Antifascist Dad Podcast

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 ALIS/ODIN: F-35 data stored on US servers, placing it under US government jurisdiction — Infodas technical analysis No kill switch, but Mission Data Files give US effective control over allied F-35 fleets — The Aviationist, March 2025 NDP: US will maintain full control of F-35 maintenance and software updates — NDP press release US Air Force 350th Spectrum Warfare Group reprograms every F-35 in the world — DefenseScoop, August 2023 Australia, Canada, UK Reprogramming Laboratory (ACURL) located at Eglin AFB, Florida — Janes F-35 availability rate 50% in FY2024, 17 points below minimum requirement — DoD Inspector General / 19FortyFive, December 2025 Full mission capable rate only 30% in 2023 — Project on Government Oversight Lockheed paid $1.7 billion despite poor F-35 readiness — Military Times, December 2025 Estimated 1,598 CF-18 bombing missions over Iraq, Syria, Libya, and Serbia — Canadian Dimension CF-18 combat history: Libya, Serbia, Iraq missions — CBC News Budget 2025: C$2.7 billion cut to foreign aid over four years — CBC News, November 2025 Carney broke campaign promise not to cut foreign aid — Results Canada 90 billion barrels of undiscovered oil in the Arctic — USGS Circum-Arctic Resource Appraisal, 2008 Arctic oil resources overview — US Energy Information Administration Carney announces $35 billion for Arctic military and infrastructure — CBC News Canada exports over $1 billion annually in arms to the US — Project Ploughshares Bill C-233 No More Loopholes Act defeated 295 to 22 — Canadian Affairs, March 2026 PBO: $3.5 billion per year additional needed to achieve 50% reduction in chronic homelessness — Parliamentary Budget Office, 2024 265,000 to 300,000 Canadians experience homelessness annually — Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness Homelessness costs Canada $10 billion per year; federal housing spending lower per capita than 1989 — Homeless Hub Full text of Carney's January 20, 2026 Davos speech — CBC News

In part two of my conversation with Jasmine Peardon, we trace her path from UBC to federal public policy to a master's at Concordia, and the radicalization that travel through the Global South and October 7 accelerated. We share a moment of recognition about India: how white spiritual tourists and white activists alike can move through a country absorbing deference without understanding colonialism. Jasmine identifies intergenerational socialist mentorship as her core source of resilience — the older comrades who remind her that none of this is new. We work through Kshama Sawant's lesson on concrete demands: "pull out of NATO" beats "anti-imperialist" every time, because it forces a defence. Jasmine also has some advice for 12-year-olds to read freely and build practical skills — let political consciousness develop without urgency. In the coda I return to the Regina Manifesto of 1933 and the Lewis family dynasty to ask what threads of socialist history have survived to reach us now. Sources: The Great Depression in Canada Great Depression — The Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan The Arid Years — Legion Magazine Unemployment During the Great Depression — The Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan The Regina Manifesto at 90: lessons for the Canadian left Thomas Clement "Tommy" Douglas (1904–1986) Rise of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation Regina Manifesto — The Canadian Encyclopedia New Democratic Party (NDP) Moishe Lewis — EBSCO Research Starters David Lewis — The Canadian Encyclopedia Lewis family (Canada) — The Canadian Encyclopedia Avi Lewis for NDP Leader The Regina Manifesto (1933) — Socialist History Project Capitalism Can’t Be Fixed—Onward to a Socialist Future All music by Kallie Marie. Bluesky: matthewremski.bsky.social Instagram: @matthew_remski YouTube: @antifascistdad TikTok: @antifascistdad Patreon: antifascistdadpodcast Pre-order Antifascist Dad

I've wanted to understand the radical flank of Islam for a long time, and I feel a little ashamed it took me this long. In this episode I talk with Mona Haydar — rapper, poet, chaplain, and Muslim activist — about the theological architecture of Islamic mutual aid: zakat, the mandatory redistribution of wealth; sadaqa, voluntary charity rooted in truthfulness; and taqwa, the reverence and permeating consciousness that Ramadan is designed to build. Mona makes the case that if Muslims fully practiced these commandments, global poverty could be eliminated. We also get into 9/11's psychic reckoning for American Muslim communities, the good Muslim/bad Muslim trap that Mahmood Mamdani diagnosed, and why Islamophobic attacks — including right here in Toronto from my own city councillor — keep producing conversion waves rather than retreat. Part Two is on Patreon. Mona Haydar Bluesky: matthewremski.bsky.social Instagram: @matthew_remski YouTube: @antifascistdad TikTok: [@antifascistdad] Patreon: antifascistdadpodcast Pre-order Antifascist Dad

In Toronto, the morning after US strikes ignited oil depots across Tehran. I reach for Michael Parenti. His core insistence is that fascism is not madness or mob psychology but a calculated counter-revolution: deployed when socialist and labour movements threaten property relations, used to crush unions, criminalize minorities, and restore profitability through repression. It puts the irrational back into perspective. Sources: Michael Parenti, Black Shirts and Reds: Rational Fascism and the Overthrow of Communism (1997, City Lights Books) https://citylights.com/city-lights-published/blackshirts-reds-rational-fascism/ Michael Parenti, Waiting for Yesterday: Pages from a Street Kid's Life (2013, Bordighera Press) https://www.michael-parenti.org/book-waiting-for-yesterday Jean-Paul Sartre, Anti-Semite and Jew (1945/1948 English translation, Schocken Books) https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/330311/anti-semite-and-jew-by-jean-paul-sartre/ Bluesky: matthewremski.bsky.social Instagram: @matthew_remski YouTube: antifascistdad TikTok: @antifascistdad Patreon: antifascistdadpodcast Pre-order Antifascist Dad: Penguin Random House

Canada's proto-fascist scorecard is racking up big numbers. Jasmine Peardon — organizer, policy researcher, and New Democratic Party Socialist Caucus candidate for party president — joins me to discuss this critical turning point. We look at Mark Carney's Davos speech as a case study in political dishonesty. We trace the NDP's founding compromise: born in 1961 as a merger with the anti-capitalist CCF, the party has always held its socialist roots at arms length.  Jasmine's out to change that. We discuss the presidential vote structure that stacks the deck against grassroots candidates, the Yves Engler vetting scandal, and the concept of movement capture — how progressive energy gets absorbed and neutralized by parties that want your vote but not your values or full-time organizing. Also: the solidarity economy's double-tax problem: ordinary people paying twice for dignity while their taxes continue to fund war. Part two is on Patreon now. Sources: New Democratic Party (NDP) Once upon a Waffle Canada's economy lost 84,000 jobs in February, unemployment rate ticked up to 6.7% The Military Wins and Public Programs Lose in Carney's Budget Canada releases Budget 2025: Canada Strong Budget 2025: A "historic moment" for the arms industry White nationalist fight clubs pose risk for 'extreme violence,' warns government report 'Active clubs' are all over Canada. What are they? White Nationalism in Canada: Organized, Emboldened, and Growing RCMP charges military members allegedly plotting to form militia and seize land How a White Nationalist Club Thought It Found Safe Haven in a Montreal Gym Bubble Pop with Rachel Gilmore Here's one easy trick to combat foreign political interference in our media Postmedia and the American Hedge Fund Takeover of Canada's Newspapers For the sake of our democracy, American hedge funds should be banned from owning Canadian newspapers B.C. premier says Alberta separatists seeking assistance from U.S. is 'treason' Canadian separatists optimistic after meetings with Trump officials Trump officials met with Canadian separatists; British Columbia premier alleges 'treason' Are Trump officials driving Alberta's separatist movement in Canada? NDP MP Lori Idlout crossing floor to Liberals, bringing Carney closer to majority Latest floor-crossing puts Liberal majority within grasp — but Carney could still hit snags MP Matt Jeneroux leaves Conservatives to join Liberals, citing 'national unity crisis' Just one-in-four say Canadian MPs who cross the floor should be allowed to finish term with new party Yves Engler for NDP Leader Why I'm running for leadership of NDP Avi Lewis for NDP Leader Activist, filmmaker Avi Lewis launches campaign for federal NDP leadership All music by Kallie Marie. Bluesky: matthewremski.bsky.social Instagram: @matthew_remski YouTube: @antifascistdad TikTok: @antifascistdad Patreon: antifascistdadpodcast Pre-order Antifascist Dad

What does it mean to hold both clear-eyed despair and committed action at the same time? I trace the antifascist axiom "pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will" through my own life — my late mother's instinctive class consciousness, my writing teacher Luciano's daily creative discipline, and my early Buddhist practice of contemplating impermanence. I unpack Eve Sedgwick's concept of paranoid versus reparative reading, and why the left's hypervigilance can foreclose on the energy needed for repair. I correct the common attribution of the mantra to Gramsci, locating the phrase's origin in Romain Rolland's 1920 review of Raymond Lefebvre's WWI novel — a cry from Flanders Fields about bourgeois sacrifice of the young. And I map the tension between intellect and will onto bodily experience, arguing that theory and mutual aid aren't competing demands but two characteristics of how we already live. Sources Romain Rolland, review of Le Sacrifice d'Abraham, L'Humanité, 19 March 1920 — transcription and translation Antonio Gramsci, "Address to the Anarchists," L'Ordine Nuovo, 3–10 April 1920 Raymond Lefebvre (1891–1920), Le Sacrifice d'Abraham (Flammarion, 1919) Academic treatment of the phrase's history: "Pessimism of the Intellect, Optimism of the Will," Rethinking Marxism (2019) Political reading of the slogan: "Pessimism of the Will," Viewpoint Magazine (2020) Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, "Paranoid Reading and Reparative Reading," in Touching Feeling: Affect, Pedagogy, Performativity (Duke University Press, 2003) Bluesky: matthewremski.bsky.social Instagram: @matthew_remski YouTube: antifascistdad TikTok: @antifascistdad Patreon: antifascistdadpodcast Pre-order Antifascist Dad: Penguin Random House

Sitting down today with racial equity educator and spiritual director Michelle Cassandra Johnson about what she calls the “hierarchy of bodies” — the long-standing social logic that determines whose lives are protected, valued, and believed. Against mainstream claims that rising authoritarianism is shocking or unprecedented, Michelle argues that today’s crises reflect very old patterns of domination rooted in race, power, and proximity to privilege. Why do some communities experience the current political moment as rupture while others recognize it as continuity? What are the downstream effects of the backlash against diversity, equity, and inclusion work? What does anti-racism training actually look like on the ground — and why re relationship, solidarity, and accountability more important than shame or guilt? Is multiracial community grounded in care the strongest inoculation against fascism? Part 2 now up on Patreon. Michelle Cassandra Johnson is an author, activist, spiritual teacher, racial equity consultant and educator, and intuitive and shamanic healer. For over 25 years as a racial equity educator, she has worked with large corporations, non-profits, and community groups. Michelle is a six-time published author, and in May 2025, her sixth book, The Wisdom of the Hive, co-written with her best friend, Amy Burtaine, was released. She lives in North Carolina with her husband, sweet dog, Jasper, and her honeybees.  https://www.michellecjohnson.com/. Notes:  All theme music by the amazing www.kalliemarie.com.Antifascist Dad: Urgent Conversations with Young People in Chaotic Times (North Atlantic Books, April 2026).Preorder: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807656/antifascist-dad-by-matthew-remski/ Instagram: @matthew_remski TikTok: @antifascistdad Bluesky: @matthewremski.bsky.social (Bluesky Social) YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AntifascistDad 

Back with Michelle, and pivoting from diagnosis to practice. We get a powerful story from her anti-racism work about calling someone into accountability without shaming or discarding them — and what real healing can look like in the room. We explore how multiracial, multicultural communities of care are built on the ground through shared language, listening, and repair. Why is the backlash against DEI and why relationship remains a quiet, radical force against fascism. Michelle also reflects on growing up in the Black Baptist church, how her spiritual life has always been inseparable from her political life, and why faith — in something beyond what we can currently see — may be essential to sustaining resistance.  CODA: A story from Antifascist Dad about the first inklings I had as a kid that I was white, and what that meant. Michelle Cassandra Johnson is an author, activist, spiritual teacher, racial equity consultant and educator, and intuitive and shamanic healer. For over 25 years as a racial equity educator, she has worked with large corporations, non-profits, and community groups. Michelle is a six-time published author, and in May 2025, her sixth book, The Wisdom of the Hive, co-written with her best friend, Amy Burtaine, was released. She lives in North Carolina with her husband, sweet dog, Jasper, and her honeybees.  https://www.michellecjohnson.com/. Notes:  All theme music by the amazing www.kalliemarie.com.Antifascist Dad: Urgent Conversations with Young People in Chaotic Times (North Atlantic Books, April 2026).Preorder: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807656/antifascist-dad-by-matthew-remski/ Instagram: @matthew_remski TikTok: @antifascistdad Bluesky: @matthewremski.bsky.social (Bluesky Social) YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AntifascistDad 

Back for Pt 2 of my conversation with Blair Hodges—Salt Lake City journalist, former Mormon insider, and dad to a trans kid—by digging into Mormon masculinity. Blair explains how Mormon emotional vulnerability descends from early charismatic revival culture, but also how a rising alt-right strain inside the church is pushing toward a more punitive “muscular” Christianity. On parenting: why children’s rights and autonomy require dismantling authoritarian habits, how neurodivergence exposes the cruelty of “normal” discipline, and how institutions often treat kids as property. Also: the privilege of political disengagement, what it feels like when the “flood” of fascism reaches your floor, and why listening to marginalized people is the starting point for real antifascist practice. I close by reading a short excerpt from my upcoming book, a section on gender performance and why trans liberation matters to all of us. Notes:  Relationshapes: Blair Hodges All theme music by the amazing www.kalliemarie.com.Antifascist Dad: Urgent Conversations with Young People in Chaotic Times (North Atlantic Books, April 2026).Preorder: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807656/antifascist-dad-by-matthew-remski/ Instagram: @matthew_remski TikTok: @antifascistdad Bluesky: @matthewremski.bsky.social (Bluesky Social) YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AntifascistDad 

Welcoming friend and colleague and fellow dad Brad Onishi (Straight White American Jesus, Preparing for War), to explore the parallels between evangelical conversion and fascist recruitment. Brad was a convert to evangelicalism at 14 and shares how teenage anxiety, alienation, and the search for belonging made him vulnerable to a worldview that offered refuge, certainty, and an enemy to fight. Bottom line: both fundamentalist religion and far-right movements promise clarity in chaotic times—binary thinking, moral urgency, and cosmic stakes. At the top: I trace the historical roots of the Satanic Panic and connect it to the current flood of conspiratorial reactions to the Epstein files. If we're parenting or mentoring, we have to recognize spiritual warfare narratives when they resurface on social media. They only confuse things.  Part 2 now up on Patreon. Brad Onishi is a social commentator, scholar, and co-host of the Straight White American Jesus (SWAJ) podcast. He founded Axis Mundi Media in 2023 in order to provide a platform for research-based podcasts focused on safeguarding democracy from the threats of extremism and authoritarianism. His writing has appeared at the New York Times, Politico, Rolling Stone, NBC News, HuffPost, and many other outlets. Onishi is a frequent guest on national radio, podcast, and television outlets, including “Fresh Air” with Terry Gross and MSNBC. His podcast, SWAJ, ranks in the top 50 of Politics shows on Apple’s podcast charts – ahead of programs from NPR, the NYT, and other national outlets. His book, Preparing for War: The Extremist History of White Christian Nationalism – And What Comes Next is available now. CORRECTION: In the intro, I said that Paul 23 presided over Vatican 2. It was actually John 23.  Notes:  Satanic Panic archive on Conspirituality. The Devil You Know — Sarah Marshall  The Smoke of Satan on the Silver Screen: The Catholic Horror Film, Vatican II, and the Revival of Demonology | Journal for the Academic Study of Religion All theme music by the amazing www.kalliemarie.com.Antifascist Dad: Urgent Conversations with Young People in Chaotic Times (North Atlantic Books, April 2026).Preorder: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807656/antifascist-dad-by-matthew-remski/ Instagram: @matthew_remski TikTok: @antifascistdad Bluesky: @matthewremski.bsky.social (Bluesky Social) YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AntifascistDad