When you think of a protest, one that fills the streets, do you remember the sounds you heard? Visually striking images of protests are an important way to communicate information. Yet, the sounds of protest can also resonate long after the streets are empty.

Maybe you can recall the chants “No Justice No Peace” or “I Can’t Breathe.” For me, I can still hear the theatre shaking from feet stomping after a speech by a brown queer rights activist. I can remember the sounds of Toronto police horses clopping on concrete during the 1992 protest against police brutality.

Everyday sounds are important too. The normal sounds of a Saturday: music from a fruit stall, neighbours yelling “hey” to each other, the clattering of the Q train in Brooklyn. These sounds can define a neighbourhood. And if we don’t pay attention to them, as life changes, sounds can disappear.

In today’s episode of Don’t Call Me Resilient, I speak with two people involved in sound studies. They believe sound is an element of resistance and they explain why — in our hyper-visualized age of Instagram-perfect photos — sound is so compelling and why soundscapes can help to amplify voices of resistance.

Nimalan Yoganathan is a PhD candidate at Concordia University. He studies protest tactics and he looks at how different sound practitioners have contributed to anti-racist movements. We also speak with Norman W. Long, a born-and-raised resident of the south side of Chicago. Norman is a sound artist, designer and composer who works to document and record the everyday reality of his community. He has graduate degrees in landscape architecture from Cornell University and in fine arts from the San Francisco Art Institute.

Both our guests talk about how important it is to listen to the sounds around us as a way to critically engage with our communities, to help bridge our deep divides and to pay attention to the forces of power in our environment. They say anyone can learn to listen deeply, even children.

As Long invites both insiders and outsiders to listen on guided soundwalks of his community, he starts with a short breathing exercise. He said:

“The practise of breathing brought me back to COVID-19 and the murder of George Floyd… When we breathe, we are mindful of our mind-body connection, our connection to each other and our connection to those who cannot breathe. We can breathe for them and listen to the street, the noises and disruptions, and join in the chorus that demands justice for Black and brown people all over the world.”

I encourage you to listen in and follow along on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to your favourite podcasts.

Also today:

• Why Uber drivers aren’t unionizing in Québec
• Discrimination can make smaller communities unappealing to immigrants, racialized and Indigenous people
• Alleged political interference in the N.S. mass shootings means the RCMP must be restructured
• Wolf culls change hunting habits and help caribou conservation
• Compassion in health care reduces health inequality for 2SLGBTQ+ people

All the best.