The East is a Podcast

A critical lens on the history of the present on West Asia and North Africa. Interviews with experts and archival mashups. Created by Sina Rahmani (twitter: @urorientalist)

Pod Kapital #7 : Labour has no value 11/13/2025

Office Hours 13-Sudan: Resistance, Compradors, an Existential Fight for Liberation w/Hamza Al-Muqawi 11/13/2025

No god but God: 20 years later w/ Reza Aslan 11/09/2025

Introducing the Anti-Imperialist Scholars Collective Podcast 11/03/2025

[Unlocked] Pod Kapital #5: Cooperation makes it happen 10/31/2025

The Imperial '80s: 'Evil Dead 2' ft. Sina Rahmani 10/25/2025

There's a Ceasefire in Gaza. What Happens Next? 10/11/2025

Break the Siege of Complicity! Sameer Project Fundraiser 10/02/2025

Airing More Grievances | An East is a Podcast & MAKC Fundraiser for Lifeline4Gaza 09/19/2025

Pod Kapital #1: Seeing the Monster 09/10/2025

Pod Kapital #1: Seeing the Monster Note: Nick Estes and I have launched a new project called Pod Kapital in which we will be reading canonical Marxist texts for weekly episodes on his . I will be posting the audio editions for all but if you want to watch the video edition, you will have to sign up behind his paywall! I encourage you to do so anyway for the great content he is posting ! The Red-Brown alliance is finally happening! The American Indian-Iranian alliance, that is. Host of the East Is a Podcast, Sina Rahmani, joins the Red Scare Podcast for the “Pod Kapital” series, where we dissect and discuss classic Marxist texts. We’re aiming for the fences for the first reading, starting with Karl Marx’s magnum opus: Capital: A Critique of Political Economy, Vol. 1 (1867). We’re offering this introduction for free, hoping that you will subscribe to the Substack to join our semi-weekly classes. This eight-week course will meet via livestream on Substack every Tuesday at 1 pm CT. Recordings will be reposted for those who cannot attend the livestreams but still want to follow along. Here’s the reading and podcast schedule: September 9: Introduction: Seeing the Monster September 16: Part 1: The Commodity and Money September 23: Part 2: Money and Capital September 30: No Class October 7: No Class October 14: Part 3: Absolute Surplus Value October 21: Part 4: Relative Surplus Value October 28: Parts 5 & 6: Surplus Value and Wages November 4: Part 7: Process of Accumulation November 11: Part 8: Original Accumulation November 18: Conclusion: The Secrets of Political Economy There are several English translations of Capital. For this series, we’ll be using , translated and edited by Paul Reitter. We also recommend, and will be referencing, the and for free at . Purchasing a copy of the book isn’t a prerequisite for participating in this study group. (If you’re interested in a critical conversation about the Princeton translation, check out of Guerrilla History with Paul North and Paul Reitter.) Sina will also be referring directly to the original German texts found at the (MEGA) archives. Jonathan Sperber’s (2013) is an excellent intellectual biography of Karl Marx. We will be referring to it throughout the series. We hope that you read along. But we also want to provide you with enough context and analysis that may inspire you to read or give a foundational overview of Capital. Each episode will be structured with an introduction, a summary, and a critical reflection on the reading, concluding with answering subscriber questions about the text. We hope you tune in to the livestream or post your questions in the comments section or chat function. Pilamayaye ota! Many thanks for your continued support. /episode/index/show/eastisapodcast/id/38158520

The Airing of Grievances with Sina Rahmani & Friends 09/10/2025

The Airing of Grievances with Sina Rahmani & Friends UPDATE ***Yesterday, Jay from MAKC hosted a livestream for me, Adnan Husain, and Nick Estes partly as a mini-fundraiser for my friend . The response has been amazing. As I mention in the episode, donations started pouring in from listeners/ viewers. Someone even donated $500!. It was really moving for me--I even shed a tear on the livestream! Thank you to all who donated. Mohammed was elated to see some money come in, as he has been trying to arrange for transport south for him and his siblings. For a few weeks, donations had dried up, and it was a source of anguish for him. Seeing him get excited as he watched the donations come in made me really happy. The happiness was short-lived. This afternoon (Tuesday) Mohammed messaged me to let me know his brother's wife just had a miscarriage. The Zionists have been shelling the north heavily as they accelerate the genocide, and it caused her to miscarry. Needless to say, they are devastated. Martyred before life! It goes without saying that there are a lot of really worthy campaigns. Here are two being run by a friends of mine I once again want to thank all of you who have been donating and sharing/organizing campaigns. Our ruling class has decided that this starvation war is normal, and it's up to us to do everything we can to support Palestinians fighting to stay alive. I encourage you to adopt your own campaigns. Even if you don't have a large social media following, you can find ways to fundraise. There are a lot of people out there who are not online and would like to show their support. I have learned this first hand! I hope you enjoy this episode. It's a livestream and clocks in at over 2.5 hours. It was fun and chaoatic and very adhoc. I will endevour to do more in the coming weeks and months! -Sina *** The East is a Podcast will host a conversation with multiple friends, airing grievances, covering multiple topics, discussing news and raising funds for Mohammed and his siblings amid evacuation orders. This stream will feature Nick Estes from The Red Nation, Adnan Husain from The Adnan Husain Show, Jared Ware from Millennials Are Killing Capitalism, and possibly other special guests. Watch the on The East is a Podcast YouTube channel Consider supporting the show /episode/index/show/eastisapodcast/id/38151750