This is a conversation with Dana El-Kurd, her second time on the podcast. We spoke about a paper that she wrote entitled “Gateway to dissent: the role of pro-Palestine activism in opposition to authoritarianism.”

We primarily spoke about the role of pro-Palestine activism in pro-democracy movements in the Arab world (with examples from Qatar, Lebanon, Egypt, Syria, Bahrain, the UAE and Saudi Arabia) and also about how pro-Palestine discourse is used to whitewash authoritarianism.

The Fire These Times is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Anchor, Breaker, Amazon Music, Audible, Stitcher, Radio Public, Pocket Casts, Castro and RSS.

Recommended Books:

• عزمي بشارة – المجتمع المدني
• Joyful Militancy: Building Thriving Resistance in Toxic Times (Anarchist Interventions) by Carla Bergman and Nick Montgomery
• Queer Palestine and the Empire of Critique by Sa’ed Atshan
• Contested Modernity: Sectarianism, Nationalism, and Colonialism in Bahrain by Omar Al-Shehabi

Artwork by Sara Qaed.