Paul db Watkins

Catch Ep 444 of #TheAuthorityFile podcast
In this episode, Paul db Watkins, Prof of English at Vancouver Island U & author of Soundin’ Canaan: Black #Canadian Poetry, Music, and Citizenship, discusses the themes of his book ow.ly/vGw150X9qlO @wlupress.bsky.social #Poetry @paulwatkins.bsky.social

“The truth and reconciliation committees are coming. The land acknowledgements are coming. The very sorry descendants are coming.”

This is a professor at Rutgers who teaches a class on the history of anti-fascism. He also teaches about human rights. He has received multiple death threats and been doxed. He is relocating to Europe for his safety. This is where we are in the US now. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

NEW: Extraordinary scenes in Amsterdam this afternoon (Sunday, Oct 5).

An estimated 250,000 bring the city to a standstill; people all wearing red to show solidarity with Palestine 🇵🇸

(🎥 Ahmed Zantac)

24/7 LIVESTREAM OF GLOBAL SUMUD FLOTILLA YouTube video by Global Sumud Flotilla

Global Sumud Flotilla is live as Israel threatens to stop them from breaking the starvation siege of Gaza.

A reminder that they are not entering Israeli waters, but Palestinian waters.

Israel intends to violate international law once again.

www.youtube.com/live/uEN2bWF...

Rest in Power, Jane Goodall. Photo from 2019.

Upcoming readings! ✊🍉

UC Berkeley shares 160 names with Trump administration in ‘McCarthy era’ move Prominent professor Judith Butler among students and faculty investigated for ‘alleged antisemitic incidents’

This is wild.

Q&A with Paul db Watkins Paul db Watkins is a professor of English at VIU. He is also a research team member with the International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation (IICSI). He has published widely on multic…

I enjoyed the generative questions I received for this interview: victoriafestivalofauthors.ca/2025/09/08/q...

Graham Greene in Dances with Wolves

Graham Greene in Maverick

Graham Greene in The Last of Us

Graham Greene in Marvel’s Echo

RIP Graham Greene. Every time he popped up on screen when I was a kid, my mom would excitedly point him out for being an actual Native on the screen. Able to be deadly serious and infinitely hilarious (even in smaller roles like Last of Us), he ate up the screen. Nʌki’wah brother.

Gaza and the CBC: The Public Broadcaster Betrays Its Mandate The CBC has consistently failed to provide accurate coverage of Israel’s assault on Gaza, withholding crucial information that could motivate Canadians to take action. As a public broadcaster, it shou...

A really interesting (and disturbing) read.

As O’Connor/Sadaqat wrote: “And if there ever is gonna be healing / There has to be remembering and then grieving / So that there then can be forgiving / There has to be knowledge and understanding.”

May we all carry Sadaqat’s courage to speak out. But more than that, may there be a ceasefire. May peace—lasting and just—still be possible. #freepalestine

The UN reports that one-third of people go multiple days without food—and where over 1,000 have been killed by Israeli forces while seeking aid.

Even more alarming: 85% of the population is now in the “fifth stage” of malnutrition—often irreversible, even if food becomes available.

“Famine” draws a direct line between patriarchal power structures, colonialism, and the British starvation of the Irish. A fierce advocate for Palestine, Sadaqat would be appalled by the inhumanity of the current “famine” [Genocide] in Gaza.

Shuhada’ Sadaqat (Sinéad O’Connor) left this world on this day in 2023. Her music and legacy remain a powerful testament of speaking truth to power. Today I’m spinning 𝕌𝕟𝕚𝕧𝕖𝕣𝕤𝕒𝕝 𝕄𝕠𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕣 (1994), which includes the devastating “Famine.”

“‘In Brand’s work, the political cannot be separated from the aesthetic,’ the scholar Saidiya Hartman, a friend of Brand’s, explained to me … Brand probes our habits of arrangement, and rejects the customary conflation between dominance and rightness.”

I love trains, so travelling through Japan by rail was delightful. I want to go back already.

Pope condemns ‘barbarity’ of Israel’s war in Gaza After pontiff calls for peace, Gaza’s health ministry says 73 Palestinians waiting for aid have been killed Pope Leo XIV has condemned the “barbarity” of the war in Gaza and the “indiscriminate use of force” as Gaza’s health ministry said at least 73 Palestinians had been killed queueing for food. The Hamas-run ministry said on Sunday that the victims had been killed in different locations, mostly in northern Gaza. Continue reading...

Pope condemns ‘barbarity’ of Israel’s war in Gaza

85% of Gaza’s population have entered the "fifth stage" of malnutrition — the most critical and dangerous phase, which is often irreversible even if food becomes available in the future.

I think this is the most horrifying post I have ever read.

Happy to share this great review of Soundin’ Canaan in The Malahat Review: "Soundin’ Canaan is a wholly moving creation. This is what committed scholarship and critical artistry can be: meditative, far-reaching, humming, love-centred:" @wlupress.bsky.social Review: soundincanaan.com/wp-content/u...

Audible unveils plans to use AI voices to narrate audiobooks Amazon brand will offer more than 100 artificial intelligence-generated voices in English and other languages

Fuck this, absolutely fuck this, everyone who loves audiobooks loves their favourite narrators because they are great at their jobs and interpreting the author's words and they make the experience what it is www.theguardian.com/books/2025/m...

👏

Looks like he’ll be perceived as another “woke” Pope. Although really this is just the basic level of human compassion that should be required for such a role.

I’m honored to receive the Pulitzer Prize today. I dedicate this success to my family, friends, teachers, and students in Gaza.
I’m praying for an immediate and permanent ceasefire and justice.
🍓🍓🍓🍓

Alberta First Nations issue cease and desist order against Danielle Smith's attempt to create a national unity crisis. Alberta is on treaty lands.
Those treaties were signed 30 years before Alberta became a province.

Also, it took just two minutes. Try to go early before it gets busier if you can.

VOTED!

Fellow Canadians, make sure you vote today — let’s keep MAGA and hate out of Canada.

I believe the world is for everyone, disharmonies and all. Our world can be for more than borders, military, colonization, geno**de and ethnic cleansing, commodification, private prisons, extraction, monopolies, slavery, white supremacy, and fascism. It can be beautiful.