The Fire These Times

In this collaboration episode, guest host israa’ is joined with Jordan and Prince from The Dugout Podcast and Dr. Mohamed Abdou. We got together to talk about Malcolm X, his evolution over time, his commitment to the below, and the role and impact of Islam on his journey towards collective liberation. Along the way, we talk about Malcolm’s impact on our lives and our politics and share insights on...

For episode 206, guest host Dana El Kurd is joined by Pablo Abufom, translator, scientist, and organizer with the Coordinadora Por Palestina in Chile . We talk about the largest Palestinian diaspora population outside the Middle East, the limits of ethnic and national affinities, and what it means to organize against the backdrop of American hegemony. Support: You can support my work with ⁠ ⁠a one...

For episode 205, Daniel joins me from what used to be the Warsaw Ghetto to talk about Gaza. Support: You can support my work with ⁠ ⁠a one-off or monthly donation⁠ ⁠ on Ko-fi Masterclass on Modern Lebanon: ⁠ ⁠Registration is now open⁠ ⁠ Newsletter : Subscribe to ⁠ ⁠Hauntologies⁠ ⁠ Social Media : I’m on ⁠ ⁠Bluesky⁠ ⁠ , ⁠ ⁠Instagram⁠ ⁠ and ⁠ ⁠Mastodon⁠ ⁠ Contact: To collaborate, reach out on ⁠ ⁠ ayo...

Guest host Abdulla Moaswes, a Palestinian scholar and old buddy of mine, is joined by two scholars of Kashmir, Ather Zia and Hafsa Kanjwal to talk about Kashmir. It’s a long episode, but that’s because we wanted to make sure to present Kashmir’s history on its own terms, a Kashmir perspective that does not center Pakistan and certainly not India (or China). This is part 3 of the Kashmir Question s...

Guest host Abdulla Moaswes, a Palestinian scholar and old buddy of mine, is joined by two scholars of Kashmir, Ather Zia and Hafsa Kanjwal to talk about Kashmir. It’s a long episode, but that’s because we wanted to make sure to present Kashmir’s history on its own terms, a Kashmir perspective that does not center Pakistan and certainly not India (or China). This is part 2 of the Kashmir Question s...

Guest host Abdulla Moaswes, a Palestinian scholar and old buddy of mine, is joined by two scholars of Kashmir, Ather Zia and Hafsa Kanjwal to talk about Kashmir. It’s a long episode, but that’s because we wanted to make sure to present Kashmir’s history on its own terms, a Kashmir perspective that does not center Pakistan and certainly not India (or China). This is part 1 of the Kashmir Question s...

In this special episode of The Fire These Times, Elia is joined by four members of the From The Periphery media collective to talk about the ongoing famine in Gaza, Israel's genocide and the world's complicity. Despite the obviously horrific nature of this topic, we insisted on not giving in to despair. The génocidaires cannot win. The five participants connected to the Gaza genocide throu...

For episode 200 (!) of The Fire These Times, Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor join Dana & Elia to talk about their piece " the rise of end times fascism ." Naomi Klein is the author of Doppelganger , On Fire , How to Change Everything , the Shock Doctrine & No Logo , among others. Astra Taylor is the co-founder of the Debt Collector and is the author of Democracy May Not Exist, but W...

“Fascism isn’t just about power—it’s about controlling the stories we tell. It warps narratives to justify oppression, trapping us in cycles of dominance and despair. But stories can also resist, break those cycles, and open the door to something new.“  This is how YouTuber and hardcore Trekkie Jessie Gender starts her video essay “ The Stories Fascism Fears Most “ which we highly recommend. A few...

For episode 198, Elia Ayoub is joined by Venezuelan researcher - and old friend - Laura Vidal to talk about, and around, Venezuela. We got into why Venezuelans flee the Maduro regime, how Venezuela(ns) is often covered, and the broader discourse battles that may or may not include people who still think Maduro is a passionate defenders of the Palestinians (pause for laughter). Laura was actually o...

It's been 20 years since the Assad regime assassinated Samir Kassir, the Lebanese-Syrian-Palestinian historian, journalist and writer in Beirut on June 2nd 2005. Joining Elia Ayoub and Leila Al-Shami today is Lebanese-French political researcher and academic Ziad Majed, a friend and comrade of Kassir, to talk about his legacy in the two decades that have passed given how much has changed since...

Palestinian journalist Maram Humaid joins us from Gaza to talk about the many layers of Israel’s genocide, the everyday of those trying to survive it. This is part 2 of the episode with Elia Ayoub and israa'. ⁠It is already available in full on Patreon for free.⁠ More: ⁠Maram’s articles on Al Jazeera⁠ ⁠Gaza Mutual Aid⁠ ⁠This American Life episode with Maram’s daughter Banias “The Narrator, Epi...

Palestinian journalist Maram Humaid joins us from Gaza to talk about the many layers of Israel’s genocide, the everyday of those trying to survive it. This is part 1 of the episode with Elia Ayoub and israa'. It is already available in full on Patreon for free. Support: You can support my work with ⁠ ⁠a one-off or monthly donation⁠ ⁠ on Ko-fi Masterclass on Modern Lebanon: ⁠ ⁠Registration is n...

For episode 194, I am joined by Amos Goldberg, Professor of Holocaust History at the Department of Jewish History and Contemporary Jewry at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Goldberg is among the most vocal Israeli historians of the Holocaust to have called Israel’s actions in Gaza genocide. In 2024, he wrote a paper for the Journal of Genocide Research on the question of intent, which we explor...

For episode 193, Elia Ayoub is joined by Amos Goldberg, Professor of Holocaust History at the Department of Jewish History and Contemporary Jewry at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Goldberg is among the most vocal Israeli historians of the Holocaust to have called Israel’s actions in Gaza genocide. In 2024, he wrote a paper for the Journal of Genocide Research exploring how the question of ‘in...

This is part 2 of the episode. Part 1 was released a few days ago, and you can also listen to the full version for free on ⁠ our Patreon ⁠ . Presented by guest hosts Michelle and Daniel, Cracks in the Walls: Global Perspectives on Migration brings together eight individuals active in migration struggles around the world (Mexico, Haiti, U.S., and Europe) for a discussion on root causes of migration...

This is part 1 of the episode. Part 2 will be released in a few days, but you can listen to the full version for free on our Patreon . Presented by guest hosts Michelle and Daniel, Cracks in the Walls: Global Perspectives on Migration brings together eight individuals active in migration struggles around the world (Mexico, Haiti, U.S., and Europe) for a discussion on root causes of migration, curr...

We got a new podcast! We're happy to announce that Syria: The Inconvenient Revolution (STIR) is now out on Patreon and wherever you listen to podcasts. In this episode, ⁠ ⁠Leila Al-Shami⁠⁠ ( ⁠⁠Burning Country⁠⁠ ) and Elia Ayoub ( ⁠⁠The Fire These Times⁠⁠ , ⁠ ⁠Hauntologies⁠⁠ ) introduce themselves and the podcast. What is STIR about? From the Assad regime to the Arab Spring and beyond, we will...

Elia Ayoub and Lebanese journalist Justin Salhani have one thing in common: their parents lived through the Lebanon wars (1975-1990). Claude Salhani was a well-known photojournalist  United Press International and Reuters. The photo featured in this episode shows him in the middle, injured after an Israeli strike on Beirut in 1982. We also talked about a recent gallery of Claude’s photographs publ...

For episode 190 of The Fire These Times, Dr. Michael Paarlberg talks to guest host Dana El Kurd about El Salvador’s ‘state of exception’ under Nayib Bukele, how Trump sees that as a model, the conditions of Salvadorian prisons and what happens to the Venezuelan and other refugees and migrants deported from the USA by Trump and the unaccountable state actors doing his bidding. Paarlberg is associat...

For episode 189 of The Fire These Times, Elia Ayoub is joined by friend of the pod Molly Crabapple to talk about the Jewish Labor Bund and how their concept of Doikayt (‘Hereness’) can help us build a better world than the hellscape being proposed by techno-dystopianism and end-time fascism. Molly’s upcoming book is called “here where we live is our country: the story of the jewish labor bund.”  S...

How did Sudanese revolutionaries organize neighborhood and resistance committees to resist state and non-state violence? What are some of the principles underpinning their worldview? What can we learn from them? For episode 188 of The Fire These Times, Elia Ayoub is joined by Sudanese journalist Eiad Husham to talk about his piece " revolutionary aid in Sudan " for The New Internationali...

This is a special announcement episode broadcast on all FTP channels. We at FTP are hosting a series of weekly film screenings and discussions on the Lebanese wars starting this Sunday April 20. In this short episode, Elia and Ayman go through the list of films they selected, what you can expect from the screenings, and how you can participate. To sign up and join the watch parties head over to ⁠o...

Elia reads and comments on his essay "⁠ Restorative vs reflective nostalgia ⁠" for ⁠Hauntologies.net⁠   The Hauntologies Podcast is a production of From The Periphery  and part of The Fire These Times  podcast. A newsletter version exists at hauntologies.net but most recordings will be for Patreon supporters only. To support us, please head out to Patreon.com/fromtheperiphery  to subscribe. For Mo...

Our very own Ayman Makarem released his new video essay ‘ ⁠Where Are the Arabs?⁠ ’ on March 9, 2025. In this round table, he is joined by Elia and israa to expand on the topics discussed in the video, the context around it, and the need for more intellectual and class-based analysis on Arab nationalism and its many manifestations. If you haven’t watched the video yet you’ll still be able to follow...