What people have been saying
Here is what guests and listeners have been saying about The Fire These Times.
I can think of no other podcast Like The Fire These Times: speaking confidently from the periphery, asking difficult, clear-eyed questions about all the obstacles we face in trying to build a more just and equitable society, but the questions themselves always rooted in the optimism that such a thing is within our reach.
— Lina Mounzer is a writer and translator based in Beirut
The Fire These Times, more than a podcast or a project, is an ecology. A landscape seeded by the abundantly curious and generous Joey Ayoub, who braids and gathers stories, analyses, teachings, medicines. The most diverse landscapes are where biomes overlap; in The Fire These Times, struggles sing to each other, differences realise their commonalities, and solidarity becomes a humble listening to what we don’t know. Internationalism is not a statement but a verb, and this initiative is a practicing, a rehearsing of liberation and liberatory learning. Joey is a necessary genre-crossing, border-transgressing, joy-affirming guide to our dizzying times
— Daniel Macmillen Voskoboynik is an educator, campaigner and author
The Fire These Times offers a sane, collected and thorough examination of current but also underreported events at a time when competing podcasts sensationalize, spin stories and fuel misinformation to gain a following. Joey’s approach when broaching often emotional subjects linked with trauma or are the source of denialist conspiracies, the direction he heads in with his questioning, and even the fascinating guest selection all highlight a perfectionist’s meticulous preparation but above all (and most importantly) an unshakeable and consistent display of sensitivity for his guest and the audience. It’s something I’ve witnessed both as a listener and as a guest. Here’s to more from The Fire These Times.
— Zecharias Zelalem is an Ethiopian journalist who has bylines in the Addis Standard, Quartz Africa and Open Democracy
The Fire These Times provides an invaluable space for the discussion of political, social, and cultural issues in a rigorous and nuanced way, a rarity in a discursive culture driven by the sensational and performatives modes encouraged by social media. The podcast creates spaces for disagreement, debate, and the challenging of orthodoxies of all kinds, whilst remaining anchored in core principles of democratic egalitarianism and solidarity. I especially value the show’s emphasis on solidarity with struggles for freedom as a consistent and universal value, a much need corrective to the moral relativism that can predominate in sections of the left which pursue a ‘my-enemy’s-enemy-is-my-friend’ approach to international politics.
— Daniel Randall is a London-based railway worker, trade union representative, and socialist activist
The Fire These Times is a gem of a podcast and I hope everyone listens to it! The show follows the keen interests, good humour, and curiosity of its wonderful host, Joey Ayoub. The topics and conversations span geographical distances, a range of (radical) politics, and peppers in popular culture. It busts through all borders, including social ones, and it’s fun! Joey’s thoughtful curation and ardent conversational style invites us all towards understanding the fire of these times more while also creating concrete webs of solidarity, supporting us to be armed with knowledge and feel more hope and connected during ongoing disasters and struggles.
— carla joy bergman is the author of “Trust Kids!”, “Radiant Voices” and “Joyful Militancy” and a podcaster at the Grounded Futures show
The Fire These Times is a rare and maybe unique space: a podcast that makes room not only for profound discussion but also for healing, solidarity, and hope, hosted by one of the most important social and political thinkers that we have.
— Musa Okwonga is an author, broadcaster and the co-host of the Stadio football podcast
A breath of fresh air in the political /activism discourse landscape I didn’t know I was missing until I started listening. Incredibly lucky we are as audience members to have access to so many vanguard thinkers all in one space.
A really interesting and eclectic podcast and a breath of fresh air in the sense that the issues covered are approached in a very independent minded, thoughtful, authentic and curious way. Thank you!
— LauraWdng
The podcast de-centers the conversation away from Western metropoles which tends to dominate the podcasting sphere and towards a cosmopolitan, grassroots, and leftist perspective. The Fire These Times is one of the best podcasts for a fresh, principled, internationalist take, exploring critical resistance methods to global capitalism, and bringing on voices that are both at the forefront of global resistance to capitalism and authoritarianism, and also those doing the work to imagine and build a more just and sustainable future.
— Saleem Haddad is an author & filmmaker
Always a challenging platform for discussion, The Fire These Times is one of the most important venues for radical politics in the podcastsphere
— Shane Burley is the author and editor of several books and a journalist covering social movements, religion, and the far-right including No Pasaran!, Why We Fight: Essays on Fascism, Resistance, and Surviving the Apocalypse and Fascism Today: What It Is and How to End It
Crisis and collapse won’t heal what’s wrong with modernity—quite the opposite. We’re at a moment where we have to consciously talk about and work toward becoming a different society if we’re going to build a better world. The Fire These Times is having those desperately needed conversations with thoughtfulness, dedication, and care..
— Andrew Dana Hudson is a speculative fiction writer, sustainability researcher, editor and futurist. He is the author of Our Shared Storm: A Novel of Five Climate Futures, as well as over twenty short stories, which have appeared in Slate Future Tense, Lightspeed Magazine, Vice Terraform, MIT Technology Review, Grist, and many more.
The Fire These Times is one of my favorite podcasts. It reflects the breadth and depth of the interests of its host Joey Ayoub, from democracy movements all around the world to James Baldwin via degrowth and solarpunk. It creates solidarity and alliances around the world, while building intellectual bridges where none existed before. It’s the best.
— Julia Steinberger is a professor at the University of Lausanne, lead author of the 6th assessment report of the IPCC’s working group 3, activist, mom, and extremely bad at email
The Fire These Times is exactly what we need in these times, a vehicle for in-depth discussions about our world’s most pressing issues.
— Andrew Sage/Andrewism is an Afro-Trinidadian Solarpunk anarchist, artist, and writer
A fascinating, ever-unconventional, deep dive into the work of international radicals, rebels, artists and troublemakers.
— Molly Crabapple is the author of Brothers of the Gun, an illustrated collaboration with Syrian war journalist Marwan Hisham, which was a NY Times Notable Book and long-listed for the 2018 National Book Award. Her memoir, Drawing Blood, received global praise and attention.
I followed Joey Ayoub on Twitter for years and now I find out he has a podcast?!?! Joey and his guests are so smart and they talk about topics that don’t always get coverage in mainstream media. It’s especially hard to find reliable voices on the Middle East and Global South more generally if you aren’t already in the know and I appreciate this podcast for cultivating people who are trustworthy experts in their field.
— HJL
This podcast is filled with fascinating conversations that challenge conventions and are entertaining. Highly recommend.