49th Parahell

I talked with Camila Escalante (TeleSUR, Kawsachun News) about Canada and the rest of the Anglo American Empire's ongoing decline, our western values, the global south, with some additional analysis on the Guyana–Venezuela territorial dispute and what it means to be "sovereign." Support the work I do on Patreon http://patreon.com/robrousseau follow Camila here: https://twitter.com/camilapress  

Jesse Hawken of the Junk Filter podcast joins the show to talk about the latest chapter in the ongoing Two Michaels saga that has captivated the nation. Were the Michaels two good old Canadian lads who were unjustly held captive by a totalitarian, authoritarian regime? Is this latest story a cynical ploy on the part of our media to pit Michael against Michael? Or was the Chinese government acutally being more honest and transparent about this situation than our own government and its media stenographers? All this is explored in this episode. Support the show on Patreon: patreon.com/robrousseau Tune in live on twitch: twitch.tv/robrousseau

Hello. Yes, it's true. The podcast is back. I spoke with Justin Podur of the Anti-Empire Project and Jon Elmer of Electronic Intifada about the unfolding horrific violence in Gaza. support the show on Patreon: www.patreon.com/robrousseau

Yes, you read that right. It's the last episode of 49th Parahell. Moving forward I am going to be doing all my interviews and commentary on my live show on Twitch, with an audio version coming soon, so this week I brought back several friends of the show to talk about Doug Ford, the pandemic, Quebec's social solidarity, Joe Biden, Canada's relationship to Israel/Palestine and much more. patreon.com/robrousseau twitch.tv/robrousseau join the discord community: https://discord.gg/4Cq2XkWVgm  

I talked to writer and low-key hustle guy Abdul Malik about the Toronto Raptors as an avatar for Canadian nationalism, the climate crisis, how taking a day off is good but celebrating genocide is bad, and much more. www.patreon.com/robrousseau

The uncovering of a mass grave outside a former "residential school" in Kamloops has made international headlines and once again forced people in what we know as Canada to talk about the brutal violence, cruelty and genocide that this nation is founded on and continues to engage in. Harbinger Media board member Kai Nagata and Kolin Sutherland-Wilson of the Gitxsan Nation join the show to talk about the old-growth logging blockades in BC and how the supposed Dark Chapter in Canadian History never actually ended. https://www.patreon.com/colonialismincanada https://www.instagram.com/kolinsutherlandwilson/ Git'luuhl'um'hetxwit Media: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9Am0RWoa-wZUs1EGeOF66A/ https://www.instagram.com/git_luuhl_um_hetxwit/

Forced expulsions in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah have led to another cycle of Palestinian opposition and brutal repression by the Israeli government. Why does only one side of this "conflict" have the right to defend itself? How has Canada contributed to this situation? Is there a positive shift happening in the way that people in media and politics discuss this issue? Amy Kishek and Omar Burgan join the show this week to answer some of these questions. http://www.patreon.com/robrousseau

We regret to inform you that Doug Ford is, in fact, "at it again." I've got writer/researcher John Semley and Junk Filter Pod host Jesse Hawken joining me here in riff city to talk about Doug's very bad week and whether or not we're on board with the redemption arc. http://www.patreon.com/robrousseau

One thing we've tried to do throughout the run of this show is debunk the lies we like to tell ourselves about what Canada is all about. So this week it was a pleasure to talk to Tyler Shipley, author of Canada in the World: Settler Capitalism and Colonial Imagination about the genocidal foundation of the country, how our modern foreign policy is not as benign as we've been led to believe, and how learning about all this can keep us informed about the real priorities of our current ruling class. http://www.patreon.com/robrousseau https://fernwoodpublishing.ca/book/canada-in-the-world  

It's the one-year anniversary of the pandemic, and there's a whole lot to feel disillusioned by. Fortunately, none other than renowned author & activist Naomi Klein is joining the show to express maybe the most radical idea of all: that, maybe, just maybe, things might be starting to get a bit better. www.patreon.com/robrousseau

Jeff Bezos is stepping down as head of Amazon, so obviously that means we won't have to hear from him ever again, right? Unfortunately not. Paris Marx, host of Harbinger podcast Tech Won't Save Us, joins me to talk about Bezos's career, the rotten economic system that allows people like him, Bill Gates, Elon Musk and others to build unfathomable fortunes and essentially write their own hagiographies, and the exploitative Independent Contractor business model that Amazon popularized going international in the 2020's. http://www.patreon.com/robrousseau https://www.patreon.com/techwontsaveus

The Trump era is over. It was simultaneously horrifying and very, very stupid. Lana Polansky & I talk about our favorite Trump moments, what this all means, whether Canada's right wing populist moment has passed, the coming decade of neoliberal technocracy and more. patreon.com/robrousseau patreon.com/TheFreakMuseum

It's the final 49th Parahell of the year and what a hellish nightmare it has been, huh? Dan Boeckner of Wolf Parade & Operators returns to the show to talk about how he and other artists are surviving the pandemic and also how this year was really just a preview of the kind of horrors the coming decade holds. Welcome to the new cold war. http://www.patreon.com/robrousseau https://www.patreon.com/operators  

U of T poli-sci professor and Harbinger Media board of directors member Jessica Green returns to the show to break down how Justin Trudeau and the Liberal Party are failing on climate, how "net zero emissions" is nothing more than a meaningless catchphrase, what's in Joe Biden's trillion dollar climate plan (and whether any of it will actually get enacted) and much more. patreon.com/robrousseau harbingermedianetwork.com

The NDP's Niki Ashton joins the show for a wide-ranging conversation on Justin Trudeau's inadequate Covid response, whether New Democrats have done enough to reach out to young voters, the rise of the far right, Donald Trump, the disappointing Democratic Party primary, foreign policy, Progressive International and much more www.harbingermedianetwork.com www.patreon.com/robrousseau