Hummus For Thought

As we experience one of the worst pandemics in modern times, in addition to the ongoing climate emergency and a plethora of urgent problems facing our species, a number of questions should be raised about our current economic and political paradigms. This is why I decided to launch a new podcast called The Fire These Times. The Fire These Times, named after the James Baldwin book ‘The Fire Next Time’, is a podcast that promotes mutual aid frameworks for the 21st century. As of now, there...

As India commemorates the 70th anniversary of its Republic Day, the date on which the Constitution of India came into effect in 1950, on January 26th, we sat down with researcher Hari Prasad and journalist-academic Aman Madan to talk about the recent waves of protests throughout India opposing the ruling BJP's Citizenship (Amendment) Bill and National Register of Citizens which threatens to disenfranchise millions of Indians, particularly Muslims. What are the CAA and the NRC? Who are Modi...

I spoke to Musa Okwonga (@Okwonga) to speak about the 2019 UK Elections, Brexit, Fear, Empire, Englishness, Race, Nationalism, the Youth Movement, Intersectionality and everything in between. Further reads: The lopsided centre: Why is the Media's Unbalanced Scrutiny Giving the Tories a Free Ride?, by Musa Okwonga: https://bylinetimes.com/2019/12/04/the-lopsided-centre-why-is-the-medias-unbalanced-scrutiny-giving-the-tories-a-free-ride/ The Man in the High Castle: How to Evict the...

To Dr Andrew Arsan, Lebanon is "a microcosm of the contemporary world. His book "Lebanon: A Country in Fragments" deals with the events of 2005 to 2018. In those thirteen years, Lebanon had thirty-four months without a president; a war which left over a thousand killed in 30 days and displaced a quarter of its population; forty-eight separate bombings and twenty-one assassinations or assassination attempts, mainly targeting anti-Assad figures; a potential civil war; conflicts between...

Danny Postel and Dr. William Mazzarella speak about "Populism, Trumpism and the Left" at the Open University of the Left, on May 25th, 2019 in Chicago, Illinois. You can watch the whole talk on the YouTube page of the Open University of the Left at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIZ_969hFecsMFl7N7ERP3Q You can also visit their website at http://openuniversityoftheleft.com/ Hummus For Thought will come back soon with our first themed season. Stay tuned!

In this third episode, Joey speaks with Sarah Hunaidi, our co-host and the translator of Samira Al-Khalil's diaries into English. Samira Al-Khalil is a Syrian dissident who was first arrested by the Assad regime and imprisoned from 1987 to 1991 for belonging to an opposition Communist party. When the revolution broke out in 2011, she helped organise various activities to protest the Syrian regime. On December 9th, 2011, Samira was kidnapped by the rebel group Jaysh Al Islam in Eastern Ghouta...

In this second episode, we explore the 'Kafala' sponsorship system which governs the lives of hundreds of thousands of migrant workers in Lebanon. To that end, Joey Ayoub went to the Migrant Community Center in Beirut and spoke with Sami, an Ethiopian activist and one of the leaders of Mesewat, a non-governmental, non-religious, non-racial and non-profit solidarity network that supports migrant workers in Lebanon and the Middle East. He also spoke with Alli, an activist with the Anti-Racism...

In this first episode, Sarah Hunaidi and Joey Ayoub look at 'the personal as political' and reflect on the Syrian revolution, being a migrant or refugee and the right to narrate. The associated blogpost can be found here https://hummusforthought.com/2018/07/11/podcast-episode-one-the-personal-as-political/ You can support this project on Hummus For Thought's Patreon page https://www.patreon.com/hummusforthought