves?
Correction — Nora forgot Saskatchewan at a certain point in the episode. When you catch it, you can tell yourself you won.
In this episode, Sandy and Nora talk about the second wave — how it’s being talked about, how it’s not being covered, and how we need to reject individualist narratives about what will save us. We also talk about the tragic death of Joyce Echaquon in Joliette, and how medical racism needs to be combated by government, unions and popular movements.
Video of Seth Cardinal Dodginghorse: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h47zK6b6B0Y
In this episode, Nora mispronounces Atikamekw. It’s Ah-tee-ka-mik. Nora apologizes for this.
In this episode for the ambient sound of LA. That window gets closed at minute 15.
In this episode, Sandy and Nora talk about the inexplicable inaction from everyone with power to take the climate crisis seriously. It is an episode of rage and some jokes. But mostly rage.
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.
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.
In this episode, Sandy and Nora talk about how society could abolish the police and create new services that would keep more people safe and offer more services to people who need them. Also, Sandy explains a conversation with a CBC producer.
Full transcript can be found here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1T9MH4OsPoa1c1DxcdHxS9Yq0gEWWEuxQsS4N4NttZBs/edit?usp=sharing
In this episode, Sandy and Nora explore the narrative that has emerged about how the COVID-19 pandemic has hurt women in particular. They argue that recessions always hurt women and that framing this one as being somehow unique erases the racial and classed dynamic of who is most injured.
In this episode, Sandy and Nora examine how police power seems to be growing unchecked while we all ride out the pandemic.
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?
In this episode, Sandy and Nora talk about our new normal, and what politicians must do to start helping Canadians weather the storm.
In this episode, Sandy and Nora debate whether or not partisan politics are anti-democratic. Sandy says no, Nora says yes. Will they reach a conclusion?
In this episode, Sandy and Nora talk about the importance of fighting attacks against education. They also talk about how Justin Trudeau has failed in dealing with Wet’suwet’en and solidarity actions.
In this episode, Sandy and Nora talk about the importance of hope and joy. How do we find hope when it feels like nothing we do can change the status quo.
In this episode, Sandy and Nora talk about police and the various shenanigans they’re up to across Canada. We also talk briefly about the commemoration of the Islamophobic attack of January 29 2017 and Ryerson University’s attempt to shut down the Ryerson Students’ Union.
Shout-out to Unifor workers who have put their bodies on the picket line this week and who felt the force of Regina police, a group we forgot to mention in our round-up.
Hockey is Canada and Canada is Hockey. This adage is seemingly lodged in the brains of a few too many people in Canada, making an adult discussion about misogyny and racism in sport an almost impossible discussion. Sandy and Nora break down how Don Cherry entered sainthood, Jessica Allen dodged being fired, and how the right-wing mob is clinging to a Canada that never has existed.
Sandy and Nora stayed up very late to bring you a hot-off-the-press analysis of the only English-language federal election debate. You’ll hear why Jagmeet Singh won and why no one should consider voting Liberal if they’re progressive.
In this episode, Nora and Sandy look at how climate change and gun violence are being used (or ignored) by the parties to seek support.
It feels like so long ago: Justin Trudeau in Blackface hit the election cycle like an atomic bomb. What did journalists miss? How bad was the coverage? And what does this affair tell us about who Canada really is?
In this episode, Sandy and Nora talk about Andrew Scheer’s racist/homophobic candidate problem, each of the party’s strategies to win and why Brampton is such an important place.
LIVE SHOW ALERT!!
Here’s everything you need to know about our upcoming live show in Toronto on Oct. 12. See you there! https://www.facebook.com/events/1957725264331031/
To celebrate the summer, Sandy and Nora talk about time off: vacations, sick days, taking days off just because you have a right to not work from time to time — get your hammock and the coldest drink you have, and think about all the things you would do with more time off work.
There has been a recent burst of street violence perpetuated by the same individuals, looking to fight with social activists. The response from the police – indifference and violence against the targets of this violent – reminds us that we need to understand the role that police play in society, and they they aren’t there to protect us.
To read the report back from what happened in Hamilton, please go here (image is from here too) https://itsgoingdown.org/hamilton-pride-2019-reportback/
In this episode, Nora explains what the CAQ’s religious symbol ban is, where it comes from and how organizing is going to stop it.
Since we recorded this, nothing has changed from the legislative side. A rally was held in Montreal this past weekend to oppose the religious symbols ban. More voices have come out to oppose the ban.
Talking about systemic racism in Canadian media is a bottomless well of content. This week, Sandy and Nora discuss Pam Seattle’s apology, CityNews’ apology and why apologies aren’t going to fix the racism that is embedded in Canada’s media landscape.
This week’s photo is from a 2002 cover of Maclean’s Magazine. Same as it ever was.
This has been a difficult week, especially if you have been watching the rise of organized white supremacists for years. In this episode, Sandy and Nora dissect how the media and politicians have failed so badly at grasping this threat, and conclude with things that are giving them hope.
Live from Toronto on Nov. 2, Sandy and Nora take on The Munk Debate. From Frum and Bannon to Bay Street’s continued colonial exploitation of locations across the globe for mining, they tie together extremely obvious links that everyone in the mainstream media somehow forgot the week prior to this debate.
Special thanks to the Black Liberation Collective at Ryerson, volunteers at CJRU and Noah for capturing this sound, staff at the Ryerson Student Centre and the folks who arrived early enough to help us set up and take down the chairs. It was greatly appreciated.
This is part one of two parts. The second part, the Q&A, is Episode 38.
In this episode, Sandy and Nora talk about the fallout from the Toronto election, and how progressives need to think about fighting the rising visibility of hatred in the GTA.
And: MARK YOUR CALENDARS
You’re invited to a live show in Toronto on Friday, Nov. 2. Please RSVP here so we can order enough food: https://www.facebook.com/events/1874457432673162/
In this episode, Sandy and Nora talk about the recent wave of cyclist deaths in cities and rural areas across Canada and how cars are making everything very, very, very angry.
Update to something that Sandy mentions in the show: the foolish scramble crosswalk is not longer at Bay and Bloor Sts. in Toronto. Tant mieux!
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT
We are recording a live show in Hamilton! Come join us on Thursday, July 26. You wont want to miss it!
Event information here: https://www.facebook.com/events/245123882945036/
Reserve your ticket here: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/voice-words-action-feminist-popular-education-tickets-48065416956
It’s the Canada Day episode! Nora and Sandy talk about all the things that they’re thinking about for Canada Day. Are you thinking about the same things we’re thinking about? Tune in to find out. Also, please consider donating to:
https://www.gofundme.com/justice-for-olando-brown
We will add the GoFundMe for Jon Styres when we have the link.
This is a duplicate page trying to fix a bad link.
Where do young activists learn their skills? In this episode Sandy and Nora talk about the student movement and how the left needs to renew itself through targeting training (education, campaigns, jobs) for young people.
With just over one week to go, the Ontario election is spinning out to be the most exciting one to watch in a generation — if by exciting we mean hilarious, which we do!
Sandy and Nora take time with each party and examine all the reasons for why they cannot be taken seriously, and give many kudos to the grassroots activists running for the ONDP. They are making this shitshow very worth it.
Sandy and Nora talk about Canada’s borders: from refugee claimants from the United States to CBSA, where innocent people are housed in maximum security facilities, Canadians need to start asking questions about what their government is doing to families who are seeking Canada for a better life.
After many requests from friends, Sandy and Nora have finally decided to talk about pipelines.
In this podcast, Sandy and Nora talk about the Raymond Cormier trial, his acquittal, and the racist, colonial systems at play that consistently deny justice to Indigenous women and girls, like Tina Fontaine.
There can be no justice on stolen land.
This episode explores the Me Too movement. From Patrick Brown, to the poisonous and pervasive sexism within politics, to broader movement issues and questions, we take a tour of the state of feminism today.
This issue deals with the matter with a mix of humour and anger: our best survival tools. Skip the first 15 minutes if you don’t want to hear about all the ways in which Patrick Brown’s press conference was a disaster.
This episode starts off featuring Jade Tootootsis, Colten Boushie’s cousin, at a press conference following the acquittal of Gerald Stanley in Colten’s death. Jade reminds people to get organized and be mobilized to fight for justice.
Sandy and Nora talk about colonialism, injustice and how nothing will change if people don’t heed Jade’s call: that nothing is possible unless we organize ourselves.
On the long-awaited Episode 6, Sandy and Nora talk about financial literacy curriculum, Nazis in the Toronto Library and police in schools, and how on each story, journalists keep getting it wrong.
Has there ever been a scheme with a progressive veneer and a regressive outcome that the Liberals haven’t loved?
In this episode, Sandy and Nora talk about the Ontario budget, Liberal Schemes and how progressives need to resist Liberal logic that is intended to confuse Canadians into supporting them. Specifically we talk: free tuition fees, the basic income, pharmacare and the racist implications of the marijuana policy discussions.
2017 might just be the year where mainstream Canada reckons with white supremacy — or maybe not. From Justin Trudeau being a white supremacist to marches promoting hatred happening across Canada, Sandy and Nora make the necessary connections of these flashpoint events to broader systems and structures of white supremacy. With M103, the anti-Islamophobia motion soon to be debated in the House of Commons, it’s critical to understand this debate in the context of white supremacy.
The White Supremacy episode: from “should I punch a Nazi?” to: “here are the range of ways to disrupt, bother and challenge Nazis in the streets”
In this episode, Sandy and Nora talk about Trudump: the meeting between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and President Donald Trump. Spoiler: feminism was used to hide deeply unfeminist cross-border cooperation plans.
In this episode, Sandy and Nora examine the arguments that some progressive men have made about the road tolls that had been proposed on the DVP and the Gardiner Expressway.
They also sign on for the first time in what will certainly be, an historic show.
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