11/COVID-19, Travel and Building Solidarity (with Matt Dagher-Margosian)

This is part two of my chat with Matt Dagher-Margosian, a Taiwan-based Lebanese-Armenian American who founded Asia Art Tours, an art and activism-oriented organisation, and who is also the host of the highly recommended The Arts of Travel podcast. Part one is the episode entitled '‘Whiteness’, Migration and Identity'. This is one of those episodes that are difficult to describe because the topic is one of those currently 'frozen' by the Covid-19 pandemic: travel. I wanted Matt to reflect on what traveling actually means now that most of us cannot do so anymore. How do we differenciate between travelers and migrants? Can travel be used to build solidarity instead of reproducing oppressive power structures? I've found Matt to be a deep thinker, one who takes the time to read about as many places as possible and be able to engage critically with questions surrounding liberatory politics in Asia and beyond. His own experience, I believe, might be able to inform yours and I would be curious as to some of your reflections to this episode. You can send them on Twitter @FireTheseTimes and Instagram @thefirethesetimes (DMs are open if you don't want to do it publicly). You can also support this podcast on Patreon @firethesetimes or BuyMeACoffee.com @joeyayoub (and you can leave messages there as well). Music by Tarabeat.  This episode supports Egna Legna. You can support them here and listen to my interview podcast with their founder in the episode entitled 'Lebanon’s Migrant Domestic Workers: Between the Coronavirus and Slavery'.