Last Born In The Wilderness

In this episode, I speak with the creator of the Nordic Animist Calendar and Historian of Religion, Rune Hjarnø Rasmussen. Rune has spent much of his academic career studying and highlighting various animist spiritual traditions and perspectives, with a special focus on Afro-Atlantic and Nordic traditions—the latter being the focus of this discussion. In his work, Rune has attempted to integrate the animist worldview into his academic research into religious and spiritual traditions, highlighting the very pragmatic and grounded function the animist perspective has served in human cultures and societies throughout human history. As Rune explains, the animist worldview integrates human community with the grander cycles of the cosmos and seasons of the Earth through ritual and story, serving as a sort of technology that integrates human life with the broader communities of life on the planet through spiritual practice. Of particular concern to Rune is how the animist worldview and mythologies can inform our understanding of the contemporary environmental and climate crises unfolding on the planet right now. In this discussion, Rune uses the myth of Ragnarok—a sort of end-of-days apocalyptic vision involving environmental cataclysm and war famously depicted in the Old Norse poem Völuspá—as a means of comprehending and reframing the unfolding ecological, cultural, spiritual crises in our troubled times. (http://bit.ly/2mfFEaM) How can myth, and in particular the animist worldview, help us to not only reframe these current crises, but provide the tools required to build connection and deeper relationship to the land, community, and the living systems of the planet? This is just some of what we explore in this discussion. // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/rune-rasmussen // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast

In this episode with Brian Mier, co-editor at Brasil Wire and correspondent for TeleSur English, we discuss the fires and deforestation of the Amazon Rainforest in Brazil, the United States intervention in the Brazilian political system, and the rise of far-right president Jair Bolsonaro. On August 19th, the city of São Palo, Brazil experienced a complete blackout of the sun. To understand the context of this event, Brian provides an overview of the various international corporate and political forces responsible for the ongoing devastation of one of the most biodiverse regions on the planet. In particular, Brian describes the direct role soy farmers and cattle ranchers have played in this process, as they continue to expand operations into the virgin rainforest, invading and killing Indigenous people and destroying their lands, all with the tacit approval of elected president Jair Bolsonaro and his administration. To understand the rise of Bolsonaro, Brian explains the U.S. backed coup that made way for his rise to power (http://bit.ly/2m4PnRr), as well as the international corporate interests that benefit from the ruthless environmental deregulation emblematic of the Bolsonaro regime. On his visit to the regions most impacted by these fires, Brian quotes local journalist Luciana Oliveira in an article for Brazil Wire, in which she states: “We warned everyone that this was going to happen […] we said that President Bolsonaro’s rhetoric would pull a mental trigger. He gave the order when he relativized the issue of environmental crimes, when he discredited the work of the environmental protection agencies, and when he ridiculed the fines, he gave an order. He said, ‘do it.’” (http://bit.ly/2kwd4Bq) // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/brian-mier // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast

In this episode, I speak Alexander Reid Ross, author of Against the Fascist Creep, and Shane Burley, author of Fascism Today: What It Is and How to End It. I ask Alexander and Shane to discuss the curious case of Andy Ngo—right-wing provocateur, so-called “independent journalist” (https://nyti.ms/2lwcMuz), former Quillette editor, and grifter. (http://bit.ly/2lvaU5r) Ngo is best known for using his prominent social media platform to promote and spin provocative right-wing media narratives, demonstrated in his coverage of street clashes between antifascists and far-right groups over the past several years—most notoriously in Portland, Oregon. His promotion of the concocted narrative that antifascists activists (antifa) are anti-free speech and even terroristic (#antifaterrorists), has had real consequence in the lives and safety of journalists and activists, including Alexander and Shane. (http://bit.ly/2koyQHe) While Ngo is discussed in this episode at some length, Shane and Alexander contextualize the rise of right-wing media figures like Ngo within the wider media environment. Capitalist and centrist liberal values, as embodied by the most prominent media outlets in the country, often consistently fail to provide proper context to a wide range of events, which in turn leaves room for a sort of “fascist creep” to take place in way these events are discussed and presented to the wider public. Without proper investigative research, prominent media outlets fail to do their part in connecting the dots in the rise of white supremacist violence, whether that be in their coverage of the frequency of racially motivated mass shootings in the United States and abroad, the increasingly visible street violence between antifascists and far-right groups, and rising far-right populism in nations around the world. There is real danger here in the concocted narratives spun by figures like Ngo: without proper vetting by mainstream journalists in their coverage of these events, disingenuous media personalities with far-right tendencies like Ngo are given a pass and even legitimized, giving space for misinformation surrounding antifascist activism to spread. Alexander and Shane discuss this, and much more, in this episode. // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/ross-burley // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast

In this episode, I speak with musician, poet, anthropologist, educator, community organizer and public speaker Lyla June. This discussion with Lyla covers a variety of compelling subjects, including Lyla’s journey of connecting with not only her Indigenous Diné (Navajo) and Tsétsêhéstâhese (Cheyenne) identity and ancestry, but also with her European lineage as well. In connecting with that neglected line, Lyla uncovers and speaks not only to the intergenerational trauma that Indigenous peoples have endured since the colonization of the Americas began, and also to the deep and yet-to-be-reckoned-with trauma European settlers have carried with them to the so-called “New World” (e.g. the Black Death, the enclosure of the Commons, the Witch Hunts, etc.). In addressing this fundamental truth about the underlying trauma that replicates itself up to the present day in Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities alike, solidarity can be forged—potentially serving as a force for healing in our time. Along with this, Lyla also discusses the sacred (and desecrated) roles of the masculine and the feminine within human community, and how our understanding of the nature of these roles (including in the non-binary sense) can allow for another layer of this much needed healing and alignment to take place. We discuss this, and much more, in this discussion. // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/lyla-june // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast

In this episode, I speak with eco-radical and guerrilla ontologist philosopher and writer Julian Langer. In this wide-ranging discussion, we discuss the middle-spaces of social engagement with technology and industrial infrastructure within an eco-pessimist perspective, Julian’s encounters with the climate activist group Extinction Rebellion and the mainstreaming of climate/environmental activism, the “ineffable visceral space” of his encounter with cancer and modern medicine, and maximizing individual freedom within the varying “intensities of capture” of civilized life. // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/julian-langer // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast

In this episode, I speak with culture activist, teacher, author and ceremonialist Stephen Jenkinson. We discuss his most recent performative project Nights of Grief & Mystery, made in collaboration with “song and dance man” Gregory Hoskins—as documented in the recent short film Lost Nation Road, directed by Ian MacKenzie. After watching Ian MacKenzie’s short documentary film Lost Nation Road, I finally began to understand more fully the real spirit and essence of Stephen Jenkinson and Gregory Hoskins’ exquisite and subversive project Nights of Grief & Mystery. By that, I mean the immersive and ritualized nature of this performative act. To describe this act merely as a storytelling/spoken word and musical performance is to reduce the unifying purpose to its individual components. Nights of Grief & Mystery subverts our notions of what performance is and could be in this time of deep trouble, and as Stephen elaborates in this interview, this act taps into something far older than that of theatrical performance—ritual. Ritual engages with the collective, requiring the participation of all involved, which stands in contrast with proper theatrical performance as we often conceive and experience it, which as Stephen expresses, is a disfigurement of ritual, creating an arbitrary division between the “audience” and the “performers.” In subverting our notions of performance, Stephen and Gregory conjure an experience that alludes to the question: In these times of deepening trouble, how do we conduct ourselves? “These are nights in which love letters to life are written and read aloud. There’s some boldness in them. They have that tone. These nights have the mark of our time upon them, and they’re timely, urgent, alert, steeped in mortal mystery. They’re quixotic. They have swagger. What would you call such a thing? We call them Nights of Grief & Mystery.” // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/stephen-jenkinson-2 // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast

In my fourth interview with Truthout staff reporter, climate journalist, and author Dahr Jamail, we discuss some of the most dramatic and recent examples of abrupt climate disruption in recent months, how these accelerating changes are manifesting across human communities and political institutions across the planet, and how these changes are forever altering the natural world as a whole through widespread species displacement, loss, and extinction. // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/dahr-jamail-4 // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast

In this episode, I speak with visionary documentary filmmaker Ian MacKenzie. We discuss his two most recent projects: Love School—an ongoing film project, made in collaboration with John Wolfstone and Julia Maryanska, that explores the revolutionary research village and healing biotope Tamera in Portugal; Ian's recently released short film Lost Nation Road—which follows culture activist and author Stephen Jenkinson and Canadian musician Gregory Hoskins on their unlikely collaboration with the Nights of Grief and Mystery tour. “In the Oak-dotted countryside of Southern Portugal lies the Tamera Healing Biotope, one of Earth’s most radical social experiments in human futurism.” In this discussion with Ian, we discuss his ongoing collaborative project Love School, a film that delves deeply into the revolutionary work the community of Tamera, which aims to build a nonviolent culture through the integration of eros (life force)—by building communities of trust, transparency, and solidarity between genders, reawakening the power of the village in human communities, and offering a pathway toward a regenerative future for all of humanity and the living world. By addressing the underlying alienation, dysfunction, and trauma inherent in the dominant culture’s conditioning of human relationships (with each other, non-human life, and the land) through over forty years of community experimentation, Tamera provides a stunning example of what is most needed in our time of converging global crises. Ian’s shares his personal experiences of how he came to this healing biotope Tamera, and what motivates his desire to spread the message of this ongoing experiment in human healing and relationship with the rest of the world. // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/ian-mackenzie-2 // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast

In this interview, I speak with Natalie Minoshka and Ínaru de la Fuente Díaz. Natalie and Ínaru are on-the-ground activists and citizens of Puerto Rico, and have been active participants in the massive protests that have swept the island for several weeks. Natalie and Ínaru provide some background on the demands of these protests, including what incited them, the historic size and turnout of these demonstrations, and what we can expect in the coming weeks. This interview was recorded Tuesday, July 23rd, two days before Governor Ricardo Rosselló resigned. After nearly 900 pages of private chat logs between Governor Ricardo Rosselló and several members of his administration was leaked to the public in July, the people of Puerto Rico have had one demand for Roselló: resign. The leak of these chat logs has revealed to the world and the citizens of Puerto Rico the truly abhorrent attitudes and blatant corruption the Governor and his administration have engaged in. For nearly two weeks, hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans took to the streets across the island, (with one day of the protests reaching 1.25 million participants, well over a quarter of the island’s population) demanding “Ricky Renuncia.” The leaks were "the straw that broke the back of a territory in the midst of its worst fiscal crisis in recent history, with rampant corruption and the sad weight of the more than 4,000 deaths from causes related to Hurricane María — mainly as a result of government negligence. These victims were the objects of the most obscene joke in the whole transcript.” This interview with Natalie and Ínaru was conducted just two days before Governor Roselló’s decision to resign, and this discussion with them gives us a glimpse into the powerful moment of collective strength the people of this island have demonstrated. Along with this, Natalie and Ínaru discuss what we can hope to expect in the future, as this struggle for the people of this island to overcome gross government corruption and incompetence by forcing Roselló to resign is only the beginning. // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/minoshka-diaz // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast

In this episode, I speak with lawyer and radical environmental activist Will Falk. In this discussion, Will examines the United States legal system, in particular environmental law, and the difficult realities communities around the US continuously face when it comes to protecting natural entities (lakes, rivers, forests, etc.) from ecologically destructive government and corporate projects. As Will elaborates in this interview, the United States legal system is not designed to effectively protect human and non-human communities from ecologically destructive projects. Instead, as Will explains, it exists primarily “to make it near impossible for the citizenry to oppose those projects” through legal means. This assertion can be demonstrated to be true by examining numerous legal cases that have come up in the last several decades in communities around US—perhaps most dramatically by the community of Toledo, Ohio in their efforts to end the proliferation of toxic algae blooms in Lake Erie—the region’s main source of potable water. In response to this environmental crisis, the community organized to have a “Lake Erie Bill of Rights” on the ballot in their local elections. If enacted, the legislation would effectively grant legal rights to a natural entity (Lake Erie), and would work to protect the lake and the residents of Toledo from the destructive impacts of industrial agricultural runoff (which produces toxic algae blooms as a byproduct). As Will explains in detail, this campaign, despite being extremely well organized, well funded, legally and ethically sound, and having gained enough votes in the election, was shut down by the very legal processes that the community of Toledo relied upon for the success of their campaign. This case, unfortunately, is not unique. // Episode notes: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/will-falk-2 // Sustain + support: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness // Donate: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast