The Fire These Times The Fire These Times

In this remastered release, Joey Ayoub is joined by Sumaya Awad and Shireen Akram-Boshar. Awad is a co-editor of the book Palestine: A Socialist Introduction, and Akram-Boshar is a contributor to the same book. Originally released on May 20th 2021, this episode has been remastered and re-released. Many of the topics discussed - including the ethnic cleansing of Palestine, the growing solidarity movements around the globe, the Palestinian struggle for liberation - all resonate in today’s context. This episode serves as a reminder that the recent escalation in Palestine has origins well before Oct 7 and that calls to end Israel’s genocide are growing louder and louder. 



Recommendations:

Shireen:


Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement Paperback by Angela Davis


The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein


Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire by Deepa Kumar


A Woman in the Crossfire: Diaries of the Syrian Revolution by Samar Yazbeck



Sumaya:


The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy


Smiley’s People by John le Carré



Movies:


Qafr Kassem by Borhan Alaouié


The Feeling of Being Watched by Assia Boundaoui



Episode Credits

Host: Joey Ayoub

Producer: Ayman Makarem

Music: Rap and Revenge

Main theme design: Wenyi Geng

Sound editor: Ayman Makarem

Episode design: Joey Ayoub

In episode 146, Joey Ayoub and Dana El-Kurd talk to Sally Abed, Orly Noy and Amjad Iraqi. Abed is a member of the national leadership of Standing Together (עומדים ביחד نقف معًا), a grassroots movement mobilizing Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel in pursuit of peace, equality, and social and climate justice. Orly Noy is the chair of B'Tselem, arguably Israel's most well-known human rights NGO, and editor of the Hebrew-language news magazine Local Call. Amjad Iraqi is a member of Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian Policy Network, an editor and writer at +972 Magazine, and previously an advocacy coordinator at Adalah - The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel.

In this wide-ranging conversation, the hosts and guests spoke about the current state of Israel's political landscape, from its ongoing "Smotrichization" to the political crackdowns, from the normalization of genocidal rhetoric against Palestinians to the necessity of being "chronically optimistic" to push for change in Israel-Palestine. At a time when Netanyahu and the Israeli far-right have effectively taken over politics, and with so many self-described liberals joining in the calls for violence, principled left-wing voices seem all but gone in Israel. Finally, each guest shares their personal theory of change, offering a glimpse into their vision for the future. 

These episodes are intended to be evergreen conversations. If you're interested in resources dedicated to real-time information, you can follow us on Instagram where we amplify voices on the ground in Palestine-Israel.

Daniel and Joey host a conversation between Hadar Cohen and Dahab Kashi, exploring the radical power of Arab Jewish perspectives. Often seen as mutually exclusive identities, the existence and experience of Arab Jews transcends the narrow, and violent, confines of both Zionism and Arab Nationalism. The artist Yossi Zabari spoke about the power of the 'hyphen connecting Arab and Jew', and in this episode we explore the potential that acknowledging that hyphen has in our current critical moment.  

Credits:


Host: Daniel Voskoboynik and Joey Ayoub
Producer: Ayman Makarem
Music: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Rap and Revenge⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
Main theme design: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Wenyi Geng⁠⁠
Sound editor: ⁠⁠⁠⁠Ayman Makarem
Episode design: Joey Ayoub

In light of the genocidal onslaught against Palestinians in Gaza following the October 7th Hamas attack, we've decided to re-release an old episode on Hamas, Gaza, and Palestine-Israel. In this episode from June 2021, Joey interviews Tareq Baconi, author of the book "Hamas Contained: The Rise and Pacification of Palestinian Resistance" published in 2018. Baconi meticulously outlines the nature of Israel's blockade on Gaza, the various aspects of Palestinian resistance to ongoing occupation, and contextualizes Hamas's role, structure, and motives within this wider social and political struggle.



The audio is remastered and includes a new introduction by Joey that situates this conversation in the post Oct 7th reality.



Episode Credits

Host: Joey AyoubProducer: Ayman MakaremMusic: Rap and RevengeMain theme design: Wenyi GengSound editor: Ayman MakaremEpisode design: Joey Ayoub

For episode 144, Daniel is joined by renowned Sudanese Professor Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na’im for a wide-ranging conversation on human rights, spirituality, and inter-cultural justice. Professor An-Na’im is an internationally recognized scholar of Islam and human rights, specifically from cross-cultural perspectives, and teaches courses in international law, comparative law, human rights, and Islamic law.

With intensifying human rights violations around the world, and longstanding failures from international bodies to curtail state and corporate impunity, how do we understand protecting human rights today? Abdullahi brings decades of experience as an activist, scholar and jurist to the table, drawing on cross-cultural prisms and critical religious thought.



Mentions

The works of Ustaz Mahmoud Taha:


Brief Bio of Ustaz Mahmoud Taha
Second Message of Islam, The – Syracuse University Press

Books by Professor Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na’im:


Decolonizing Human Rights
Islam and the Secular State — Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im | Harvard University Press



Contact


You can follow The Fire These Times on: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Bluesky⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Substack⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
You can follow Daniel on: Website | Twitter | Instagram



Credits

Host: Daniel VoskoboynikProducer: Ayman MakaremMusic: Rap and RevengeMain theme design: Wenyi GengSound editor: Ayman MakaremEpisode design: Joey Ayoub

On October 7th, Hamas fighters breached the militarized fence separating the occupied Gaza strip from Israeli communities in the south, killing 1400 people and taking 200 hostages. Israel immediately retaliated with severe bombardment of the Gaza strip that, at the time of this writing, has killed 7000 people. In the West Bank, settler violence and army raids have also killed dozens of Palestinians, and Palestinian citizens of Israel as well as leftist Israelis have been arrested for speaking out.

While the world is currently transfixed by what’s happening in Israel-Palestine, this story did not begin on October 7th. Joey Ayoub and Daniel Voskoboynik are joined by Dana El Kurd, Orly Noy, and Yair Wallach to think through this moment, process our grief together, and articulate alternative visions for both peoples. We focused on three themes: a) Grief, b) Thinking Through This Moment, c) What can be done?

This will be the first of many episodes on post-October 7th Israel-Palestine.

Dana El-Kurd is a researcher in political science, and an assistant professor at the University of Richmond. Works on state-society relations in the Arab world with topics like authoritarianism and international intervention. She has published in peer-reviewed journals and she is also the author of "Polarized and Demobilized: Legacies of Authoritarianism in Palestine." A regular guest of TFTT, Dana has recently co-written an essay with Leila Al-Shami, Joey Ayoub and Romeo Kokriatski for the South/South Movement entitled "A view of anti-imperialism from the periphery."

Orly Noy is an editor at Local Call, a Hebrew-language news site committed to democracy, peace, equality, social justice, transparency, freedom of information and resisting the occupation. She is also a political activist with the Balad political party, and a translator of Farsi poetry and prose. She is the chair of B’Tselem’s executive board. Her writing deals with the lines that intersect and define her identity as Mizrahi, a female leftist, a woman, a temporary migrant living inside a perpetual immigrant, and the constant dialogue between them. She recently published a piece for 972Mag and Local Call entitled "Enough with the warlords. There is another way."

Yair Wallach is a social and cultural historian of modern Palestine/Israel at SOAS, University of London, studying the entangled and relational histories of Jews and Palestinians. He is also the author of the 2020 book "A City in Fragments: Urban Text in Modern Jerusalem" and has most recently published in The New Statesman a piece entitled: "The deadly logic of the existential war: Warnings that the escalating Israel-Hamas conflict is heading towards genocide should be heeded."

Support human rights workers in Palestine-Israel and the diaspora

Medical Aid for Palestinians | Adalah | Al-Shabaka | Gisha | Hamleh | Hamoked | The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel | Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Centre (JLAC) | MIFTAH: The Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy | Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) | Defense for Children International-Palestine (DCI-P) | Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) | Women's Centre for Legal Aid and Counselling (WCLAC)



You can follow The Fire These Times on: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Bluesky⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Substack⁠⁠⁠⁠



Credits:

Host: Daniel & Joey

Producer: A.M.

Music: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Rap and Revenge

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Main theme design: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Wenyi Geng

⁠⁠⁠Sound editor: A.M.

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Episode design: Joey Ayoub