Antifascist Dad Podcast – Détails, épisodes et analyse

UofT encampment organizer Sara Rasikh joins me to walk through the inside story of “Occupy for Palestine”—from the first tents at King’s College Circle (May 2, 2024) to the court-ordered dismantling (July 3). We talk logistics, negotiation, care work, spiritual life in the camp, and the personal risks for student spokespeople. I set the scene with “Fascist / Squish / Antifascist” news on Greta Thunberg’s deportation and how liberal institutions police dissent—then close with a “fashy dad” segment on UK PM Keir Starmer and the criminalization of Palestine Action supporters. If you’ve wondered what encampments actually do—politically, ethically, and communally—this is your primer.

Guest
Sara Rasikh (PhD student, University of Toronto). MA in Social Justice Education; HBA in Ethics, Society & Law and in Critical Studies in Equity & Solidarity (UofT).

Listen & Support
• Watch/subscribe: YouTube @antifascistdad
• TikTok: @antifascistdad
• IG: @matthew_Remski
• Part 2 is up now on Patreon: @antifascistdadpodcast (temporarily paywalled)
• Pre-order the book Antifascist Dad: Urgent Conversations with Young People in Chaotic Times (North Atlantic Books, Apr 2026): https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807656/antifascist-dad-by-matthew-remski/

Content notes
State violence; detention; doxxing; police actions; genocide; fasting/starvation; prison abuse (discussion).

References

• UofT encampment—injunction & dismantling (July 2–3, 2024): University’s official notice and Reuters same-day coverage confirm the court order to clear by 6:00 p.m., July 3 and the camp’s removal. Office of the President

• Campus encampment wave scale (May 2024): AP reported rapid spread across Europe and the U.S.; The Chronicle’s tracker packages recap scope and arrests through 2024–25. AP News

• Greta Thunberg—deportation & Athens remarks (Oct 6, 2025): On-the-ground AP and Reuters pieces (plus AP video) document the deportations and her statement at Athens airport. AP News

• Hannibal Directive on Oct 7, 2023: Haaretz investigation (with summary reporting by Al Jazeera) details the order’s use on Oct 7.

• (00:00:00) - Anti-Fascist Dad Podcast: The Encampment for Palestine
• (00:04:03) - Fascists Squish and Anti Fascist News of the Week
• (00:08:38) - Why I Write About The Israel War
• (00:14:56) - Oveoccupy for Palestine: Our demands
• (00:19:35) - The U of T Student Camping
• (00:29:19) - Speakers at the Palestine encampment
• (00:33:32) - Was Your Family Concerned About Your Safety?
• (00:35:34) - Various spiritual practices offered at the Gaza encampment
• (00:38:03) - Food at the Occupy encampment
• (00:40:10) - FASHY DAD: Keir Starmer
• (00:43:00) - The Fight for the Right to Protest

Welcome to the inaugural episode of Antifascist Dad Podcast! Matthew Remski sits down with songwriter Nathan Evans Fox to talk about kinship, Appalachia, and the viral hymn that’s resonating across communities. Nathan shares the roots of his concept of yallidarity—solidarity rooted in labor, joy, food, music, and taking care of one another.

They discuss the myths and realities of Appalachia, the erasure of labor history, and the dangers of “bootstrap” individualism. Nathan tells about his upbringing in fringe charismatic churches, the connections between charismatic Christianity and Trump-style politics, and how faith traditions can nurture resilience—or be co-opted by empire.

Above all, they dig into Nathan’s viral Hillbilly Hymn: why the cops disappear when Jesus returns, why kinship always beats bootstraps, and how to imagine abolitionist futures that don’t erase culture but reorient it toward joy, justice, and care.

Nathan also opens up about generational trauma, his upcoming album Heirloom, and what it means to write a song that takes 35 years to arrive. For young antifascist songwriters, he offers hard-won advice about rooting your creativity in community, accountability, and justice.

Everything Nathan Evans Fox.

Part 2 of this discussion with Nathan up now on Patreon.

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 

Show Notes:

Gaza Sumud flotilla: How Israel breaks international maritime law | Israel-Palestine conflict News | Al Jazeera

Gaza-bound flotilla rejects Israeli claims of Hamas funding | Euronews

Contact Restored with Global Sumud Flotilla after Israeli Interference - Palestine Chronicle

• (00:00:00) - Anti-Fascist Dad Podcast
• (00:02:05) - Antifascist Dad: New Podcast, New Project
• (00:05:22) - Anti-Fascism in Focus: The Global Summud Flotilla
• (00:09:49) - Interview: Nathan Evans Fox
• (00:14:45) - What is "Yallidarity"?
• (00:15:39) - How the Problem of Appalachia Gets Described
• (00:20:31) - Coming Out: Songs About My Religious Background
• (00:26:11) - Trump and Charismatic Christianity
• (00:30:40) - "Why Doesn't Jesus Make You Prove Anything?"
• (00:32:36) - Big Trucks And The Masculinity Tip
• (00:35:29) - Beans and Honey Buns
• (00:36:35) - Jesus Coming Back: Is he a Vegetarian?
• (00:37:52) - "All the Guns Are For Shooting Clays"
• (00:41:15) - Fascist Dad of the Week

Summary
Unlocking Part 2 for y'all. Opening with a reflection on Part 1 (kinship, food, music, “yallidarity”) and then Nathan and I go verse-by-verse through “Hillbilly Hymn.” We talk housework and masculinity, charismatic church roots, incarnation vs. redemptive suffering, why “resurrection > crucifixion” reframes violence, and how meanness and generosity can spring from the same muscle when you’re just trying to get by. I close with a personal meditation on intergenerational trauma, my mother, and why toughness without resentment can still be a form of love.

Guest
Nathan Evans Fox — songwriter, record Heirloom (May release). 

Where to follow / support
• Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/AntifascistDadPodcast
• Follow: YouTube/TikTok @antifascistdad • IG @Matthew_Remski
• Pre-order the book Antifascist Dad: Urgent Conversations with Young People in Chaotic Times (North Atlantic Books, Apr 2026): https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/807656/antifascist-dad-by-matthew-remski/

Content notes
Religious themes; family trauma; addiction; war; grief; light profanity.

• (00:00:08) - Part II
• (00:01:04) - Kinship Appalachia
• (00:07:33) - Heirloom
• (00:14:10) - "White Nationalism" Review
• (00:14:38) - "One Voice" on 'Thank You'
• (00:18:19) - "Oh My..."
• (00:21:05) - Nathan Harris on "Being Mean"
• (00:26:02) - Antifascist Dad: Remembering My
• (00:28:49) - In the Elevator With My Mother

I’m joined by Rev. Angela Denker,  Lutheran minister, journalist, and mom in Minneapolis, as the city groans under intensified ICE activity. We discuss realities on the ground for families and schools, how she talks with her own kids about fear and safety, and why she believes clear, steady adult context matters in a fragmented media world.

As a minister, Denker's visitation and public theology assignments weave pastoral care and sacramental life into public resilience. As a journalist, the core revelation of her book Disciples of White: The Radicalization of American Boyhood, revolves around her framework of “White Jesus” as a cultural product that sanctifies hierarchy, masculinity, and domination. We talk about how that distortion links to the wider ecosystem of white Christian nationalism.

Part 2 now up on Patreon, explores misogyny in the church, antifascist readings of parables, and hard questions about force, nonviolence, and witness.

Notes:

Disciples of White Jesus: The Radicalization of American Boyhood | Broadleaf Books

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 

• (00:00:05) - Mother and Minister in Minneapolis
• (00:15:06) - Lutheran and Catholic clergy: an ecumenical conversation
• (00:18:23) - What Does a Visitation Pastor Do?
• (00:25:15) - White Jesus: The Story of Christian Nationalism
• (00:32:42) - White Jesus and the Right

I'm back with Sarah Jaffray to probe the aesthetics of fascism and the politics of cultural memory. We talk about how fascist movements rely on a triumphalist victim complex that cannot tolerate vulnerability or disability, and how this connects to the Nazi impulse to purify society through the language of degeneracy and the “enemy within.” Of course we also ping Hitler’s own frustrated artistic ambitions and the nineteenth-century “beautiful ruin” vibe, tracing how nostalgia for an imagined past becomes a visual template for authoritarian order.

I close out with a personal coda on writing, mentorship, attention, and rebuilding an inner voice after a personal collapse—through time and cursive.

About — Sarah Jaffray 

You can support the show on Patreon!

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 

Barron, Stephanie, ed. “Degenerate Art”: The Fate of the Avant-Garde in Nazi Germany. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1991.
https://www.getty.edu/publications/virtuallibrary/0892362651.html

Bauhaus-Archiv Museum für Gestaltung. “Bauhaus History 1919–1933.”
https://www.bauhaus.de/en/das_bauhaus/21_history/

Benjamin, Walter. “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.” 1935.
https://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/ge/benjamin.htm

Dixon, Paul. “Uncanny Valley.” Encyclopaedia Britannica.
https://www.britannica.com/science/uncanny-valley

Dix, Otto. “War (Der Krieg), 1929–1932.” Dresden State Art Collections.
https://skd-online-collection.skd.museum/Details/Index/334771

Evans, Richard J. The Coming of the Third Reich. New York: Penguin, 2003.
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/297974/the-coming-of-the-third-reich-by-richard-j-evans/

G...

• (00:09:29) - The Reich's critique of modern art
• (00:16:03) - The Problem With Art History
• (00:23:19) - In the Elevator With Art Historians
• (00:23:54) - Antifascist Art
• (00:27:14) - Advice for Young Writers
• (00:32:48) - How to Rescue Your Inner Voice

Donald Trump casually embraces the word “fascist” in front of Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, and doesn't bat an eye when Mamdani accuses him of funding genocide. This smug absorption of rhetorical confrontation is something we need to think about.  

On the same day Mamdani brought socialism discourse to the Oval Office, the Democratic leadership voted in favour of House Resolution 58, “Denouncing the Horrors of Socialism,” which features Jordan Peterson’s favorite “100 million deaths” talking point from the dodgy stats of 1997's Black Book of Communism.

But guess what? this same week, the province of Kerala, which has be led by democratically-elected communist parties since 1957, declared that it had eradicated extreme poverty for 64K households through an intensive micro-plan program involving helping folks making like than $3/day get good documents, ration cards, travel allowances, health care, house repairs, and palliative nursing. 

And: I'm joined today by trans philosopher and performer Sara Rose Caplan. We explore why trans people drive fascists bananas; fascism as a fear response to freedom and uncertainty; C.T. Nguyen’s idea of “games as existential balm”; the Cassandra feeling of warning about fascism while no one listens; philosophy as “thinking in slow motion”; and why you can’t win arguments with bad-faith actors like Matt Walsh. Part 2 is available now on Patreon.

Sara Rose Caplan is a trans woman, performer, and educator originally from Houston, Texas. She studied philosophy in undergrad before spending a decade in LA as an improv comedian. This fall, she started working on a MA in philosophy at Cal State LA under the mentorship of trans philosopher Talia Mae Bettcher, though she has sadly had to put her studies on hold as she and her wife, also trans, have decided to leave the United States for safer, hopefully less christofascist shores up North.

Sources:

Text - H.Con.Res.58 - 119th Congress (2025-2026): Denouncing the horrors of socialism. 

The Right Can’t Figure Out What to Do With Zohran Mamdani  

Jordan Peterson: The right to be politically incorrect | National Post 

The Black Book of Communism Is a Shoddy Work of History 

How Kerala eliminated extreme poverty | Brookings

Kerala becomes the first state to eradicate extreme poverty | Peoples Democracy

Links from Sara:
https://equalitytexas.org/give/501c3/
https://hcb.hackclub.com/donations/start/lastreetcare
https://www.instagram.com/sararosecaplan

Bluesky: @matthewremski.bsky.social
Instagram: @matthew_remski 
YouTube: Antifascist Dad on YouTube 
TikTok: @antifascistdad

Support the project/instant access to Pt 2.
Patreon: patreon.com/AntifascistDadPodcast 

...

• (00:02:58) - Trump Is Making the F word Okay
• (00:06:33) - House Resolution 58 Denouncing the Horrors of Socialism
• (00:17:54) - Intro: Sara Rose Caplan
• (00:18:39) - Why Do Trans People Drive Fascists bananas?
• (00:27:26) - What Does It Mean to Be Trans in America?
• (00:34:08) - Why I Studied Philosophy
• (00:39:19) - Matt Walsh on Philosophy

In Part 2, David and I go deeper into the contradictions, tensions, and possibilities of the Catholic Church at this political moment. We discuss ideological purity, coalition building, critiques of capitalism, the role of synodality, and how leftists and religious radicals can meet each other in common struggle.

What are the spiritual and emotional dimensions of direct action? What gives people courage to resist? The effort to bring communion to detainees is not a stunt but a deeply rooted pastoral act grounded in human rights, sacramental practice, and a public demonstration of both humility and defiance.

What happens when people of very different beliefs show up at the same protest? What does collaboration look like when disagreements run deep? What happens if coalitions fracture? The right is always ready to fill the vacuum when the left stumbles backwards.

Finally: a diary entry on post (?) religious antifascist parenting.

David's excellent podcast on Liberation Theology

• (00:00:08) - Anti-Fascist Father
• (00:04:02) - The Mass Against ICE Detention
• (00:13:25) - Lazarus and Violence in the Catholic Church
• (00:26:12) - The issues of labor and social justice
• (00:27:01) - A More Joyful Side to Political Action
• (00:31:53) - Pope Francis on Fighting for Christ
• (00:32:39) - The Value of Religion for Our Kids

I posted a short reflection to TikTok last week, and it landed harder than I expected. It’s about the emotional double-life I believe many of us are living: one foot in the adult world of political vigilance and despair, and one foot in the child-world of curiosity, play, and care.

Today I’m expanding that theme and pairing it with another challenge: how suspicion-driven Left analysis shapes our emotional availability, our social trust, and our parenting. How do we balance vigilance with openness? How do we keep our melancholy from becoming our children’s inheritance? And how do we stop feeling like orphans in a world where radical elders have been scattered, suppressed, or lost?

I’d love to hear your experience with this:

• Best way: send me a voice memo on Signal @antifascistdad.71. Try to keep messages under 2 minutes!
• You can also DM me on Bluesky and Instagram, or join me on Patreon @antifascistdadpodcast where my DMs are open.
• I’m also on TikTok and YouTube @antifascistdad.

Preorder link for Antifascist Dad (North Atlantic Books, April 2026)

Just a coupla antifascist Canadian dads having a chat about stuff. 

In this special crossover episode, I join Cory Johnston of the Skeptical Leftist podcast for a  conversation about cult dynamics, fascism, antifascist parenting, masculinity, and how to support kids with empathy in a collapsing world.

We talk about parenting in a political emergency, how to avoid overwhelming kids with adult anxieties, and how to build trust-based conversations about power, policing, misinformation, and existential fear. We get into masculinity, emotional repression, the unpaid labor of women, the politics of care, and how becoming a co-parent radicalized me more deeply than any book ever could.

We also spend time on atheist/religious alliances, liberation theology, body-image capitalism, surviving neoliberal time-pressure, and how to nurture political imagination without drowning in guilt or fatalism.

Our interview on YouTube.

Cory's Linktree.

My book to preorder.

• (00:00:07) - The Skeptical Leftist Podcast
• (00:01:07) - Matthew's Short Bio Rant
• (00:05:03) - On Parenting and the Left
• (00:10:13) - What is Anti-Fascism?
• (00:24:37) - Anti-Fascism & Conspirituality
• (00:29:59) - Democracy on Liberation theology
• (00:41:39) - On Becoming a Parent
• (00:49:04) - What Is Healthy Masculinity?
• (00:59:59) - How Do You Raise Your Kids With Empathetic Awareness?
• (01:08:51) - Emotional maturity and the police
• (01:19:45) - White Privilege and the Problem of Personal Responsibility
• (01:25:32) - Time Management
• (01:33:17) - Where Can People Find Antifascist Dad?

In Part 2 of my conversation with Cy Canterel, we keep digging into how people form identity, belief, and belonging inside the swirl of irony, nihilism, and digital performance that defines so much of contemporary life.

We explore the psychology of online radicalization—what actually pulls people toward fascist aesthetics, what ambivalence can teach us about resistance, and how the very same infrastructures that feed alienation can also host creativity, solidarity, and care.

Also: more on the Graham Platner story as a living case study in fluid online identity: how meaning shifts, how people change, and how communities can choose to interrupt cycles of rage instead of reproducing them.

And an epilogue on taking the 13 year-old to the Toronto Anticapitalist Book Fair in the old Tranzac Club, where I used to hang out more than 30 years ago.

Cy's Website

Cy's Substack: Abstract Machines

• (00:00:07) - A Dare Wrapped In a Joke Wrapped in a Void
• (00:02:49) - The Psychology of Extremist Identity
• (00:05:30) - Noxious Views in the Online Culture
• (00:08:30) - Can You Change Your Own Mind?
• (00:09:57) - The Narrative of Who Is Graham Platner
• (00:12:53) - Do Narratives Promote or Decrease Ambiguity?
• (00:22:40) - The Problem With The Revolutionary Imagination
• (00:25:16) - Cy Cantarel on Being Nihilistic at 14
• (00:29:43) - Anti-capitalist book fair at the Tranzac Club