The Fire These Times

This is a conversation with Banah Ghadbian. She’s a Syrian activist  whose dissertation “Ululating from the Underground: Syrian Women’s  Protests, Performances, and Pedagogies under Siege” was the subject of our conversation. As usual, we ended up talking about a lot of other things as well. Get early access + more perks at Patreon.com/firethesetimes Blog: https://thefirethisti.me You can follow on Twitter or Instagram @ firethesetimes too. Topics Discussed: Banah’s story growing up in a Syrian revolutionary family and being targeted by the regime as a result The video that Banah released on YouTube in 2011, which the Syrian regime played on state tv Her dissertation: Ululating from the Underground: Syrian Women’s Protests, Performances and Pedagogies under Siege (video summary) “How  do Syrian women and youth heal from violence? How can our communities  be embodied when displaced from our lands and spirits?” What is often missing from a lot of discourse regarding Syria? The chronicles of Enab Baladi + An idea called Daraya How does Banah think about the Syrian story and how it’s often misrepresented online? What the Syrian revolution already achieved Multiplicities and the entrenched ‘manliness’ of war analyses (reference to episode with Aida Hozic) Undoing the diaspora/local binary Pedagogies of liberation vs refugee/NGO industrial complex Being friends with Hala Barakat, who was murdered in September of 2017 alongside her mother Orouba Scarcity idea coming from an inherently capitalist logic The Syrian revolution and anti-blackness; intersectionality The misleading debates around ‘integration’, Alan Kurdi Talking about sectarianism Being in the dominant group at home, and in the minority in the diaspora Recommended Books Syria Speaks: Art and Culture from the Frontline Paperback – November 18, 2014 by Malu Halasa, Zaher Omareen by Nawara Mahfoud Zaatardiva by Suheir Hammad Homegirls and Handgrenades by Sonia Sanchez Music by Tarabeat.

This is a conversation with Promise Li. He’s a US-based member of the Lausan collective and the Democratic  Socialists of America doing solidarity work with Hong Kong and China’s  dissident movements. Get early access + more perks at Patreon.com/firethesetimes Blog: https://thefirethisti.me You can follow on Twitter or Instagram @ firethesetimes too. Topics Discussed: Growing up in Hong Kong in the shadow of the Tiananmen Square massacre and after the UK-China handover What is Lausan? The difficulties of navigating online discourses on Hong Kong (and Lebanon, Syria etc) Rooting ourselves in democracy Translating Self-Determination Hong  Kong’s water revolution (context and history) and how the Chinese  Communist Party crushed it, at least for now (the national security law,  ongoing crackdown etc) The globalization of the war on terror rhetoric and how ‘anti-imperialist’ governments and parties also use it. How governments and politicians learn from one another (example of Gebran Bassil in Lebanon; Saudi and Palestinian ambassadors to China; Henri Kissinger praising the CCP and vice versa, Chinese cops praising American cops; Hezbollah in Syria) What’s so different about the CCP’s oppression compared to other governments’ authoritarianism, and how western leftists don’t seem to quite grasp that (example of China and Syria) How tankies and others try and think like Xi Jinping or Bashar Al-Assad (and always fail) The multiplicity of places Reacting to the camps in Xinjiang Having a specific anger towards people who were oppressed in the past and who now oppress others (Israel, China) Identifying as Hong Konger Chinese, the complicated identities of being both Jewish  and Arab, the example of Hindutva and Indian Muslims Being anti-nationalist and how that intersect in the global south The importance of including migrant domestic workers in our struggles Linking up Hong Kong with Black Lives Matters Learning from Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement What BLM could look like in Lebanon Fighting anti-Asian violence cannot include apologism for the Chinese state Recommended Books: China: The Revolution is Dead, Long Live the Revolution by The 70’s Collective Punching out and other writings by Martin Glaberman, edited by Staughton Lynd Beyond Survival: Strategies and Stories from the Transformative Justice Movement edited by Ejeris Dixon & Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha

This is a conversation with Daniel Randall.  He’s a London-based railway worker and workplace representative for the  National Union of Rail, Maritime, and Transport Workers and a member of  the Alliance for Workers’ Liberty. We spoke about antisemitism on the Left as Daniel has an upcoming book on this very topic. Get early access + more perks at Patreon.com/firethesetimes Blog: https://thefirethisti.me You can follow on Twitter or Instagram @ firethesetimes too. Topics Discussed: What is left antisemitism? The ‘socialism of fools’ The difference between antisemitism and other forms of hatred The impact of Moishe Postone in our understanding of this topic Antisemitism as conspiracy theory in and of itself How it impacts discourse on Israel-Palestine The specific legacy of Stalinism on anti-Zionism Anti-Zionism without Anti-Semitism ‘Anti-Zionist Zionism’ Isaac Deutscher’s lifeboat metaphor for Israel in the 1940s Understanding how one can be both a refugee and a settler What’s wrong with saying ‘the Zionist entity’ Edward Said’s view on this The example of Hindutva The example of Lebanon The pseudo-emancipatory character of antisemitism Intersection between anti-semitism and islamophobia (‘great replacement’ conspiracy theory) How Antisemitism Animates White Nationalism (reference to the essay by Erik Ward) What happened in the UK Labor Party Navigating sensitive discourses surrounding Israel-Palestine On anti-nationalism Recommended Books That’s Funny, You Don’t Look Antisemitic: Antiracist Analysis of Left Antisemitism Paperback by Steve Cohen Confronting Anti-Semitism in the 21st Century edited by Shane Burley Confronting antisemitism on the Left: arguments for socialists by Daniel Randall (forthcoming) Music by Tarabeat.

This is a conversation with Guy Standing, a Professorial Research  Associate at SOAS University of London and a founding member and  honorary co-president of the Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN), a  non-governmental organisation that promotes a basic income for all. Get early access + more perks at Patreon.com/firethesetimes Blog: https://thefirethisti.me You can follow on Twitter or Instagram @ firethesetimes too. Topics Discussed: What is Universal Basic Income (UBI)/ Basic Income Why it’s so important that basic income be unconditional Towards a new class system: Precariat, Salariat, Proficients, Oligarchs, Plutocracy, Working Class, Lumpen Underclass etc What is the precariatized mind? Types  of Precariats: Atavists who look to the past/Nostalgics: The migrants,  the roamers, the refugees, the minorities/Progressives Towards a new politics of time How the global COVID-19 pandemic makes the case for a basic income Recommended Books The Human Condition by Hannah Arendt The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time by Karl Polanyi The Magna Carta Manifesto: Liberties and Commons for All by Peter Linebaugh Music by Tarabeat.

This is a special episode with Sumaya Awad and Shireen Akram-Boshar. Sumaya's the co-editor of the book "Palestine: A Socialist Introduction" which Shireen contributed to. Get early access + more perks at Patreon.com/firethesetimes Blog: https://thefirethisti.me You can follow on Twitter or Instagram @ firethesetimes too. Topics Discussed: Our relationship to Palestine What triggered the recent brutalities and broader context Connecting protests in Israel-Palestine with protests in the US (Black Lives Matter especially) and globally (Arab Spring, Syrian revolution etc) Israel's ethnic cleansing projects The youth-led resistance Shifting narratives on Zionism and Israel in the USA Reviving BDS What progressives need to be paying attention to Books Recommended: Shireen: Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement Paperback by Angela Davis The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire by Deepa Kumar A Woman in the Crossfire: Diaries of the Syrian Revolution by Samar Yazbeck Sumaya: The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy Smiley's People by John le Carré Movies: Qafr Kassem by Borhan Alaouié The Feeling of Being Watched by Assia Boundaoui

As he was talking to me Majed Abusalama's family was being threatened with airstrikes by the Israeli state. Video interview available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cE7il3GJRNI Follow: We Are Not Numbers https://wearenotnumbers.org

In light of what's been happening in Palestine I am re-releasing my conversation with Mohammed Sulaiman from last year.  Mohammed is a Palestinian writer and researcher who grew up in Gaza and currently works at the University of South Australia. The core of our conversation was Mohammed’s two essays for Hummus For Thought: Wretched of the Earth: Thoughts on Syria, Palestine and Discourse (2016) Israel and ‘The Right to Maim’ (2017) Topics discussed: growing up in Gaza and surviving the Israeli wars  and blockade; his and his partner’s difficult journey to Australia,  himself via Israel and herself via Egypt; the Western Left’s failures on  Syria and Bosnia as well as its relationship to Palestine; the  dehumanisation of Palestinians and Syrians; Israel’s politics of  domination; Israel’s ‘right to maim’ as inherent to colonial logic  through Jasbir Puar’s work; and Palestinians being asked to show  gratitude by self-appointed ‘saviors’. Get early access + more perks at Patreon.com/firethesetimes Blog: https://thefirethisti.me You can follow on Twitter or Instagram @ firethesetimes too.

A conversation with my good friend Maya Schkolne on (anti)Zionism and international solidarity. Also: having multiple identities, Jewish supremacists in Israel, erasing the Nakba, apartheid (South Africa/Israel), and more. Get early access + more perks at Patreon.com/firethesetimes Blog: https://thefirethisti.me You can follow on Twitter or Instagram @ firethesetimes too. List of resources: Jehad Abusalim's thread Gaza march leader to conscientious objectors: ‘Turn your words into weapons’ Reclaiming The PLO, Re-Engaging Youth The Holocaust and the Nakba: A New Grammar of Trauma and History The Kahanist revenge song of a few days ago Revolutionary Yiddishland: A History of Jewish Radicalism Returning to Haifa by Ghassan Kanafani Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi Twitter list of Palestinian writers, activists etc Sources for Updates, Resources, Info on Israel and Palestine Palestine will not be liberated in isolation: a look back at the 2011 uprisings

This is a conversation with Giulio Mattioli and Julia Steinberger about their article ‘the political economy of car dependence: A systems of provision approach‘ published in the ‘Energy Research & Social Science‘ journal. We also discussed the topics below. Get early access + more perks at Patreon.com/firethesetimes Blog: https://thefirethisti.me You can follow on Twitter or Instagram @ firethesetimes too. Topics Discussed: The five key elements of what we’re calling the ‘car-dependent  transport system’: i) the automotive industry; ii) the provision of car  infrastructure; iii) the political economy of urban sprawl; iv) the  provision of public transport; v) cultures of car consumption The problem with focusing too much on consumption and the importance of covering the production side How where we live can influence our politics, and how suburban car-oriented lifestyles are actually subsidized by the state The importance of network planning Looking for decoupling and finding degrowth instead The problem with ‘sustainable’ growth How the car industry shows the necessity of degrowth Why more equitable societies are easier to decarbonize The problem with the argument that personal choices do not matter Dealing with climate anxiety through activism, work, research, learning How come we knew so much and did so little? Working with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) What is ecologial economics? Recommended Books Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic by David Quammen The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck Decolonising the Mind: the Politics of Language in African Literature by  Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o Less is More: How Degrowth Will Save The World by Jason Hickel Degrowth / Postwachstum zur Einführung by Matthias Schmelzer and Andrea Vetter Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist by Kate Raworth Music by Tarabeat. Photo by Denys Nevozhai on Unsplash

This is a conversation with Jeffrey Karam. He’s Assistant Professor  of Political Science at the Lebanese American University and an  associate at Harvard’s Middle East Initiative. He’s also the editor of the book “The Middle East in 1958: Reimagining a Revolutionary Year“, the topic of our conversation. Get early access + more perks at Patreon.com/firethesetimes Blog: https://thefirethisti.me You can follow on Twitter or Instagram @ firethesetimes too. Topics Discussed: What was so special about 1958? Its legacy in the Middle East and the world The  formation of the short-lived United Arab Republic (between Egypt and  Syria), the Iraq revolution, the attempted coup in Jordan, the slide  towards more authoritarianism in Iran, the clash between the princes in  Saudi Arabia, the collapse of the fourth republic in France etc The internationalization of the region and the role of the great powers (US, UK, France, USSR) History as non-linear, connecting different threads Authoritarianism in the region and the role of the big powers Asking ‘what ifs’ in thinking about history 1957 in Lebanon (the rigged elections with US support) and the 1958 events A  look into the debates on decolonization, revolutionary nationalism,  internationalism, post-colonialism, imperialism, anti-imperialism and  state formation Lessons from 1958 for the present day, the example of Iraq How hope is linked to the understanding of time Upcoming book: The Lebanon Uprising of 2019: Voices from the Revolution, co-edited with Rima Majed Learning about revolutions in revolutionary times Book recommendations Coups and Revolutions: Mass Mobilization, the Egyptian Military, and the United States from Mubarak to Sisi by Amy Austin Holmes Oilcraft: The Myths of Scarcity and Security That Haunt U.S. Energy Policy by Robert Vitalis The Politics of Art Dissent and Cultural Diplomacy in Lebanon, Palestine, and Jordan by Hanan Toukan The Paranoid Style in American Diplomacy Oil and Arab Nationalism in Iraq by Brandon Wolfe-Hunnicutt Winning Lebanon: Youth Politics, Populism, and the Production of Sectarian Violence, 1920–1958 by Dylan Baum Banking on the State The Financial Foundations of Lebanon by Hicham Safieddine Resources mentioned/that are relevant 07. Denying Genocide, from Halabja to Ghouta with Sabrina Azad 14. Revolution, disenchantment and the Lebanese New Left with Fadi Bardawil