Out Loud with Ahmed Eldin

A love story, a political narrative, and a tale of self-discovery converge in this intimate conversation. What happens when queerness, Palestine, exile, and truth-telling all intersect in one life? How do we reclaim ourselves when the world teaches us to hide?In this episode of Out Loud with Ahmed, I sat down with acclaimed writer and analyst Tareq Baconi (President of the Board of Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian Policy Network, author of Hamas Contained) to unpack his groundbreaking new memoir Fire in Every Direction.Together, they explore the emotional archaeology of first love, the silence of queer Arab boyhood, the inherited weight of the Nakba, and the price of telling the truth in a world collapsing under genocide. Tareq opens up about the letters that shaped him, the rupture that reshaped his family, and the lifelong work of integrating queerness, identity, politics, and belonging—without apologizing for any part of the whole.We also move through the political with brutal clarity: narrative, media, power, and why Palestinians are so often forced to “explain” themselves to institutions that don’t want to hear them. This is a conversation about shame and desire, generational rage and tenderness, chosen family and survival—and the impossible beauty of becoming whole while history is still burning.👉 If this moved you, like, subscribe, and share it with one person who’s trying to stay human in inhuman times.📖 Get Tareq Baconi’s book: Fire in Every Direction: A Memoirhttps://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Fire-in-Every-Direction/Tareq-Baconi/9781668068564More from Tareq:— Al-Shabaka: https://al-shabaka.org/authors/tareq-baconi/— Hamas Contained: https://www.sup.org/books/middle-east-studies/hamas-containedCHAPTERS01:08 Opening: Welcome to Out Loud02:44 Why Tareq Wrote the Book05:02 Reader Reactions & Emotional Impact07:00 Integrating Identity & Politics08:33 Writing Privately vs. Publishing13:03 Returning to Old Letters & Reconstructing Memory18:57 The Rupture: Love, Secrecy, and Shame22:00 Publishing a Memoir During Genocide32:04 Palestinian Maternal Rage & Legacy36:01 The Childhood “Look” & Social Policing39:58 The Weight of “Ayb” (Shame Language)54:32 Exile, Diaspora Privilege & Estrangement59:19 Storytelling as Resistance & Political Power01:08:10 Is Palestine the Litmus Test for Humanity?01:17:24 Closing Reflectionstags: Tareq Baconi, Fire In Every Direction, Palestine, Gaza, Queer Arab, Out Loud With Ahmed

Every few months, the world rediscovers the word peace.A ceasefire is staged, a headline sighs in relief — and for a moment, we all pretend coexistence is possible.But coexistence without equality isn’t peace — it’s PR.In this episode of Out Loud, I sit down with two women who refuse to perform peace — and instead expose its price:🎬 Amber Fares, the Lebanese-Canadian filmmaker behind Speed Sisters and Coexistence My Ass, and🎭 Noam Shuster-Eliassi, the Israeli comedian and activist whose story and stand-up form the heart of that new Sundance documentary.Together, we talk about:• The danger (and necessity) of being funny in a fascist moment• Growing up in the “Oasis of Peace” and seeing the myth of coexistence unravel• The cost of telling the truth in a society built on denial• How women are using comedy, art, and film to resist propaganda and reclaim empathy“What we’re saying in this film — Palestinians have been saying for decades,” Noam makes it a point to tell me.“If it’s easier for you to hear it from me, then that’s your homework.”🎧 Coexistence, My Ass is about courage, laughter, and the moral clarity we need to imagine real peace — not the photo-op kind.

Recorded just before the ceasefire — and released as Israeli forces violate it — this Out Loud episode with Abby Martin confronts Gaza not just as a tragedy, but as a mirror.From the Great March of Return to today’s live-streamed horror, Abby and I explore what Gaza exposes:— the death of moral illusion,— the collapse of journalism’s conscience,— and an empire that depends on permanent war.“We all see the Holocaust being live-streamed. It’s on our screens daily in 4K.” — Abby MartinAbby’s unflinching honesty cuts through propaganda to show why silence has become policy — and why love, solidarity, and collective defiance are humanity’s last stand.🎧 Listen to the full conversation and subscribe for new episodes of Out Loud with Ahmed Eldin.Follow:Ahmed Eldin → @ASE on X | SubstackAbby Martin → @AbbyMartin on X

In this searing episode of Out Loud with Ahmed Eldin, I sit with Palestinian novelist, poet, and activist Susan Abulhawa—bestselling author of Mornings in Jenin and Love in the Time of Genocide. Susan speaks with brutal clarity, refusing half-truths to confront the genocide in Gaza, the complicity of global powers, and the power of righteous rage. This isn’t just a conversation—it’s a reckoning.“I absolutely reject the policing of my speech when we’re being exterminated. I don’t give a shit about anybody’s feelings,” Susan declares, dismantling the myth of decorum while children are “shredded” and “burned alive.” She insists anger is no sin: “The thing that oppressors fear the most is the anger of the masses... It is a fuel.” Her words demand we channel rage into resistance, not silence.Gaza, Susan argues, is a hinge of history—a testing ground for a new model of AI-driven colonialism. “They’re developing a model wherein they will do the unthinkable,” she warns, exposing how Western elites normalize horrors to disempower us. From the Balfour Declaration to the Iraq War, she traces Zionism’s grip on global policy, noting, “The United States is totally subservient to Israel—they have hijacked our sovereignty.” Even Arab regimes’ growing trade with Israel wounds the collective soul.Yet Gaza’s defiance inspires: “Against all odds, two years on, over 85,000 tons of bombs, starvation—and they’re still fighting.” Susan celebrates Palestine Action’s UK activists, risking jail to shut down arms factories: “They are willing to pay the price... If more people do that, they can’t put us all in prison.” She rejects non-violence as a 75-year failure, demanding, “We want our homeland back... the full menu of human dignity.”This conversation isn’t easy—it’s meant to wake you. Susan exposes Zionism’s fragility, like uprooted trees collapsing in Tel Aviv, as Churchill noted: “If you don’t have roots, things will fall down.” Her call to escalate—through boycotts, protests, storytelling—reminds us: “Liberation comes from standing for the most defenseless.” She also teases her children’s book Palestine on the Moon (pre-order on her site) and a 2027 novel.⏱️ Timestamps0:00 – Intro2:05 – Why Susan went to Gaza6:15 – Gaza as the future of humanity10:42 – The psychology of helplessness & control16:30 – Why rage is a responsibility22:45 – Refusing euphemisms: naming genocide28:10 – Roots vs. “death technology”34:40 – Resistance and the right to fight back42:12 – Betrayal and Arab complicity48:25 – What sustains hope in Gaza53:50 – Channeling rage into responsibility1:00:20 – Susan’s upcoming books & Gaza anthology1:05:00 – Closing reflectionsSusan’s words burn: silence is complicity, anger is duty, hope is discipline. If this moves you, don’t stop here. Act: read untaught histories, join boycott campaigns, support legal funds, make art, show up in numbers. Share this episode, follow Susan on X, pre-order Palestine on the Moon, and donate to credible Gaza aid groups. Rage without action is despair. Rage with action is the seed of liberation.#gaza #israel #gazagenocide #palestine #palestinesolidarity #outloud #ahmedeldin #podcastUntil next time, stay loud.

“The Israelis look like the Nazis in their rhetoric, their behavior.” Award-winning journalist Richard Sanders unleashes unfiltered truth on Out Loud, exposing the grotesque genocide in Gaza and the collapse of the “rules-based order.” Palestine might just free us all – but only if we face the racist ethno-state head-on.Sanders rips into the West’s complicity: no sanctions, no arms halt, just humiliating servitude to empire (“Britain waits by the phone for America’s orders”). From gaslighting Palestinians’ fight for rights as antisemitism to pensioners arrested for supporting Palestine Action while kids die from British bombs, the disconnect between media elites and people is stark. “When people show you who they are, believe them. No one can say they didn’t know.”The tide’s turning. Sanders predicts an emperor’s new clothes moment where the world wakes to Israel’s crude racism. He dives into Epstein’s impunity, Mossad shadows, and Israel’s deep ties to Western capitalism’s intelligence web – too embedded to fail? Think again. South Africa fell; so can this. “The salvation for Palestinians will be the people.”Join us to unpack Gaza’s starvation, West Bank “concentration camps,” and the criminalization of conscience. Vote out the genocidals. Overestimate humanity. Build media that dares to call Israel what it is: a racist fist of the West. “If not, give up and go home.”Timestamps:• 1:15: Media elite vs. people disconnect• 2:00: Tide turning against Gaza’s horror• 3:26: No sanctions, no shame – complicity exposed• 4:07: Britain’s humiliating foreign policy• 9:11: International law’s collapse• 13:49: Ethnic cleansing in broad daylight• 16:00: Racist gaslighting of Palestinian rights• 18:41: Israel’s Nazi-like behavior• 29:59: Palestine frees us all• 47:08: Vote non-genocidal leadersThanks for watching. Richard definitely didn’t hold back, neither should you!Don’t forget to like, comment, and share this conversation!Watch Richard’s award-winning film on Gaza: https://youtu.be/kPE6vbKix6A