The East is a Podcast

Sina Rahmani (@urorientalist)
  • 4.8 (324)
  • POLITICS
  • UPDATED SEMIWEEKLY

A critical lens on the history of the present on West Asia and North Africa. Interviews with experts and archival mashups. Created by Sina Rahmani (twitter: @urorientalist)

  1. 6D AGO

    "We are simply people who love life": Voices from the Gaza holocaust

    **Note: As I explain in the introduction to this video, this is a very special episode that consists of two halves featuring three Palestinians in Gaza sharing their stories. It has become more than evident that our racist ruling class and their media warriors are simply refusing to allow anything that humanizes Palestinians in the slightest into the mainstream. It falls to us to help break the narrative blockade on Palestinians and their liberation struggle. I hope to do more of this content in the future, so if you know people in Gaza who want to make their own episodes in this format, reach out to me, and we can work with Lina to get it translated into English and posted. Maybe if we have enough episodes, we can spin it off into its own channel** A very special episode featuring my friends Mohammed and Mahmoud, who both share their stories of the early days of the genocide and some of their memories of the last two years. Please consider donating to their campaigns Mohammed's campaign https://chuffed.org/project/120676-mohammed-from-gaza Mahmoud's campaign https://chuffed.org/project/141277-help-mahmoud-and-his-family-survive-and-stand-again In the second half of the episode, long-time friend of the podcast Migdalia Arcila-Valenzuela interviews Lina Jehad, an Arabic teacher and translator based in Gaza, about her work and struggles during the genocide. Hire Lina for Arabic lessons or translation work https://www.instagram.com/lina_jehad1212/ Donate directly to Lina and her family https://www.paypal.com/donate?campaign_id=UWTKZ5F2P4XTS

    46 min

  2. JAN 26

    "They won't leave us alone": Organized chaos and hybrid war in Iran w/ Navid Zarrinnal

    ***Note: Navid's internet has been very unreliable for weeks now, so when I managed to get hold of him with a stable VPN, we decided to hurriedly record. In haste, both of us managed to mangle our respective recordings. I have been forced to resort to--please forgive me, cruel podcast gods---AI audio enhancer tools to see if it could be improved, which it mostly did but there are some funny spots on my side.*** Navid Zarrinal, host of the Colony Archive, and one of the oldest friends of The East is a Podcast, described what he witnessed during the last few weeks in Tehran. Support Navid on Patreon Watch the video edition on The East is a Podcast YouTube channel Consider supporting the show www.patreon.com/east_podcast

    1h 3m

  3. JAN 26

    Tankie Group Therapy #36: Empire of Lulz

    Tankie Group Therapy is back after a long, long hiatus!  Lara Sheehi from Psychic Militancy hosts this special, extra-super-duper-sized edition featuring all your TGT faves: Justin Podur, Nora Barrows-Friedman, Alex Avina, Joe Emersberger, Sina Rahmani, Arama Rata, Jared Ware, Adnan Husain, Asa Winstanley, and more!  Watch the livestream edition on The East is a Podcast YouTube channel Consider supporting the show www.patreon.com/east_podcast

    1h 51m

  4. JAN 25

    Michael Parenti: "US interventionism, the 3rd world, and the USSR" (1986)

    ***RIP Michael Parenti*** Michael Parenti speaks at the University of Colorado, Boulder: "US interventionism, the 3rd world, and the USSR" April 15, 1986 Source https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xP8CzlFhc14 Check out the Anti-Imperialist Archive  for more great archival mixes Join us for a live edition of Tankie Group Therapy Sunday @ 3:30 https://www.youtube.com/live/rX2hbS3eKqg

    1h 27m

  5. JAN 19

    "Listen to the Iranians": Sina Rahmani (The East is a Podcast)

    **Note: When stuff in Iran goes down, my natural inclination is to avoid doing content and stay above the fray, at least until the media hysteria dies down.  Not the best way to run a media project, I know, but I just have a hard time with all the breathless coverage--BREAKING!!!--and don't really want to feed it. Even then, I am still Iranian, and if people ask me to record during these times, my cultural programming compels me to accept the invitation.    This episode of Peacemongers with Mehmet and Erik was recorded as I was travelling for work recently and at the end of a busy, emotional day.  The scale of what had just transpired in Iran was becoming clear to me that morning in between working on the footage I had recorded the day earlier, itself an intense and emotional experience for entirely different, non-Iran-related reasons.  All of this is to say that by the time I recorded with these guys that afternoon, I was feeling pretty loopy. You can kinda hear it at the beginning of the episode when I had the giggles and infected everyone else with them!  I have no idea how I come off in this episode (too lazy to check it too, sorry), and I was reluctant to even post to this feed!! In my memory, I was exceptionally wandering in my rants.  Maybe I'm wrong and it's the same Sini as usual. IDK.**  ---------------------- "Listen to the Iranians" they kept saying. Well, we give you Sina Rahmani, the indomitable host of @eastpodcast and producer of countless other anti imperialist shows. We talk about the events in Iran which have been one-sidedly and sensationally presented in the west. In the background the Empire and the Ethno-state have their fingers dirty. So why is Iran such an important target for the Empire and what does it mean to be sovereign? We discuss some of the contents of the imperial toolbox and factors leading up to the protests. Economic pressure with sanctions and currency manipulation, smuggling of Starlink units and weapons to foment violent riots and the media machinery. We discuss the Shah and his son, the clown-prince in exile, Iranian diaspora, support for Palestine and what the destruction of the Iranian state would mean to people in the area. While the battle may be over the war might just have begun. The peoples and states in the crosshairs of a dying empire will keep being demonised. If they resist they are authoritarian, if they open up they'll be vulnerable. What the future holds and what the way forward to avoid a devastating war is unknown. Early in the episode Sina reads a testimony from his friend Navid Zarinnal, who is living in Teheran. He hosts a podcast on imperialism called The Colony Archive, which we highly recommend. Please note that we had some technical difficulties in the beginning, that led to a lot of chaos and laughter. Big thanks to Sina for being such a joyful human being even in these difficult times. The genocide in Gaza continues. We urge you to support the Palestinians in these very dire times by donating: - via @thesameerproject - via @lifeline4gaza

    1h 6m

  6. JAN 15

    Sina Rahmani: "This is hybrid warfare" (The Freedom Side, Jan 15th)

    I have been on the road and unable to do a proper episode on what's happening on Iran, so I decided to post this quick spot I did with The Freedom Side from BT News. You can watch the full episode on their YouTube channel If you can't wait until I am able to record a full episode on Iran (I will try to do one tomorrow night or Saturday morning), my comrade Nick and I recently did an episode of our paywalled show, Pod Kapital, and we discussed a little bit about what has been happening but that is already three days ago and out of date!  Consider supporting the show www.patreon.com/east_podcast

    13 min
  7. Psychic Militancy - Ghassan Abu Sittah: Clinic as site of resistance

    JAN 6

    Psychic Militancy - Ghassan Abu Sittah: Clinic as site of resistance

    ***I have been working with Lara Sheehi on her new show.  Make sure you subscribe to her video and audio feeds to listen to the rest of this episode**** Ghassan Abu Sittah: Clinic as site of resistance   In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Ghassan Abu Sittah to discuss the centrality of the clinic in the genocidal violence perpetrated by the Zionist settler state in Gaza, his concept of the biosphere of genocide, and importantly, the site of the clinic as central to resistance, refusal, and liberation. Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah is a British-Palestinian Plastic & Reconstructive Surgeon. He completed his medical education at University of Glasgow in the U.K and his postgraduate residency training in London. In April of 2024 he was awarded and Honorary Doctorate from the American University of Beirut, where is currently Professor of Conflict Medicine. His work was featured by numerous newspapers and media outlets notably La Monde, The Independent, Telegraph, BBC and CNN. Follow us on IG: @psychicmilitancypod & TikTok: @psychic.militancy Consider becoming a Patron to support the show! https://www.patreon.com/psychicmilitancy

    39 min

  8. JAN 5

    AISC #8: The Bolivarian and Iranian Revolutions vs. US Imperialism w/ Carlos Ron and Mohammad Marandi

    [NOTE: This is the first portion of the latest episode of The Anti-Imperialist Scholars Collective podcast.  Lots of great content has already been released on both audio and video feeds and more to come, so please make sure you subscribe to both!]  Hosted by AISC co-founder Nina Farnia, this episode features two distinguished guests and friends of AISC, Venezuela's former Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Carlos Ron and University of Tehran professor Mohammad Marandi. We initially filmed a 2025 anti-imperialist roundup on December 30, 2025, but just a few days later the US invaded Venezuela and abducted President Nicolas Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flires. We brought our guests back after the abduction to discuss the invasion, the abduction, and the future of the Bolivarian Revolution in the face of US imperialism. Both episodes are included here. Watch the video edition on our YouTube channel  Follow AISC  X (@penandmachete)  Instagram (@penandmachete) Visit our website to join the newsletter and find our blog, The Pen is My Machete. Donations to the producer of this show, Sina Rahmani, are welcome at www.patreon.com/east_podcast

    33 min
See All (575)

4.8
out of 5
324 Ratings

About

A critical lens on the history of the present on West Asia and North Africa. Interviews with experts and archival mashups. Created by Sina Rahmani (twitter: @urorientalist)

Information

  • Creator
    Sina Rahmani (@urorientalist)
  • Years Active
    2018 - 2026
  • Episodes
    575
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Show Website
    The East is a Podcast

You Might Also Like