This is a conversation with Dana El Kurd. She is a Palestinian academic who specializes in Comparative Politics and International Relations. Dana works as a researcher at the Arab  Center for Research and Policy Studies and as an assistant professor at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies.

We spoke about her most recent book “Polarized and Demobilized: Legacies of Authoritarianism in Palestine” published by Hurst.

Topics Discussed

• Authoritarianism within the Palestinian Authority (PA)
• The role of the US
• The legacy of the Oslo Accords
• The Arab Spring and their link to Palestine
• How long-term authoritarianism impacts societies
• Polarization and Demobilization since Oslo
• The relationship between the Israeli occupation and the PA
• The 2006 Elections
• The difference between PA, PNA, PLO and Fatah
• On NGOization
• The Abraham Accords
• Tankie rhetoric
• How regional authoritarians (Hezbollah, Assad, Iran) are perceived in Palestine
• Different generational shifts
• Reforming the PLO

Recommended Books

• How Social Movements Die: Repression and Demobilization of the Republic of New Africa by Christian Davenport
• State of Repression: Iraq under Saddam Hussein by Lisa Blaydes
• Inside the Battle of Algiers: Memoir of a Woman Freedom Fighter by Zohra Drif

And I mentioned:

• A region in revolt: Mapping the recent uprisings in North Africa and West Asia

Hey everyone,

I don't usually do this but in light of recent events friends suggested that I republish this episode from July 2020. If you haven't heard, last night eight workers in massage parlors were murdered in Atlanta in the Southern region of the United States. Six of these workers were Asian-Americans.

In response to the massacre, Red Canary Song, a US-based grassroots Asian sex workers coalition, tweeted: "These deaths somehow mean more because of the rise in anti-Asian violence related to COVID-19, but no mention of how they’re connected to the long policing of Asian sex work, which so many Asian Americans and those speaking up against anti-Asian hate endorse."

As it happens, in July of 2020 I had interviewed Kate Zen, one of the organisers with Red Canary Song, which also organises transnationally with Asian sex workers across the diaspora in Toronto, Paris, and Hong Kong.

In whatever capacity I can, I stand in solidarity with sex worker/massage parlour workers and activists everywhere in the world and my thoughts go to those who lost their lives to this hate crime.

Before sharing this episode, I wanted to read out a declaration of support that is being passed around. You can find it in the description of this episode.

You will also find links to donate in the description and on the Twitter account @FireTheseTimes

The Declaration of Support:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSftvwRE2LEsfL24fvtygAHdqN8qHSjcImOhu_AINt6cmtstQw/viewform?fbzx=-6123717124999218342

Today we'll be talking to Anne Kretzschmar. She’s a coordinator with the Stay Grounded network which works on a global level to reduce air traffic and build a climate-just transport system. They recently published a paper entitled  ‘A Rapid and Just Transition of Aviation: Shifting towards climate-just mobility‘ which was a big part of our conversation.

Topics discussed:

• Social and environmental costs of airport projects
• The problem behind ‘carbon offsetting’
• Looking for just alternatives
• Tackling tax exemption for aviation
• How flying is already unjust
• The problem of frequent flyers
• Implementing actual limits (frequent flyer levee)
• Europe’s lack of international booking for trains
• Trains can also be a problem (example of Maya Train project in Mexico)
• Wider question of asking what kind of mobility do we need and wand and how can we distribute it in a just way
• Taking the topic of jobs and labor seriously
• Impact of COVID-19 on aviation and what might come next
• Degrowth
• Change by Design or by Disaster
• Green New Deal for Gatwick
• How ‘bailouts’ rarely actually support those most impacted by industry losses
• Alternative tourisms
• The importance of internationality and the centrality of environmental justice
• Supporting critical aviator workers
• Airport-related Injustice and Resistance map

Recommended Books:

• Vision on Fire: Emma Goldman on the Spanish Revolution
• Re:Imagining Change: How to Use Story-based Strategy to Win Campaigns, Build Movements, and Change the World by Patrick Reinsborough and Doyle Canning
• A Message From the Future II: The Years of Repair by Naomi Klein video by Molly Crabapple, Opal Tometi, Avi Lewis

Today we'll be talking to Musa Okwonga. Musa is a writer, broadcaster, poet, speaker, musician. author, sportswriter, broadcaster and commentator on current affairs. He's also the first person to come on the podcast three times (twice here and once in the previous 'Hummus For Thought' one).

He most recently published a wonderful short book called "In The End, It Was All About Love" and published by Rough Trade Books, as well as "One of Them: An Eton College Memoir" published by Unbound.

Topics discussed:

• Brexit
• Leaving home
• Racism
• The Holocaust
• Being a migrant
• European fascism
• Living in the future
• Visibility as racialised people
• Ethics of taking certain gigs as freelancers
• Going to Eton
• The importance of doing therapy
• The role of football

Books Mentioned:

• The Three Mothers: How the Mothers of Martin Luther King, Jr.,  Malcolm X, and James Baldwin Shaped a Nation by Anna Malaika Tubbs
• Songs My Enemy Taught Me by Joelle Taylor
• Brown Baby: A Memoir of Race, Family and Home by Nikesh Shukla

Today we'll be talking to Saleem Haddad. He is the author of Guapa, the director of Marco and a 2nd time guest on The Fire These Times.

Topics discussed:

What constitutes queer literature?; Muhammad Abdelnabi; Ocean Vuong;  James Baldwin; The Personal is Political; Pedro Lemebel; Israeli  pinkwashing; criticizing the so-called ‘gay international’ by Joseph  Massad; how ‘anti-imperialism’ and ‘post-colonialism’ is used by  authoritarian groups and regimes including Hezbollah and Assad;  Queerness in revolutionary settings (in the Arab-majority world);  Revolutionary feminism; LGBTQ liberation and the Syrian revolution;  being sensitive to authoritarian logic; queerness as a changing and  developing identity; understanding social constructs.

Books/Works Mentioned:

• In the spider’s room: a novel by Muhammad Abdelnabi
• On earth we’re briefly gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
• Go tell it on the mountain by James Baldwin
• Manifesto (I speak for my difference) by Pedro Lemebel
• Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi
• Cleanness by Garth Greenwell
• The appointment by Katharina Volckmer

This is a conversation with Kai Kuhnhenn and Linda Schneider. They recently co-wrote a really important and freely-available study exploring a Societal Transformation Scenario (STS) on how to limit global warming to 1.5°C.

Topics Discussed:

• The importance of the study
• The problem with assuming economic growth in studying environmental impact
• The reliance on growth in Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports
• Risks of geoengineering
• Degrowth for the Global North
• How the Societal Transformation Scenario (STS) differs from mainstream economics
• The problems with uncritical techno-optimism
• The risks of overshoot
• Why Recycle is the least important of the three Rs: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
• What about the Global South?
• Addressing economic justice
• What exactly does Net Zero mean?
• Keystone pipeline
• Exploring the possible
• Having hope
• Climate anxiety

Recommended Books

• The Dispossessed by Ursula Le Guin
• Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds by adrienne maree brown
• The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
• Corona, Climate, Chronic Emergency by Andreas Malm

This is a conversation with Anand Gopal about his essay for Catalyst Journal entitled ‘The Arab Thermidor‘ in which he presents a class analysis of the Arab Spring. We spoke about a number of Arab-majority countries but with a focus on Syria. We briefly mentioned Afghanistan too. 

Today we'll be talking to Emmi Bevensee again. They're a data journalist who utilizes a data storytelling approach to make complexity understandable.

Topics discussed:

Fifth Section: Eco-Fascism; the ‘Thanos’ tendency;  Climate grief; Climate anxiety; Climate denialism; Manipulative  algorithms; Network effects; Peer-to-peer technology; Gab; Alt-right  echo chambers; Machine learning vs human moderation; Leftism in the 21st  century; Anarchism; Post-leftism; Internationalism;  Anti-authoritarianism;

Sixth Section: Mutualism; Currency; Capitalism;  Economic Coordination; Iroquois Longhouse Systems; Tragedy of the  commons (disproving it); Revealed vs Stated Preference; Reading  authoritarian literature; Prioritising and Strategising within activism.

Seventh Section: Emotional Anarchism; Recommended books.

Today we'll be talking to Emmi Bevensee. They're a data journalist who utilizes a data storytelling approach to make complexity understandable.

Topics discussed:

First section: Complex Warfare; Disinformation Warfare; Drones; 3D-printed Guns; Houthis and Saudi Arabia; Asymmetrical  Warfare; Surveillance; Anti-authoritarian communities; Open-source intelligence  (OSINT); Katehon; Russia; Complexity Dynamics; Pandemics and Viral Spreads; Ukraine/Russia/Syria.

Second section: 8kun; 8chan; 4chan; Gamergate; Gab; Parler; January 6 Coup Attempt; Jim Watkins; Ron Atkins; QAnon; Child  sexual abuse (not  in detail, just in the context of the Watkins family’s role in the online hate scene); Swarm tactics; BBC Eye investigations; Shabbiha; Mexican government, paramilitary troops and the Zapatistas; role of governments in conspiracies like QAnon; Kraken; Dominion Conspiracy; Trump; ‘Stop The Steal’; Cults; Hezbollah; “Q Clearance: Unmasking QAnon” podcast with Jake Hanrahan;

Third Section: Syncretism; Fascist entryism; Alt-Imperialism; Legacy of 2003 Invasion of Iraq on Campism; Boomer socialism; Answer coalition;  Stop The War in the UK; Anti-semitism; Assadists; Hong Kong; Dugin and Duginism; Ajamu Baraka and the US Green Party; Code Pink.

Fourth Section: Syria; Living on the Turkey-Syria Border; No Fly Zone;  Syrian Refugee Crisis; Lessons from the Syrian  experience for  anti-authoritarians; Syrian-related disinformation and authoritarianism; Libya; London Syria scene.

Today we’ll be talking to Rohini Hensman. She is an India-based Sri Lankan labor activist and feminist and an  independent scholar whose book “Indefensible: Democracy,  Counterrevolution, and the Rhetoric of Anti-Imperialism” I’ve reviewed some years ago, and which will be the topic of our conversation today.

In that book, she argues that the apparent anti-imperialism of many  self-professed socialists amounts to explicit or implicit support for  totalitarianism, fascism, Islamist theocracy and, ironically enough,  imperialism.

She goes through the examples of Syria, Iran, Iraq, Bosnia, Russia and Ukraine.

This has been a concern of mind for a few years now and I wanted to  take this opportunity to bring it to a wider audience, so I invited  Rohini on to explore how such a supposedly noble political position –  anti-imperialism – can be so easily corrupted.

You don’t have to identify with any -ism to find this topic  informative. You just need to be someone who opposes authoritarian  politics.