One thing you’ll get from this episode – and from reading Abdelrahman’s memoir Huna: A Memoir of Revolution, Prison, and Becoming recounting his six years in Sisi’s nightmarish prisons in Egypt – is a lot of empathy, not just towards what he went through, what others like Ayman Moussa – who was 19 when arrested in 2013 and is still serving a 15-year sentence – are still going through, but the sense that Abdelrahman himself remains empathetic, and dare I say hopeful. I was really struck by not only how eloquent he is, but how he’s able to navigate extremely difficult topics that must still haunt him with dignity. You’ll see what I mean in this episode.This includes a reading of Huna by Abdelrahman himself.This is part of a two-parter on the Egyptian dictatorship led by Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. Check out Imprisoning a Revolution: Writings from Egypt's Incarcerated by Collective Antigone with a forward by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o.Abdelrahman's Recs:The Undercommons: Fugitive Planning & Black Study by Fred Moten and Stefano HarneyPoetics of Relation by Édouard GlissantFrom the Clinic to the Streets: Psychoanalysis for Revolutionary Futures by Lara SheehiAdmin: You can still register for my November class, the 5th and last class on modern Lebanese history and politics before I take a long break from it all. If you’ve ever wanted to learn more about Lebanon and why it matters so much to today’s geopolitical nightmare, I think you’ll benefit from taking this class. For non-Patreons, I wanna make the case for joining the Patreon of TFTT at Patreon.com/thefirethesetimesNot only do you get early access to everything I do as well as other perks such as the monthly hangouts and exclusive video interviews, but you only need to commit to the first year. It’s cheaper to subscribe on a yearly basis anyway, but I understand that not everyone can commit for longer than that. If that’s you, please know that you can continue being on the Patreon for free after that initial year. Just message me closer to the date and I’ll send you a free invite. That initial support is, I’m hoping, enough for me to make this project financially sustainable, and I’m grateful for the 200 or so listeners who currently support TFTT on Patreon. Just a note: If you have an iPhone, I recommend subscribing from a browser instead of your Patreon application as it’s less expensive for you to do so since Apple decided it can rip people off through the Patreon app.Newsletter: Subscribe to HauntologiesSocial Media: I'm on Bluesky and Instagram.Contact: To collaborate, reach out on ayoub@thefirethesetimes.com / Signal @ Ayoub.02Credit: Elia Ayoub (host, sound editor, episode design), israa' (host), the rosa artist (TFTT theme design, 2026-), Rap and Revenge⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (Music), ⁠⁠⁠Wenyi Geng⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (TFTT theme design, 2022-2026),⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Hisham Rifai⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (FTP theme design),⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Molly Crabapple⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (FTP team profile pics) and ⁠⁠⁠Antidote Zine⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (Transcriptions).