

The Fire These Times
Elia Ayoub
Where doom scrolling meets radical hope.
“The Fire These Times is a place where we tell our hardest truths, and find one another" - Naomi Klein.
Hosted by Elia Ayoub with co-hosts Dana El Kurd, Daniel Voskoboynik, israa' and other members of the From The Periphery Media Collective.
“The Fire These Times is a place where we tell our hardest truths, and find one another" - Naomi Klein.
Hosted by Elia Ayoub with co-hosts Dana El Kurd, Daniel Voskoboynik, israa' and other members of the From The Periphery Media Collective.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Sep 19, 2023 • 1h 5min
140/ The Moral Urgency of Degrowth w/ Timothée Parrique & Yusra Bitar
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 green growth” (2019), a report published by the European Environmental Bureau (EEB). He is also author of Ralentir ou périr. L’économie de la décroissance (September 2022, Seuil), a wide-audience book adaptation of his PhD dissertation.Yusra Bitar is the Lebanon Research Fellow with the Environmental Politics program at the Arab Reform Initiative (ARI). Yusra and Elia are also both Fellows of the Post Growth Institute (2022 and 2023 respectively).Support: You can support my work with a one-off or monthly donation on Ko-fiMasterclass on Modern Lebanon: Registration is now openNewsletter: Subscribe to HauntologiesSocial Media: I’m on Bluesky, Instagram and MastodonContact: To collaborate, reach out on ayoub@thefirethesetimes.comThe Fire These TimesSocial Media: TFTT is on Bluesky and Instagram Transcription: You can help Antidote Zine transcribe TFTT episodes hereWebsite: All episodes are archived on the websiteFrom The PeripheryTFTT is a proud member of From The Periphery Media Collective, which you can support on Patreon and follow on Bluesky, YouTube and Instagram.Check out other project wherever you get your podcasts: Politically DepressedSyria: The Inconvenient Revolution From The Periphery Podcast The Mutual Aid PodcastMentions and Book Recommendations:A journey through Misarchy: An essay to rebuild everything by Emmanuel DockèsThe Future is Degrowth: A Guide to a World Beyond Capitalism by Matthias Schmelzer, Andrea Vetter, Aaron Vansintjan Less is More: How Degrowth will Save the World by Jason HickelContactYou can follow Timothée on Website | Twitter | Instagram | Mastodon

Sep 12, 2023 • 1h 4min
139/ Anti-Imperialism From the Periphery w/ Leila Al Shami, Romeo Kokriatski & Dana El Kurd
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 essay the four of us wrote.The essay, "A view of anti-imperialism from the periphery," was published by the south/south movement as part of their south/south dialogues: Beyond the colonial vortex of the ‘West’: Subverting non-western imperialisms before and after 24 February 2022. I recommend giving it a read before listening, but this is not necessary.Support: You can support my work with a one-off or monthly donation on Ko-fiMasterclass on Modern Lebanon: Registration is now openNewsletter: Subscribe to HauntologiesSocial Media: I’m on Bluesky, Instagram and MastodonContact: To collaborate, reach out on ayoub@thefirethesetimes.comThe Fire These TimesSocial Media: TFTT is on Bluesky and Instagram Transcription: You can help Antidote Zine transcribe TFTT episodes hereWebsite: All episodes are archived on the websiteFrom The PeripheryTFTT is a proud member of From The Periphery Media Collective, which you can support on Patreon and follow on Bluesky, YouTube and Instagram.Check out other project wherever you get your podcasts: Politically DepressedSyria: The Inconvenient Revolution From The Periphery Podcast The Mutual Aid PodcastMentions and Book Recommendations:Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-LodgeToo Like the Lightning Book I by Ada PalmerCommons journal, including the interviews with Elia Ayoub and Dana El KurdSumoud-Washing: A Queer-Feminist Analysis of the Syrian and Palestinian Struggle for Liberation by Nayrouz Abu Hatoum and Razan Ghazzawi ContactYou can follow Leila on: Website | Twitter | Bluesky | MastodonYou can follow Romeo on: Twitter | BlueskyYou can follow Dana on: Website | Bluesky | Twitter

Aug 24, 2023 • 1h 19min
138/ We Need To Talk About Twitter w/ Musa Okwonga and Justin Salhani
Guests Musa Okwonga and Justin Salhani discuss the impact of Twitter on society, including addiction, lack of transparency, and mental health. They explore the role of race and identity in online discussions, frustrations with Twitter's current state, and the manipulation of bad faith actors. They also highlight the importance of physical spaces and the significance of websites and multiple platforms for journalists.

Jun 6, 2023 • 32min
Queer Mutual Aid Lebanon Special Fundraising!
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: @qmalebanon
About Queer Mutual Aid Lebanon:
We are a small grassroots group of queer/trans people in Lebanon working to secure material support for other queer/trans individuals facing homelessness through mutual aid and community-building. Our work is only possible through consistent support from friends and allies. We run two main programs: a sustainable housing program, and an emergency cash program.
Through the sustainable housing program, we intentionally want to move away from one-off payments that do not allow people to plan ahead, and into sustainable monthly payments that can contribute to their long-term safety. Thus, we support around 15 queer/trans individuals in Lebanon with monthly payments of approx. $150/month over a long-term period until they feel they are no longer at direct risk of homelessness or other emergency situations.
Members of our group and the people we support are constantly approached by others facing emergency situations. Depending on donations, we are also able to provide emergency cash payments for temporary shelter and/or medical needs. Emergency payments range between $100 to $900, depending on our current budget and the person’s needs. This has been particularly helpful for trans people who were survivors of assault, recently evicted, and/or needing emergency life-sustaining medical procedures. So far, more than 35 people have benefited from this program.
What we need
You can help sustain our work and help our group stay viable through a monthly donation, or by sharing this with your trusted friends who might be able to help. We're using this Patreon to supplement our routine fundraising efforts (which we usually do through our individual Instagram pages) with something more sustainable. If you'd like to reach us, feel free to send a message through the email below.
More about us
We want to build a network of mutual support for queer people that works outside traditional modalities of humanitarian aid and emphasizes radical care and practical solidarity. Our group is one of few in Lebanon to explicitly adopt a mutual aid philosophy and we put a lot of effort into integrating mutual aid concepts and dynamics in our feminist and queer practices.
Since 2020, as a grassroots group, we’ve taken the time to build a relatively solid structure that allows us to maintain and work through tough situations facing others in our network. We do not operate based on an identity politics framework, nor do we exclude people from our group based on identity. However, this group started by working with and for other working class trans people in our community and it then grew from there. We are constantly learning as we go, and were able to establish a minimum groundwork that allows us to carry out emergency work that other bigger organizations are unable, or unwilling, to do.
Given the economic violence in Lebanon, the most pressing needs people are facing are financial, but our group is also focused on providing non-material forms of support as we try to contribute to building a community rooted in political solidarity and economic justice.
For inquiries, one-time donations, or if it is cheaper/easier for you to donate through other means (bank transfer, MoneyGram, cash payments, etc.), please get in touch with us on queermutualaidlebanon@protonmail.com

May 16, 2023 • 1h 21min
137/ Re-membering the Nakba, Imagining the Future w/ Dana El Kurd
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 a one-off or monthly donation on Ko-fiMasterclass on Modern Lebanon: Registration is now openNewsletter: Subscribe to HauntologiesSocial Media: I’m on Bluesky, Instagram and MastodonContact: To collaborate, reach out on ayoub@thefirethesetimes.comThe Fire These TimesSocial Media: TFTT is on Bluesky and Instagram Transcription: You can help Antidote Zine transcribe TFTT episodes hereWebsite: All episodes are archived on the websiteFrom The PeripheryTFTT is a proud member of From The Periphery Media Collective, which you can support on Patreon and follow on Bluesky, YouTube and Instagram.Check out other project wherever you get your podcasts: Politically DepressedSyria: The Inconvenient Revolution From The Periphery Podcast The Mutual Aid PodcastMentions and Book Recommendations:The Road to Unfreedom: Russia, Europe, America by Timothy SnyderYellow Star, Red Star: Holocaust Remembrance after Communism by Jelena Subotić Taboo Memories, Diasporic Voices by Ella Shohat

Apr 28, 2023 • 1h 34min
136/ When War Gets Normalized, Or What's At Stake in Ukraine w/ Mariam Naiem and Romeo Kokriatski
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 monthly donation on Ko-fiMasterclass on Modern Lebanon: Registration is now openNewsletter: Subscribe to HauntologiesSocial Media: I’m on Bluesky, Instagram and MastodonContact: To collaborate, reach out on ayoub@thefirethesetimes.comThe Fire These TimesSocial Media: TFTT is on Bluesky and Instagram Transcription: You can help Antidote Zine transcribe TFTT episodes hereWebsite: All episodes are archived on the websiteFrom The PeripheryTFTT is a proud member of From The Periphery Media Collective, which you can support on Patreon and follow on Bluesky, YouTube and Instagram.Check out other project wherever you get your podcasts: Politically DepressedSyria: The Inconvenient Revolution From The Periphery Podcast The Mutual Aid PodcastMentions and Book Recommendations:Kobzar by Taras ShevchenkoLove in Defiance of Pain: Ukrainian Stories by Ali Kinsella, Zenia Tompkins and Ross Ufberg Bloodlands by Timothy SnyderCredits:Host: Elia Ayoub Producer: Elia Ayoub Music: Rap and Revenge Main theme design: Wenyi Geng Sound editor: Artin Salimi Episode design: Elia Ayoub

Apr 21, 2023 • 1h 29min
135/ Radical Legacies of the Mexican Revolution w/ Christina Heatherton and Daniel Macmillen Voskoboynik
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 of figures like Black American artist Elizabeth Catlett, Indian anti-colonial activist M.N. Roy, Mexican revolutionary leader Ricardo Flores Magón, Okinawan migrant organizer Paul Shinsei Kōchi, and Soviet feminist Alexandra Kollontai, Arise! reveals how activists around the world found inspiration and solidarity in revolutionary Mexico. From art collectives and farm worker strikes to prison "universities," Arise! reconstructs how this era's radical organizers found new ways to fight global capitalism. Drawing on prison records, surveillance data, memoirs, oral histories, visual art, and a rich trove of untapped sources, Christina Heatherton considers how disparate revolutionary traditions merged in unanticipated alliances. From her unique vantage point, she charts the remarkable impact of the Mexican Revolution as radicals in this critical era forged an anti-racist internationalism from below.Support: You can support my work with a one-off or monthly donation on Ko-fiMasterclass on Modern Lebanon: Registration is now openNewsletter: Subscribe to HauntologiesSocial Media: I’m on Bluesky, Instagram and MastodonContact: To collaborate, reach out on ayoub@thefirethesetimes.comThe Fire These TimesSocial Media: TFTT is on Bluesky and Instagram Transcription: You can help Antidote Zine transcribe TFTT episodes hereWebsite: All episodes are archived on the websiteFrom The PeripheryTFTT is a proud member of From The Periphery Media Collective, which you can support on Patreon and follow on Bluesky, YouTube and Instagram.Check out other project wherever you get your podcasts: Politically DepressedSyria: The Inconvenient Revolution From The Periphery Podcast The Mutual Aid PodcastMentions and Book Recommendations:Dark Sweat, White Gold: California Farm Workers, Cotton, and the New Deal by Debra Weber Pancho Villa: A Narrative Biography by Paco Ignacio TalboRevolution and Disenchantment: Arab Marxism and the Binds of Emancipation by Fadi A. Bardawil

Apr 14, 2023 • 1h 30min
Unlocked. When You're Not The Target Audience: Two Arab Millennials Talk About Seinfeld w/ Ayman Makarem (Premium 1)
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 my work with a one-off or monthly donation on Ko-fiMasterclass on Modern Lebanon: Registration is now openNewsletter: Subscribe to HauntologiesSocial Media: I’m on Bluesky, Instagram and MastodonContact: To collaborate, reach out on ayoub@thefirethesetimes.comThe Fire These TimesSocial Media: TFTT is on Bluesky and Instagram Transcription: You can help Antidote Zine transcribe TFTT episodes hereWebsite: All episodes are archived on the websiteFrom The PeripheryTFTT is a proud member of From The Periphery Media Collective, which you can support on Patreon and follow on Bluesky, YouTube and Instagram.Check out other project wherever you get your podcasts: Politically DepressedSyria: The Inconvenient Revolution From The Periphery Podcast The Mutual Aid PodcastMentions and Book Recommendations:Ayman's:Out of Place: A Memoir by Edward Said (book)First season of Rami (series)Wajib by Annemarie Jacir (film)Guapa by Saleem Haddad (previous guest of the pod)Beer in the Snooker Club by Waguih GhaliScheherazade Goes West by Fatema MernissiElia's:Let's talk about myths, baby! (podcast)Witch, Please (podcast)Comedy Against Work: Utopian Longing in Dystopian Times by Srsly Wrong (podcast)Circe by Madeline MillerCheck out Ayman's project Bizri#5 and his comic series with Hisham Rifai for Unicorn Riot:Revolution in Every Country Comic Series: Episode 1 – Syria: Erasing an Inconvenient RevolutionRevolution in Every Country Comic Series: Episode 2 – Sudan: Building Power from Below

Apr 7, 2023 • 54min
134/ Why White Nationalists Love Assad w/ Leila Al-Shami and Shon Meckfessel
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 and, together with Shon, she co-wrote the chapter of No Pasarán: Antifascist Dispatches from a World in Crisis (edited by Shane Burley, also a previous guest of the pod) on this topic. You can also check out Mariam Elba's excellent 2017 piece on this issue for The Intercept. Shon is also the author of "Suffled How It Gush: A North American Anarchist in the Balkans" and "Nonviolence Ain't What It Used To Be: Unarmed Insurrection and the Rhetoric of Resistance."Aaaand check out Bizri#6! Kind reminder that the best way to support this podcast is by Mussolini-ying Bashar. Support: You can support my work with a one-off or monthly donation on Ko-fiMasterclass on Modern Lebanon: Registration is now openNewsletter: Subscribe to HauntologiesSocial Media: I’m on Bluesky, Instagram and MastodonContact: To collaborate, reach out on ayoub@thefirethesetimes.comThe Fire These TimesSocial Media: TFTT is on Bluesky and Instagram Transcription: You can help Antidote Zine transcribe TFTT episodes hereWebsite: All episodes are archived on the websiteFrom The PeripheryTFTT is a proud member of From The Periphery Media Collective, which you can support on Patreon and follow on Bluesky, YouTube and Instagram.Check out other project wherever you get your podcasts: Politically DepressedSyria: The Inconvenient Revolution From The Periphery Podcast The Mutual Aid Podcast

Mar 31, 2023 • 1h 37min
133/ 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'. 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 Ramachandran. They both read the book and helped me greatly in the research for this episode, so during one of our chats I asked if they can come on and they gracefully agreed. The result was amazing, as I think you'll agree.Support: You can support my work with a one-off or monthly donation on Ko-fiMasterclass on Modern Lebanon: Registration is now openNewsletter: Subscribe to HauntologiesSocial Media: I’m on Bluesky, Instagram and MastodonContact: To collaborate, reach out on ayoub@thefirethesetimes.comThe Fire These TimesSocial Media: TFTT is on Bluesky and Instagram Transcription: You can help Antidote Zine transcribe TFTT episodes hereWebsite: All episodes are archived on the websiteFrom The PeripheryTFTT is a proud member of From The Periphery Media Collective, which you can support on Patreon and follow on Bluesky, YouTube and Instagram.Check out other project wherever you get your podcasts: Politically DepressedSyria: The Inconvenient Revolution From The Periphery Podcast The Mutual Aid PodcastMentions and Book Recommendations:Debhrahmanising History: Dominance & Resistance in Indian Society by Braj Ranjan Mani Annihilation of Caste: The Annotated Critical Edition by Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar My Grandmother's Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies by Resmaa MenakemThe Conspirituality podcast


