Author: Joey Ayoub
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Podcast: Overcoming the Trauma of Caste w/ Thenmozhi Soundararajan, Rhythima Shinde and Vivek Ramachandran
This is a conversation with Thenmozhi Soundararajan, the author of ‘The Trauma of Caste: A Dalit Feminist Meditation on Survivorship, Healing and Abolution’.
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Podcast: Let’s Talk About Youth Autonomy w/ carla joy bergman
This is a conversation with carla joy bergman, the editor of the excellent book “Trust Kids!: Stories on Youth Autonomy and Confronting Adult Supremacy” and co-author of the equally excellent book “Joyful Militancy: Building Thriving Resistance in Toxic Times“, both published by AK Press. She’s also the co-host of the Grounded Futures podcast alongside her…
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Podcast: Commoning in Lebanon’s Palestinian Refugee Camps w/ Yafa El Masri
This is a conversation with Yafa El Masri, a Palestinian refugee researcher who grew up in Burj El Barajneh in Beirut, Lebanon. She’s currently finishing her PhD at the University of Padova in Italy. We primarily spoke about her paper “72 Years of Homemaking in Waiting Zones: Lebanon’s “Permanently Temporary” Palestinian Refugee Camps” which she…
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Podcast: Armenian-ness and Solidarity in a Changing World w/ Karena Avedissian and Anna
This is a conversation with Karena Avedissian and Anna, and a collaboration with their podcast Obscuristan. We spoke about so many things I actually don’t yet know what the episode title will be. The main thread was about Armenian-ness and how complicated of an identity it is due to the old and transnational history of…
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Podcast: The Meaning of Time in Prison w/ Morgan Godvin and Molly Hagan
This is a conversation with Morgan Govin and Molly Hagan. This is how Morgan introduces herself on her website: “I spent five years addicted to heroin and four years incarcerated as a direct result of my addiction. I lost my mom and four close friends to overdose. I found a system of injustice within the…
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Podcast: The Islamic Regime of Iran Will Fall w/ Kiana and Vicky
This is a conversation with two Iranian activists, both of whom will remain anonymous for obvious reasons. ‘Vicky’ joined us from Tehran, and Kiana from Manchester. We talked about the recent Iranian uprising following the murder of Jina ‘Mahsa’ Amini and why ‘reforming’ the regime cannot work. We spoke about the strikes, the clear gendered…
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Podcast: Against Multipolar Imperialism: An Internationalist Response w/ Kavita Krishnan, Promise Li and Romeo Kokriatski
I’m excited to share with you my convo with Kavita Krishnan, Promise Li and Romeo Kokriatski on why the idea of multipolarity needs to be understood & critiqued, and why the left cannot abandon anti-authoritarianism and internationalism. You can find the episode wherever you listen to podcasts. Kavita Krishnan is an Indian Marxist and Feminist…
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Premium Episode 1: Watching Seinfeld as Arab Millennials w/ Ayman Makarem
This is the first ever premium episode on The Fire These Times, part of the drive to get more supporters to make this project more long-term. In which I talk about Seinfeld with fellow Arab millennial and writer (and previous guest of the podcast) Ayman Makarem. It’s that simple! What made that sitcom so special…
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Podcast: The Memory We Could Be: Fear and Our Ecological Future w/ Daniel Macmillen Voskoboynik
Daniel Macmillen Voskoboynik is the Argentinian author of The Memory We Could Be: Overcoming Fear to Create Our Ecological Future and amongst the most fascinating thinkers I know. He’s also a good friend. We spoke about reckoning with past ecological violence of, bio-cultural memory and our collective ecological heritage. Basically, why we need to mix…
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Podcast: Understanding (Anti-)Fascism w/ Shane Burley
This is an episode with writer and filmmaker Shane Burley, editor of the must-read book published by AK Press: “No Pasarán! Antifascist Dispatches from a World in Crisis.” It is an anthology of antifascist writing that takes up the fight against white supremacy and the far-right from multiple angles. From the history of antifascism to today’s…
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Podcast: Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations, a Star Trek episode w/ Jessie Gender
Jessie Gender joins us to talk Star Trek, diversity, autism, LGBTQ representation and futurisms.
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Podcast: Hauntings, Futurisms and the Present Movement w/ Luka Dowell aka Solarpunk Now!
Solarpunk Now! host Luka Dowell joins Joey Ayoub to talk about Hauntings, Futurisms, and Solarpunk.
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Podcast: In Search of Afro-Solarpunk w/ Rob Cameron
This is a conversation with Rob Cameron, a teacher, linguist, and writer on the search for Afro-Solarpunk. He has poetry forthcoming in Star*Line Poetry Magazine and The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. His essays and short fiction have appeared in Foreign Policy Magazine, Tor.com, the New Modality, and Clockwork Phoenix Five. His debut middle…
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Podcast: Special 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar Retrospective
Stadio co-host Musa Okwonga, football and MENA journalist Justin Salhani and human rights researcher Fabien Goa join Joey Ayoub to talk about the 2022 FIFA World Cup and how to make football radical The Fire These Times is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Anchor, Breaker, Amazon Music, Audible, Stitcher, Radio Public, Pocket Casts,…
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Podcast: Solarpunk and Post-Capitalist Desires w/ HydroponicTrash
This is a conversation with hacker, gardener and writer Andre, aka HydroponicTrash. You can also find Andre on Substack at AnarchoSolarpunk. The title is taken from one of Andre’s essays. You can listen to it on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Anchor, Breaker, Amazon Music, Audible, Stitcher, Radio Public, Pocket Casts, Castro and RSS. Andrew…
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Podcast: Russian Imperialism, Cynical Discourse and Life Amidst War w/ Mariam Naiem & Romeo Kokriatski
This is a conversation with Ukrainian-Afghan researcher Mariam Naiem and Ukrainian-American journalist Romeo Kokriatski about the ongoing situation in Ukraine, the history of Russian imperialism, cynical online discourse and life amidst war. You can listen to it on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Anchor, Breaker, Amazon Music, Audible, Stitcher, Radio Public, Pocket Casts, Castro and…
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Podcast: Lessons on the Path to Radicalization w/ Andrewism & Emmi Bevensee
This is a conversation with Andrew Sage of the Andrewism YouTube channel and Emmi Bevensee about our respective lessons on the path to political radicalization. You can listen to it on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Anchor, Breaker, Amazon Music, Audible, Stitcher, Radio Public, Pocket Casts, Castro and RSS. Make sure to check out Andrew’s…
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Podcast: Bosnia, False Histories and Fact-Free Politics w/ Edin Hajdarpašić
This is a conversation with Edin Hajdarpašić, associate professor of history at Loyola University Chicago on Bosnia, False Histories and Politics. He wrote an essay called “What Use Is Fact-Checking Against Fact-Free Politics?” which was the basis for our conversation. The Fire These Times is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Anchor, Breaker, Amazon…
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Podcast: The Impossible Cities: Hong Kong & Beirut w/ Karen Cheung
This is a conversation with Karen Cheung, author of the book “The Impossible City: A Hong Kong Memoir.” As you’ll hear, we ended up finding a lot of things in common between our two cities and experiences. The Fire These Times is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Anchor, Breaker, Amazon Music, Audible, Stitcher,…
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Podcast: Climate Futures and Post-Normal Fiction w/ Andrew Dana Hudson
This is a conversation with Andrew Dana Hudson, a speculative fiction writer, sustainability researcher, editor and futurist and the author of “Our Shared Storm: A Novel of Five Climate Futures.” It’s also his second time on The Fire These Times. Andrew also has a newsletter called solarshades.club which publishes every other Sunday with updates on…
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Podcast: Seeking Refuge on the World’s Deadliest Migration Route w/ Sally Hayden
This is a conversation with Sally Hayden, an Irish journalist and writer. A foreign correspondent, she has reported from Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda and Rwanda. Her book My Fourth Time, We Drowned, an investigation into the so-called migrant crisis in Europe, was published in 2022. The Fire These Times is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts,…
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Podcast: Nostalgia in the Periphery w/ Efe Levent
This is a conversation with Efe Levent, editor-in-chief at Mangal Media about their recent ‘Nostalgia in the Periphery‘ project. 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. Support: Patreon.com/firethesetimesSubstack: thefirethesetimes.substack.comTwitter: twitter.com/fireTheseTimesInstagram: instagram.com/firethesetimesTikTok: tiktok.com/@thefirethesetimes Recommended Books: Nostalgia in the…
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Podcast: A View on Ukraine, Hong Kong & Tiananmen, from Taiwan w/ Wen Liu & Brian Hioe
This is a conversation with Wen Liu and Brian Hioe, authors of the piece “From Taiwan to Ukraine” on Spectre. This episode was co-hosted by Romeo Kokriatski, co-host of the podcast “Ukraine Without Hype.” The Fire These Times is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Anchor, Breaker, Amazon Music, Audible, Stitcher, Radio Public, Pocket…
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Podcast: From Yarmouk to the World: On Syria, Palestine and Lebanon w/ Nidal Betare
Nidal Betare joins Joey Ayoub to talk about growing up in Yarmouk, being Palestinian-Syrian and the links between Syria, Palestine and Lebanon. 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. Support: Patreon.com/firethesetimesSubstack: thefirethesetimes.substack.com Twitter: twitter.com/fireTheseTimes Instagram: instagram.com/firethesetimes Recommended…
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Podcast: What is Happening in Tigray? w/ Teklehaymanot Weldemichel
Tigrayan academic Teklehaymanot Weldemichel joins Joey Ayoub to talk about what’s been happening in Tigray. 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. Resources: Omna Tigray Tghat HRW Report: “We Will Erase You from This Land” Art by…
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Podcast: On Having a Kid in the Climate Apocalypse w/ Michael J. DeLuca
This is a special and short episode in which Michael J. DeLuca reads out an essay he wrote for Issue 2 of Reckoning entitled ‘On Having a Kid in the Climate Apocalypse‘. The episode includes an updated intro by Michael as well. The Fire These Times is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Anchor,…
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Podcast: Climate Narratives that Go Beyond the Apocalypse w/ Alyssa Hull
This is a conversation with Alyssa Hull who splits her time between teaching high school biology and environmental science and writing speculative fiction. We spoke about what it’s like to talk to high school students about climate change, the role of fiction like Solarpunk and how to improve climate communication. The article she wrote that…
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Podcast: Pro-Palestine Activism, Anti-Authoritarianism and Democracy in the Arab World w/ Dana El-Kurd
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,…
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Podcast: What Asexuality Says About Society w/ Angela Chen
This is a conversation with Angela Chen, author of the book ‘Ace: What Asexuality Reveals About Desire, Society, and the Meaning of Sex‘. 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. This isn’t an Asexuality 101 episode. Feel…
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Podcast: Black Anarchism, Abolition and the Radical Tradition w/ William C. Anderson
This is a conversation with William C. Anderson, author of the book The Nation on No Map (AK Press 2021) and co-author of As Black as Resistance (AK Press 2018). He’s also the co-founder of Offshoot Journal and provides creative direction as a producer of the Black Autonomy Podcast. The Fire These Times is available…
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Podcast: The threads that bind us from Syria to Ukraine
This episode is a multilingual online encounter, part of the Post-Extractive Futures series, co-produced by War on Want, Tipping Point UK, JunteGente, and The Fire These Times project. I was the moderator. The Fire These Times is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Anchor, Breaker, Amazon Music, Audible, Stitcher, Radio Public, Pocket Casts, Castro…
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Podcast: Football is Political: #Qatar2022, Russia and What Comes Next w/ Musa Okwonga and Justin Salhani
This is a conversation with Justin Salhani of ‘Oh My Goal’ and Musa Okwonga (his 4th time on the pod) of ‘Stadio‘ about football, politics and human rights. We talked about the upcoming world cup in Qatar, the role of dirty money in football (including Russian, Emirati and Saudi) and what might come next. The…
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Podcast: What ‘Living With Covid’ Actually Means w/ Martin Paul Eve
This is a conversation with academic Martin Paul Eve, professor of Literature, Technology and Publishing at Birkbeck, University of London. 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. We spoke about his article ‘just the first two years‘…
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Podcast: The Urgency of the IPCC Report w/ Dr Rupa Mukerji and Dr Lisa Schipper
This is a conversation with Dr Rupa Mukerji and Dr Lisa Schipper, both of whom worked on the most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report. 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. What we talked…
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Ukraine Series: 2. From Ukraine, with Love (and Anger) w/ Romeo Kokriatski
The second episode of the Ukraine Series is with Ukrainian journalist Romeo Kokriatski, who came on to talk to us about the first month of Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine. What is happening? Why is it happening? And what might happen next? He is managing editor at New Voice Ukraine, co-host of the Ukraine Without…
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Podcast: The Periphery and Aimé Césaire’s Ghosts in the Syrian Revolution (with Fadi Bardawil)
This is a conversation with Fadi Bardawil, his 2nd time on the podcast. Bardawil is an anthropologist who researches the Leftist tradition in the Arab world. In this episode, we talked about two essays he’s written: “Forsaking the Syrian Revolution: An Anti-Imperialist Handbook” and “Critical Theory in a Minor Key to Take Stock of the…
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Podcast: On the Need to Shape the Arab Exile Body (with Amro Ali)
This is a conversation with Amro Ali, author of the essay “On the Need to Shape the Arab Exile Body in Berlin.” He is also co-president of the Arab-German Young Academy of Sciences and Humanities, research fellow at the Freie Universität Berlin, and lecturer in sociology at the American University in Cairo (AUC). The Fire…
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Ukraine Series: 1. A View From Syria w/ Leila Al-Shami
In light of what’s been happening in Ukraine I am publishing a series of episodes that will, hopefully, bring in perspectives that are usually not platformed. The first episode is with British-Syrian writer and activist Leila Al-Shami. The Fire These Times is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Anchor, Breaker, Amazon Music, Audible, Stitcher,…
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101/ Mending the World: A Jewish-Arab Diaspora Conversation (with Cindy Milstein)
This is a conversation with Cindy Milstein, editor of the book “There is Nothing so Whole as a Broken Heart: Mending the World As Jewish Anarchists“ What we talked about: Displacement as part of the Jewish experience Being diaspora (Jewish and Arab) Having communities without states Politics of language (Hebrew, Yiddish, Ladino etc) Authoritarianism and…
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100/ The Story of Three Black Mothers: Louise Little, Berdis Baldwin and Albert King (with Anna Malaika Tubbs)
This is a conversation with Anna Malaika Tubbs, author of the book “The Three Mothers: How the Mothers of Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X and James Baldwin Shaped a Nation.” What we talked about: The lives of Berdis Baldwin, Louise Little and Alberta King and why their stories matter Anna becoming a mother while…
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99/ Inconvenient Findings and Enduring Hierarchies (With Marie Berry and Milli Lake)
This is a conversation with Marie E. Berry and Milli Lake, co-founders and principal investigators of the Women’s Rights After War Project. We primarily spoke about their article “on inconvenient findings” and their paper for Annual Reviews “women’s rights after war: on gender interventions and enduring hierarchies” Dr. Berry is Associate Professor at the Josef Korbel School…
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Podcast: The Strange Amnesia of Lebanon’s Wars w/ New Lines
This is a crossover episode with New Lines Podcast on the topic of ‘postwar’ Lebanon. A big thank you to New Lines’ Faisal Al Yafai and Lydia Wilson for hosting this conversation. If you like what I do, please consider supporting this project with only 5$ a month (or 50 a year) on Patreon or on…
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98/ Space Travel, Nostalgia, and Retrofuturism (With Nat Muller)
This is a conversation with Nat Muller, an independent curator, writer and academic living between the UK and Amsterdam. She is an expert in contemporary art from the Middle East and curated the Danish pavilion at the 2019 Venice Biennale, showing Palestinian artist Larissa Sansour. She has curated shows at major venues, including Eye Film…
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Podcast: Why I stopped writing about Syria (With Asser Khattab)
This is a conversation with Asser Khattab, a Syrian writer who has reported on Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq for various international news outlets. We spoke about his essay for New Lines Magazine, “why I stopped writing about Syria.” This is episode 97 of The Fire These Times podcast. Topics Discussed: How Asser started writing about…
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Podcast: The Arab Spring Diaspora Against Transnational Repression (With Dana Moss)
This is a conversation with Dana Moss, Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Notre Dame and the author of the book “The Arab Spring Abroad: Diaspora Activism against Authoritarian Regimes.” This is episode 96 of The Fire These Times podcast. Topics Discussed: How Yemeni, Libyan and Syrian diasporas in the US and UK…
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Podcast: Untellable Stories, Reproductive Justice & Complicating Acts of Advocacy (With Shui-yin Sharon Yam)
This is a conversation with Shui-yin Sharon Yam (her 2nd time on the podcast) largely around a paper that she wrote called “Complicating Acts of Advocacy: Tactics in the Birthing Room“. This is episode 95 of The Fire These Times podcast. She is Associate Professor of Writing, Rhetoric, and Digital Studies, and a faculty affiliate…
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Podcast: The Political Economy of Solarpunk (with Andrew Dana Hudson)
This is a conversation with speculative fiction writer and sustainability researcher Andrew Dana Hudson. This is episode 94 of The Fire These Times podcast. His stories have appeared in Slate Future Tense, Lightspeed Magazine, Vice Terraform, MIT Technology Review, Grist, Little Blue Marble, The New Accelerator, StarShipSofa and more, as well as various books and…
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Podcast: Syrian Prison Literature and the Poetics of Human Rights (with Shareah Taleghani)
This is a conversation with Shareah Taleghani, Assistant Professor of Middle East Studies and Arabic at Queens College at the City University of New York and the author of the book “Readings in Syrian Prison Literature: The Poetics of Human Rights” published by Syracuse University Press. This is episode 93 of The Fire These Times…
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Podcast: Big Tech, Gatopardismo and Data Colonialism (With Camila Nobrega and Joana Varon)
This is a conversation with Brazilian researchers Camila Nobrega and Joana Varon about their paper for Global Information Society Watch, “Big tech goes green(washing): Feminist lenses to unveil new tools in the master’s houses.” This is episode 92 of The Fire These Times podcast. The research by Nobrega and Varon is part of a report…
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Podcast: Satisfying Human Needs at Low Energy Use (With Jefim Vogel & Julia Steinberger)
This is a conversation with Jefim Vogel of the Sustainability Research Institute at the University of Leeds, and Julia Steinberger of the Institute of Geography and Sustainability at the University of Lausanne, about a paper they worked on entitled “socio-economic conditions for satisfying human needs at low energy use: An international analysis of social provisioning.”…
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Podcast: The Ecological Paradox of Digital Economies (with Paz Peña)
This is a conversation with Paz Peña, a Chile-based independent consultant and activist, who recently published a paper entitled “Bigger, more, better, faster: The ecological paradox of digital economies” for Global Information Society Watch (GISWatch). This is episode 90 of The Fire These Times podcast. The research by Paz Peña is part of a report…
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Podcast: Tiananmen, Denialism and History (With Christopher Wong)
This is a conversation with Christopher Wong, a writer and researcher with Cool Zone Media whose essay “When communists crushed the international workers’ movement” for Lausan was the subject of this conversation. This is episode 89 of The Fire These Times podcast. If you like what I do, please consider supporting this project with only…
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Podcast: A History of Nothing (With Susan A. Crane)
This is a conversation with Susan A. Crane, author of the book “Nothing Happened: A History“. This is episode 88 of The Fire These Times. Topics Discussed: How do people think of the past? What does Nothing even mean? Four expressions of historical consciousness: 1- Nothing Happened2- Nothing is the Way it Was3- Nothing has…
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Podcast: Counter-Cartographies: Mapping Back our World (With Boris Michel and Paul Schweizer)
This is a conversation with Boris Michel and Paul Schweizer who helped create the ‘This Is Not an Atlas‘ book for Kollectiv Orangotango, which is available as a free PDF. This is episode 87 of The Fire These Times. If you like what I do, please consider supporting this project with only 1$ a month…
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Podcast: Nature, ‘Post-Truth’ and Platform Capitalism (With Bram Büscher)
This is a conversation with Bram Büscher around the topics discussed in his book ‘The Truth about Nature: Environmentalism, in the Era of Post-Truth Politics and Platform Capitalism‘. This is episode 86 of The Fire These Times. Topics Discussed: Meaning of ‘post-truth’ and platform capitalism Environmentalism, political action and social media Mediating knowledge and politics…
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Podcast: The Legacy of the Great Lebanon Famine (with Lina Mounzer and Timour Azhari)
This is a conversation with Lina Mounzer and Timour Azhari, repeat guests on the podcast, about the legacy of the Great Famine of Mount Lebanon (1915–1918) and its legacy today. This is episode 85 of The Fire These Times. Topics Discussed + Resources: What was the Great Famine? Causes and Context (Allies blockading from the…
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Podcast: Space, Fiction and Growing Up in ‘Postwar’ Lebanon (with Naji Bakhti)
Patreon supporters got early access to this episode. This is a conversation with Naji Bakhti, author of the novel Between Beirut and the Moon (2020), published by Influx Press. He is also Project Manager at SKeyes Center for Media and Cultural Freedom at the Samir Kassir Foundation. This is episode 84 of The Fire These…
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Podcast: Understanding Hamas: Anti-Authoritarian Perspectives (with Tareq Baconi)
This is a conversation with Tareq Baconi, author of the book “Hamas Contained: The Rise and Pacification of Palestinian Resistance” published in 2018. This is episode 83 of The Fire These Times. List of topics discussed: How Hamas is often talked about Contextualising Hamas in recent and ongoing uprisings Hamas and popular protests The Great…
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Podcast: The Populist Hype, ‘the People’ and the Far Right (With Aurelien Mondon)
To get early access to this episode, please consider becoming a Patreon supporter. This is a conversation with Aurelien Mondon, he’s a senior lecturer in politics, languages and international studies at the University of Bath and co-author of the 2020 book “Reactionary Democracy: How racism and the populist far right became mainstream” alongside Aaron Winter.…
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Podcast: Solarpunk and Storytelling the Present and Future (With Phoebe Wagner)
This is a conversation with Phoebe Wagner, co-editor of the 2017 book Sunvault: Stories of Solarpunk and Eco-Speculation.
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80/ Syria, State Ideology and Climate Politics (With Marwa Daoudy)
This is a conversation with professor Marwa Daoudy, associate professor at Georgetown University and the author of the recently published book The Origins of the Syrian Conflict: Climate Change and Human Security. Topics Discussed: Climate change did not cause the Syrian revolution, despite this narrative continuing to dominate in many circles, and why this deterministic…
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79/ Erasures, Borders and the Afterlife of the Armenian Genocide (with Sophia Armen)
This is a conversation with Sophia Armen, an Armenian-American writer, scholar and organizer, about the legacy of the Armenian Genocide today. We spoke about race in the Ottoman Empire and then in the Turkish republic, how the genocide changed Armenian cosmology, the cruel absurdity of borders and various other topics. We also got into Palestine…
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78/ Pedagogies of Liberation, Gender and the Syrian Revolution (with Banah Ghadbian)
This is a conversation with Banah Ghadbian. She’s a Syrian activist whose dissertation “Ululating from the Underground: Syrian Women’s Protests, Performances,and Pedagogies under Siege” was the subject of our conversation. As usual, we ended up talking about a lot of other things as well. Topics Discussed: Banah’s story growing up in a Syrian revolutionary family…
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77/ From Hong Kong to Lebanon, Basebuilding Against Authoritarianism (with Promise Li)
This is a conversation with Promise Li. He’s a US-based member of the Lausan collective and the Democratic Socialists of America doing solidarity work with Hong Kong and China’s dissident movements. Topics Discussed: Growing up in Hong Kong in the shadow of the Tiananmen Square massacre and after the UK-China handover What is Lausan? The…
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76/ Confronting Antisemitism on the Left: Anti-Authoritarian Perspectives (with Daniel Randall)
This is a conversation with Daniel Randall. He’s a London-based railway worker and workplace representative for the National Union of Rail, Maritime, and Transport Workers and a member of the Alliance for Workers’ Liberty. We spoke about antisemitism on the Left as Daniel has an upcoming book on this very topic. Topics Discussed: What is…
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75/ The Precariatized Mind and the Case for a Basic Income for All (with Guy Standing)
This is a conversation with Guy Standing, a Professorial Research Associate at SOAS University of London and a founding member and honorary co-president of the Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN), a non-governmental organisation that promotes a basic income for all. Topics Discussed: What is Universal Basic Income (UBI)/ Basic Income Why it’s so important that…
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74/ The Political Economy of Car Dependence: Understanding Systems of Provision (with Giulio Mattioli & Julia Steinberger)
This is a conversation with Giulio Mattioli and Julia Steinberger about their article ‘the political economy of car dependence: A systems of provision approach‘ published in the ‘Energy Research & Social Science‘ journal. We also discussed the topics below. Topics Discussed: The five key elements of what we’re calling the ‘car-dependent transport system’: i) the…
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Special Episode: Palestine and Global Solidarity
This is a special episode with Sumaya Awad and Shireen Akram-Boshar. Sumaya’s the co-editor of the book “Palestine: A Socialist Introduction” which Shireen contributed to. Released May 20th 2021. Topics Discussed: Our relationship to Palestine What triggered the recent brutalities and broader context Connecting protests in Israel-Palestine with protests in the US (Black Lives Matter…
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Special Episode: A Conversation on Israel-Palestine
A conversation with my good friend Maya Schkolne on (anti)Zionism and international solidarity. Also: having multiple identities, Jewish supremacists in Israel, erasing the Nakba, apartheid (South Africa/Israel), and more. List of resources: Jehad Abusalim’s thread Gaza march leader to conscientious objectors: ‘Turn your words into weapons’ Reclaiming The PLO, Re-Engaging Youth The Holocaust and the…
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73/ 1958: Re-imagining a Revolutionary Year in Revolutionary Times (with Jeffrey Karam)
This is a conversation with Jeffrey Karam. He’s Assistant Professor of Political Science at the Lebanese American University and an associate at Harvard’s Middle East Initiative. He’s also the editor of the book “The Middle East in 1958: Reimagining a Revolutionary Year“, the topic of our conversation. Patreon supporters have early access to this. You…
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72/ The Inherent Toxicity of France’s ‘Islamo-Leftism’ Obsession (with Rim-Sarah Alouane)
This is a conversation with Rim-Sarah Alouane. She’s a French legal academic, commentator, and PhD candidate in law researching religious freedom, human rights, and civil liberties in France, Europe & North America. We spoke about a recent piece she wrote entitled ‘A Spectre in France’s Public Debate: Islamo-Leftism‘ for Reset Dialogues. Topics Discussed What the…
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71/ Bearing Witness to What is Lost: Lebanon’s ‘Postwar’ Hauntings (with Ely Dagher)
This is a conversation with Lebanese director Ely Dagher. He is the director of the Palme D’Or-winning Waves ’98 (available below), one of my favorite short films. He also has an upcoming feature film called The Sea Ahead. I highly recommend watching Waves ’98 before listening to the episode. It’s only 15 minutes long 🙂…
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70/ (Post)Sectarianization: Mapping the New Politics of the Middle East (With Nader Hashemi & Danny Postel)
This is a conversation with Nader Hashemi and Danny Postel. Hashemi is the Director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Denver and Postel is Assistant Director of the Center for International & Area Studies at Northwestern University. We spoke about their book “Sectarianization: Mapping the New Politics of the Middle…
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69/ The Entrenched “Manliness” of Ethnic Power-sharing Peace Agreements (with Aida A. Hozić)
This is a conversation with Aida A. Hozić. She is an Associate Professor of International Relations and Associate Chair of the Department of Political Science at the University of Florida, United States. Her research is situated at the intersection of political economy, cultural studies, and international security. She is the author of Hollyworld: Space, Power…
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68/ Solarpunk, Youth Liberation and Why Revolution Needs Therapy (with Saint Andrew)
This is a conversation with Andrew, the Solarpunk Anarchist from Trinidad and Tobago behind the YouTube channel ‘Saint Andrewism.’ Topics Discussed What is Solarpunk? Solarpunk Anarchism? The problem with Greenwashing How to talk about the climate & problems with the climate movement Generational shifts in the climate movement The importance of intersectionality Switzerland’s voting patterns…
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67/ Cultural Dementia: How the West Lost Its History and Risks Losing Everything Else (with David Andress)
This is a conversation with David Andress. He is a Professor of Modern History at the University of Portsmouth and is the author of the book “Cultural Dementia: How the West has Lost its History and Risks Losing Everything Else“ He is also a historian of the French Revolution, and of the social and cultural…
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66/ Legacies of Authoritarianism in Palestine (with Dana El Kurd)
Patreon supporters received early access to this. This is a conversation with Dana El Kurd. She is a Palestinian academic who specializes in Comparative Politics and International Relations. Dana works as a researcher at the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies and as an assistant professor at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies. We…
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65/ A Rapid and Just Transition of Aviation: Shifting towards climate-just mobility (with Anne Kretzschmar)
Patreon supporters will receive early access to this. This is a conversation with Anne Kretzschmar. She’s a coordinator with the Stay Grounded network which works on a global level to reduce air traffic and build a climate-just transport system. They recently published a paper entitled ‘A Rapid and Just Transition of Aviation: Shifting towards climate-just…
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64/ In the End, It Was All About Love (with Musa Okwonga)
Welcome to The Fire These Times, the podcast bringing you conversations at the intersection of politics, culture and the environment. I’m your host Joey Ayoub and today we’ll be talking to Musa Okwonga. Musa is a writer, broadcaster, poet, speaker, musician. author, sportswriter, broadcaster and commentator on current affairs. He’s also the first person to…
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63/ Queerness, Literature and Revolution (With Saleem Haddad)
Saleem Haddad on Queerness, Literature and Revolution
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62/ How to Limit Global Warming to 1.5°C: A Societal Transformation Scenario (with Kai Kuhnhenn and Linda Schneider)
Patreon supporters received early access to this. This is a conversation with Kai Kuhnhenn and Linda Schneider. They recently co-wrote a really important and freely-available study exploring a Societal Transformation Scenario (STS) on how to limit global warming to 1.5°C. Topics Discussed: The importance of the study The problem with assuming economic growth in studying…
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61/ A Class Analysis of the Arab Spring (with Anand Gopal)
This is a conversation with Anand Gopal about his essay for Catalyst Journal entitled ‘The Arab Thermidor‘ in which he presents a class analysis of the Arab Spring. We spoke about a number of Arab-majority countries but with a focus on Syria. Anand is also the author of No Good Men Among the Living: America,…
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59-60/(Anti-)Fascism and the Future of Complex Warfare (with Emmi Bevensee)
This is a two-parts conversation with Emmi Bevensee. They’re a data journalist who utilizes a data storytelling approach to make complexity understandable. We spoke about so many things that I can only write them down as categories. Transcript available below. Part 1, out on January 30th (Patreon supporters) and January 31st (General Public). First section:…
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58/Democracy, Counterrevolution, the Rhetoric of Anti-Imperialism (with Rohini Hensman)
My conversation with Rohini Hensman, India-based Sri Lankan labor activist and feminist and an independent scholar.
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57/ The Psychology of Silicon Valley (with Katy Cook)
I spoke to Katy Cook about her book “the psychology of silicon valley: ethical threats and emotional unintelligence in the tech industry”
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56/A Region in Revolt (Book Launch)
This is the audio version of the virtual book launch of ‘A region in revolt: Mapping the recent uprisings in North Africa and West Asia‘. I took part in it alongside a number of the co-authors of the book. See you all in 2021. The Fire These Times will be back in mid-January. A wave…
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55/Lessons from Workers’ Resistance in China (with Zhongjin Li & Eli Friedman)
Through the story of Labor insurgency in China we go into the world of narratives and ideas
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54. What Management Theory Can Learn From Anarchism
This conversation will try and argue that anarchism and management theory can work very well together, outside of a capitalist logic
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53. Masculinity in Pop Culture: The Toxic and the Subversive
This is a conversation with Jonathan McIntosh who runs the Pop Culture Detective Agency about masculinity in popular culture.
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52. The Palestinian Left and Its Decline (1982-2007)
I spoke with Francesco Saverio Leopardi of Ca’Foscari University of Venice about his recently released book ‘The Palestinian Left and Its Decline: Loyal Opposition’.
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51. The Case for People-centered Recovery Processes in Beirut
A conversation with Dr Mona Harb on how to rebuild in a way that actually helps.
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Reflections on the first 50 Episodes
reflecting on the first 50 episodes that were released on The Fire These Times since March 14th 2020 as well as on upcoming projects.
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50. Golden Dawn: The Anatomy of a Nazi Party in 21st Century Europe
Loukas and I spoke about Golden Dawn more generally, not just the trial that finally concluded that they are a criminal organisation but about fascism more broadly, in Greece both also in Europe more broadly. He was really able to link Golden Dawn’s fascism with wider trends such as nationalism and xenophobia.
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49. Moria Camp and the Deadly Cost of Fortress Europe
Conversation with Ghias Al Jundi, a Syrian-British human rights activist, about the recent fires at the Moria camp in Greece
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47. Evaporated Euphoria: the Current Crises in Lebanon
We spoke about the importance of independent and critical media in Lebanon today and about the aftermath of ‘this brief moment of euphoria that a lot of people experienced during the October 17’ uprising, and particularly since the August 4th explosion in Beirut.
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46/ Hong Kong, Disappearances and the Emotional Cost of Disinformation (with Shui-yin Sharon Yam)
This is a conversation with Shui-yin Sharon Yam, a US-based Hongkonger academic who has been writing on various topics. It is a long conversation about Hong Kong, being a member of the diaspora who may not be able to go back, how Hong Kongers can learn from other people’s experiences with disinformation, as well as…
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45. Ethiopian Migrants’ Saudi Hell/Anti-Gov Protests in Ethiopia
a conversation with Ethiopian journalist Zecharias Zelalem on his recent investigation into the horrific living conditions that Ethiopian migrants are living in in Saudi detention centers, as well as his overview of the recent protests in Ethiopia following the murder of popular Oromo singer Hachalu Hundessa.
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44. That Cairo Concert, Mental Health and Growing Up Queer in Lebanon (With Hamed Sinno)
a conversation with Hamed Sinno, lead singer of the Lebanese band Mashrou’ Leila.
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43/The World’s Most Technologically Sophisticated Genocide is Happening in Xinjiang (with Rayhan Asat & Yonah Diamond)
This is a conversation with Rayhan Asat and Yonah Diamond, authors of the piece “The World’s Most Technologically Sophisticated Genocide Is Happening in Xinjiang.” Asat is an international human rights lawyer and the sister of Ekpar Asat, who was forcibly disappeared by the CCP. Diamond is and international human rights lawyer with the Raoul Wallenberg…
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42. It Sounded Like The World Itself Was Breaking Open
I spoke with Lebanese writer and translator Lina Mounzer about witnessing and experiencing the Beirut explosion on August 4th, 2020. So far there are 157 deaths, 5,000 injuries, US$10–15 billion in property damage and an estimated 300,000 people left homeless. The blast was linked to about 2,750 tonnes (3,030 short tons) of ammonium nitrate –…
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41. Rendering Our Struggles Visible: Palestine, #BlackLivesMatter and Syria
I spoke with Mariam Barghouti about her growth as a Palestinian activist, #BlackLivesMatter, the Syrian revolution, trans-generational understanding and rendering our struggles visible
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40. We Exist: Queer Transnational Activism in the Middle East and Beyond
On about why representation and visibility matter, the difficulties of tackling both homophobia and homonationalism.
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39/ Basebuilding, Sex Workers’ Rights and Mutual Aid (with Kate Zen)
Conversation with Kate Zen, an organiser with Red Canary Song.
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38. My Father and Syria’s Forcibly Disappeared (With Wafa Mustafa)
This is a conversation with Wafa Mustafa, a Berlin-based Syrian journalist. We spoke about her father, Ali Mustafa, who was forcibly disappeared by the Assad regime on July 2nd 2013. Wafa highlights the fact that those who are forcibly disappeared are often depoliticized and coated in ‘humanitarian’ language. We spoke about how she participated in…
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37. The Racialisation of Migrant Labor Under the Kafala System in Lebanon
Daryn argues that the racialisation and dehumanisation of migrant domestic workers under the Kafala system in Lebanon contains four components.
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36. Lebanon’s Deep Crisis Explained
What is happening in Lebanon today? Timour Azhari gives us an overview of the crisis.
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35. The European Union’s Violence Against Asylum Seekers
I spoke with Jack Sapoch about the EU’s policy of violence against asylum seekers on the so-called ‘Balkan Route’.
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34. Remembering Through Storytelling in Times of Hardship
We spoke about Ronnie’s experience with storytelling and his desire to maintain the memory of those we have lost in Lebanon.
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33. Mutual Aid is Sweeping the World
How to we make mutual aid last? Using the examples of Barrios de Pie in Argentina or the mutual aid groups popping up in the UK and beyond, we tried to answer that question.
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32. Wretched of the Earth: Thoughts on Syria, Palestine and Discourse (with Mohammed Sulaiman)
This is a conversation with Mohammed Sulaiman, a Palestinian writer and researcher who grew up in Gaza and currently works at the University of South Australia. The core of our conversation was Mohammed’s two essays for Hummus For Thought: Wretched of the Earth: Thoughts on Syria, Palestine and Discourse (2016) Israel and ‘The Right to…
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Podcast: Disinformation, Russia and Syrian-Ukrainian Solidarity w/ Peter Pomerantsev
I spoke with Peter Pomerantsev about disinformation in the age of social media and what to do about it.
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30. Poetry, Tripoli and Navigating the Moment
I spoke with Zeina about her poems of course and about what it means to be thinking about Lebanon from outside of Lebanon, especially since the October 17th uprising
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29. Gender, Representation and the Role of Women Journalists in Syria
I spoke to Rula Asad about some of the challenges around the difficult topic of gender and representation in the context of Syria and of Syrian women within the journalism field more specifically.
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28. Who Owns This World? Grief, Borders and Music (with Yousef Kekhia)
A conversation with Yousef Kekhia about music, grief, borders and healing.
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27. The Risks of Psychologising Patriarchal Oppression
For gender-based violence to end, men have to talk to men and recognise the privileges and benefits they get from patriarchal oppression.
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26. The Legacy of Samir Kassir 15 Years On
In-depth conversation with Ziad Majed about Samir Kassir 15 years after his assassination.
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25. Resistance, Rescue and Waging Non-Violence
This is a conversation with Bryan Farell, one of the founders of Waging Nonviolence. He also hosts the podcast City of Refuge, the topic of this episode. City of Refuge is a 10-part series from Waging Nonviolence which explores a little-known WWII rescue story, showing what happens when ordinary people won’t ignore the horrors surrounding…
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24. Bellingcat: Fact-Checking in a Post-Truth World
This is a conversation with Eliot Higgins, founder and executive director of Bellingcat, an online open-source investigation collective. Bellingcat rose to prominence over its team’s investigation of the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 on July of 2014 by Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine, which killed all 298 passengers on board. The evidence, which linked…
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23. Syria, Performativity, and Being Rooted in the Local
This is a conversation with Shiyam Galyon. She’s a Syrian-American feminist writer who currently leads communications at War Resisters League, the oldest secular antiwar organization in the United States. Shiyam has been thinking a lot about topics that I felt were important for us to discuss further for a wider audience. She’s able to skillfully…
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22. Building Mutual Aid in Lebanon
This is a conversation with Ayman Makarem. He’s a Lebanon-based writer and filmmaker who recently wrote essays on mutual aid in Lebanon for The Public Source. Beyond Charity: Our Critical Need for Mutual Aid – Part 1 Beyond Charity: Our Critical Need for Mutual Aid – Part 2 One of the themes of The Fire…
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21. Taiwan Since the 2014 Sunflower Movement
This is a conversation with Brian Hioe, one of the founding editors of New Bloom Magazine which came out of Taiwan’s 2014 Sunflower Movement, in which Brian also participated. The topics covered in this episode are numerous which is why I really wanted to have Brian on and use his encyclopedic knowledge of Taiwan and…
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20. On Primo Levi, the Lebanese Revolution and Life in the Midst of History
This is a conversation with Lina Mounzer. She’s a Beirut-based writer and translator who, like me, took part in the October and post-October protests. I wanted to catch up with her to talk about how she started preparing for the worst yet to come very early on. This anticipation – of economic hardship, of violence…
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19. Our Women on the Ground
This is a conversation with Lebanese-British journalist and editor Zahra Hankir. She’s the editor of the award-winning, best-selling anthology Our Women on the Ground which features 19 women reporters from the Middle East and North Africa. The book includes essay by Donna Abu-Nasr, Aida Alami, Hannah Allam, Jane Arraf, Lina Attalah, Nada Bakri, Shamael Elnoor,…
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18. Guapa, Marco and Living Fernando Pessoa’s Dreamlife in Lisbon
This is a conversation with writer Saleem Haddad, author of the novel Guapa and the director of the short film Marco, now available on YouTube. We spoke about both Guapa and Marco as well as his contribution to the science fiction anthology Palestine+100. We also spoke about his connection to Fernando Pessoa’s the Book of…
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17. What the Lebanese Should Know About Ethiopia
The conversation around the abusive Kafala system in Lebanon rarely includes the stories of the people who leave their homes to go work in a stranger’s house in another country.
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16. The Second Wave of the Lebanon Protests
Is Lebanon undergoing a second wave of protests? And how do they differ from the October 2019 ones?
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15. The Legacy of Yiddish Bundism
Molly Crabapple and I discuss the legacy of Bundism, the Yiddish Language today and the concept of Doikayt.
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14. Revolution, disenchantment and the Lebanese New Left (with Fadi Bardawil)
What insights does the 1960s Lebanese New Left offer us today?
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13. Being the Good Immigrant in an Ungrateful Country
Musa Okwonga and I spoke about covid19, privilege, mental health, being the ‘good immigrant’ in an ‘ungrateful country’, Germany, the UK, and so on (+ me quoting James Baldwin a lot)
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12. Independent Media Versus the Lebanese Oligarchy
How does the Lebanese oligarchy work and how can independent media help defeat it?
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11. COVID-19, Travel and Building Solidarity
This is one of those episodes that are difficult to describe because the topic is one of those currently ‘frozen’ by the Covid-19 pandemic: travel.
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10. Syria, Journalism and the Cost of Indifference
I spoke to Kareem Shaheen about the importance of journalism given the lack of justice and accountability in Syria, the Middle East and beyond.
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09. ‘Whiteness’, Migration and Identity
Matt Dagher-Margosian speaks about the limitations of the ‘whiteness’ category in the US as well as Taiwan’s struggle for recognition.
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08. Lebanon’s October Uprising, Six Months Later
This is a conversation with Lebanese journalist Timour Azhari of Al Jazeera (previously The Daily Star) about the legacy of the October 17 uprising six months since it began. We spoke about the current state of Lebanese politics, the government’s response to the Covid-19 crisis and its impact on the country’s most vulnerable groups as…
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Podcast: Denying Genocide, from Halabja to Ghouta
This is a conversation with Sabrîna Azad, a writer who published a moving piece in which she looked at how deniers of Assad’s war crimes in Syria were evoking painful memories for survivors of Saddam Hussein’s genocidal campaigns against Kurds.
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06. Lebanon’s October 17 Revolution/ A Country in Fragments
The first in a series of episodes exploring Lebanon’s October 17th Revolution in its post-war context.
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05. Lebanon’s Migrant Domestic Workers: Between the Coronavirus and Slavery
Banchi Yimer spoke to me about the Kafala System, the impacts of the economic crisis and the coronavirus pandemic on migrant domestic workers as well as her ongoing trauma after working in Lebanon for seven years.
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4. Against the Logic of the Guillotine
I spoke with Crimethinc about the ‘logic of the guillotine’, how it is used in online left-wing meme culture and why we need to have a better logic than that of the guillotine if we truly believe in liberatory politics.
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03. Venezuela and the Right to Narrate
What does it mean to have, to demand, the right to narrate? With Laura Vidal.
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02. Lebanon Must Abolish The Kafala System
Stories of migrant domestic workers and what they go through, the Kafala system and how it operates in Lebanon, ou will also learn about what migrant activists and their allies in Lebanon are trying to achieve.
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01/Hong Kong’s Existential Crisis (with JP)
This is a conversation with JP, a Hong Kong activist with Lausan, a left-wing and decolonial group based out of Hong Kong and its diaspora.
