63/Queerness, Literature and Revolution (With Saleem Haddad‪)‬ The Fire These Times: Voices from the Periphery

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

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Music by Tarabeat.