Arab Tyrant Manual Podcast

We recorded this episode in the middle of one of the most consequential moments in the history of this region. In this episode, we ask the question on everyone's mind: "Do the Gulf States Have a Future?" Not in the next news cycle, but in the next generation. We look at what the current war on Iran has exposed: the structural fragilities of these states, their rentier economies, their tiny citizen...

It's been four years since our last episode — and we're back with something bigger. In this episode, recorded before the ceasefire announcement, Iyad El-Baghdadi and Ahmed Gatnash break down the ongoing U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran - a war that looks irrational from Washington, but it starts to make sense as an Israeli-driven war the United States was pulled into. We trace the settler-colonial psyc...

As Russia's invasion of Ukraine caused global energy prices to spike, the US looked to its traditional gulf partners to increase supply. However, Mohamed bin Zayed and Mohamed bin Salman chose not to - refusing President Joe Biden's calls and even raising prices, whilst making overt gestures of support for Putin. In this episode, Iyad El-Baghdadi and Ahmed Gatnash discuss how the war in Ukraine ha...

In this episode, Ahmed Gatnash speaks to Elham Saudi, co-founder and director of Lawyers for Justice in Libya, about the fight for accountability and how human rights defenders can work towards accountability in areas that are ordinarily pushed to the sidelines. Elham can be found on Twitter ( @elham_lfjl ) and at libyanjustice.org ( @LibyanJustice ). They publish the Libya Matters podcast , and c...

In this episode, Iyad and Ahmed interview each other about their own book, The Middle East Crisis Factory. They discuss the origin and context of the book, detail various struggles that were overcome through the writing process, and share their reflections on the project 12 months on from its publication. Buy The Middle East Crisis Factory: https://menacrisisfactory.com/ Support the Arab Tyrant Ma...

This is a repost of an interview on the Gaslit Nation podcast, hosted by Sarah Kendzior and Andrea Chalupa. Iyad discusses the origin of the Middle East Crisis Factory book, the context of the Middle East's struggle for democracy in the world, and how that shapes the work of Kawaakibi Foundation. Find the Gaslit Nation podcast online: https://www.gaslitnationpod.com/ and on Twitter: @sarahkendzior...

Iyad and Ahmed discuss human rights and political activism around the world, and why it seems to fail so often. Follow us on Twitter @ArabTyrantMan, and join our Patreon to support our work and gain access to exclusive clips and pre-release episodes: https://patreon.com/kawaakibi Episode Time tags: 2:00 – Feelings of pointlessness in human rights activism 4:30 – "Folk politics" 6:00 – Trump, pande...

A continuation of the previous episode, Iyad and Ahmed discuss new changes in world politics, human rights activism and the podcast! Follow us on Twitter @ArabTyrantMan and join our Patreon to support our work and gain access to exclusive clips and pre-release episodes. Episode timestamps: 0:30 - The growth of Arab Tyrant Manual 5:00 - Overhauling the western democratic paradigm 10:00 - Evolving f...

Iyad and Ahmed kickstart the podcast again after a long hiatus - with updates on various developments at the Kawaakibi Foundation, in their personal lives and in global human rights. Follow us on Twitter @ArabTyrantMan and join our Patreon to support our work and gain access to exclusive clips and pre-release episodes. Episode timestamps: 0:30 - Intro to episode 1:30 - Changes to ATM, plus Interga...

Iyad El-Baghdadi and Ahmed Gatnash discuss the release of the ODNI report confirming US intelligence's conclusion that MBS directly ordered the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. Now that two years of gaslighting by the Trump administration are finally over, we can turn to the important question: what does justice for Jamal look like? Iyad's article in the Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/o...

In this episode, Ahmed talks to Gene Bunin, founder of the Xinjiang Victims Database - a unique initiative to track the crimes being committed against individuals in the western region of China and investigate the fate of those missing. Find the database online at: https://shahit.biz/ https://twitter.com/shahitbiz Find us on Twitter at @gatnash and @arabtyrantman. Support our work: www.patreon.com...

Ahmed Gatnash and Iyad El-Baghdadi reflect about the podcast, how far it's come, and plans for the future, as well as discussing Joe Biden's election victory and Trump's defeat, and what they mean for the MENA region and the global struggle for human rights. Support our work on Patreon here: www.patreon.com/kawaakibi

In September, Ahmed spoke to Joey Ayoub, Lebanese writer and researcher, about tankies, genocide denial, red-brown alliances and the uncomfortable affinity between large parts of the political left and authoritarianism. Find Joey on Twitter @joeyayoub, and us at @gatnash and @arabtyrantman. Support our work: www.patreon.com/kawaakibi For full show notes, including all mentioned articles and links,...

Ahmed talks to Timour Azhari and Joey Ayoub about the massive popular movement against the entire political order which has rocked Lebanon for over 2 weeks. It has led to the end of the government already, but can it achieve the real goal - total systemic change? Catch our guests on Twitter: https://twitter.com/timourazhari https://twitter.com/joeyayoub Support us on Patreon: http://patreon.com/ka...

Ahmed Gatnash speaks about the recent protests in Egypt, which surprised almost everyone but show that the lessons of 2011 have still not been fully absorbed. For a text version of the article: https://arabtyrantmanual.com/9-lessons-from-egypt/ Support our work: https://www.patreon.com/kawaakibi

Human Rights Foundation and Arab Tyrant Manual present this panel from this year's Oslo Freedom Forum, in which Iyad el-Baghdadi and Karen Attiah discuss the Saudi government's use of surveillance software. They go into detail on Jamal Khashoggi and his legacy, as well as the hack of Jeff Bezos and what activists can do to keep safe. Support us for more: patreon.com/kawaakibi You can find our part...

Celebrities are notoriously shy of politics, advised to stay neutral for the sake of their careers. But what do you do when you can no longer be silent? Denise Ho, a singer and actress from Hong Kong, and Amr Waked, an Egyptian actor, discuss their journeys into activism, what it meant for their careers, the regimes they fight against and how their art plays a role. Denise and Amr can be found on...

At the Oslo Freedom Forum last year, 7 activists from the Arab region found ourselves in a room together. This is the discussion which followed - on identity, exile, activism, trauma and healing, whether the Arab Spring failed, and different visions of what the future holds. It was nuanced and surprisingly self-critical, but there was no cynicism or defeatism in the room - just the maturity of tak...

This episode is a recording of Iyad El-Baghdadi's recent press conference, in which he speaks about the recent revelations from intelligence agencies that the Saudi government potentially poses a threat to his life. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/may/07/cia-warns-arab-activist-of-potential-threat-from-saudi-arabia You can find a video version of the press conference and a transcript here...

What is the purpose of nonviolence? What are its limits? Surely it couldn't work against someone as brutal as the Nazis...could it? In this episode, Iyad and Ahmed speak to Jamila Raqib, Executive Director of the Albert Einstein Institution - an organisation dedicated to advance the worldwide study and strategic use of nonviolent action. She tells us about working with Professor Gene Sharp, what i...

Ahmed Gatnash (@gatnash) discusses Libya with Nadine Dahan (@NadineDahan), a journalist and independent analyst focussed on Libya, human rights and transitional justice in the MENA region. As well as analysing the current crisis, started by Haftar's attempt to invade the capital Tripoli, they also provide a run-down of what's happened Libya since 2011 and how it came to be this bad - armed militia...

Abderrahmane Weddady, the brother of regular Arab Tyrant Manual contributor Nasser Weddady, has been charged with "spreading fake news" and jailed pending trial in his home country of Mauritania. His crime? Revealing a massive Ponzi scheme which cost 7000 families their homes, and uncovering direct links to the president's family. In this episode, Nasser tells us about his brother and what he unco...

On Friday, November 23nd, Raed Fares was assassinated in northern Syria by masked gunmen suspected of being affiliated with al-Qaeda. This episode features an interview we recorded with him at the Oslo Freedom Forum in 2017, in which he told us what the Syrian revolution meant to him, and why he would not give up hope. Raed will be remembered forever as a visionary, and this interview shows why. Y...

In Togo, protests are gathering steam against the 50-year rule of the Gnassingbé family. In this episode, Farida Nabourema, a blogger and human rights activist who has been a fearless critic of corruption, dictatorship and colonialism, tells Iyad and Ahmed about the Fauré Must Go movement. We may call this the Arab Tyrant Manual, but that certainly doesn't limit it to Arabs as this episode shows....

Ahmed and Iyad do a roundup of major news from 2018, and discuss the outlook for the world in 2019. Where were we vindicated over the last year? Which countries will have popular uprisings this year? Why are Arab countries normalising relations with Assad again after 8 years of brutality? What are the big corruption scandals we're anticipating? And is there a light at the end of the tunnel after r...