Updates on The Fire These Times' Future

It's going to get interesting folks

Hey y’all,

Joey here. This is the first update in a long time. I'm finally done with my PhD and my life situation is a wee bit more stable, so I'm taking the opportunity to update you on recent happenings, some personal updates and what The Fire These Times’ next steps are.

No essays/analyses in this one. Hopefully I'll manage to finish one of them by next time.

Roundup

I was recently interviewed by Alona Liasheva for the Ukrainian journal ‘Commons’ as part of their excellent “dialogues of the peripheries” series. We spoke about my path as a researcher and an activist, building solidarity between different struggles and movements, my experience with Ukrainian activists, the Lebanese experience, anti-imperialism in Ukraine, how Putin's fall can lead to the fall of the Syrian and Iranian regimes, and more. You can read about it here in English and Ukrainian.

They also interviewed Indian Marxist and feminist activist Kavita Krishnan, who was a recent guest of The Fire These Times alongside Promise Li, US-based Hong Konger organizer and part of the Left diaspora collective Lausan, and Romeo Kokriatski, Ukrainian-American journalist, managing editor of the New Voice of Ukraine and co-host of the Ukraine Without Hype podcast. The topic was ‘Against Multipolar Imperialism’, and it's related to what Alona and I spoke about as well.

Related

• Podcast: Against Multipolar Imperialism: An Internationalist Response w/ Kavita Krishnan, Promise Li and Romeo Kokriatski (17/02/2023)

  

• Commons Interview with Kavita Krishnan, Part 1 (28/06/2023) and Part 2 (11/07/2023)

• I was a guest of Romeo and Anthony Bartaway's podcast Ukraine Without Hype (07/04/2022) to talk about Russian imperialism and genocide in Ukraine. The episode is titled: Episode 18: How many acts of Genocide does it take to make Genocide?
  

I also contributed to Lausan a couple of times: ‘Revolution everywhere’: A conversation between Hong Kong and Lebanese protesters (13/06/2020) (in English and in Chinese) and “The periphery has no time for binaries” (25/05/2021)

I was recently interviewed by Meret Michel for the Swiss newspaper "Die Wochenzeitung" about the Syrian and Lebanese diaspora, Beirut/Berlin/Istanbul, the situation in Beirut, and the making of a new Nakba in Syria (and more). I will link it in an upcoming newsletter when it's out.

I took part in a series by carla joy bergman on the topic of Liminal Belonging. carla is the editor of the books “Trust kids! Stories on Youth Autonomy and Confronting Adult Supremacy” and “Radiant Voices: 21 Feminist Essays for Rising Up Inspired by EMMA Talks.” They're also the co-author of the book “Joyful Militancy: Building Thriving Resistance in Toxic Times.” I will link it in an upcoming newsletter when it's out.

Related:

• Podcast: Let’s Talk About Youth Autonomy w/ carla joy bergman (24/03/2023)

  

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The Fire These Times

Due to some personal developments I've had to take a bit of a step back from TFTT for a few months. This is only a temporary matter. The regular podcast will be back on a weekly basis, and eventually twice-weekly basis, soon (likely in August/September).

TFTT is also growing! It will soon become a network, meaning that in addition to the podcast that y'all already know (and love, I'm sure) there will be other podcasts by other people, various newsletters, resources, and so much more. My buddy Daniel Voskoboynik, who's been a guest as well as a co-host on the pod, is joining the growing team. More to come.

The first podcast to join is the upcoming Bala Falsafi by friend-of-the-pod Ayman Makarem and Hisham Rifai, the duo behind the Bisri#6 project. It will be done in two parts: Balcony Conversations (English and Arabic), and Beirut Stories (English). The idea is that, in Ayman's words:

Bala Falsafi is a storytelling podcast where Hisham and I recreate the feeling of sitting on our balcony talking to each other about our absurd lives and our experiences with the many, many shitty power structures that we exist within. Whether personal or political, insightful or meaningless, we enjoy telling stories and truly believe in the power of storytelling to change perspectives, create new bonds, and, at the very least, entertain us throughout the long march to death.

Related:

• Bizri#6's Patreon page

• I was interviewed by them for their ‘Revolution in every country’ series published by Unicorn Riot. Check it out. I'm in the 3rd episode, the one on Lebanon.

  

• Support: Queer Mutual Aid Lebanon on Patreon

• Podcast: Queer Mutual Aid Lebanon Special Fundraising! (11/07/2023)

  

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  Finally

  
  The Fire These Times is still fundraising through Patreon (and other methods). As of this writing, 118 awesome people bring in $563 for the project every month, averaging at $5 a month. The first milestone that I hope to be able to reach is $1,000 monthly. This will all go to operational costs, including paying contributors, artists and other we-live-in-capitalism considerations.
  

I'll be trying to update y’all semi-frequently at first and then on a more regular basis. You'll never get more than one update a week in any case. The newsletter will remain mostly free, but I will eventually include paid-only content to help with the costs, such as analyses, interviews and essays. So finally, let me know: would you consider supporting this newsletter financially?

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Personal Updates

As mentioned, I'm finally done with the PhD. My thesis was titled ‘Hauntings and Temporalities in Postwar Lebanese Cinema' (1990-2020) and I successfully defended it at the University of Zurich with Magna Cum Laude. Hurray.

I am working on a six-months contract with the Swiss NGO OxySuisse researching the links between Big Tobacco and Big Oil's strategies in Switzerland and the world. As of October, I'd be looking for a full-time job, with preference given to remote work. My public CV is available here.