Explore every episode of the podcast The Fire These Times
| Title | Pub. Date | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 200/ The Rise of End Times Fascism w/ Naomi Klein & Astra Taylor | 30 Jun 2025 | 01:05:42 | |
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 We'll Miss It When It's Gone, The People's Platform: Taking Back Power and Culture in the Digital Age and The Age of Insecurity: Coming Together as Things Fall Apart, among others. The Fire These Times is a proud member of From The Periphery (FTP) Media Collective. Check out other projects in our media ecosystem: Syria: The Inconvenient Revolution, From The Periphery Podcast, The Mutual Aid Podcast, Politically Depressed, Obscuristan, and Antidote Zine. Referenced:
For more:
Transcriptions: Transcriptions are done by Antidote Zine and will be published on The Fire These Times' transcript archive. Credits: Elia Ayoub (host, producer, sound editor, episode design), Dana El Kurd (host), Rap and Revenge (Music), Wenyi Geng (TFTT theme design), Hisham Rifai (FTP theme design) and Molly Crabapple (FTP team profile pics). | |||
| 199/ The Stories That Fascism Fears Most w/ Jessie Gender (Special Crossover w/ Resistance is Fertile) | 26 Jun 2025 | 01:14:27 | |
“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 weeks ago, Elia Ayoub sat down with Jessie to talk about it. They got into their love of Star Trek - because of course they did - as well as other franchises like The Matrix. This is a special crossover episode between The Fire These Times and Resistance is Fertile, a Star Trek Anarchist podcast by Elia and carla joy bergman. Show Notes
Thanks for listening! | |||
| Introducing "Syria: The Inconvenient Revolution" | 12 May 2025 | 00:11:44 | |
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 dive into questions of reconstruction, prisoners, the forcibly disappeared, transitional justice, minority rights, women's rights, LGBTQ+ rights, environmental politics, culture and more. STIR is part of the From The Periphery Media Collective. To support all of our projects please head out to Patreon.com/fromtheperiphery STIR is also on Bluesky! Credits and More:
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| 126/ The Memory We Could Be: Fear and Our Ecological Future w/ Daniel Macmillen Voskoboynik | 10 Feb 2023 | 01:30:57 | |
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, trauma, healing, climate change and The Office and Gilmour Girls, because why not. ---- EARTHQUAKE DONATION LINKS: The White Helmets The Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS) Foundation Huquqyat Molham Team Kurdish Red Crescent ---- Book recommendations:
Also, the poetry of Joy Harjo, Ilya Kaminsky, Victoria Chang, Dunya Mikhail and Vito Apushana. ---- You can support The Fire These Times on patreon.com/firethesetimes with a monthly or yearly donation and get a lot of perks including early access, exclusive videos, monthly hangouts, access to the book club, merch and more. Want to help our with transcribing episodes? Check out this link. ---- You can also follow updates on Mastodon | Twitter | Instagram | TikTok | Website & Mailing List ---- Host: Joey Ayoub | |||
| 125/ Understanding (Anti-)Fascism in a World in Crisis w/ Shane Burley | 03 Feb 2023 | 01:06:03 | |
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 confront the right, and the ways an insurgent fascism is growing within capitalist democracies, a myriad of voices come together to shape the new face of antifascism in a moment of social and political flux. Burley is also the author of a number of books incl. Why We Fight: Essays on Fascism, Resistance, and Surviving the Apocalypse (AK Press, 2021) and Fascism Today: What It Is and How to End It (AK Press, 2017). No Pasarán also features Leila Al-Shami and Shon Meckfessel, authors of a chapter on the links between White supremacists and tge Assad regime. Both Leila (previous guest of the pod) and Shon are upcoming guests on the topic. ---- Recommended Books:
---- You can support The Fire These Times on patreon.com/firethesetimes with a monthly or yearly donation and get a lot of perks including early access, exclusive videos, monthly hangouts, access to the book club, merch and more. Want to help our with transcribing episodes? Check out this link. ---- You can also follow updates on Mastodon | Twitter | Instagram | TikTok | Website & Mailing List ---- Host: Joey Ayoub | |||
| 124/ Jessie Gender on how Star Trek deals with neurodiversity, race, and queerness | 27 Jan 2023 | 00:59:25 | |
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:
-- You can support The Fire These Times on patreon.com/firethesetimes with a monthly or yearly donation and get a lot of perks including early access, exclusive videos, monthly hangouts, access to the book club, merch and more. You can also follow The Fire These Times on Mastodon | Twitter | Instagram | TikTok | Website & Mailing List Joey Ayoub can be found on Mastodon | Twitter | Instagram | Website The newsletter is available on Substack -- Host: Joey Ayoub Producer: Joey Ayoub Music: Rap and Revenge Main theme design: Wenyi Geng Sound editor: Joey Ayoub Episode design: Joey Ayoub | |||
| 123/ Hauntings, Futurisms and the Present Movement w/ Luka Dowell aka Solarpunk Now! | 20 Jan 2023 | 01:38:31 | |
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:
-- You can support The Fire These Times on patreon.com/firethesetimes with a monthly or yearly donation and get a lot of perks including early access, exclusive videos, monthly hangouts, access to the book club, merch and more. You can also follow The Fire These Times on Mastodon | Twitter | Instagram | TikTok | Website & Mailing List Joey Ayoub can be found on Mastodon | Twitter | Instagram | Website The newsletter is available on Substack -- Host: Joey Ayoub | |||
| 122/ In Search of Afro-Solarpunk w/ Rob Cameron | 13 Jan 2023 | 01:04:32 | |
This is a conversation with teacher, linguist, and writer Rob Cameron about Solarpunk and Afro-Solarpunk. -- Book Recs:
-- You can support The Fire These Times on patreon.com/firethesetimes with a monthly or yearly donation and get a lot of perks including early access, exclusive videos, monthly hangouts, access to the book club, merch and more. You can also follow The Fire These Times on Mastodon | Twitter | Instagram | TikTok | Website & Mailing List Joey Ayoub can be found on Mastodon | Twitter | Instagram | Website The newsletter is available on Substack -- Host: Joey Ayoub | |||
| 121/ Solarpunk and Post-Capitalist Desires w/ HydroponicTrash | 06 Jan 2023 | 01:30:46 | |
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:
-- You can support The Fire These Times on patreon.com/firethesetimes with a monthly or yearly donation and get a lot of perks including early access, exclusive videos, monthly hangouts, access to the book club, merch and more. You can also follow The Fire These Times on Mastodon | Twitter | Instagram | TikTok | Website & Mailing List Joey Ayoub can be found on Mastodon | Twitter | Instagram | Website The newsletter is available on Substack -- Host: Joey Ayoub | |||
| Special: How to Make Football Radical, a 2022 FIFA World Cup Retrospective w/ Musa Okwonga, Justin Salhani and Fabien Goa | 22 Dec 2022 | 01:51:36 | |
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:
You can support The Fire These Times on Patreon @ patreon.com/firethesetimes with a monthly or yearly donation. You can also find it on Twitter @firethesetimes Joey Ayoub can be found on The newsletter is available on Subtack @ thefirethesetimes.substack.com Music by RapNRevenge, Episode design by Joey Ayoub, Podcast design by Wenyi Geng | |||
| 120/ Russian Imperialism, Cynical Discourse and Life Amidst War w/ Mariam Naiem & Romeo Kokriatski | 05 Aug 2022 | 01:57:13 | |
This is a conversation with Ukrainian researcher Mariam Naiem and journalist Romeo Kokriatsk. We spoke about the ongoing situation in Ukraine, the history of Russian imperialism, cynical online discourse and life amidst war. You can support The Fire These Times on Patreon with a monthly or yearly donation. You can also find it on Twitter @firethesetimes, Instagram @firethesetimes and TikTok @thefirethesetimes. Joey Ayoub can be found on Twitter @joeyayoub and Instagram @joeyayoub91. The newsletter is available on Subtack @ thefirethesetimes.substack.com The Fire These Times will be back in October! Recommended Books:
-- You can support The Fire These Times on patreon.com/firethesetimes with a monthly or yearly donation and get a lot of perks including early access, exclusive videos, monthly hangouts, access to the book club, merch and more. You can also follow The Fire These Times on Mastodon | Twitter | Instagram | TikTok | Website & Mailing List Joey Ayoub can be found on Mastodon | Twitter | Instagram | Website The newsletter is available on Substack -- Host: Joey Ayoub | |||
| 119/ Lessons on the Path to Radicalization w/ Andrew Sage & Emmi Bevensee | 29 Jul 2022 | 01:06:55 | |
This is a conversation with Andrew Sage of the Andrewism YouTube channel and Emmi Bevensee about our respective journeys towards political radicalization. You can support The Fire These Times on Patreon with a monthly or yearly donation. You can also find it on Twitter @firethesetimes, Instagram @firethesetimes and TikTok @thefirethesetimes. Joey Ayoub can be found on Twitter @joeyayoub and Instagram @joeyayoub91. The newsletter is available on Subtack @ thefirethesetimes.substack.com Recommended Books: Emmi:
Andrew:
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| 118/ Bosnia, False Histories and Fact-Free Politics w/ Edin Hajdarpašić | 22 Jul 2022 | 01:30:41 | |
This is a conversation with Edin Hajdarpašić, associate professor of history at Loyola University Chicago. He wrote an essay called "What Use Is Fact-Checking Against Fact-Free Politics?" which was the basis for our conversation. You can support The Fire These Times on Patreon with a monthly or yearly donation. You can also find it on Twitter @firethesetimes, Instagram @firethesetimes and TikTok @thefirethesetimes. Joey Ayoub can be found on Twitter @joeyayoub and Instagram @joeyayoub91. The newsletter is available on Subtack @ thefirethesetimes.substack.com Recommended Books:
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| 191/ We Are the Children of the Children of War | 05 May 2025 | 00:37:34 | |
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 published by Al Jazeera. For this episode of The Fire These Times, and to close off our discussions on the Lebanon wars - check our the recent episode Elia did with Ayman Makarem on our sister podcast ‘From The Periphery Podcast’ - we thought it meaningful to add one more layer: if the wars aren’t really over, where does that leave us, the ‘children of the children of war’? The Fire These Times is a proud member of From The Periphery (FTP) Media Collective. Check out other projects in our media ecosystem: From The Periphery Podcast, The Mutual Aid Podcast, Politically Depressed, Obscuristan, and Antidote Zine. To support our work and get access to all kinds of perks, please join our Patreon on Patreon.com/fromtheperiphery Announcement: Justin Salhani is joining the FTP fam! He will be mostly contributing to the From The Periphery Podcast as our Beirut-based correspondent focusing on regional affairs. For more:
Transcriptions: Transcriptions are done by Antidote Zine and will be published on The Fire These Times' transcript archive. Credits: Elia Ayoub (host, producer, sound editor, episode design), Rap and Revenge (Music), Wenyi Geng (TFTT theme design), Hisham Rifai (FTP theme design) and Molly Crabapple (FTP team profile pics). | |||
| 117/ The Impossible Cities: Hong Kong & Beirut w/ Karen Cheung | 15 Jul 2022 | 01:23:16 | |
This is a conversation with Karen Cheung, author of the book "The Impossible City: A Hong Kong Memoir." As you'll hear, we ended up finding a lot of things in common between our two cities and experiences. You can support The Fire These Times on Patreon with a monthly or yearly donation. You can also find it on Twitter @firethesetimes, Instagram @firethesetimes and TikTok @thefirethesetimes. Joey Ayoub can be found on Twitter @joeyayoub and Instagram @joeyayoub91. The newsletter is available on Subtack @ thefirethesetimes.substack.com Recommended Books:
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| 116/ Climate Futures and Post-Normal Fiction w/ Andrew Dana Hudson | 08 Jul 2022 | 01:25:57 | |
This is a conversation with Andrew Dana Hudson, a speculative fiction writer, sustainability researcher, editor and futurist and the author of "Our Shared Storm: A Novel of Five Climate Futures." It's also his second time on The Fire These Times. Andrew also has a newsletter called solarshades.club which publishes every other Sunday with updates on his work, process, and material reality. You can support The Fire These Times on Patreon with a monthly or yearly donation. You can also find it on Twitter @firethesetimes, Instagram @firethesetimes and TikTok @thefirethesetimes. Joey Ayoub can be found on Twitter @joeyayoub and Instagram @joeyayoub91. The newsletter is available on Subtack @ thefirethesetimes.substack.com Recommended Books:
Kim Stanley Robinson's review of Our Shared Storm: "Hudson has found a way to strike together the various facets of our climate future, sparking stories that are by turns ingenious, energetic, provicative, and soulful" | |||
| 115/ Seeking Refuge on the World's Deadliest Migration Route w/ Sally Hayden | 01 Jul 2022 | 01:05:44 | |
This is a conversation with Sally Hayden, an Irish journalist and writer. A foreign correspondent, she has reported from Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda and Rwanda. Her book My Fourth Time, We Drowned, an investigation into the so-called migrant crisis in Europe, was published in 2022. You can support The Fire These Times on Patreon with a monthly or yearly donation. You can also find it on Twitter @firethesetimes, Instagram @firethesetimes and TikTok @thefirethesetimes. Joey Ayoub can be found on Twitter @joeyayoub and Instagram @joeyayoub91. The newsletter is available on Subtack @ thefirethesetimes.substack.com Recommended Books:
Sally Rooney said this about the book: “The most important work of contemporary reporting I have ever read. Every citizen of the European Union has not only a right, but also a responsibility, to learn about the realities described in this book. I hope that Sally Hayden’s work can help to begin a radically new and overdue discussion about Europe’s approach to migration and borders.” | |||
| 114/ Why Nostalgia in the Periphery Feels Different w/ Efe Levent x Mangal Media | 24 Jun 2022 | 01:11:35 | |
This is a conversation with Efe Levent, editor-in-chief at Mangal Media about their recent 'Nostalgia in the Periphery' project. You can support The Fire These Times on Patreon with a monthly or yearly donation. You can also find it on Twitter @firethesetimes, Instagram @firethesetimes and TikTok @thefirethesetimes. Joey Ayoub can be found on Twitter @joeyayoub and Instagram @joeyayoub91. The newsletter is available on Subtack @ thefirethesetimes.substack.com Recommended Books:
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| 113/ Taiwan's Wen Liu & Brian Hioe on Ukraine, Hong Kong & Tiananmen | 17 Jun 2022 | 01:28:16 | |
This is a conversation with Wen Liu and Brian Hioe, authors of the piece "From Taiwan to Ukraine" on Spectre. This episode was co-hosted by Romeo Kokriatski, co-host of the podcast "Ukraine Without Hype." You can support The Fire These Times on Patreon with a monthly or yearly donation. You can also find it on Twitter @firethesetimes, Instagram @firethesetimes and TikTok @thefirethesetimes. Joey Ayoub can be found on Twitter @joeyayoub and Instagram @joeyayoub91. The newsletter is available on Subtack @ thefirethesetimes.substack.com Recommended Books:
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| 112/ From Yarmouk to the World: On Syria, Palestine and Lebanon w/ Nidal Betare | 10 Jun 2022 | 01:27:29 | |
Nidal Betare joins Joey Ayoub to talk about growing up in Yarmouk, being Palestinian-Syrian and the links between Syria, Palestine and Lebanon. You can support The Fire These Times on Patreon with a monthly or yearly donation. You can also find it on Twitter @firethesetimes, Instagram @firethesetimes and TikTok @thefirethesetimes. Joey Ayoub can be found on Twitter @joeyayoub and Instagram @joeyayoub91. The newsletter is available on Subtack @ thefirethesetimes.substack.com Recommended Books:
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| 111/ What is Happening in Tigray? w/ Teklehaymanot Weldemichel | 03 Jun 2022 | 01:22:52 | |
Stop #TigrayGenocide. Tigrayan academic Teklehaymanot Weldemichel joins Joey Ayoub to talk about what's been happening in Tigray. You can support The Fire These Times on Patreon with a monthly or yearly donation. You can also find it on Twitter @firethesetimes, Instagram @firethesetimes and TikTok @thefirethesetimes. Joey Ayoub can be found on Twitter @joeyayoub and Instagram @joeyayoub91. The newsletter is available on Subtack @ thefirethesetimes.substack.com Resources: Art by Tigray Art Collective. Recommended Books:
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| Special: On Having a Kid in the Climate Apocalypse w/ Michael J. DeLuca | 27 May 2022 | 00:19:45 | |
This is a special episode in which Michael J. DeLuca reads out an essay he wrote for Issue 2 of Reckoning entitled 'On Having a Kid in the Climate Apocalypse'. The episode includes an updated intro by Michael as well. You can support The Fire These Times on Patreon with a monthly or yearly donation. You can also find it on Twitter @firethesetimes, Instagram @firethesetimes and TikTok @thefirethesetimes. Joey Ayoub can be found on Twitter @joeyayoub and Instagram @joeyayoub91. The newsletter is available on Subtack @ thefirethesetimes.substack.com Photo by Oxana Lyashenko on Unsplash | |||
| 110/ Climate Narratives that Go Beyond the Apocalypse w/ Alyssa Hull | 20 May 2022 | 01:06:58 | |
This is a conversation with Alyssa Hull who splits her time between teaching high school biology and environmental science and writing speculative fiction. We spoke about what it's like to talk to high school students about climate change, the role of fiction like Solarpunk and how to improve climate communication. The article she wrote that we reference is called 'Hopepunk and Solarpunk: On Climate Narratives That Go Beyond the Apocalypse' for LitHub. You can support The Fire These Times on Patreon with a monthly or yearly donation. You can also find it on Twitter @firethesetimes, Instagram @firethesetimes and TikTok @thefirethesetimes. Joey Ayoub can be found on Twitter @joeyayoub and Instagram @joeyayoub91. The newsletter is available on Subtack @ thefirethesetimes.substack.com Games mentioned: Recommended Books:
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| 109/ The Link Between Pro-Palestine Activism, Anti-Authoritarianism and Democracy in the Arab World w/ Dana El-Kurd | 13 May 2022 | 01:41:32 | |
This is a conversation with Dana El-Kurd, her second time on the podcast. We spoke about a paper that she wrote entitled "Gateway to dissent: the role of pro-Palestine activism in opposition to authoritarianism." We primarily spoke about the role of pro-Palestine activism in pro-democracy movements in the Arab world (with examples from Qatar, Lebanon, Egypt, Syria, Bahrain, the UAE and Saudi Arabia) and also about how pro-Palestine discourse is used to whitewash authoritarianism, especially in the West. You can support The Fire These Times on Patreon with a monthly or yearly donation. You can also find it on Twitter @firethesetimes, Instagram @firethesetimes and TikTok @thefirethesetimes. Joey Ayoub can be found on Twitter @joeyayoub and Instagram @joeyayoub91. The newsletter is available on Subtack @ thefirethesetimes.substack.com Recommended Books:
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| 190/ What Trump Sees in Bukele w/ Michael Paarlberg | 25 Apr 2025 | 00:43:19 | |
For episode 190 of The Fire These Times, Dr. Michael Paarlberg talks to 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 associate professor at Virginia Commonwealth University and non-resident fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies. He was previously on TFTT in August of 2024 (episode 164) to talk about how Bukele created a ‘Gang State’ in El Salvador. As that was before Trump’s election, it is a good primer into what is it about El Salvador today that makes it so appealing to the maga movement. The Fire These Times is a proud member of From The Periphery (FTP) Media Collective. Check out other projects in our media ecosystem: From The Periphery Podcast, The Mutual Aid Podcast, Politically Depressed, Obscuristan, and Antidote Zine. To get early access to our episodes as well as other perks (monthly hangout, movie club, exclusive content and so on) you can join our patreon at Patreon.com/fromtheperiphery For more:
Transcriptions: Transcriptions are done by Antidote Zine and will be published on The Fire These Times' transcript archive. Credits: Dana El Kurd (host), Elia Ayoub (producer, episode designer), Rap and Revenge (Music), Wenyi Geng (TFTT theme design), Hisham Rifai (FTP theme design) and Molly Crabapple (FTP team profile pics). | |||
| 108/ What Asexuality Says About Society w/ Angela Chen | 06 May 2022 | 00:56:46 | |
This is a conversation with Angela Chen, author of the book 'Ace: What Asexuality Reveals About Desire, Society, and the Meaning of Sex'. You can support The Fire These Times on Patreon with a monthly or yearly donation. You can also find it on Twitter @firethesetimes, Instagram @firethesetimes and TikTok @thefirethesetimes. Joey Ayoub can be found on Twitter @joeyayoub and Instagram @joeyayoub91. The newsletter is available on Subtack @ thefirethesetimes.substack.com This isn't an Asexuality 101 episode. Feel free to look up the basics if you want. There are loads of asexuals who do explain what it means, Angela Chen's book including. This episode is more about what asexuality says about our societies. And as I'm notoriously crap at explaining why I like the books I like, I am going to read a paragraph written by Sarah Neilson for them.us which summarizes really well why Chen's book matters: "The crux of society’s difficulty with accepting asexuality is, Chen argues, because compulsory sexuality is ingrained in societal narratives about mental and physical health, politics and liberation, and interpersonal relationships. Compulsory sexuality posits that sex is a primal human need, ties sex to maturity, and places sex in relationship hierarchies. Even in the queer community, though we hate to be oversexualized by the straights, we often sexualize ourselves and each other. And while queer sex is indeed liberating for allosexuals (or those that do experience sexual attraction), so is the ability not to have sex. Chen argues, through a fantastic blend of nuanced and clear-eyed reporting, research, and personal reflection, that true liberation requires the dismantling of compulsory sexuality." So yeah, this book is great. Recommended Books:
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| 107/ Black Anarchism, Abolition and the Radical Tradition w/ William C. Anderson | 29 Apr 2022 | 01:40:07 | |
This is a conversation withWilliam C. Anderson, author of the bookThe Nation on No Map (AK Press 2021) and co-author ofAs Black as Resistance (AK Press 2018). He’s also the co-founder ofOffshoot Journal and provides creative direction as a producer of theBlack Autonomy Podcast. The Fire These Times is a proud member of From The Periphery (FTP) Media Collective. Check out other projects in our media ecosystem: the (newly aired!)Mutual Aid Podcast, Politically Depressed, Obscuristan, andAntidote Zine. To support FTP please head toPatreon. From The Periphery is onYouTube,Bluesky,Instagram, and has awebsite Topics Discussed:
Recommended Books:
The James Baldwin clip I mentioned: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAmL3F5uylo&feature=emb_imp_woyt | |||
| 🌻 Ukraine Special: 3. The threads that bind us from Syria to Ukraine | 22 Apr 2022 | 01:48:35 | |
This episode is a multilingual online encounter, part of the Post-Extractive Futures series, co-produced by War on Want, Tipping Point UK, JunteGente, and The Fire These Times project. I was the moderator. You can support The Fire These Times on Patreon with a monthly or yearly donation. You can also find it on Twitter @firethesetimes, Instagram @firethesetimes and TikTok @thefirethesetimes. Joey Ayoub can be found on Twitter @joeyayoub and Instagram @joeyayoub91. The newsletter is available on Subtack @ thefirethesetimes.substack.com Guests: Yassin al Haj Saleh, who will be speaking in English, is a Syrian writer and former political prisoner. He is author of several books on Syria, prison, contemporary Islam, intellectual responsibility, and experiences of the atrocious. He is the husband of Samira al Khalil, who was abducted by an armed Islamist group in Douma in December 2013. He now lives in Berlin. Wafa Mustafa, who will also be speaking in English, is a Syrian activist, a journalist, a survivor of detention. Mustafa comes from Masyaf, a city in the Hama governorate in western Syria. She left the country on 9 July 2013, exactly a week after her father was forcibly disappeared by the regime in Damascus. In her advocacy, Mustafa covers the impact of detention on young girls, women, and families. Yuliya Yurchenko, who will also be speaking in English, is a senior lecturer in political economy at the department of economics and international business and a researcher at the political economy, governance, finance, and accountability institute at the University of Greenwich, UK. She is the author of Ukraine and the Empire of Capital, which was published by Pluto Press in 2017. She researches state, capital, and society relations as well as public services as a commons with a regional focus on Europe and Ukraine. Taras Bilous, who will be speaking in Ukrainian, is a Ukrainian historian and an activist of the Social Movement Organization. As an editor of for Commons, a journal of social critique, he covers the topics of war and nationalism. He has recently written quite a lot of articles, including “A Letter to the Western Left from Kiev” as well as “The Left in the West Must Rethink.” Transcription and YouTube video available on the website: https://thefirethisti.me/2022/04/21/podcast-the-threads-that-bind-us-from-syria-to-ukraine/ | |||
| 106/ Football is Political: #Qatar2022, Russia and What Comes Next w/ Musa Okwonga and Justin Salhani | 15 Apr 2022 | 01:25:14 | |
This is a conversation with Justin Salhani of 'Oh My Goal' and Musa Okwonga (his 4th time on the pod) of 'Stadio' about football, politics and human rights. We talked about the upcoming world cup in Qatar, the role of dirty money in football (including Russian, Emirati and Saudi) and what might come next. You can support The Fire These Times on Patreon with a monthly or yearly donation. You can also find it on Twitter @firethesetimes, Instagram @firethesetimes and TikTok @thefirethesetimes. Joey Ayoub can be found on Twitter @joeyayoub and Instagram @joeyayoub91. The newsletter is available on Subtack @ thefirethesetimes.substack.com Recommended Books:
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| 105/ What 'Living With Covid' Actually Means w/ Martin Paul Eve | 08 Apr 2022 | 00:54:00 | |
This is a conversation with academic Martin Paul Eve, professor of Literature, Technology and Publishing at Birkbeck, University of London. You can support The Fire These Times on Patreon with a monthly or yearly donation. You can also find it on Twitter @firethesetimes, Instagram @firethesetimes and TikTok @thefirethesetimes. Joey Ayoub can be found on Twitter @joeyayoub and Instagram @joeyayoub91. The newsletter is available on Subtack @ thefirethesetimes.substack.com We spoke about his article 'just the first two years' about what the past two years of pandemic have been for him as someone with an autoimmune condition called panhypogammaglobulinemia. I found his article as I myself recently caught Covid following the Swiss government's decision to first reduce health measures, before removing them altogether. As many governments remove all remaining health measures, life is becoming increasingly difficult for many people, especially those who are disabled or immunocompromised. What does this say about our political culture if we allow this to become the norm? This is what this conversation was about. We focused on the UK and Switzerland as this is where we are, but this is applicable to many other countries as well. Recommended Books:
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| 104/ The Urgency of the IPCC Report w/ Dr Rupa Mukerji and Dr Lisa Schipper | 01 Apr 2022 | 01:06:48 | |
This is a conversation with Dr Rupa Mukerji and Dr Lisa Schipper, both of whom worked on the most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report. What we talked about:
Support: Patreon.com/firethesetimes Resources Mentioned: Recommended Books:
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| 🌻 Ukraine Special: 2. From Ukraine, with Love (and Anger) w/ Romeo Kokriatski | 25 Mar 2022 | 01:20:47 | |
In light of what's been happening in Ukraine I am publishing a series of episodes that will bring in critical perspectives to understand what's happening and why it's happening. The second episode is with Ukrainian journalist Romeo Kokriatski. He is managing editor at New Voice Ukraine, co-host of the Ukraine Without Hype podcast (go check it out) and has written for outlets such as Nihilist, Hromadske, Zaborona, and more. PS: if my voice sounds weird here it's because I managed to get myself infected with COVID-19, so that's been fun. Important note: this is not a news update. For news updates check the podcasts below:
Links on how to help Ukrainians: https://twitter.com/TimothyDSnyder/status/1499492353261727760 Support: Patreon.com/firethesetimes | |||
| 103/ The Periphery and Aimé Césaire's Ghosts in the Syrian Revolution w/ Fadi Bardawil | 18 Mar 2022 | 01:07:31 | |
This is a conversation with Fadi Bardawil, his 2nd time on the podcast. Bardawil is an anthropologist who researches the Leftist tradition in the Arab world. In this episode, we talked about two essays he's written: "Forsaking the Syrian Revolution: An Anti-Imperialist Handbook" and "Critical Theory in a Minor Key to Take Stock of the Syrian Revolution". What we talked about:
Support: Patreon.com/firethesetimes Recommended Books:
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| ARCHIVE: the Legacy of Chemical Weapons from Halabja to Ghouta w/ Sabrîna Azad | 16 Mar 2022 | 00:44:49 | |
Today we commemorate the 1988 #HalabjaGenocide of Kurds by the Saddam Hussein regime. I'm re-sharing Sabrîna Azad's 2020 episode on the long-term effects of chemical weapons and the shared trauma and solidarity between Halabja and Ghouta. Azad is a writer who published a moving piece for Mangal Media entitled ‘From Halabja to Ghouta‘ in which she looked at how deniers of Assad’s war crimes in Syria were evoking painful memories for survivors of Saddam Hussein’s genocidal campaigns against Kurds. She spoke about the legacy of the Halabja massacre, part of the Anfal genocide of the late 80s, as well as the 1991 uprisings against Saddam and why they offer better insight into the world’s reaction to Syria since 2011 than the more frequently mentioned 2003 invasion of Iraq does. Support: Patreon.com/firethesetimes | |||
| 102/ On the Need to Shape the Arab Exile Body w/ Amro Ali | 11 Mar 2022 | 01:26:34 | |
This is a conversation with Amro Ali, author of the essay "On the Need to Shape the Arab Exile Body in Berlin." He is also co-president of the Arab-German Young Academy of Sciences and Humanities, research fellow at the Freie Universität Berlin, and lecturer in sociology at the American University in Cairo (AUC). Support: Patreon.com/firethesetimes What we talked about:
Recommended Books:
Resources Mentioned:
Previous episodes mentioned:
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| 189/ Doikayt ('Hereness') Now! w/ Molly Crabapple | 23 Apr 2025 | 00:57:32 | |
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.” Speaking of end-time fascism, Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor will be joining Elia and Dana El Kurd on TFTT to talk about their essay “The rise of end times fascism.” To get early access to that episode as well as other perks (monthly hangout, movie club, exclusive content and so on) you can join our patreon on Patreon.com/fromtheperiphery The Fire These Times is a proud member of From The Periphery (FTP) Media Collective. Check out other projects in our media ecosystem: From The Periphery Podcast, The Mutual Aid Podcast, Politically Depressed, Obscuristan, and Antidote Zine. For more:
Transcriptions: Transcriptions are done by Antidote Zine and will be published on The Fire These Times' transcript archive. Credits: Elia Ayoub (host, producer, sound editor, episode design), Rap and Revenge (Music), Wenyi Geng (TFTT theme design), Hisham Rifai (FTP theme design) and Molly Crabapple (FTP team profile pics). Molly’s portrait on the cover photo is also done by her. | |||
| 🌻 Ukraine Special: 1. A View From Syria w/ Leila Al-Shami | 07 Mar 2022 | 00:56:11 | |
In light of what's been happening in Ukraine I am publishing a series of episodes that will, hopefully, bring in perspectives that are usually not platformed. The first episode is with British-Syrian writer and activist Leila Al-Shami. She's the co-author of the book "Burning Country: Syrians in Revolution and War." Important note: this is not a news update. For news updates check the podcasts below:
Links on how to help Ukrainians: Relevant reading:
The Fire These Times links: Support: Patreon.com/firethesetimes | |||
| 101/ Mending the World: A Jewish-Arab Diaspora Conversation w/ Cindy Milstein | 04 Mar 2022 | 01:44:32 | |
This is a conversation with Cindy Milstein, they (I wrongly used 'she' in the intro) are the editor of the book "There is Nothing so Whole as a Broken Heart: Mending the World As Jewish Anarchists" Support: Patreon.com/firethesetimes What we talked about: - An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon | |||
| 100/ The Story of Three Black Mothers: Louise Little, Berdis Baldwin and Albert King w/ Anna Malaika Tubbs | 25 Feb 2022 | 00:52:12 | |
This is a conversation with Anna Malaika Tubbs, author of the book "The Three Mothers: How the Mothers of Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X and James Baldwin Shaped a Nation." Support: Patreon.com/firethesetimes What we talked about:
Books Mentioned:
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| ARCHIVE: Disinformation, Russia and Syrian-Ukrainian Solidarity w/ Peter Pomerantsev | 23 Feb 2022 | 00:46:29 | |
Initially published in June 2020, I'm re-sharing this episode with Peter Pomerantsev with y'all because of what's been happening in Ukraine lately. I'm preparing a new episode on Ukraine but it's taking a bit of time because I want to make sure I'm well-read enough to be an engaging host. Old link: https://thefirethisti.me/2020/06/24/31-disinformation-post-truth-and-what-to-do-about-them/ Support: Patreon.com/firethesetimes | |||
| 99/ Inconvenient Findings and Enduring Hierarchies w/ Marie Berry and Milli Lake | 18 Feb 2022 | 01:28:32 | |
This is a conversation with Marie E. Berry and Milli Lake, co-founders and principal investigators of the Women’s Rights After War Project. We primarily spoke about their article "on inconvenient findings" and their paper for Annual Reviews "women's rights after war: on gender interventions and enduring hierarchies" Support: Patreon.com/firethesetimes
Resources Mentioned:
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| Crossover: The Strange Amnesia of Lebanon's Wars w/ New Lines | 11 Feb 2022 | 01:11:54 | |
This is a crossover episode with New Lines Podcast on the topic of 'postwar' Lebanon. A big thank you to New Lines’ Faisal Al Yafai and Lydia Wilson for hosting this conversation. Support: Patreon.com/firethesetimes | |||
| 98/ Space, Nostalgia and Retro-Futurism in Palestine and Lebanon w/ Nat Muller | 04 Feb 2022 | 01:30:10 | |
This is a conversation with Nat Muller, an independent curator, writer and academic living between the UK and Amsterdam. Support: Patreon.com/firethesetimes She is an expert in contemporary art from the Middle East and curated the Danish pavilion at the 2019 Venice Biennale, showing Palestinian artist Larissa Sansour. She has curated shows at major venues, including Eye Film Museum Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam, The Mosaic Rooms in London and ifa Gallery in Berlin. She is an AHRC Midlands3Cities-funded PhD student at Birmingham City University working on science fiction in contemporary art from the Middle East. We primarily talked about her paper "Lunar Dreams: Space Travel, Nostalgia, and Retrofuturism in A Space Exodus and The Lebanese Rocket Society". Topics Discussed:
Resources Mentioned:
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| 97/ Why I Stopped Writing About Syria w/ Asser Khattab | 28 Jan 2022 | 01:38:05 | |
This is a conversation with Asser Khattab, a Syrian writer who has reported on Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq for various international news outlets. We spoke about his essay for New Lines Magazine, "why I stopped writing about Syria." Support: Patreon.com/firethesetimes Topics Discussed:
Resources Mentioned:
Recommended Books:
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| 96/ The Arab Spring Diaspora Against Transnational Repression w/ Dana Moss | 21 Jan 2022 | 01:20:17 | |
This is a conversation with Dana Moss, Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Notre Dame and the author of the book "The Arab Spring Abroad: Diaspora Activism against Authoritarian Regimes." Support: Patreon.com/firethesetimes Website: TheFireThisTi.Me Substack newsletter: https://thefirethesetimes.substack.com/ Twitter + Instagram @ firethesetimes Topics Discussed:
Recommended Books:
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| 95/ Untellable Stories, Reproductive Justice & Complicating Acts of Advocacy w/ Shui-yin Sharon Yam | 14 Jan 2022 | 01:00:21 | |
This is a conversation with Shui-yin Sharon Yam (her 2nd time on the podcast) largely around a paper that she wrote called "Complicating Acts of Advocacy: Tactics in the Birthing Room".
She is Associate Professor of Writing, Rhetoric, and Digital Studies, and a faculty affiliate of Gender and Women's Studies and the Center for Equality and Social Justice at the University of Kentucky. She is one of the series editors for the Ohio State University Press's New Directions in Rhetoric and Materiality.
Support: Patreon.com/firethesetimes
Website: TheFireThisTi.Me
Substack newsletter: https://thefirethesetimes.substack.com/
Twitter + Instagram @ firethesetimes
Topics Discussed:
Rhetorical Analysis, Reproductive Justice and Doulas: Intro to each and the links between them
Three pillars of Reproductive Freedom and global implications
Rhetoric of Health and Medicine: intro and explanation
Technocratic model of birth: intro and explanation
What makes some stories 'untellable'?
The pitfalls of the 'self-made moms' rhetoric
Rhetoric and the antivaxx movement
Resources Mentioned:
Romper's Doula Diaries on YouTube
"Rhetorical Appeals and Tactics in New York Times Comments About Vaccines: Qualitative Analysis"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33275110/
"Using Rhetorical Situations to Examine and Improve Vaccination Communication" https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2021.697383/full#h4
Vaccine Rhetorics https://ohiostatepress.org/books/titles/9780814214336.html
Recommended Books:
Reproductive Injustice: Racism, Pregnancy, and Premature Birth by Dána-Ain Davis
We Live for the We: The Political Power of Black Motherhood by Dani McClain
Trans Medicine: The Emergence and Practice of Treating Gender by Stef M. Shuster
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| 188/ Revolutionary Aid in Sudan w/ Eiad Husham | 21 Apr 2025 | 00:50:18 | |
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 Internationalist and try and answer those questions. The Fire These Times is a proud member of From The Periphery (FTP) Media Collective. This episode was first released on the FTP Patreon page. Please consider supporting us directly there and you'll get early access to all of the FTP podcasts, exclusive content, an invitation to join our monthly hangout as well as our ongoing movie club on Lebanese cinema - and more! You can also help by leaving us a review wherever you listen to podcasts and telling your friends and enemies about us. Other FTP projects: From The Periphery Podcast, The Mutual Aid Podcast, Politically Depressed, Obscuristan, and Antidote Zine. For more:
Transcriptions: Transcriptions are done by Antidote Zine and will be published on The Fire These Times' transcript archive. Credits: Elia Ayoub (host, producer, sound editor, episode design), Rap and Revenge (Music), Wenyi Geng (TFTT theme design), Hisham Rifai (FTP theme design) and Molly Crabapple (FTP team profile pics). Original photo by Ela Yokes for The New Internationalist. | |||
| 94/ The Political Economy of Solarpunk w/ Andrew Dana Hudson | 07 Jan 2022 | 01:37:38 | |
This is a conversation with speculative fiction writer and sustainability researcher Andrew Dana Hudson. His stories have appeared in Slate Future Tense, Lightspeed Magazine, Vice Terraform, MIT Technology Review, Grist, Little Blue Marble, The New Accelerator, StarShipSofa and more, as well as various books and anthologies. His fiction has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and longlisted for the BSFA. In 2016 his story “Sunshine State” won the first Everything Change Climate Fiction Contest, and in 2017 he was runner up in the Kaleidoscope Writing The Future Contest. His 2015 essay “On the Political Dimensions of Solarpunk” has helped define and grow the “solarpunk” subgenre. He is a member of the cursed 2020 class of the Clarion Workshop. Support: Patreon.com/firethesetimes Website: TheFireThisTi.Me Twitter + Instagram @ firethesetimes Topics Discussed:
Books mentioned + Recommended:
The art is by artist and illustrator CosmosKitty (I added the text). Check out their work here: cosmoskitty.com | |||
| It Could Happen Here: On The New Periphery | 10 Dec 2021 | 00:45:20 | |
Hey everyone, As I'm taking a bit of a break I'm sharing with you the episode I did on the podcast "It Could Happen Here Daily with Robert Evans" about my article for Lausan.hk entitled "The periphery has no time for binaries". Make sure to check out It Could Happen Here :) See you all in January! To support: Patreon.com/firethesetimes Blog: thefirethisti.me | |||
| Mangal Media: Solarpunk, Climate Change and the New Thinkable | 03 Dec 2021 | 00:53:47 | |
As I'm taking a wee break, here's an interview I gave on the Mangal Media podcast about my article of the same name. You can read it here: https://www.mangalmedia.net/english/solarpunk-climate-change-and-the-new-thinkable Mangal Media is a global collective of writers, artists, journalists and scholars from the so-called “periphery” who are concerned about reclaiming their own narratives. Check out their podcast :) I was on there more recently as well to talk about protest chants since the Arab Spring. See you in January. Patreon: Patreon.com/firethesetimes Blog: thefirethisti.me | |||