The Fire These Times

Elia Ayoub goes into his essay for hauntologies.net in which he asks: what does it mean to lose the future? The film explored is Maher Abi Samra's 'We Were Communists' (2011). It will be part of our upcoming movie club on the patreon. The Hauntologies Podcast is a production of From The Periphery and part of The Fire These Times podcast. A newsletter version exists at hauntologies.net. To support us, please head out to Patreon.com/fromtheperiphery to subscribe. You are free to republish and translate the text and audio as long as you credit us with the appropriate patreon link. For More: Elia is on Bluesky, Mastodon and Instagram From the Periphery is on Bluesky and Instagram The Fire These Times is on Bluesky and Instagram From The Periphery is built by Elia Ayoub, Leila Al-Shami, Ayman Makarem, Dana El Kurd, Karena Avedissian, Daniel Voskoboynik, Anna M, Aydın Yıldız, Ed S, Alice Bonfatti, israa abd elfattah, with more joining soon!

It's finally happening. Ayman has finished his new video essay 'Where are the Arabs?'. 'Where are the Arabs?' is a long-form video essay about the history, failures, and nostalgia of Arab Nationalism. It's one Arab leftist's attempt to sift through this trend, see its remnant today, nd dispell its myths. Today, there is no Arab solidarity in action. But was there ever? I explore this question and many more over 1h 15m, with clips from a broad range of Arab leftist intellectuals. -- -- There's a live drop happening on Patreon on Sunday 26th at 8pm CET. I'll be in the live chat. Join me! ⁠Link to the Video Essay⁠ Free for members, available for one-time purchase for anyone else! Here's a Youtube link to Ayman's first video essay, released a few months ago -- --

Elia Ayoub reads from his Hauntologies.net piece "⁠This Moment. Or, Why I Cannot Mourn Gaza⁠" which is available for free. The Hauntologies Podcast is a production of From The Periphery and part of The Fire These Times podcast. A newsletter version exists at hauntologies.net. To support us, please head out to Patreon.com/fromtheperiphery to subscribe. You are free to republish and translate the text and audio as long as you credit us with the appropriate patreon link. For More: Elia is on Bluesky, Mastodon and Instagram From the Periphery is on Bluesky and Instagram The Fire These Times is on Bluesky and Instagram If you are on Apple Podcasts: We recommend subscribing via Patreon instead of Apple's FTP Premium as it is a friendlier option to creators. Go to the website, subscribe there and use the RSS feed to listen on your iPhones. If you are a paid subscriber to Hauntologies.net you will have the same audio as part of the regular newsletter, so you won't have to pay twice to get access to these. From The Periphery is built by Elia Ayoub, Leila Al-Shami, Ayman Makarem, Dana El Kurd, Karena Avedissian, Daniel Voskoboynik, Anna M, Aydın Yıldız, Ed S, Alice Bonfatti, israa abd elfattah, with more joining soon!

For episode 183, Leila and Elia are joined by Wendy Pearlman to discuss her newest book,The Home I Worked to Make: Voices from the New Syrian Diaspora as well as her previous bookWe Crossed a Bridge and Trembled. Note that we recorded this episode on November 9, 2024 – just weeks prior to the ousting of the Assad regime. As such, a few small details of the conversation are now ‘outdated’, however the conversation we had and Wendy’s books still remain extremely relevant and important to understanding the Syrian revolution, war, and its present day.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 a⁠website⁠⁠Mentioned in this episode:Wendy Pearlman’s bioThe Home I Worked to Make: Voices from the New Syrian Diaspora by Wendy PearlmanWe Crossed a Bridge and Trembled by Wendy PearlmanBurning Country: Syrians in Revolution and War by Leila Al-Shami and Robin Yassin-Kassab Nostalgia by Svetlana BoymResilient: Broken by Elia AyoubSyrian Association for Citizens' Dignity for reports on Syrian refugees, forced returns to Syria, and other stories and analyses of the Syrian political contextFrom the Periphery’s newly releasedMutual Aid PodcastFor more:Wendy is onBluesky and has awebsiteLeila is onMastodon and Bluesky, and check out herwebsite Elia Ayoub is on⁠Mastodon⁠,IG,⁠Bluesky⁠, and he hasa newsletterThe Fire These Times is onIG and YouTube and has awebsite⁠⁠From The Periphery is on⁠Patreon⁠,YouTube⁠,Bluesky,Instagram, and has awebsite⁠Transcriptions: Transcriptions are done byAntidote Zine and will be published on The Fire These Times' transcript archive.Credits:Hosts: Leila Al-Shami, Elia Ayoub | Guest: Wendy Pearlman | Music:⁠⁠⁠Rap and Revenge⁠⁠⁠ | TFTT theme design:Wenyi Geng⁠⁠⁠ | FTP theme design:Hisham Rifai⁠ | Sound editor: Kaylee | Team profile pics: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Molly Crabapple⁠⁠⁠⁠ | Episode design: Aydın Yıldız | Producer: Aydın YıldızFrom The Periphery is built by Elia Ayoub, Leila Al-Shami, Ayman Makarem, Dana El Kurd, Karena Avedissian, Daniel Voskoboynik, Anna M, Aydın Yıldız, Ed S, Alice Bonfatti, israa abd elfattah, with more joining soon!The Fire These Times by Elia Ayoub is licensed underAttribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International

For episode 182, Elia, Anna, and Dana are joined by author, scholar, and activist Naomi Klein to discuss her most recent book, Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World, and the myriad connections her analysis of the cultural rise of fascism has to our work at From the Periphery.  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, and Antidote Zine. For more: Naomi Klein has a website, a newsletter, and is on Instagram and Bluesky Elia Ayoub is on ⁠Mastodon⁠, ⁠Instagram⁠, ⁠and ⁠Bluesky⁠, and he has a newsletter Anna's podcast is Obscuristan which is part of the From The Periphery Media Collective Dana El Kurd is on Bluesky The Fire These Times is on IG and YouTube and has a ⁠website⁠ ⁠ From The Periphery is on ⁠Patreon⁠, ⁠YouTube⁠, Instagram, Twitter and has a website⁠ Transcriptions: Transcriptions are done by Antidote Zine and will be published on The Fire These Times' transcript archive. Credits: Hosts: Elia Ayoub, Anna M, Dana El Kurd | Guest: Naomi Klein | Music: ⁠⁠⁠Rap and Revenge⁠⁠⁠ | TFTT theme design: ⁠⁠⁠Wenyi Geng⁠⁠⁠ | FTP theme design: ⁠Hisham Rifai⁠ | Sound editor: Kaylee | Team profile pics: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Molly Crabapple⁠⁠⁠⁠ | Episode design: Elia Ayoub | Producer: Aydın Yıldız From The Periphery is built by Elia Ayoub, Leila Al-Shami, Ayman Makarem, Dana El Kurd, Karena Avedissian, Daniel Voskoboynik, Anna M, Aydın Yıldız, Ed S, Alice Bonfatti, israa abd elfattah, with more joining soon!The Fire These Times by Elia Ayoub is licensed under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this program are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities, employers, or other affiliations the speakers may have.

Elia Ayoub reads from his newsletter piece "Merry Christmas Homs: Tribute to Bassel Shehadeh's Last City" which is available for free. It is a reference to a short film directed by Bassel during Christmas 2011 in Homs under heavy shelling by the Assad regime. You can watch it on YouTube. Trigger warning: this audio features some sounds from the original film, including airstrikes. They come right after Elia says 'at times getting closer' at around 1:25 seconds. Skip to 1:59 to avoid them. As this is time sensitive, it is released on the public feed shortly after the Patreon. If you're seeing this from the public feed, please consider joining our Patreon to support this podcast as well as all the other podcasts by FTP. Follow Wafa Mustafa on Instagram to get updates on her ongoing search for her father, Ali Mustafa. Quick announcement: Elia and Leila Al-Shami are going to launch a new podcast called The Inconvenient Revolution focusing on Syrian history between 2011 and 2024. From the Periphery (FTP) Patreon subscribers will get all episodes before the general public. The Hauntologies Podcast is a production of From The Periphery and part of The Fire These Times podcast. A newsletter version exists at hauntologies.net. To support us, please head out to Patreon.com/fromtheperiphery to subscribe. You are free to republish and translate the text and audio as long as you credit us with the appropriate patreon link. For More: Elia is on Bluesky, Mastodon and Instagram From the Periphery is on Bluesky and Instagram The Fire These Times is on Bluesky and Instagram From The Periphery is built by Elia Ayoub, Leila Al-Shami, Ayman Makarem, Dana El Kurd, Karena Avedissian, Daniel Voskoboynik, Anna M, Aydın Yıldız, Ed S, Alice Bonfatti, israa abd elfattah, with more joining soon! ⁠⁠⁠The Fire These Times⁠⁠⁠⁠ by ⁠⁠⁠⁠Elia Ayoub⁠⁠⁠⁠ is licensed under ⁠⁠⁠⁠Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International

For episode 181, Elia Ayoub is joined by Margaret Killjoy to talk about her piece "⁠The Sky is Falling; We've Got This⁠" published on her newsletter. We recorded this shortly after Trump was announced as the winner of the US elections and many people were feeling despair, understandably so.Check out Margaret's new book and first novel "The Sapling Cage" with Feminist Press!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 on Patreon.com/fromtheperiphery For more:Margaret is on ⁠Instagram⁠ and ⁠Bluesky⁠. She has a ⁠website⁠ and a ⁠newsletter⁠.Elia is on Bluesky, Mastodon, IG. He has a newsletter and a website.The Fire These Times is on Bluesky,⁠ IG⁠ and has a⁠ ⁠website⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠From The Periphery is on⁠ ⁠Patreon⁠⁠, ⁠Bluesky⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠,⁠ Instagram⁠, and has a⁠ website⁠⁠Transcriptions: Transcriptions are done by⁠ Antidote Zine⁠ and will be published on⁠ The Fire These Times’ transcript archive⁠.Credits:Elia Ayoub (host, episode designer, producer), Elliott Miskovicz⁠⁠ (sound editor), ⁠⁠Rap and Revenge⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (Music), ⁠⁠Wenyi Geng⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (TFTT theme design), ⁠⁠Hisham Rifai⁠⁠⁠⁠ (FTP theme design) and ⁠⁠Molly Crabapple⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (FTP team profile pics). 

For episode 180, Leila Al-Shami and Elia Ayoub are joined by Dr Banah Ghadbian to talk about her piece "Give Us Our Land Back: The Golan Heights, Greenwashing, Syria and Palestine’s Intertwined Revolutions" published on Spectre Journal. We spoke of the importance of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights in the liberation of both Palestine and Syria. This was recorded before the fall of the Assad dynasty in Syria. Since then, Israel has already taken steps to occupy more of Syrian territory in the Golan Heights, making Banah's arguments about how Syria and Palestine's freedoms are intertwined even more pertinent. 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 on Patreon.com/fromtheperiphery For more:Listen to the previous episode with Banah on TFTT: 78/ Pedagogies of Liberation, Gender and the Syrian RevolutionLeila is on Mastodon and Bluesky. She has a website.Elia is on Bluesky, Mastodon, IG. He has a newsletter and a website.The Fire These Times is on Bluesky,⁠ IG⁠ and has a⁠ ⁠website⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠From The Periphery is on⁠ ⁠Patreon⁠⁠, ⁠Bluesky⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠,⁠ Instagram⁠, and has a⁠ website⁠⁠Transcriptions: Transcriptions are done by⁠ Antidote Zine⁠ and will be published on⁠ The Fire These Times’ transcript archive⁠.Credits:Leila Al Shami (host), Elia Ayoub (host, episode designer), Ayman Makarem (producer, sound editor), Elia Ayoub (episode design), ⁠⁠Rap and Revenge⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (Music), ⁠⁠Wenyi Geng⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (TFTT theme design), ⁠⁠Hisham Rifai⁠⁠⁠⁠ (FTP theme design) and ⁠⁠Molly Crabapple⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (FTP team profile pics). 

For episode 179, Beirut-based journalist Justin Salhani is joined with New York University professor and journalist Mohamad Bazzi to talk about the situation in Lebanon before and after the ceasefire with Israel.For more:Follow The Fire These Times on ⁠⁠IG⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠From The Periphery is on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and has a ⁠⁠⁠website⁠⁠⁠⁠More links:https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/sep/27/israel-lebanon-gaza-war-bidenhttps://www.theguardian.com/profile/mohamad-bazzihttps://www.aljazeera.com/features/2024/11/10/in-lebanon-misleading-and-sporadic-israeli-evacuation-orders-instil-fearhttps://www.aljazeera.com/features/longform/2024/10/26/once-upon-a-time-in-dahiyeh-israels-destruction-of-lebanons-communitiesBooks recommended by Bazzi:Rashid Khalidi 100 years warFawaz Traboulsi A History of Modern LebanonDavid Hirst Beware of Small StatesThe 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 on Patreon.com/fromtheperiphery For more:Justin Salhani is on BlueskyMohamad Bazzi is on BlueskyThe Fire These Times is on Bluesky,⁠ IG⁠ and has a⁠ ⁠website⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠From The Periphery is on⁠ ⁠Patreon⁠⁠, ⁠Bluesky⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠,⁠ Instagram⁠, and has a⁠ website⁠⁠Transcriptions: Transcriptions are done by⁠ Antidote Zine⁠ and will be published on⁠ The Fire These Times’ transcript archive⁠.Credits:Justin Salhani (host), Ayman Makarem (producer, sound editor), Elia Ayoub (episode design), ⁠⁠Rap and Revenge⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (Music), ⁠⁠Wenyi Geng⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (TFTT theme design), ⁠⁠Hisham Rifai⁠⁠⁠⁠ (FTP theme design) and ⁠⁠Molly Crabapple⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (FTP team profile pics). 

A lot has happened over the last week in Syria, so we figured we'd gather together, as members of From the Periphery, to discuss the latest developments and provide a historical and political background to help understand the current moment. We discuss a broad range of topics starting with an overview of the what's happened in the last week or so, including: the origins of the Syrian revolution, the counter-revolutionary war, the abuses and crimes of the Assad regime, foreign interventions and regional factors, descriptions of groups such as HTS (Hayat Tahrir al Sham) and SNA (Syria National Army), Kurdish movements and the concerns of ethnic/religious minorities, the racist tankie 'take' industry, and the connections between liberatory movements for Palestine and Syria. We cover a lot but of course we couldn't do everything justice. We will provide links below for further resources, but also plan on doing more episodes in the near future on all these topics as things develop and progress.You can support us on⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠. You’ll get early access to all podcasts, exclusive audio and video episodes, an invitation to join⁠ ⁠⁠⁠our monthly hangouts⁠⁠⁠⁠, and more.For more:Elia Ayoub is on ⁠⁠Bluesky⁠⁠, ⁠Mastodon⁠, ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ and blogs at ⁠Hauntologies.net⁠ Leila Al-Shami on ⁠⁠Mastodon⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠Bluesky⁠⁠Ayman Makarem is on BlueskyKarena Avedissian is on BlueskyThe Fire These Times is on Bluesky,⁠ IG⁠ and has a⁠ ⁠website⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠From The Periphery is on⁠ ⁠Patreon⁠⁠, ⁠Bluesky⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠,⁠ Instagram⁠, and has a⁠ website⁠⁠The 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.Transcriptions: Transcriptions are done by⁠ Antidote Zine⁠ and will be published on⁠ The Fire These Times' transcript archive⁠.Credits:Elia Ayoub (host, episode design), ⁠⁠Leila Al Shami (host), Ayman Makarem (host, producer, sound editor), Karena Avedissian, ⁠⁠Rap and Revenge⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (Music), ⁠⁠Wenyi Geng⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (TFTT theme design), ⁠⁠Hisham Rifai⁠⁠⁠⁠ (FTP theme design) and ⁠⁠Molly Crabapple⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (FTP team profile pics).