
The Fire These Times
The Fire These Times is a podcast by Lebanese writer and researcher Elia Ayoub and friends connecting academics, writers, artists and activists from around the world to “build the new in the shell of the old.”
It is a part of the From The Periphery Media Collective. To support: https://www.patreon.com/fromtheperiphery
Latest episodes

Feb 10, 2023 • 1h 31min
126/ The Memory We Could Be: Fear and Our Ecological Future w/ Daniel Macmillen Voskoboynik
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.
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EARTHQUAKE DONATION LINKS:
The White Helmets
whitehelmets.org/en/
The Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS) Foundation
sams-usa.net
Huquqyat
https://www.huquqyat.org/
Molham Team
Molhamteam.com
Kurdish Red Crescent
heyvasoruk.org
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Book recommendations:
Ideas to Postpone the End of the World by Ailton Krenak
Undrowned: Black Feminist Lessons from Marine Mammals Emergent Strategy Series by Alexis Pauline Gumbs
How the World Breaks: Life in Catastrophe's Path, from the Caribbean to Siberia by Stan Cox and Paul Cox
Also, the poetry of Joy Harjo, Ilya Kaminsky, Victoria Chang, Dunya Mikhail and Vito Apushana.
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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.
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You can also follow updates on Mastodon | Twitter | Instagram | TikTok | Website & Mailing List
Joey Ayoub can be found on Mastodon | Twitter | Instagram | Website
The newsletter is available on Substack
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Host: Joey Ayoub
Producer: Joey Ayoub
Music: Rap and Revenge
Main theme design: Wenyi Geng
Sound editor: Ibrahim Youssef
Episode design: Joey Ayoub

Feb 3, 2023 • 1h 6min
125/ Understanding (Anti-)Fascism in a World in Crisis w/ Shane Burley
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.
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Recommended Books:
Blood and Politics: The History of the White Nationalist Movement from the Margins to the Mainstream by Leonard Zeskind
Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America by Kathleen Belew
As Black as Resistance: Finding the Conditions for Liberation by Zoé Samudzi & William C. Anderson
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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
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
Episode design: Joey Ayoub

Jan 27, 2023 • 59min
124/ Jessie Gender on how Star Trek deals with neurodiversity, race, and queerness
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.
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Book Recs:
Second Self by Uma McCormack
Star Trek Lower Decks
Star Wars Andor
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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

Jan 20, 2023 • 1h 39min
123/ Hauntings, Futurisms and the Present Movement w/ Luka Dowell aka Solarpunk Now!
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.
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Recs:
Psychopolitics: Neoliberalism and New Technologies of Power by Byung-Chul Han
Family Values: Between Neoliberalism and the New Social Conservatism by Melinda Cooper
The New Way of the World: On Neoliberal Society by Pierre Dardot & Christian Laval
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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
Episode design: Joey Ayoub

Jan 13, 2023 • 1h 5min
122/ In Search of Afro-Solarpunk w/ Rob Cameron
This is a conversation with teacher, linguist, and writer Rob Cameron about Solarpunk and Afro-Solarpunk.
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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
Hieroglyph: Stories and Visions for a Better Future edited by Ed Finn and Kathryn Cramer
Africa Risen: A New Era of Speculative Fiction edited by Sheree Renée Thomas, Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki and Zelda Knight
Humankind by Rutger Bregman
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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
Episode design: Joey Ayoub

Jan 6, 2023 • 1h 31min
121/ Solarpunk and Post-Capitalist Desires w/ HydroponicTrash
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.
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Book Recs:
Walkaway by Cory Doctorow
The Dawn of Everything by David Graeber and David Wengrow
Lo—TEK, Design by Radical Indigenism Julia Watson
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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
Episode design: Joey Ayoub

Dec 22, 2022 • 1h 52min
Special: How to Make Football Radical, a 2022 FIFA World Cup Retrospective w/ Musa Okwonga, Justin Salhani and Fabien Goa
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
Musa Okwonga: The Ball is Round: A Global History of Soccer by David Goldblatt
Fabien Goa: The Turbulance of Migration by Nikos Papastergiadis
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
Instagram @firethesetimes
TikTok @thefirethesetimes.
Joey Ayoub can be found on
Twitter @joeyayoub
Instagram @joeyayoub91
Mastodon @ https://kolektiva.social/web/@ayoub
The newsletter is available on Subtack @ thefirethesetimes.substack.com
Music by RapNRevenge, Episode design by Joey Ayoub, Podcast design by Wenyi Geng

Aug 5, 2022 • 1h 57min
120/ Russian Imperialism, Cynical Discourse and Life Amidst War w/ Mariam Naiem & Romeo Kokriatski
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:
Imperial Knowledge: Russian Literature and Colonialism by Ewa M. Thompson
Katerina by Taras Shevchenko
I'm Not Stiller by Max Frisch
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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
Episode design: Joey Ayoub

Jul 29, 2022 • 1h 7min
119/ Lessons on the Path to Radicalization w/ Andrew Sage & Emmi Bevensee
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:
Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots
The Private Eye by Brian K. Vaughan and Marcos Martín, Muntsa Vicente
Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki
Andrew:
Anarchy Works by Peter Gelderloos
Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire
Prefigurative Politics: Building Tomorrow Today by Paul Raekstad and Sofa Saio Gradin

Jul 22, 2022 • 1h 31min
118/ Bosnia, False Histories and Fact-Free Politics w/ Edin Hajdarpašić
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:
Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History by Michel-Rolph Trouillot
Bosnian Studies: Perspectives from an Emerging Field by Dzeneta Karabegovic and Adna Karamehic-Oates
Beekeeping in the End Times by Larisa Jasarevic