80/ Syria, State Ideology and Climate Politics (With Marwa Daoudy)

This is a conversation with professor Marwa Daoudy, associate professor at Georgetown University and the author of the recently published book The Origins of the Syrian Conflict: Climate Change and Human Security. Get early access + more perks at Patreon.com/firethesetimes Blog: https://thefirethisti.me You can follow on Twitter or Instagram @ firethesetimes too. Topics Discussed: Climate change did not cause the Syrian revolution, despite this  narrative continuing to dominate in many circles, and why this  deterministic narrative strips away the agency of Syrian revolutionaries The  ‘securitization’ of language, how refugees and migrants going to global  north countries are treated through militarized language, and how  calling them ‘climate migrants’ can be problematic How did the pre-2011 drought affect the uprising, if at all? Bashar Al-Assad urban/rural divide and conquer strategy Assad’s neoliberal reforms and their impacts on water and food politics The role of ideology (baathism, neoliberalism etc) in Syria The  issue of ‘state security’ rhetoric and how a  Human-Environmental-Climate Security (HECS) framework can help  understand reality better The relationship between the World Bank and the Syrian regime Neo-Malthusian politics and its presence in international politics Europe’s extractivist economies and the complicity in scapegoating ‘climate migrants’ The idea of ‘climate security’ and why it’s problematic Book Recommendations: Steppenwolf by Herman Hesse Martin Eden by Jack London The Crossing by Samar Yazbeck The Impossible Revolution by Yassin Haj-Saleh The Shell by Mustafa Khalifa + Samira’s Letters on Al Jumhuriya Music by Tarabeat.