Podcast
The Fire These Times
Hosted by Elia Ayoub · EN
A podcast by UK-based Lebanese-Palestinian writer, journalist, researcher and historian Elia Ayoub. Since March 2020.
To support: https://www.patreon.com/thefirethesetimes
“The Fire These Times is a place where we tell our hardest truths, and find one another" - Naomi Klein.
Art by therosaartist.com
16episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Organizing Against ICE w/ Nicole Bedera, Ed & Aydin (211)
Feb 501:25:15Tap to summarizeElia Ayoub is joined by three folks from Minneapolis, sociologist Nicole Bedera and From The Periphery's very own Aydin and Ed from Antidote Zine, to talk about the ongoing resistance against the federal occupation of the state of Minnesota by ICE. What is happening? How are they resisting? What can we learn from it, here in the UK and elsewhere? Nicole also explained what 'symbolic compliance' means and why we must all be aware of it.Support: You can support my work with a one-off or monthly donation on Ko-fiMasterclass on Modern Lebanon: Registration is now openNewsletter: Subscribe to HauntologiesSocial Media: I’m on Bluesky, Instagram and MastodonContact: To collaborate, reach out on ayoub@thefirethesetimes.comThe Fire These TimesSocial Media: TFTT is on Bluesky and Instagram Transcription: You can help Antidote Zine transcribe TFTT episodes hereWebsite: All episodes are archived on the websiteFrom The PeripheryTFTT is a proud member of From The Periphery Media Collective, which you can support on Patreon and follow on Bluesky, YouTube and Instagram.Check out other project wherever you get your podcasts: Politically DepressedSyria: The Inconvenient Revolution From The Periphery Podcast The Mutual Aid PodcastOther LinksNicole's article: I’m a Minneapolis sociologist who studies violence. Here’s how ICE observers are helping.Nicole's book: On the Wrong Side - How Universities Protect Perpetrators and Betray Survivors of Sexual ViolenceNicole's Bluesky thread on symbolic complianceCounter Vortex episode on Iran and Minneapolis and Antidotezine's transcriptAntidotezine: Between the Insurrection Act and the InsurrectionsMinnesota Star Tribune: ‘No humanity’: Detainees describe conditions inside Whipple Federal BuildingStand With MinnesotaCredits:Elia Ayoub (host, producer, episode art), Nicole Bedera, Aydin, Ed (guests), Rap and Revenge (Music), Wenyi Geng (TFTT theme design), Hisham Rifai (FTP theme design) and Molly Crabapple (FTP team profile pics)
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210/ Another Way Out w/ William C. Anderson
Jan 2600:54:14Tap to summarizeFor episode 210, William C. Anderson comes back to The Fire These Times to talk to Elia Ayoub about the current crises in the US and how we should try and understand our current authoritarian moment.Anderson is the author of The Nation on No Map (AK Press 2021) and co-author of As Black as Resistance (AK Press 2018). He writes a column for Prism called Another Way Out and is the co-founder of Offshoot Journal. He was previously on TFTT (episode 107) to talk about Black Anarchism, Abolition and the Radical Tradition.Support: You can support my work with a one-off or monthly donation on Ko-fiMasterclass on Modern Lebanon: Registration is now openNewsletter: Subscribe to HauntologiesSocial Media: I’m on Bluesky, Instagram and MastodonContact: To collaborate, reach out on ayoub@thefirethesetimes.comThe Fire These TimesSocial Media: TFTT is on Bluesky and Instagram Transcription: You can help Antidote Zine transcribe TFTT episodes hereWebsite: All episodes are archived on the websiteFrom The PeripheryTFTT is a proud member of From The Periphery Media Collective, which you can support on Patreon and follow on Bluesky, YouTube and Instagram.Check out other project wherever you get your podcasts: Politically DepressedSyria: The Inconvenient Revolution From The Periphery Podcast The Mutual Aid PodcastCredits:Elia Ayoub (host, producer, episode art), William C Anderson (guest), Rap and Revenge (Music), Wenyi Geng (TFTT theme design), Hisham Rifai (FTP theme design) and Molly Crabapple (FTP team profile pics)
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209/ Burnout, Grief and The Solidarity Apothecary w/ Nicole Rose
Jan 600:50:58Tap to summarizeFor episode 209, Elia sits down with Nicole Rose from The Solidarity Apothecary to talk about her Overcoming Burnout series, which is also a podcast and an e-book. We talked about burnout, grief, trauma, mutual aid, herbalism, and more. Note: this was recorded in November 2025, a few days before the death of my dog Flip. This is why it took until now to publish the episode.Support: You can support my work with a one-off or monthly donation on Ko-fiMasterclass on Modern Lebanon: Registration is now openNewsletter: Subscribe to HauntologiesSocial Media: I’m on Bluesky, Instagram and MastodonContact: To collaborate, reach out on ayoub@thefirethesetimes.comThe Fire These TimesSocial Media: TFTT is on Bluesky and Instagram Transcription: You can help Antidote Zine transcribe TFTT episodes hereWebsite: All episodes are archived on the websiteFrom The PeripheryTFTT is a proud member of From The Periphery Media Collective, which you can support on Patreon and follow on Bluesky, YouTube and Instagram.Check out other project wherever you get your podcasts: Politically DepressedSyria: The Inconvenient Revolution From The Periphery Podcast The Mutual Aid PodcastFor MoreFrontline Herbalism podcast The Mutual Aid podcastPlum Village app (the meditation mentioned)CreditsElia Ayoub (host, producer, episode design), Nicole Rose (guest), Rap and Revenge (Music), Wenyi Geng (TFTT theme design), Hisham Rifai (FTP theme design) and Molly Crabapple (FTP team profile pics)
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The First Masterclass is Here! (Jan/Feb 2026)
Nov 3000:18:08Tap to summarizeHey everyone, I wanted to let you all know that I’ll be giving online classes starting this January, and that I’m still accepting new people for the very first class. I recommend doing so asap as I’ve already had to open up a second class due to that amazing response I’ve received so far. All details below.The class is entitled “Beware of Small States: An overview of Lebanon from 1975 to 2025.” We will go beyond sensationalist headlines and shallow coverage, and beyond simplistic, top-down explanations for the country. Instead of a linear timeline of events, which you can get from Wikipedia anyway, you will get a messy one. After all, politics is not linear. Political actors evoke events from the recent or not-so-recent past as part of their politics in the present. In addition to the structured syllabus, I will use personal stories as someone who grew up in Lebanon in a very conservative, at times even Far Right, Christian environment, to explain how my own personal journey away from right-wing and towards left-wing, quasi-anarchist, politics has helped me understand Lebanon better, and hopefully help you too.RegisterJust send me an email at ayoub@thefirethesetimes.com or a Signal message @ ayoub.02. I will send you the syllabus as well as all the required details including how to pay for the class if you're interested in taking it.When? Weekly from Saturday Jan 17th, 4pm UK time. 5 sessions. Week 1 (Jan 17): The stories we tell ourselves about this painfully ordinary country.Week 2 (Jan 24): Five academic-y concepts that are easier to understand than they seem.Week 3 (Jan 31): We Are the Children of the Children of War.Week 4 (Feb 7): From Life in the Midst of History to The CollapseWeek 5 (Feb 14): Lebanon yesterday, today, tomorrowFees: $300Discounts: For Hauntologies (my newsletter) subscribers (past or present)50% off for paid subscribers100% off for Founding MembersAnyone joining the class will get:Access to all 5 sessionsLifetime access to the Google DriveLifetime access to the Hauntologies newsletter without paying extra (subscribers pay $50 a year on average)Discounts on future classesAn invitation to join a Signal groupMore classes to comeIn addition to repeating this class, here are the titles and brief descriptions of the other classes currently being prepared. You can already register your interest by email or Signal to those as well - and I’ll just send you an email or text when they’re ready.The Ghosts of Israel’s Future, looking at what the horrors unleashed by Israel during the ongoing genocide reveal about that country’s politics, and the people, Jews, Israelis and Palestinians alike, who predicted it. Estimated fee is $300 for 5 sessions. Against Multipolar Imperialism, looking at why we cannot accept multipolarity as a valid alternative to a US-dominated world, especially as that involves accepting authoritarian states and effectively sacrificing whole populations as collateral. We will look at China, Taiwan, Ukraine, Russia, so-called Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia, Hong Kong, Syria, Israel-Palestine, Iran, El Salvador, Argentina, Tigray and Ethiopia, Bosnia and of course Lebanon. Estimated fee is $300 for 5 sessions. Cancelling the Apocalypse: From James Baldwin to Solarpunk and beyond. Estimated fee is $300 for 5 sessions. Postwar Hauntings: Modern Lebanon Through Its Cinema. This will be a much more in-depth exploration of Lebanon post-1990 through its cinema, which was the topic of my PhD dissertation. We will watch movies, discuss them, and explore Lebanon through them. Estimated fee is $600 for 6 sessions.
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208/ What Mamdani's Victory Means w/ Dana El Kurd
Nov 1100:53:25Tap to summarizeFor episode 208, Elia and Dana talk about Zahrani Mamdani's victory and what it could mean for all of us.Support: You can support my work with a one-off or monthly donation on Ko-fiMasterclass on Modern Lebanon: Registration is now openNewsletter: Subscribe to HauntologiesSocial Media: I’m on Bluesky, Instagram and MastodonContact: To collaborate, reach out on ayoub@thefirethesetimes.comThe Fire These TimesSocial Media: TFTT is on Bluesky and Instagram Transcription: You can help Antidote Zine transcribe TFTT episodes hereWebsite: All episodes are archived on the websiteFrom The PeripheryTFTT is a proud member of From The Periphery Media Collective, which you can support on Patreon and follow on Bluesky, YouTube and Instagram.Check out other project wherever you get your podcasts: Politically DepressedSyria: The Inconvenient Revolution From The Periphery Podcast The Mutual Aid PodcastWhat we got into, in no particular order:Dana seeing Mamdani win as a Muslim-American (and Arab/Palestinian) who grew up in the aftermath of 9/11 / Mamdani’s Arabic-language campaign video (in Syrian Arabic - thank you Rama - except when talking to the cat, when he switched to Egyptian Arabic for some reason) and him saying أنا منكم واليكم at his victory speechElia seeing Mamdani win as an Arab who’s never been to New York City but still felt the impact of the War on Terror growing up in LebanonBoth Elia and Dana being Mamdani’s age and how that’s f-ed upHow Mamdani navigated questions about Israel / why we need to be better at making the our opponents face their own contradictions instead of falling in their trapThe Far Right is not inevitable. It can be stopped. Billionaires are not inevitable. They can be stopped.Parallels to the UK with Zack Polanski and the rise of the Green PartyMentions Mamdani Created a Left-Liberal Coalition on Israel/Palestine by Peter BeinartThe Far Right is Not Inevitable | The Fire These Times with Aurelien Mondon (ep. 163)Credits:Dana El Kurd (host), Elia Ayoub (host, producer, episode design), Rap and Revenge (Music), Wenyi Geng (TFTT theme design), Hisham Rifai (FTP theme design) and Molly Crabapple (FTP team profile pics)
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It Could Happen Here: On The New Periphery
Dec 10, 2021Tap to summarizeHey 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
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