Rime Allaf is a Syrian-born writer and political analyst. In a wide-ranging conversation with New Lines Magazine's Faisal Al Yafai, she recalls living through the end of the Hafez al-Assad era and traces the Bashar years from the initial optimism of Syrians, through the end of the Lebanon occupation and the Iraq War, to the start of the Syrian revolution.
Oct 19
A Death That Divided America
On this week’s episode of the podcast, author Anand Giridharadas joins Faisal Al Yafai to discuss the divisive death of Jordan Neely on a New York subway train in 2023, why Americans across the political divide feel abandoned by the institutions meant to protect them, and what it ... Show More
39m 41s
Oct 12
How 1980s Lebanon Made Today’s Middle East
On the podcast this week, journalist and author Kim Ghattas joins Faisal Al Yafai to discuss how the Beirut of the 1980s offers a prism through which to understand today’s regional rivalries, as set out in her new book, “The Best Kind of American: A True Story of Murder, War, and ... Show More
45m 30s
Jan 2025
39. The World is Syrianised with Yassin al-Haj Saleh
The Syrian writer and political theorist, Yassin al-Haj Saleh, has lived a remarkable life. As a student activist affiliated with one of Syria's communist parties, Yassin spent 16 years in Hafez al Assad's prisons. Then, shortly after the revolution of 2011, Yassin's wife, Samira ... Show More
43m 6s
Feb 2025
Syria's New Future: Post-Assad state building and HTS rule
The Assad regime has gone. After 14 years of war, and 54 years of one family's rule, Syria is now stepping into a new period of its history. Led by the transitional government of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, Syria will now have to build a new state and hopefully create a path to a new ... Show More
48m 13s
Jun 2021
Pedagogies of Liberation, Gender and the Syrian Revolution w/ Banah Ghadbian (E78)
This is a conversation with Banah Ghadbian. She’s a Syrian activist whose dissertation “Ululating from the Underground: Syrian Women’s Protests, Performances, and Pedagogies under Siege” was the subject of our conversation. As usual, we ended up talking about a lot of other thing ... Show More
1h 57m