The Fire These Times

Elia is joined by Anas & Elena from the Border Violence Monitoring Network to talk about the way in which the European Union is criminalizing solidarity with migrants and how the EU has turned the Mediterranean into a giant graveyard for people who look like me. Support: You can support my work with ⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠a one-off or monthly donation⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ on Ko-fi Masterclass on Modern Lebanon: ⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠Registra...

Elia is joined by French economist and researcher Timothée Parrique and Lebanese researcher Yusra Bitar to talk about why tackling our world's most pressing challenges must include conversations around degrowth. Timothée Parrique is a researcher at the School of Economics and Management of Lund University (Sweden) and is the lead author of “ Decoupling debunked – Evidence and arguments against...

Elia is joined by Leila Al-Shami, British-Syrian activist and co-author of Burning Country: Syrians in Revolution and War , Romeo Kokriatski , Ukrainian-American managing editor of The New Voice of Ukraine and co-host of the Ukraine Without Hype podcast, and Dana El Kurd, Palestinian-American assistant professor in the department of political science at the University of Richmond to talk about an...

After some 12 years on the site, I've finally deleted my Twitter account. Its takeover by a profoundly narcissistic, mediocre and insecure bigot gave me that extra excuse I'd been looking for all these years. But why does any of that matter? After all, isn't it 'just a website'? Yes. And no. Whether you are an activist or a scholar or a journalist or a policy-maker, Twitter has...

The Fire These Times is fundraising for Queer Mutual Aid Lebanon ! Here to talk to us about their work, queer mutual aid in Lebanon and why they started working after the October 2019 uprising and the 2020 crises (Covid-19, August 4 explosion, economic crisis and more) is repeated guest and buddy-in-chief Ayman Makarem . To support them: ● Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/qmalebanon ● Paypal: @qma...

I'm joined again by friend of the pod Dana El Kurd , a Palestinian researcher who specializes in Comparative Politics and International Relations. We talked about Nakba Day (May 15), about the importance of reflecting on the past while also trying to plan for the future, and how we can commemorate the Nakba by building bonds across nations and struggles. Support: You can support my work with ⁠...

I'm joined again by friends of the pod Ukrainian researcher Mariam Naiem and journalist Romeo Kokriatski to talk about why Ukrainians understood very quickly what's at stake, how war leads to frozen temporalities, and why Russia is so obsessed with kidnapping Ukrainian children (which, by the way, is a war crime). Slava Ukraini! Support: You can support my work with ⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠a one-off or mont...

I'm very excited to share with you this conversation I had with Christina Heatherton , the author of " Arise! Global Radicalism in the Era of the Mexican Revolution ", alongside friend of the pod Daniel Macmillen Voskoboynik who joined us as co-host.  The Mexican Revolution was a global event that catalyzed international radicals in unexpected sites and struggles. Tracing the paths o...

In which I sat down with friend of the pod Lebanese writer Ayman Makarem for the first ever premium episode. This was first recorded for Patreons in February 2023 and I'm now releasing it to the wider public. What made Seinfeld so special to Ayman as a queer kid from Lebanon? And what is it like to watch shows that don't have you in mind as their target audience? Support: You can support m...

In which I sat down with my buds Leila Al-Shami and Shon Meckfessel to talk about how and why a bunch of fascists became fans of everyone's favorite genocidal mass murdering dictator, Bashar (يلعن روحك يا) Assad, who was recently voted most likely to end up like Mussolini by I-just-made-it-up magazine. Leila, a recurring guest, is the co-author of Burning Country: Syrians in Revolution and War...

This is a conversation with Thenmozhi Soundararajan , the author of ' The Trauma of Caste: A Dalit Feminist Meditation on Survivorship, Healing and Abolution' . She is a Dalit American commentator on religion, race, caste, gender, technology and justice. She is also the Executive Director of Equality Labs . We were joined by my friends Rhythima Shinde (who is also Dalit) and Vivek Ramachan...

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 son Uilliam...

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 presented at the 2022 Pluriverse...

This is a conversation with Karena Avedissian and Anna, and a collaboration with their podcast Obscuristan . The main thread of our conversation was about Armenian-ness and how complicated of an identity it is due to the old and transnational history of Armenians. Some have ancestry in the Ottoman empire and therefore feel closer to the Levant, especially after the genocide which also exiled so ma...

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 US justice system. Now, I work to change the systems that harmed us. I strive for safe...

This 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 aspect of the protests, and what might come next. We also spok...

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. Kavita Krishnan is an Indian Marxist and Feminist who used to be a politburo member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation who made ne...

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 to Ayman as a queer kid from Lebanon? And what is it like to watch shows that don't have you in mind as their target audience?   This is a sample episode. To listen to the full episode please head out to http://www.pa...

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 futurism and ancestrality. Also: storytelling,...

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 movement to identify,  deplatform, and con...

Jessie Gender is a known YouTuber and commentator who deals with the nuance in the nerdy, focusing on LGBTQ issues (especially the transgender community), women, nonbinary and autistic people as well as other social and political issues through geek topics. Both Jessie and Joey also happen to be Trekkies on the autism spectrum which gave this conversation an added layer of complexity. -- Book Recs...

Luka Dowell joins Joey Ayoub to talk about Hauntings, Futurisms, and Solarpunk. Luka is the host of the podcast Solarpunk Now! which I highly recommend. They are passionate about theory, politics, art, science/tech,  sustainability. Topics that interest them include ecology, psychology, economics, digital media and online communities, and our future. -- Recs: Psychopolitics: Neoliberalism and...

This is a conversation with teacher, linguist, and writer Rob Cameron about Solarpunk and Afro-Solarpunk.    -- Book Recs:  Multispecies Cities: Solarpunk Urban Futures edited by Christoph  Rupprecht, Deborah Cleland, Norie Tamura, Rajat Chaudhuri and Sarena  Ulibarri  Cities of Light: A Collection of Solar edited by Joey Eschrich and  Clark A. Miller&n...

And we're back! This is a conversation with hacker, gardener and writer Andre, aka HydroponicTrash (on Twitter, TikTok and Mastodon). You can also find Andre on Substack at AnarchoSolarpunk . The title is taken from one of Andre's essays . -- Book Recs: Walkaway by Cory Doctorow The Dawn of Everything by David Graeber and David Wengrow Lo—TEK, Design by Radical Indigenism Julia Watson -- You can s...

In this special episode of The Fire These Times, 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 in Qatar. Also, check out Stadio! Happy winter solstice, Hanukkah and Christmas Book Recs:   Justin Salhani: Soccer Empire: The World Cup and the Future of France by Laurent Dubois...