Antifascist Dad Podcast

Matthew Remski
  • 5.0 (15)
  • POLITICS

Your waypoint for antifascist lore, strategy, and wisdom from the generations, and now.

  1. 2D AGO

    UNLOCK 27.1 Communicative Capitalism vs. Instagram Activism

    Following up on my conversations with Ciarra Jones and Leftie Jane by working through Jodi Dean's concept of communicative capitalism and what it means for those of us doing antifascist political work online. I start with Marx's distinction between use value and exchange value, using my late mother's hand-knit sweater. Dean's framework pivots on this split between use and exchange, and she ties it to the contradictions of networked media: the contribution trap, reflexive communication, the fantasy of participation, and the way followership mimics solidarity without producing it.  And... what about my own Instagram account, which has grown from 3,000 to 50,000 followers since January? I ask: what that growth actually means, what it conceals, and what ethical questions I need to keep asking myself to avoid becoming part of the infrastructure.  Sources Jodi Dean, "Communicative Capitalism: Circulation and the Foreclosure of Politics" Jodi Dean, Comrade: An Essay on Political Belonging, Verso Books Karl Marx, Capital, Volume 1, Marxists Internet Archive Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, The Communist Manifesto, Marxists Internet Archive C. Thi Nguyen, Games: Agency as Art, Oxford University Press Robin Dunbar, Friends: Understanding the Power of Our Most Important Relationships Bluesky: matthewremski.bsky.social Instagram: @matthew_remski YouTube: @antifascistdad TikTok: [@antifascistdad] Patreon: antifascistdadpodcast Pre-order Antifascist Dad Chapters (00:00:08) - Communicative Capitalism vs Instagram Activism(00:09:40) - Jody Dean's Communication Capitalism(00:19:41) - Instagram's Cult of Growth

    27 min

  2. 6D AGO

    28. How to Sell a Genocide w/ Adam Johnson

    Adam Johnson is a media analyst and co-host of the podcast Citations Needed. His new book How to Sell a Genocide (Pluto Books, out now) draws on analysis of over 12,000 articles and 5,000 TV segments to document how US center-left legacy media — the New York Times, CNN, MSNBC, and others — provided systematic PR cover for the genocide in Gaza. Johnson and I dig into the quantitative evidence for asymmetric language, the invention of the "Hamas-run health ministry" pejorative, the three masks of helpless/fuming/umpire Biden, and the "moats of rationalization" that allowed liberal audiences to intellectually and emotionally distance themselves from industrial-scale slaughter live-streamed into their phones. All royalties from Adam's book go to the Middle East Children's Alliance. LINKS How to Sell a Genocide (Pluto Books) Citations Needed Podcast Adam Johnson at The Nation Adam Johnson at In These Times Adam Johnson at The Intercept Middle East Children's Alliance Order Antifascist Dad Bluesky: matthewremski.bsky.social Instagram: @matthew_remski YouTube: @antifascistdad TikTok: @antifascistdad Patreon: antifascistdadpodcast

    1h 7m

  3. APR 19

    UNLOCK 26.1 Springtime for Democratic Socialism in Canada

    On March 29, 2026, Avi Lewis won the federal NDP leadership on the first ballot in Winnipeg, taking 56% of the vote in a field of five candidates. This episode contextualizes this huge win for international listeners — because what just happened in Canada matters to anyone who follows democratic socialist politics anywhere. I trace the Lewis family's roots from the Jewish Labor Bund  through to the founding of the CCF and the Regina Manifesto. I cover the right-wing media meltdown, the redbaiting from Alberta's PostMedia papers, and the dissociative pundit-class response I'm calling "moneyball fugue state." And I dig into the oldest conflict in leftist politics — Rosa Luxemburg's question about whether a socialist can enter the bourgeois state without becoming its servant — and why I think we need both revolutionary and reform comrades right now. Sources Avi Lewis elected NDP leader on first ballot with 56% of the vote — NDP official announcement Full leadership results and candidate breakdown — CBC live coverage Avi Lewis takes over a diminished NDP — can he make it a force again? — The Walrus NDP elects Avi Lewis as new federal leader — Globe and Mail What does Avi Lewis's arrival mean for the party? — CBC News Matthew Polacko, "The Rightward Shift and Electoral Decline of Social Democratic Parties under Increasing Inequality," West European Politics 45, no. 4 (2022): 665–692 LSE summary of the Polacko paper — LSE European Politics blog The Regina Manifesto (1933) — The Canadian Encyclopedia Bluesky: matthewremski.bsky.social Instagram: @matthew_remski YouTube: @antifascistdad TikTok: [@antifascistdad] Patreon: antifascistdadpodcast Pre-order Antifascist Dad

    37 min

  4. APR 15

    27. The Proto-Fascism of “Trust me” Carney w/ Leftie Jane

    My guest today is Jane Yearwood—aka Leftie Jane on the TikTok and Instagram machines. She lives here in Toronto and does amazing political commentary from a leftist and disability justice POV. Today we’ll be looking at why so many Canadians seem to believe that MAGA-stye fascism couldn’t possibly take root here, even though it actually is. So we talk about Canadian exceptionalism, including how settler colonial history and US foreign policy alignments have always been hidden from public education and are now almost invisible behind the halo of Mark Carney. We talk about online activism and reflect on the generations between us and the middle school students she tutors, and also her love for libraries as third spaces, but the heart of our focus is on five bills currently reshaping Canadian law. Bill C12, Bill C9, Bill C15, Bills C8 and C22. We give them good names for clarity: Bill C12: the scapegoat a migrant save a billionaire bill Bill C9: the no more protesting against genocide bill Bill C15: make Carney and his friends kings again Bill C8: the we’re going to spy on all your s*** bill Bill C22: the unlawful access to information bill One thing Jane wanted me to stress in these notes, because we weren’t quite explicit about this in our conversation, is the sheer volume and rush of reality-changing legislation is strategic. It has a very “flooding the zone” vibe to it. This is the Steve Bannon innovation of deliberate saturation of media channels with so much information and noise that critical thinking becomes impossible. That wave is mirrored only by Carney’s extended charm offensive, which reached a peak on March 29th when he was glazed by the celebrity class at the Juno Awards, Canada’s version of the Grammys. All things Leftie Jane! linktree Sources Bill C12 retroactivity and refugee claims, Migrant Rights Network Amnesty International statement on Bill C12 and international humanitarian law Avi Lewis on Canada’s deportation system, The Walrus Bill C9 (Combating Hate Act) text, Parliament of Canada Civil liberties concerns on Bills C8 and C22, International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group Bill C15 omnibus provisions and ministerial exemption powers, Parliament of Canada Palestinian Students and Scholars at Risk postcard campaign Jodi Dean, Communicative Capitalism: Democracy and the Illusion of Connection, MIT Press Bluesky: matthewremski.bsky.social Instagram: Chapters (00:00:06) - Trust Me Carney With Lefty Jane(00:02:23) - Why Canadians Can't See the Fascism at home(00:04:40) - The Future of Communication in a Digital World(00:25:53) - Bill C12: Scapegoat a Migrant, Save a Billionaire(00:38:37) - Bill C9: An Attack on Protest(00:43:56) - Bill C15: The Unlawful Access to Information Bill(00:49:48) - Disability Activists Write Postcards(00:58:45) - The Fight for Public Spaces

    1h 12m

  5. APR 13

    UNLOCK 25.1 Mark Carney's “Elbows Up” Hockey Schtick: a Review

    A close reading of "Elbows Up" — the hockey slogan Mark Carney skated on to sell his Trump response policies over the past year. It began on March 1, 2025. Mike Myers mouthed the phrase on SNL, inspiring former NDP MP Charlie Angus to publish a galvanizing Substack two days later tracing it to Gordie Howe. The slogan conscripts the legacy of a working-class Saskatchewan kid who was underpaid for decades by union-busting Jack Adams, repackaging disciplined obedience to capital as national pluck. Meanwhile Carney's budget eliminates 40,000 federal jobs and cuts $57 billion from public programs while gutting Indigenous Services and environmental funding. Anishinaabe scholar Niigaan Sinclair and others in Elamin Abdelmahmoud's essay collection push back hard. Elbows up, it turns out, describes the posture of a man who knows he'll be having beers with the other team when the game is over. Sources: Charlie Angus's original March 3, 2025 "Elbows Up" Substack Carney's March 22, 2025 "Elbows Up" post on X with Mike Myers Gordie Howe biography and career — Wikipedia Gordie and Edna's shared skates — Maclean's 1966 archive Jack Adams — Wikipedia Ted Lindsay union organizing and Adams's retaliation — Hockey Writers Carney's 2025 budget: 40,000 public service jobs cut, $57 billion from programs — Globe and Mail 15% departmental cuts apply to Indigenous Services Canada — Policy Options Environment and Climate Change Canada faces $1.3 billion in cuts — Ecojustice Foreign aid cut $2.7 billion, breaking campaign promise — Results Canada Elamin Abdelmahmoud's essay anthology Elbows Up: Canadian Voices of Resilience and Resistance Bluesky: matthewremski.bsky.social Instagram: @matthew_remski YouTube: @antifascistdad TikTok: @antifascistdad Patreon: antifascistdadpodcast Chapters (00:09:52) - "Are You Canadian?" Mike Myers(00:20:06) - Critics of Elbows Up

    24 min

  6. APR 8

    26. Antifascist Gardening Theology w/ Ciarra Jones

    I first came across Ciarra Jones on TikTok as @thegardeningtheologian, and I was moved by her eloquent, queer, and plant-based antifascism. She grew up in the Assemblies of God Pentecostal Church, but through her studies at UC Berkeley and Harvard Divinity School she developed a public theology grounded embodiment. We talk about what public theologians actually do, how dying-to-the-flesh theology creates the conditions for fascist dehumanization, and why religion is a social determinant of health. She walks me through her own deconstruction — from traveling youth minister preaching against queerness at sixteen to queer womanist theologian — and explains how her grandfather's garden in Sacramento became a ritual site. We talk about "the good enough" gardener, Charlie Kirk's debate style as Christian nationalist domination, and why the hardest God to believe in is one who is simply pleased with you. https://ciarrajonesconsulting.com/  Sources: Pamela Lightsey, Our Lives Matter: A Womanist Queer Theology (Pickwick Publications, 2015) Kelly Brown Douglas, Stand Your Ground: Black Bodies and the Justice of God (Orbis Books, 2015) Gregory Boyle, Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion (Simon & Schuster, 2010) Tara Brach, Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life with the Heart of a Buddha (Bantam, 2003) Kate Bowler, No Cure for Being Human: And Other Truths I Need to Hear (Random House, 2021) Prentis Hemphill, The Embodiment Institute SOCIALS Bluesky: matthewremski.bsky.social Instagram: @matthew_remski YouTube: @antifascistdad TikTok: [@antifascistdad] Patreon: antifascistdadpodcast Pre-order Antifascist Dad Chapters (00:00:00) - Anti-Fascist Gardening Theology with Ciara Jones(00:06:51) - Public Theology(00:15:12) - Public Theology and the Parable of the Sower(00:24:46) - Exploring Queerness in the Church(00:37:30) - The Garden of My Grandfather(00:41:02) - Philosophy Bro: Charlie Kirk(00:59:03) - Avi Lewis Win at the NDP National Federal Convention

    1 hr

  7. APR 6

    UNLOCK 24.1: Mutual Aid in Islam w/Mona Haydar

    In part two of my conversation with Mona Haydar, we move from the theological architecture of Islamic mutual aid into the lived political pressure of Muslim identity in America. We dig into the good Muslim/bad Muslim trap that Mahmood Mamdani diagnosed: the demand to perform as secular, unthreatening, and patriotic. Mona holds to the view that the post-9/11 reckoning ultimately drove communities toward authenticity over performance. We also trace her political awakening through hip-hop and spoken word in Flint, Michigan, where the Black community encouraged her to use her voice against racial and economic injustice. On the subject of hijab, Mona reframes it as a rejection of capitalist objectification — a demand to be met as a soul before a body. I add a personal coda about a Russian literature class that gave me an early, unexpected glimpse of a similar type of gender-disruption that I never forgot. Mona Haydar Bluesky: matthewremski.bsky.social Instagram: @matthew_remski YouTube: @antifascistdad TikTok: [@antifascistdad] Patreon: antifascistdadpodcast Pre-order Antifascist Dad Chapters (00:02:30) - 9/11 transformed Islam(00:21:20) - Where Do Mutual Aid Communities Meet?(00:31:48) - Hijab(00:37:27) - Louis Theroux

    40 min

  8. APR 1

    25. Polite Canada Remilitarizes w/ Brent Patterson

    I sit down with Brent Patterson, a veteran anti-militarism organizer whose four decades of work span prison abolition, Indigenous solidarity, and campaigns against state violence. We examine the Carney government's remilitarization agenda. It is not a response to genuine security threats, but as a coherent economic strategy dressed in the language of sovereignty and national pride. We look at the math on the F-35 warplane purchase: what it actually costs, who controls it, and what that money could do instead. We talk about Arctic resource extraction and the military infrastructure being built to enable it, the integration of Canadian and US military supply chains, the No More Loopholes arms export bill, and the gap between Canada's international self-image and its actual record of 1,600 bombing missions over Iraq, Syria, Libya, and Serbia. We close with Brent's forty years of organizing experience — the losses, the marginal wins, and what sustains people in a long struggle. Bluesky: matthewremski.bsky.social Instagram: @matthew_remski YouTube: @antifascistdad TikTok: [@antifascistdad] Patreon: antifascistdadpodcast Pre-order Antifascist Dad Brent Patterson is Executive Director of Peace Brigades International, and writes for Rabble.ca. SOURCES  NATO total military spending 2024: $1,506 billion — SIPRI Trends in World Military Expenditure, 2024 NATO 5% GDP target agreed at The Hague summit — Atlantic Council NATO Defence Spending Tracker Canada's Department of National Defence spent $34.5 billion in FY2024 — Canadaspends Carney commits Canada to $150 billion annually in defence by 2035 — Globe and Mail, June 2025 Carney's first budget: $81.8 billion in defence investment over five years — CBC News, November 2025 DND defence spending targets and NATO commitments — Canada.ca Full 45-year F-35 life-cycle cost estimated at C$73.9 billion — Parliamentary Budget Office, November 2023 F-35 acquisition cost jumps 50% to C$27.7 billion — Skies Mag / Auditor General, June 2025 Full acquisition cost now C$33 billion including infrastructure and weapons — Flight Global, June 2025 Full history of Canada's F-35 procurement process — Wikipedia Chapters (00:03:23) - Canada's $35 billion F35 deal(00:12:18) - What Does Militarization Tell Us About Global Capitalism?(00:14:13) - Canada's Remilitarization Plans(00:29:23) - Canadian Military Spending and National Sovereignty(00:38:59) - Wins and Losses(00:42:07) - What Would You Tell Young Activists in Their 20s?

    46 min
See All (53)

5
out of 5
15 Ratings

About

Your waypoint for antifascist lore, strategy, and wisdom from the generations, and now.

Information

  • Creator
    Matthew Remski
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    53
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2025
  • Show Website
    Antifascist Dad Podcast

You Might Also Like