This episode of The Dig is brought to you by our supporters on Patreon and by Verso Books, which has loads of great left-wing titles, perfect for dig listeners like you.

One that you might like is tear gas,

from the battlefields of World War I to the streets of today

by Anne Figenbaum.

100 years ago, French troops fired tear gas grenades into German trenches.

Designed to force people out from behind barricades and trenches,

tear gas causes burning of theades and trenches.

Tiergas causes burning of the eyes and skin,

tearing and gagging.

Chemical weapons are now banned from war zones.

But today, Tiergas has become the most commonly used form of less lethal police force.

In 2011, the year that protest exploded from the Arab Spring to Occupy Wall Street, tear gas sales tripled.

Most tear gas is produced in the United States,

and many images of protesters in Tahrir Square show tear gas canisters with Made in USA printed on them.

Meanwhile, Britain continues to sell tear gas to countries on its own human rights blacklist.

An engrossing century spanning narrative, tear gas, is the first history of this weapon, and

takes us from military labs and chemical weapons expos to union

assemblies in protest camps drawing on declassified reports and witness

testimonies to show how policing with poison came to be.

Tiergas from the battlefields of World War I

to the streets of today by Anne Figenbaum. Out now from Jacobin magazine. My name is Daniel Denver and

I'm broadcasting from Providence, Rhode Island.

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