Just a personal rant about feeling sad that my therapist can no longer do sessions with me. I also share some thoughts about why therapy was so useful/helpful for me, especially in this present moment of despair and gloom.

Headlines: Zelensky v. Trump, Vance; Israeli aggression on Syria.

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A LOT has happened in Lebanon (and the region) in the last few months. This is the first of many episodes where I try to unpack not just the situation of Lebanon but the situation of the region as a whole from a Lebanese (leftist) perspective. There's a lot of moving pieces, a lot of history, and most important, a lot of seismic shifts that I think needs to be accounted for in our analysis, discussions, and actions.

I'll be doing a live-stream for this episode (where you can ask your questions, ask for elaborations, or just chat about stuff). It'll happen on Sunday 23rd at 8pm CET. Here is the link to join (press notify me to get a notification when I start):

https://youtube.com/live/KBxiEWlUFx0?feature=share

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On Feb 16, 2013, the revolutionary Syrian anarchist Omar Aziz was martyred by the Assad regime. His legacy and actions, specifically around the local councils during the Syrian revolution, will be commemorated in events and talks held around the world on Feb 16, 2025. Here is a link with texts, resources, and dates:

https://rememberomaraziz.net/

Here is the comic I did on the Syrian rev + local councils:

Comic on Syrian Revolution

As part of the new series, I'll be hosting a live-stream discussion on this episode tomorrow (Tue 11th) at 6PM CET on Youtube. It'll be a space for you the listener to engage more, ask your questions, get more clarity on stuff I may have skimmed over, etc. Here is the link to the live stream:

https://youtube.com/live/yc6qQoWkn2c?feature=share

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New season! Same format! Not much will change with breaking up this podcast into seasons, it's just more helpful for planning/organizing. I am going to take the opportunity to try to regularise some of the formats I was playing with towards the end there.

Announcement:

- New Podcast: Mutual Aid Podcast

Headlines:

- Musk and 4chan

- Lebanon ceasefire: displaced force their way back home

- War on Jenin

- Egypt and Jordan reveal their hypocrisy

Main topic:

- Personal baggage in political organizing

- (Self) Projection of parental roles onto leaders

- There are no adults in the white house

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It's finally happening. I finished the video essay. There's a live drop happening on Patreon on Sunday 26th at 8pm CET. Ayman will be in the live chat. Join us!

Link to the Video Essay

Free for members, available for one-time purchase for anyone else!

Even when things feel pointless, we have to keep going. We have to give our actions meaning. Whether it's our own individual contributions or the movements we participate in, we can't completely lose hope in their possible impact and meaning. I think doing so is giving our enemies an unnecessary victory over us.

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Today it is officially one year exactly since I started this podcast. I look back and reflect on this year and talk about the year ahead. What has changed, what has stayed pretty much the same, what has gotten much worse? I ask these questions at the political, personal and polito-personal (to coin a term) level. Thank you to everyone who has listened over the last year. I appreciate every single one of you. May we mark the 2nd year of this podcast with new achievements, new breakthroughs, new ruptures to this depressing, catastrophic existence.

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So I got rejected from yet another writing grant. But I persist. From now I'm gna focus on doing my work and hoping those listening/reading appreciate enough/are able to support me. This episode is basically a free-association personal ramble about stuff I've been thinking about re my work and what I'm reluctantly calling 'diasporic discomforts'. Very little politics in this one, except brief talk about the "ceasefire" in Lebanon.

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It's finally happened. After 13 years of struggle, the Syrian people emerge victorious. What started as military operations in the north quickly escalated into country-wide revolt, built on decades of resentment, organising and, counter-revolutionary violence. Prisons liberated, Assad fled, and for the first time, in over a decade, Syrians are celebrating. They know, more than any of us, the work that comes now, but for now, let's celebrate with them.

This episode is dedicated to Omar Aziz, to Razan Zaitouneh, to Alan Kurdi, to all the brave fighters who were martyred by this regime, to all the ordinary men and women who dared to dream, to the organisers of the councils that sustained their communities through years of siege, to those who perished in refuge under the crushing weight of exile, to all the revolutionaries who are no longer with us: this moment is for you.

May this inspire all of us to dare to dream, to understand that sacrifice may well pay off, that the long struggle towards justice is but that: a long struggle. The people wanted the overthrowal of the regime, the people overthrew the regime. May we experience such joy in Lebanon, may the Palestinians experience such joy. May all oppressed peoples across the globe be victorious in their struggle against their oppressors. Oppression leads to resistance which oppression can never crush.

I have so many thoughts and feelings, so I share with you this episode. It of course is not expansive. Three main things I forgot to discuss:

The Israeli opportunism in this moment, bombing areas in southern Syria and seizing new territories.

Sednayel prison as a place not just of disappearance but wholesale massacres.

Accepting Syrian agency the way we do with Palestinians. Are you reading Syrian poetry? Listening to Syrian music? Engaging with Syrian twitter or insta? Centring Syrian voices? Are you accepting and trusting that Syrians understand their situation better than anyone else? If not, you may be falling for narratives that ultimately hurt Syrians and contributing to their erasure.

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But for now Syrians celebrate. Let's celebrate with them.

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These horrible two months seem to have come to an end. At least for the time being. A brief bittersweet moment amongst all the horribleness. I share they thoughts and reflections about the ceasefire deal that was announced just two days ago.

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