For episode 208, Elia and Dana talk about Zahrani Mamdani’s victory and what it could mean for all of us.

What we got into, in no particular order:

• Dana seeing Mamdani win as a Muslim-American (and Arab/Palestinian) who grew up in the aftermath of 9/11 / Mamdani’s Arabic-language campaign video (in Syrian Arabic – thank you Rama – except when talking to the cat, when he switched to Egyptian Arabic for some reason) and him saying أنا منكم واليكم at his victory speech
• Elia seeing Mamdani win as an Arab who’s never been to New York City but still felt the impact of the War on Terror growing up in Lebanon
• Both Elia and Dana being Mamdani’s age and how that’s f-ed up
• How Mamdani navigated questions about Israel / why we need to be better at making the our opponents face their own contradictions instead of falling in their trap
• The Far Right is not inevitable. It can be stopped. Billionaires are not inevitable. They can be stopped.
• Parallels to the UK with Zack Polanski and the rise of the Green Party

Elia’s Links

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Contact: To collaborate, reach out on ayoub@thefirethesetimes.com / Signal @ Ayoub.02

The Fire These Times

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Social Media: TFTT is on Bluesky and Instagram.⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠

Transcription: You can help ⁠Antidote Zine⁠ transcribe TFTT episodes here.

Recent Articles

• ShadoMag: ⁠The Belfast pogrom was predictable⁠
• 972Mag: ⁠Lebanon walks into Israel’s trap⁠

Recent Interviews

• It Could Happen Here: ⁠The Media Context for the Belfast Pogrom⁠
• It Could Happen Here: Israel’s Attack on Lebanon
• Crimethinc: “History Is Repeating Itself”
• The Final Straw podcast: The US-Israeli War with Iran Spreads, Nuclear Weapons, Lebanon and Anti-Imperial Solidarity
• The Dugout podcast: Honoring Political Ghosts
• The Breakup Theory podcast: Episode 31 – Iran and the US-Israeli Death Drive Economy

Highlighted Hauntologies articles

• Report from Belfast. Day 1.⁠ (July 2026)
• The Lie I Tell Myself When Covering Israel (April 2026)
• Israel’s Lebanese Ghosts (March 2026)
• This moment (January 2025)
• Iranian protesters don’t owe us an explanation (February 2026)
• How Hezbollah lost everything (January 2026)
• Notes on Assadism, Zionism, Fascism and Hope (August 2025)

From The Periphery

TFTT is a proud member of ⁠From The Periphery Media Collective⁠⁠, which you can support on Patreon and follow on Bluesky⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ and⁠ Instagram.

Check out other projects: Politically Depressed⁠ | Syria: The Inconvenient Revolution | From The Periphery Podcast | The Mutual Aid Podcast⁠

Mentions 

• Mamdani Created a Left-Liberal Coalition on Israel/Palestine by Peter Beinart
• The Far Right is Not Inevitable | The Fire These Times with Aurelien Mondon (ep. 163)

Credits:

Dana El Kurd (host), Elia Ayoub (host, producer, episode design), ⁠⁠Rap and Revenge⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (Music), ⁠⁠Wenyi Geng⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (TFTT theme design), ⁠⁠Hisham Rifai⁠⁠⁠⁠ (FTP theme design) and ⁠⁠Molly Crabapple⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (FTP team profile pics)