#300 | Part Three: Plague Days, Fertile Grounds

May we live in interesting times.

The fertile grounds that bred a novel, deadly coronavirus and the misinformation that accompanied its spread is our subject. Over the last year-and-a-half since COVID spilled over, and more specifically, when our collective reaction to it began to reshape every aspect of our lives, I conducted numerous interviews to make sense of this thing. 

Disruptions in the very fragile (and simultaneously resilient)  global economic system, mass death, overburdened healthcare workers, the widespread proliferation of conspiracy theories, fascistic outbursts, mutual aid networks, and the uncomfortable questions that arise, characterize this audio narrative I’ve cobbled together for your listening pleasure.

Timeline:

00:00: Intro

12:12: John Feffer (Globalization)

24:42: Commentary

28:46: Alley Valkyrie (U.S. Cultural Tendencies)

35:13: Commentary

44:32: Jared Yates Sexton (QAnon)

55:58: Commentary

1:01:18: Derek Beres, Julian Walker, & Matthew Remski (Conspirituality)

1:15:18: Commentary

1:20:54: Amy Lou (Healthcare Worker)

1:35:09: Commentary

1:40:25: Shane Burley (Mutual Aid)

1:50:53: Commentary

1:54:45: Duncan Tarr (Prisoner Solidarity)

1:59:16: Commentary

2:05:18: Ja Reyalidad (Authoritarianism)

2:17:13: Commentary

2:20:32: Joe Brewer (Regeneration)

2:43:16: Commentary

2:46:16: Bayo Akomolafe (Hibakusha, Trinitite, Corona)

3:08:37: Outro

VIDEO EPISODE:

#260 | Monstrosity: The Trickster, An Invader, & Fractures Of Messianic Becomings w/ Bayo Akomolafe

Intro: 8:44

In this episode, I speak with Bayo Akomolafe, author of 'These Wilds Beyond Our Fences', Executive Director and Chief Curator for The Emergence Network (A Post-Activist Project), and host of the online writing course, ‘We Will Dance With Mountains: Writing as a Tool for Emergence’. 

We begin by discussing Bayo's recent essay ‘I, Coronavirus. Mother. Monster. Activist.’:

One of the central questions I ask with this essay is: If this is indeed a war, do we really want to win it? What if winning is the worst possible outcome we could imagine? Do we want to come out on top, stamp out this viral enemy, and restore agency to the cold ossified tentacles of the familiar? Are we sure this disruption is not what we want, what we’ve cried for in unvoiced ways? Should we not treat this opening as our grand marronage, our fugitive departure from exhausted cottonfields?

Nothing about this moment is romantic. And we should be careful about smoothening the hard and recalcitrant edges of this phenomenon to fit our ready-made narratives about the so-called deeper meanings of the pandemic. I speak of popularized stories about, say, the Earth’s comeuppance, about the virus being on ‘our’ side against the one-percenters and the boomer generation, about the fall of capitalism or Gaia’s revenge, about the way love always prevails. This isn’t the rise of Nature to correct everything that has been wrong; this isn’t Eywa battling it out with the extractivist corporations. Not exclusively. This virus is not a resource for the factories that produce human intelligibility; it need not surrender to our appeals for everything to make sense. As such, I am very reluctant to offer an overview about what is happening, or to perpetuate those convenient stories because they tend to re-centralize humans as heroes-in-wait (if only we could get our act together, you know). (https://bit.ly/30xaTP3)

Bayo Akomolafe is a husband and father, as well as an international speaker, poet and activist for a radical paradigm shift in consciousness and current ways of living. Bayo is globally recognized for his unconventional, counterintuitive, and indigenous take on global crisis, civic action and social change. He is the Executive Director and Coordinating Curator for The Emergence Network. Through his work with The Emergence Network, “Bayo hopes to inspire a diffractive network of sharing –- a slowing down, an ethics of entanglement, an activism of inquiry, a ‘politics of surprise’… one that does not treat the crises of our times as exterior to ‘us’ or the ‘solutions’ that conventional activism offers as discrete or separate from the problems that we seek to nullify.”

Episode Notes:

- Read Bayo’s essay ‘I, Coronavirus. Mother. Monster. Activist.’: https://bit.ly/30xaTP3

- Learn more about Bayo and his work at his website: http://bayoakomolafe.net

- Learn more about his course ‘We Will Dance With Mountains: Writing as a Tool for Emergence’: http://course.bayoakomolafe.net

- Learn more about The Emergence Network: http://www.emergencenetwork.org

- Purchase his book ‘These Wilds Beyond Our Fences: Letters to My Daughter on Humanity's Search for Home’: http://bit.ly/2EUNVYL

- The song featured in this episode is “Baiji Dolphin” by Felix Rösch: https://youtu.be/XBsGPFzbW8M

#200 | We Live In The Orbit Of Beings Greater Than Us: A Weaving Of Threads

This is episode #200 of Last Born In The Wilderness. This is something of a highlight reel, featuring numerous segments from previous interviews I’ve conducted and released, with commentary on the underlying themes and threads that tie all this work together. This is a beast of an episode (almost four hours in length), so please take your time! 

This episode features segments of discussions with Silvia Federici, Dr. Gerald Horne, Shane Burley, Liyah Babayan, Stephen Jenkinson, Dahr Jamail, William Rees, Dezeray Lyn, Peter Gelderloos, Cory Morningstar, Jasper Bernes, Rhyd Wildermuth, Dr. Karla Tait, Ramon Elani, John Halstead, Charles Eisenstein, Joe Brewer, and Bayo Akomolafe. 

As I stated in the introduction and at the end, I will be taking a break from this project for about three weeks in total. I’ll be back July 22nd with a new episode, and back on schedule with regularly released episodes every week from then on.  

Timeline:

INTRO/ Peter (DROP ME A LINE): https://postpeakmedicine.com / http://www.survivorlibrary.com [4:10]

1/ Silvia Federici (#106 | Caliban And The Witch: The Body In The Transition To Capitalism): http://bit.ly/LBWfederici [13:59]

2/ Dr. Gerald Horne (#120 | This Is America: The Apocalypse Of Settler Colonialism): http://bit.ly/LBWhorne [26:28]

3/ Shane Burley (#181 | The Violent Myth Of White Erasure: Terror In Christchurch): http://bit.ly/LBWburley2 [37:21]

4/ Liyah Babayan (#131 | The Other: Genocide; Life After): http://bit.ly/LBWbabayan [48:47]

5/ Stephen Jenkinson (#134 | Elderhood: Coming Of Age In Troubled Times): http://bit.ly/LBWjenkinson [1:02:07]

6/ TEDxTwinFalls (Forging Connections In Perilous Times): https://youtu.be/nLxrd7_ga60 [1:14:35]

7/ Dahr Jamail (#154 | Another End Of The World Is Possible: Part One): http://bit.ly/LBWjamail1 / https://youtu.be/NrkVn7TQrlA [1:17:45]

8/ William Rees (#125 | Marching Toward Collapse: Biophysical Limits & Our Cognitive Blindspots): http://bit.ly/LBWrees [1:26:10]

9/ Dezeray Lyn (#161 | Solidarity Not Charity: Mutual Aid Disaster Relief; A Factor Of Evolution): http://bit.ly/LBWmadr [1:45:12]

10/ Peter Gelderloos (#166 | How Nonviolence Protects The State: An Analysis Of Early State Formation): http://bit.ly/LBWgelderloos [1:55:08]

11/ Cory Morningstar (#188 | For Your Consent: Climate Activism & The Financialization Of Nature): http://bit.ly/LBWcorymorningstar [2:05:10]

12/ Jasper Bernes (#198 | Sacrifice Zones: Between The Devil & The Green New Deal): http://bit.ly/LBWbernes [2:16:40]

13/ Rhyd Wildermuth (#197 | All That Is Sacred Is Profaned: Marxism, Paganism, & History As Process): http://bit.ly/LBWwildermuth [2:26:35]

14/ Dahr Jamail (#171 | The End Of Ice: Bearing Witness In The Path Of Climate Disruption w/ [RS]): http://bit.ly/LBWjamail / https://youtu.be/qiFuMwQ4oAw [2:32:58]

15/ Dr. Karla Tait (#169 | Heal The Land, Heal The People: The Unist'ot'en Healing Center): http://bit.ly/LBWtait [2:45:35]

16/ Ramon Elani (#185 | The Gods Have Fled: The Home As A Site Of Defiance Against Modernity): http://bit.ly/LBWelani [2:55:36]

17/ John Halstead (#148 | The Dying God: Learning To Die In The Anthropocene): http://bit.ly/LBWhalstead [3:04:28]

18/ Charles Eisenstein (#141 | Initiation: A New Story Of Climate): http://bit.ly/LBWeisenstein [3:17:16]

19/ Joe Brewer (#193 | Invisible, Sacred Work: The Management Of Planetary Collapse): http://bit.ly/LBWbrewer2 [3:27:23]

20/ Bayo Akomolafe (#179 | We Will Not Arrive Intact: The Times Are Urgent, Let's Slow Down): http://bit.ly/LBWakomolafe [3:33:33]

OUTRO/ The song featured is “Listening Piece 1” composed by Scott Farkas (used with permission): https://youtu.be/tBvMrqmHMVk [3:42:30]

---

Video Version:

Timeline:

INTRO/ Peter (DROP ME A LINE): https://postpeakmedicine.com / http://www.survivorlibrary.com [4:10]

1/ Silvia Federici (#106 | Caliban And The Witch: The Body In The Transition To Capitalism): http://bit.ly/LBWfederici [13:59]

2/ Dr. Gerald Horne (#120 | This Is America: The Apocalypse Of Settler Colonialism): http://bit.ly/LBWhorne [26:29]

3/ Shane Burley (#181 | The Violent Myth Of White Erasure: Terror In Christchurch): http://bit.ly/LBWburley2 [37:24]

4/ Liyah Babayan (#131 | The Other: Genocide; Life After): http://bit.ly/LBWbabayan [48:50]

5/ Stephen Jenkinson (#134 | Elderhood: Coming Of Age In Troubled Times): http://bit.ly/LBWjenkinson [1:02:10]

6/ TEDxTwinFalls (Forging Connections In Perilous Times): https://youtu.be/nLxrd7_ga60 [1:14:39]

7/ Dahr Jamail (#154 | Another End Of The World Is Possible: Part One): http://bit.ly/LBWjamail1 / https://youtu.be/NrkVn7TQrlA [1:17:50]

8/ William Rees (#125 | Marching Toward Collapse: Biophysical Limits & Our Cognitive Blindspots): http://bit.ly/LBWrees [1:26:15]

9/ Dezeray Lyn (#161 | Solidarity Not Charity: Mutual Aid Disaster Relief; A Factor Of Evolution): http://bit.ly/LBWmadr [1:45:18]

10/ Peter Gelderloos (#166 | How Nonviolence Protects The State: An Analysis Of Early State Formation): http://bit.ly/LBWgelderloos [1:55:15]

11/ Cory Morningstar (#188 | For Your Consent: Climate Activism & The Financialization Of Nature): http://bit.ly/LBWcorymorningstar [2:05:16]

12/ Jasper Bernes (#198 | Sacrifice Zones: Between The Devil & The Green New Deal): http://bit.ly/LBWbernes [2:16:48]

13/ Rhyd Wildermuth (#197 | All That Is Sacred Is Profaned: Marxism, Paganism, & History As Process): http://bit.ly/LBWwildermuth [2:26:43]

14/ Dahr Jamail (#171 | The End Of Ice: Bearing Witness In The Path Of Climate Disruption w/ [RS]): http://bit.ly/LBWjamail / https://youtu.be/qiFuMwQ4oAw [2:33:06]

15/ Dr. Karla Tait (#169 | Heal The Land, Heal The People: The Unist'ot'en Healing Center): http://bit.ly/LBWtait [2:45:44]

16/ Ramon Elani (#185 | The Gods Have Fled: The Home As A Site Of Defiance Against Modernity): http://bit.ly/LBWelani [2:55:47]

17/ John Halstead (#148 | The Dying God: Learning To Die In The Anthropocene): http://bit.ly/LBWhalstead [3:04:39]

18/ Charles Eisenstein (#141 | Initiation: A New Story Of Climate): http://bit.ly/LBWeisenstein [3:17:27]

19/ Joe Brewer (#193 | Invisible, Sacred Work: The Management Of Planetary Collapse): http://bit.ly/LBWbrewer2 [3:27:35]

20/ Bayo Akomolafe (#179 | We Will Not Arrive Intact: The Times Are Urgent, Let's Slow Down): http://bit.ly/LBWakomolafe [3:33:45]

OUTRO/ The song featured is “Listening Piece 1” composed by Scott Farkas (used with permission): https://youtu.be/tBvMrqmHMVk [3:42:44]

#179 | We Will Not Arrive Intact: The Times Are Urgent, Let's Slow Down w/ Bayo Akomolafe

In this episode, I speak with Bayo Akomolafe — lecturer, activist, and the author of ‘These Wilds Beyond our Fences: Letters to my Daughter on Humanity’s Search for Home.' We pick up where we left off from when we last spoke over one year ago, and get into some of the overlying (and underlying) themes of his work, which includes a radical reshaping of the understandable, but often unexamined, sense of urgency we feel in a time of accelerating change and ecological collapse as we fully enter into the Anthropocene, "the human epoch."

The times are urgent, let’s slow down. I ask Bayo to elaborate on the deeper currents that run through his activism and writing, including what it means to “slow down” in a time of accelerating change and the catastrophic unraveling of the biosphere as we enter into the “the human epoch.” The Western encultured mind grasps for meaning, direct purpose, in order to “figure it all out” in the face of this global unraveling, as if we are clever enough to escape the planet we have molded in our image (impoverished, depleted, traumatized, ruined). The human being, within our current paradigm, is grasping for meaning in all this (this certainly includes myself). As Bayo elaborates in so much of his work, and in his recent essay ‘Coming Into The Sanctuary’ “[w]e cannot practice escape any longer — if we are to survive. We cannot cleanse ourselves of our sins or hope for the parting of the clouds to bring a convenient saviour. [W]e must now gesture toward hopes and worlds beyond modern imaginaries. Beyond humans. Beyond the intelligible. Beyond our usual ways of making sense. [W]e must go to the edges, toward the hedgerows teeming with hagodays and gargoyles and stuttered beings, and learn to [witness] with-ness the world we once banished to the peripheries of significance.”* We explore these questions and much more in this wide-ranging conversation.

Bayo Akomolafe is a husband and father, as well as an international speaker, poet and activist for a radical paradigm shift in consciousness and current ways of living. Bayo is globally recognized for his unconventional, counterintuitive, and indigenous take on global crisis, civic action and social change. He is the Executive Director and Coordinating Curator for The Emergence Network. Through his work with The Emergence Network, “Bayo hopes to inspire a diffractive network of sharing –- a slowing down, an ethics of entanglement, an activism of inquiry, a ‘politics of surprise’… one that does not treat the crises of our times as exterior to ‘us’ or the ‘solutions’ that conventional activism offers as discrete or separate from the problems that we seek to nullify.”**

*Source: http://bit.ly/2Tor3tz

**Source: http://bit.ly/BayoAbout

Episode Notes:

- Learn more about Bayo and his work at his website: http://bayoakomolafe.net

- Read his recent essay ‘Coming Into The Sanctuary,” quoted above and in the introduction to this episode: http://bit.ly/2Tor3tz

- Learn more about The Emergence Network: http://www.emergencenetwork.org

- Purchase Bayo’s book ‘These Wilds Beyond Our Fences: Letters to My Daughter on Humanity's Search for Home’: http://bit.ly/2EUNVYL

- The songs featured in this episode are “Sound & Color” and “This Feeling” by Alabama Shakes from the album Sounds & Color.

#89 | Unraveling Whiteness; Reckoning With Ghosts w/ Bayo Akomolafe

Bayo Akomolafe is a researcher, lecturer and author, born and raised in Nigeria. He is an international speaker, poet and activist for a radical paradigm shift in consciousness and current ways of living. Bayo is globally recognized for his poetic, unconventional, counterintuitive, and indigenous take on global crisis, civic action and social change.

Bayo was kind enough to discuss some of the themes raised in his essay,  "Homo Icarus: The Depreciating Value of Whiteness and the Place of Healing." The essay attempts to discuss a few difficult topics, triggered, in part, by the events in Charlottesville during the "Unite The Right" rally this year, which highlighted some of the more vile and racist elements of American culture, bringing these issues to the forefront of America's collective consciousness. While we can understand what happened there in a sociological and objective sense, I feel that the discussion surrounding this event often lacks nuance and clarity. Too often I have found myself using language and phrases, within a particular ideological framework, that lacks depth and understanding, and I especially found this to be the case in what I observed in "the national dialogue" regarding race and race relations in this country.

Bayo is able, as a remarkably humble and articulate human being of Nigerian descent, to provide a unique and necessary perceptive on the current events we are experiencing, not only in America, but globally.  As a species, we are going through what can be described as "The Space Between Stories" or a period of Great Unknowing. This experience of Unknowing isn't a bad or terrible thing, in and of itself, but is entirely necessary. Much of the stories that we have been telling ourselves throughout these past centuries are ultimately false and based on false understandings of ourselves. It is through entering this space between stories that we can begin to really reflect on the wounds that have been wrought through centuries of colonialism and institutionalized racism, which ultimately this nation, America, was founded on. Of course, this is a reduction, but you get what I'm pointing to with this. It is during this time of great calamity that we are open to listening to the wise ones among us, that attempt to fix our gaze on what we have collectively ignored or simply didn't know existed at all.

[I would also like to note that with this particular episode, I had edit out a few segments.  I had to do this because there where some technical issues. Bayo spoke with me from his home in India, so at some points during the recording of this conversation with him, it became difficult to make out what he was saying. I regret that I had to do this, but overall I think the quality of the call was good enough for me to publish the bulk of it as an episode. So, you might notice a few of these jumps in the discussion, as a result of edits I have made.]

Episode Notes:

- Please go to Bayo's website to find everything you need to know about his work: http://bayoakomolafe.net

- Purchase Bayo's wonderful book "These Wilds Beyond Our Fences: Letters to My Daughter on Humanity's Search for Home" at your local bookstore, or online: https://goo.gl/vY63ar

- Read Bayo's essay "Homo Icarus: The Depreciating Value of Whiteness and the Place of Healing" mentioned in this episode: https://goo.gl/sGCNDE

- The music featured in this episode: "My Prayer" and "Enchanted" by The Platters