The Fire These Times: Voices from the Periphery The Fire These Times

For episode 157, Elia Ayoub sits with Bill Fletcher Jr to talk about why downplaying authoritarianism is so dangerous, whether with regards to the upcoming US elections or even in organising spaces. We spoke about the US, Lebanon, Syria, Zimbabwe and more.

Bill Fletcher Jr is a longtime USA-based labor and social justice activist who has worked for several unions and organizations. Fletcher is the former president of TransAfrica Forum; a Senior Scholar with the Institute for Policy Studies; and in the leadership of several other projects. Fletcher is the co-author (with Peter Agard) of “The Indispensable Ally: Black Workers and the Formation of the Congress of Industrial Organizations, 1934-1941”; the co-author (with Dr. Fernando Gapasin) of “Solidarity Divided: The crisis in organized labor and a new path toward social justice“; and the author of “‘They’re Bankrupting Us’ – And Twenty other myths about unions.” Fletcher is a syndicated columnist and a regular media commentator on television, radio and the Web.

The best way to support The Fire These Times is to:


⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Become a member of our Patreon at Patreon.com/firethesetimes⁠⁠. With a monthly or yearly subscription, you get perks including early access, exclusive videos, monthly hangouts, access to the video and book clubs, merch and more.
Leave a review wherever you listen to podcasts. This allows us to show up on these platforms in the first place.
Tell your friends and enemies about it.

Episode Credits:


Host(s): Elia J. Ayoub


Producer(s): Elia J. Ayoub


Guest(s): Bill Fletcher Jr


Music: ⁠Rap and Revenge⁠


Sound editor(s): Elia J. Ayoub


Episode designer(s): Elia J. Ayoub


Team profile pics: Molly Crabapple


Original TFTT design: Wenyi Geng

In this special collab episode between Obscuristan and The Fire These Times, Karena Avedissian and Anna are joined by Daniel Voskoboynik to discuss the life of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and what his death means for those of us not quite at the heart of the Russian empire. Plus, Anna and Karena announce that they're joining the wider TFTT collective! 



Obscuristan is available wherever you listen to podcasts. About:

Join political scientist Karena and total civilian Anna on a trip to Obscuristan. Each week, Karena and Anna dive into a truly bizarre story from Eurasia in its full political, social, and imperialist context. Join us, and you’ll find out why Obscuristan isn’t so strange at all when you consider the sh*t it’s been through.



The best way to support The Fire These Times is to:


⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Become a member of our Patreon at Patreon.com/firethesetimes⁠⁠. With a monthly or yearly subscription, you get perks including early access, exclusive videos, monthly hangouts, access to the video and book clubs, merch and more.
Leave a review wherever you listen to podcasts. This allows us to show up on these platforms in the first place.
Tell your friends and enemies about it.



Episode Credits:


Hosts: Karena Avedissian and Anna
Producer: Anna
Guest: Daniel Voskoboynik
Music: ⁠Sarven Yapar⁠
Sound editor: Anna
Episode designer: Elia J. Ayoub
Team profile pics: Molly Crabapple

This is a compilation of 4 episodes of our new podcast Politically Depressed, created by writer and organizer Ayman Makarem. These are episodes 9-12 compiled into one long episode (with time codes below).


If you enjoy this podcast, please consider following and rating it on whatever app you use to listen to your podcasts (It really makes a huge difference to our visibility.)


Time codes:
00:00 - Episode 9: This Fire Will Consume You Too
20:20 - Episode 10: Do Protests Work?
41:45 - Episode 11: I Caught a Zionist Infiltrator at a Palestine Solidarity Protest
59:00 - Episode 12: Community of Grief w/ Lina Mounzer

The best way to support Politically Depressed and The Fire These Times is through ⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon.com/firethesetimes⁠⁠⁠⁠.

The other other best way is to tell your friends and enemies about Politically Depressed and The Fire These Times.

For episode 155, Ayman sits with Beirut-based journalist and friend of the show, Justin Salhani, to talk about his recent essay for Al-Jazeera. Expanding on the essay, the two talk about parallels between the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon and siege of Beirut and the ongoing genocide in Gaza. As two children of survivors of the '82 siege, their conversation moves between political/military analysis and discussions of memory and narratives as tools of agency. 



The best way to support The Fire These Times is to:


⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Become a member of our Patreon at Patreon.com/firethesetimes⁠⁠. With a monthly or yearly subscription, you get perks including early access, exclusive videos, monthly hangouts, access to the video and book clubs, merch and more.
Leave a review wherever you listen to podcasts. This allows us to show up on these platforms in the first place.
Tell your friends and enemies about it.


Episode Credits:


Hosts: Ayman Makarem
Producer: Ayman Makarem
Guest: Justin Salhani
Music: ⁠Rap and Revenge⁠
Sound editor: Ayman Makarem
Episode designer: Elia J. Ayoub
Team profile pics: Molly Crabapple
Original TFTT design: Wenyi Geng

For episode 154, French-Moroccan-Amazigh analyst Sahar Amarir joins Elia J. Ayoub and Leila Al-Shami to talk about her piece "Imperialist is Multiple, so Should be Our Solidarities: on the Need for Post-Post-Colonialism"  published in The Funambulist. 

The best way to support The Fire These Times is:

Through ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon.com/firethesetimes⁠⁠. With a monthly or yearly donation, you get perks including early access, exclusive videos, monthly hangouts, access to the video and book clubs, merch and more.
Leave a review wherever you listen to podcasts. This allows us to show up on these platforms in the first place.
Tell your friends and enemies about it.

Episode Credits:

Hosts: Elia J. Ayoub and Leila Al-Shami
Producer: Elia J. Ayoub
Guest: Margaret Killjoy
Music: ⁠⁠Rap and Revenge⁠⁠
Sound editor: Artin Salimi
Episode designer: Elia J. Ayoub
Team profile pics: Molly Crabapple
Original TFTT design: Wenyi Geng

For episode 153, anarchist writer, musician and podcaster Margaret Killjoy joins Elia J. Ayoub and Aydın Yıldız to talk about the very easy topic of apocalypse. What does that even mean? And how do we deal with that without falling into complete despair? Many of y'all know that one of the taglines of this pod is building the new in the shell of the old, right? Well, this is about that. Sort of. It's mainly about staying sane and healthy and as hopeful as possible long enough to even want to build the new in the shell of the old.

Margaret Killjoy, in our view, is one of the best minds on this difficult subject, and we think you'll agree.



Transcript:

This episode's transcript is available on the website. If you'd like to help make The Fire These Times more accessible you can help out with transcriptions by reaching out to Antidote Zine, the collective with whom we are working on transcripts.



Show notes:


Penumbra City, the new ttrpg by Strangers in a Tangled Wilderness
Margaret's two pods: Live Like the World is Dying and Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff
Margaret's essay for Slingshot Collective that's behind this episode's title as well as one of her podcasts
Margaret's essay Don't Let Nazis Have Nice Things republished by Antidote Zine



The best way to support The Fire These Times is:


Through ⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon.com/firethesetimes⁠. With a monthly or yearly donation, you get perks including early access, exclusive videos, monthly hangouts, access to the video and book clubs, merch and more.
Leave a review wherever you listen to podcasts. This allows us to show up on these platforms in the first place.
Tell your friends and enemies about it.

Episode Credits:


Hosts: Elia J. Ayoub and Aydın Yıldız
Producer: Elia J. Ayoub
Guest: Margaret Killjoy
Music: ⁠Rap and Revenge⁠
Sound editor: Elia J. Ayoub
Episode designer: Elia J. Ayoub