The Kulna Podcast

Arab Tyrant Manual Podcast
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  • Biweekly

On The Kulna Podcast, we work through the questions of our time with people committed to liberation for all of us. The feed currently carries two series: 1. How to Liberate: reads authoritarian resurgence, imperial collapse, genocide, disinformation and economic instability against longer histories of power and ideology instead of the news cycle. We look at how power is built and concentrated, what story it tells to justify itself, and who is resisting it. We also take on the slower work of imagining and building alternatives. Guest interviews and team conversations, hosted by Ahmed Gatnash and Iyad el-Baghdadi. 2. Shefa Talks: Systems of domination leave wounds in bodies, families, cultures and movements, and wounds left unaddressed reproduce harm. Shefa brings together trauma wisdom, spiritual grounding and psychedelic-assisted approaches to recovery, because we believe that wounded movements cannot build free societies. Hosted by Isabelle Davodi. If you subscribed for The Arab Tyrant Manual, you're in the right place. This feed is now home to Kulna's audio. Past episodes remain available below. Kulna means "all of us." Join us at kulna.co.

  1. 6d ago

    Psychedelics for healing trauma, with Rick Doblin | Shefa Talks Episode 2

    What does it mean for the mind to be "manifested"? MAPS founder Rick Doblin has spent more than 50 years bringing psychedelics into science, therapy and spirituality, and he says the real healing happens after the session. On this episode of Shefa, Isabelle talks with Rick about psychedelics, from the ancient Eleusinian Mysteries to today's research renaissance. He explains how these substances quiet the brain's sense of self, and how MDMA-assisted therapy helps people with PTSD finally put their trauma in the past. Isabelle shares her own recovery from panic attacks after a psilocybin session. Rick argues that humanity's intelligence has outpaced its emotional and spiritual maturity. Healing that gap means doing what Carl Jung called withdrawing the projection of our shadow onto others, both in individual therapy and in peace work between Israelis and Palestinians. His vision is a world of "net zero trauma" by 2070. As he puts it, we're in a struggle between consciousness and catastrophe. Note: This conversation was recorded in October 2023. Since then, the US FDA declined to approve MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD (August 2024), and research is ongoing. This episode is for educational purposes only and is not medical advice. We do not encourage the use of psychedelics or other illegal substances. Psychedelics are illegal in many countries and can carry serious risks, especially without professional supervision. 📖 Read more on Kulna: https://kulna.co/shefa/shefa-talks-ri... Kulna is an editorial platform for long-form thinking about power, resistance and what comes next. Kulna is Arabic for "all of us," because we're not free until we're all free. Become a founding member: https://kulna.co/membership/

  2. Oct 27

    Do No Harm: Leyla Hussein on Burnout, Shame, and Who Gets to Be Cared For | Shefa Talks Episode 1

    Shefa Talks Episode 1, KULNA's podcast series, opens with Isabelle Davodi, a former Doctors Without Borders field worker, sitting down with Dr. Leyla Hussein, a psychotherapist and two-decade campaigner against FGM, to ask what "do no harm" means in practice. Leyla traces the idea to her own burnout and the nine months it took to recover. She argues that activism rewards suffering and that shame and guilt keep feeding each other. She also asks who gets believed, who gets outrage, and who gets told to be resilient. The conversation ends with what care looks like in organisations and in everyday life. This episode discusses FGM, trauma, and burnout, so please listen with care. Subscribe us at https://kulna.co/membership/

  3. Oct 24

    Why can't Saudi Arabia defend itself? with Iyad el-Baghdadi

    This month, Houthi missiles shut Riyadh’s main airport and hit Saudi Aramco’s headquarters. Saudi Arabia is one of the world’s biggest military spenders, yet it cannot reliably secure its own territory. Why? Ahmed Gatnash sits down with Iyad El-Baghdadi to argue that the answer has little to do with drones, air defences or doctrine. It lies in the kind of state Saudi Arabia is. The Gulf monarchies were built on two bargains. At home, citizens traded political agency for comfort. Abroad, rulers bought American protection and influence in Washington. Both bargains are now breaking at once. They discuss why the Saudi army can’t simply march into Yemen, what the UAE’s short-lived “Little Sparta” experiment revealed, how a decade of absolute power under MBS emptied out the kingdom’s capacity to correct course, and why no new pact can buy a new social contract. Ask citizens for their blood, and sooner or later you have to give them representation. Read Iyad’s full article on Kulna: https://kulna.co/how-to-liberate/blood-without-representation/ Subscribe at https://kulna.co/membership/

  4. Sep 30

    HTL: Episode 1: Introducing 'How to Liberate', Feat. Iyad el-Baghdadi, Khaled Albaih & Ahmed Gatnash

    This is 'How to Liberate', the Arab Tyrant Manual, relaunched. In our inaugural episode, the team behind How to Liberate introduce themselves, the podcast, and how it will see the world. They trace where this show, and Kulna, come from. Iyad and Khaled tell their stories: Khaled's childhood between Sudan, Romania, and Doha, and how political cartooning became his language for a region he grew up outside of; Iyad's journey from a Palestinian refugee family exiled between Jaffa, Damascus, and the Gulf, through the disillusionment of Oslo, into the Arab Spring, and to October 7th, the rupture that pushed him back to where he started. World-systems rise, peak, decay, and eventually break. In Kulna we believe liberation means building what comes next. How To Liberate is our channel for studying power, global change and geopolitics. It’s a space for serious for serious conversation about solidarity, vision and power-building. We look at how power is formed, concentrated, legitimized, and resisted. Then we imagine how to build what comes after. Announcement: HTL is our new podcaste series and a part of KULNA, a digital media platform about Systems Change and Collective Liberation. Apart from HTL, we'd be releasing other podcast series as well, hosted by our team members. Stay tuned! Subscribe, join our community calls and support our work at www.kulna.co

  5. Apr 25

    045 - Will The Gulf States Make It?

    We recorded this episode in the middle of one of the most consequential moments in the history of this region. In this episode, we ask the question on everyone's mind: "Do the Gulf States Have a Future?" Not in the next news cycle, but in the next generation. We look at what the current war on Iran has exposed: the structural fragilities of these states, their rentier economies, their tiny citizen populations, and their deep dependence on migrant labour. And we talk about why states under duress don't reform - they just become more of what they already are. Also, if you're watching this on YouTube - KULNA is our new editorial platform for longform thinking about power, resistance, and what comes next. Visit the link below to support us: kulna.co

  6. Apr 15

    044 - The Logic of Endless War

    It's been four years since our last episode — and we're back with something bigger. In this episode, recorded before the ceasefire announcement, Iyad El-Baghdadi and Ahmed Gatnash break down the ongoing U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran - a war that looks irrational from Washington, but it starts to make sense as an Israeli-driven war the United States was pulled into. We trace the settler-colonial psychology behind Israeli strategic thinking, how October 7th shattered the illusion of a managed conflict with the Palestinians, and why Israel is now locked into open-ended war with no off-ramp — driven not by one leader but by a broad political consensus and a fear that the window of unconditional American support is closing. We also look at Iran's regime resilience, why external attack tends to strengthen rather than weaken the IRGC's grip, and what a prolonged war means for Gulf economies built on foreign labour and energy rents. No clear positive outcome is on the horizon, and regional escalation remains a serious risk. This episode also marks the beginning of something new. The Arab Tyrant Manual is becoming part of Kulna — a new editorial platform for long thinking about power, resistance, and what comes next. Links To find our more about Kulna and become a founding member: https://kulna.co/subscribe/

  7. 04/08/2022

    043 - Ukraine is Dividing the Gulf States from the West

    As Russia's invasion of Ukraine caused global energy prices to spike, the US looked to its traditional gulf partners to increase supply. However, Mohamed bin Zayed and Mohamed bin Salman chose not to - refusing President Joe Biden's calls and even raising prices, whilst making overt gestures of support for Putin. In this episode, Iyad El-Baghdadi and Ahmed Gatnash discuss how the war in Ukraine has pushed a wedge between the US and its traditionally-close gulf allies, and what this means for the future of the Middle East. Episode timetags: 02:40 - The economic context of Russia's invasion of Ukraine 04:40 - Alternative sources of energy & autocracies 08:00 - The gulf oil producers are acting differently 09:30 - Why Saudi's reaction is a bad idea 12:30 - Changing dictatorships through economic engagement 14:00 - Europe's reaction to war & the dictators' underestimations 18:20 - The shift in relationships from unconditional to transactional 21:00 - MBS taking political changes personally 23:55 - The Atlantic interview, disinformation, and MBS' continued self-owns 27:30 - US security guarantee isn't in doubt, but it's not enough 33:25 - The failure of dictatorship as a management system 38:10 - Is Saudi Arabia maximising profit for its national budget? Support the Arab Tyrant Manual on Patreon: https://patreon.com/kawaakibi Our other podcast, Intergalactic Tarboush: http://tarboush.co/

    043 - Ukraine is Dividing the Gulf States from the West

  8. 03/25/2022

    042 - Working for Libyan Accountability, with Elham Saudi

    In this episode, Ahmed Gatnash speaks to Elham Saudi, co-founder and director of Lawyers for Justice in Libya, about the fight for accountability and how human rights defenders can work towards accountability in areas that are ordinarily pushed to the sidelines. Elham can be found on Twitter (@elham_lfjl) and at libyanjustice.org (@LibyanJustice). They publish the Libya Matters podcast, and created the Ali Nouh fund, which provides emergency assistance to human rights defenders who are at risk due to their work. You can donate to the fund here: https://cafdonate.cafonline.org/15937#!/DonationDetails Support the Arab Tyrant Manual on Patreon, where you can find a bonus clip from this conversation: https://patreon.com/kawaakibi

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4.7
out of 5
35 Ratings

About

On The Kulna Podcast, we work through the questions of our time with people committed to liberation for all of us. The feed currently carries two series: 1. How to Liberate: reads authoritarian resurgence, imperial collapse, genocide, disinformation and economic instability against longer histories of power and ideology instead of the news cycle. We look at how power is built and concentrated, what story it tells to justify itself, and who is resisting it. We also take on the slower work of imagining and building alternatives. Guest interviews and team conversations, hosted by Ahmed Gatnash and Iyad el-Baghdadi. 2. Shefa Talks: Systems of domination leave wounds in bodies, families, cultures and movements, and wounds left unaddressed reproduce harm. Shefa brings together trauma wisdom, spiritual grounding and psychedelic-assisted approaches to recovery, because we believe that wounded movements cannot build free societies. Hosted by Isabelle Davodi. If you subscribed for The Arab Tyrant Manual, you're in the right place. This feed is now home to Kulna's audio. Past episodes remain available below. Kulna means "all of us." Join us at kulna.co.

Information

  • Creator
    Arab Tyrant Manual Podcast
  • Years Active
    2017 - 2026
  • Episodes
    49
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © All rights reserved
  • Show Website
    The Kulna Podcast

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