frandroid

This was really a special day for podcast episodes, as I listened to those two today.

First, the big scoop:

Canadaland Commons - The Crucible of confinement

I don't know if this made news at all, but Arshy Mann got a huge scoop in June when he got the sole interview from Zakaria Amara, the leader of the Toronto 18. They were a group of Toronto Muslims, mostly youth, who were cradled by the RCMP and other intelligence agencies into planning acts of terror, then arrested. Amara pled guilty and received a 17 year sentence. From the interview, I could gather that he spent much of his pre-sentencing custody in 23-hour a day solitary (unknown period of time, but over a year, certainly), then spent the first 6 years of his prison sentence in 22-hour a day solitary at a Canada's only supermax prison, where he was rubbing shoulders with super-hardened criminals (usually people who had committed crimes in jail on top of their initial crimes).

The interview is interesting because Amara traces his psychological journey from planning acts of terror to being in jail, to finally starting his own rehabilitation (in spite being detained), to today. Mann wanted to interview him in part to discuss the role of prison in rehabilitation, particularly the supposed rehabilitative role of work in the life of the prisoner. The perspective brought by both Mann and Amara is pretty abolitionist. Amara is very generous in his evaluation of the carceral system but still ends up finding it useless. Then Amara discusses his post-prison life, from his current work to his dreams. The guy is really mellow and you wouldn't think that he once wanted to lay a finger on anyone else. Anyway, I thought that was a pretty special interview and episode, probably one of Mann's best.

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Obscuristan - Navalny on the Periphery

Obscuristan is a podcast hosted by two Armenian women, radical critics of Russian imperialism, who discuss the post-Soviet, extra-Russian sphere in particular, so particularly Central Asia, but really much of "Eurasia" (or is that Russasia?). Here, along with guest Daniel Voskoboynik, they discuss the complex legacy of Alex Navalny after his death, torn between his early Russian nationalism, his unusual charisma, his chutzpah and what alternative he was offering for all citizen prisoners of Putin's Russia and its periphery. Lots of layered discussion of Navalny's contradictions and evolution. It was a delight to listen to.

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#PodcastFriday is a tag where people recommend a particularly good episode from a podcast. The point of this tag is NOT to recommend entire podcasts--there are too many podcasts out there, and our queues are already too long, so don't do that. Let's just recommend the cream of the crop, the episodes that made you *brainsplode* or laugh like crazy.