The Fire These Times

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: What you should know about the most recent IPCC report In-depth exploration of the IPCC report Understanding vulnerabilities to climate change What is Maladaptation? With examples Who takes action? Support: Patreon.com/firethesetimes Website: http://TheFireThisTi.Me Substack: https://thefirethesetimes.substack.com Twitter + Instagram @ firethesetimes Resources Mentioned: Climate activists asking Europe to abandon Russian oil Recommended Books: Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami (Lisa) Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Lisa) At Risk: Natural Hazards, People's Vulnerability and Disasters by Piers M. Blaikie, Terry Cannon, Ian Davis and Ben Wisner (Lisa) The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable by Amitav Ghosh (Rupa) Gun Island by Amitav Ghosh (Rupa) The Gospel of the Eels by Patrik Svensson (Rupa)

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: Ukraine Without Hype by Romeo Kokriatski and A. Bartaway Popular Front Ukrainecast - BBC The Ex-Worker Talk Eastern Europe Links on how to help Ukrainians:  https://twitter.com/TimothyDSnyder/status/1499492353261727760 + https://twitter.com/Border_Violence/status/1497345941552209924 + https://twitter.com/DocumentingMN/status/1498400897419956230 + https://twitter.com/nii_ugre/status/1496846810761117700 + https://linktr.ee/operation.solidarity + https://wiki.avtonom.org/en/index.php/Donate Support:  Patreon.com/firethesetimes Website: http://TheFireThisTi.Me Substack: https://thefirethesetimes.substack.com Twitter + Instagram @ firethesetimes

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: Thinking about the Syrian revolution Aimé Césaire and Stalinism Tension between Leftists in the Metropoles and Revolutionaries in the Peripheries Learning from the Palestinian story Domestic politics in the Metropoles becoming global politics Focusing on wider trends instead of individual motives Discourses that erase the Syrian revolution Example of Hong Kong Example of the Lebanese Left of the 60s Support: Patreon.com/firethesetimes Website: http://TheFireThisTi.Me Substack: https://thefirethesetimes.substack.com Twitter + Instagram @ firethesetimes Recommended Books: The Syrian Revolution: Between the Politics of Life and the Geopolitics of Death by Yasser Munif الفظيع وتمثيله - ياسين الحاج صالح Readings in Syrian Prison Literature: The Poetics of Human Rights by R. Shareah Taleghani

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 Website: http://TheFireThisTi.Me Substack: https://thefirethesetimes.substack.com Twitter + Instagram @ firethesetimes

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/firethesetimesWebsite: http://www.thefirethesetimes.com Substack: https://thefirethesetimes.substack.com Twitter + Instagram @ firethesetimes What we talked about: Moving from the centers to the peripheries Why Berlin? And not London, Paris, New York or Istanbul Berlin as an incomplete city and Germany's past Germany and the Arabs The Koblenz trial, accountability in Germany (but not in the Arab world) January 25 and the legacy of the Arab Spring for the exile body Home as the place where all attempts to escape cease Valuing public spaces Survivor's guilt and impostor's syndrome Challenges faced by Arabs and other non-white people in Berlin Meeting other Arabs for the first time in Europe The need for a connection between Berlin and other capitals, such as Beirut or Tunis Politics of language and the use of Arabic in the diaspora Recommended Books: City of Exiles: Berlin from the outside in by Stuart Braun Representations of the Intellectual by Edward W. Said Exile, Statelessness, and Migration: Playing Chess with History from Hannah Arendt to Isaiah Berlin by Seyla Benhabib Resources Mentioned: The Der Spiegel article: https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/witness-defendant-deserter-case-in-germany-raises-questions-about-how-to-try-assad-s-atrocities-a-43d2817e-d85b-4378-b158-0c5001c345eb Branch 251 Podcast Previous episodes mentioned: My Father and Syria’s Forcibly Disappeared (With Wafa Mustafa) Space Travel, Nostalgia, and Retrofuturism (With Nat Muller) That Cairo Concert, Mental Health and Growing Up Queer in Lebanon (With Hamed Sinno) Why I stopped writing about Syria (With Asser Khattab) Queerness, Literature and Revolution (With Saleem Haddad)

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: Ukraine Without Hype by Romeo Kokriatski and A. Bartaway Popular Front Ukrainecast - BBC The Ex-Worker Talk Eastern Europe Links on how to help Ukrainians: https://twitter.com/TimothyDSnyder/status/1499492353261727760 + https://twitter.com/Border_Violence/status/1497345941552209924 + https://twitter.com/DocumentingMN/status/1498400897419956230 + https://twitter.com/nii_ugre/status/1496846810761117700 + https://linktr.ee/operation.solidarity + https://wiki.avtonom.org/en/index.php/Donate Relevant reading: War in Ukraine: Ten Lessons from Syria - Crimethinc Syrians recount horror under Russian air attacks - Al Jazeera Why Ukraine Is a Syrian Cause - Yassin Al-Haj Saleh, DAWN ‘Our fates are united’: Syrians rally behind Ukraine after years of Russian torment - The Guardian Safe, - Edge of Syria The Fire These Times links: Support: Patreon.com/firethesetimes Website: http://TheFireThisTi.Me Substack: https://thefirethesetimes.substack.com Twitter + Instagram @ firethesetimes

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 Website: www.thefirethesetimes.com Substack: https://thefirethesetimes.substack.com Twitter + Instagram @ firethesetimes  What we talked about: - Displacement as part of the Jewish experience Being diaspora (Jewish and Arab) - Having communities without states - Politics of language (Hebrew, Yiddish, Ladino etc) - Authoritarianism and flattening our differences - Jewish anarchism - Hegemonic narratives in Europe (Examples of Dreyfus affair, Alsace, Berlin, Spain) - Oral histories Tisha B'av, 1492, Tree of Life massacre and needing a language for grief - Wrestling with difficulties - Antisemitism on the right and the left Recommended Books:  - An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon - The Four Profound Weaves by R.B. Lemberg - Pet by Akwaeke Emezi Link to Yiddish, Ladino and Judeo-Arabic songs: https://twitter.com/FireTheseTimes/status/1486260615828021249

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 Website: http://TheFireThisTi.Me Substack: https://thefirethesetimes.substack.com Twitter + Instagram @ firethesetimes What we talked about: The lives of Berdis Baldwin, Louise Little and Alberta King and why their stories matter Anna becoming a mother while writing a book about black motherhood Their famous sons - James Baldwin, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr - eclipsing their own lives Contextualizing their lives an the long history of violence against black women The role of religion in their lives Books Mentioned: Righteous Discontent: The Women’s Movement in the Black Baptist Church, 1880–1920 by Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham We Live for the We: The Political Power of Black Motherhood by Dani McClain In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens by Alice Walker The Mothers by Brit Bennett

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 Website: http://TheFireThisTi.Me Substack: https://thefirethesetimes.substack.com Twitter + Instagram @ firethesetimes

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 Website: http://TheFireThisTi.Me Substack: https://thefirethesetimes.substack.com Twitter + Instagram @ firethesetimes Topics Discussed: The limitations of many 'women's empowerment' programs What happens when research findings challenge the work that policy makers are invested in promoting? Example of degrowth and economics Who gets excluded when certain interests (such as class) are maintained? Examples of Rwanda, Bosnia and Lebanon Narrowly-defined arena for justice The three Dayton agreements (referencing the episode with Aida Hozic) and ongoing situation in Bosnia and Serbia War logics in 'postwar' contexts The USA as a 'postwar' country Should we make inconvenient findings less inconvenient? The idea of nation states The role of futurism and speculative movements Resources Mentioned: 69/ The Entrenched “Manliness” of Ethnic Power-sharing Peace Agreements (with Aida A. Hozić) https://thefirethisti.me/2021/03/28/69-the-entrenched-manliness-of-ethnic-power-sharing-peace-agreements-with-aida-a-hozic/ Recommended Books: Revolutionary Mothering: Love on the Front Lines by Alexis Pauline Gumbs Undrowned: Black Feminist Lessons from Marine Mammals by Alexis Pauline Gumbs The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity by David Graeber and David Wengrow Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds by adrienne maree brown Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good by adrienne maree brown Holding Change: The Way of Emergent Strategy Facilitation and Mediation by adrienne maree brown On Freedom: Four Songs of Care and Constraint by Maggie Nelson Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer