Christiane Wilke

We are seeing what Ernst Fraenkel called “the dual state.” For most, life is routine and the rule of law exists. But if you interact with ICE, you face the full force of the prerogative state, which is marked by “unlimited arbitrariness and violence unchecked by any legal guarantees.”

Find the light at the end of the tunnel and move towards it. Hoping for the best for all of us for 2026!

We had a great ski today on the Ottawa West Winter Trail.

Layers of information in an archival document:

- What is said
- What is not said
- What is alluded to
- What is omitted intentionally
(and unintentionally)
- What is misleading
- What is ambiguous
- What is highlighted
- What is downplayed
- What is weaponized
- What is unintelligible today
...

The aerial perspective can be used to see and contest patterns of destruction. But it can also be used to not look too closely, to look away, to not look the victims in the eye, to paraphrase Mohammed Al Kurd. Seeing is never simple. It involves ethics and judgement.

Is the aerial perspective automatically dehumanizing? I compare the work of Forensic Architecture in humanizing the victims on the ground with the use of the aerial perspective by state militaries. Aerial images require interpretation and are vulnerable to being read out of context.

Symposium on Forensic and Counter-Forensic Approaches to International Law: Looking Down and Looking Away – The Aerial Perspective in Investigations of Armed Conflict and Genocide [Christiane Wilke is a Professor in the Department of Law and Legal Studies at Carleton University, Ottawa and collaborates with Airwars on a project examining legal and factual claims in US milita…

How do we look at violence? How does our vantage point shape what and whom we see?
My new post on @opiniojuris.bsky.social analyzes the promise and limits of the aerial perspective for seeing war crimes and genocide.

opiniojuris.org/2025/12/10/s...

Introduction to the Symposium on Forensic and Counter-Forensic Approaches to International Law: A Cartography and Anatomy of Genocide [Stefania Di Stefano is a postdoctoral researcher in online content moderation at Cnam, Paris.  Rebecca Mignot-Mahdavi is an assistant professor of public international law at Sciences Po Law Schoo…

The introductory post below provides an overview of the theme of the collection
opiniojuris.org/2025/12/08/i...

Major thanks to the editorial team at OJ for supporting and hosting the series, and to my co-convenors Rebecca Mignot-Mahdavi, @barriesander.bsky.social, and @dimitrivdm.bsky.social for bringing this project to fruition!

This series examines how forensic investigations are reshaping evidentiary practices and redefining accountability in international law. Our hope is that the contributions will offer readers generative insights for future engagement against genocidal and colonial violence.

The symposium draws from our Interest Group's workshop at the @esil-sedi.bsky.social 2025 Annual Conference, which featured keynote presentations by Francesca Albanese, UN SR on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, & Eyal Weizman, Founder of Forensic Architecture, chaired by Nahed Samour.

📢 On behalf of the ESIL Interest Group on International Law and Technology, I'm delighted to announce that today marks the launch of our new @opiniojuris.bsky.social symposium:📢

*Forensic and Counter-Forensic Approaches to International Law – A Cartography and Anatomy of Genocide*

So cute! I hope she lives nearby so you can see her a lot.

This guy gets it. Abolish football.

👻

Die eine Grafik, mit der die ganze Welt erklärt werden kann, existiert nic.....

Second, and particularly important, part of the SWAIL interview is out ⬇️

I am not a Hannah Arendt stan, but she nailed this one: 'Under such circumstances… the Palestinian Jews would degenerate into one of those small warrior tribes about whose possibilities and importance history has amply informed us since the days of Sparta.'

Why recognize the State of Palestine?

Isn't it pointless?

Mere symbolism?

Isn't the two-state solution an illusion?

Or even a trap?

Whatever your view, take a minute to read this speech by Palestine's Deputy Ambassador to the UN from June 30.

digitallibrary.un.org/record/40861...

amazing response, no notes

Bye bye Berlin. It’s been a great few days. Grateful for chance encounters and discussions at the conference, good food, and strolls through the city.

Leaving Berlin inspired and exhausted after the @esil-sedi.bsky.social conference. Highlights included superb workshops, hearing Francesca Albanese speak, presenting to a great audience, sharing meals and stories, and conference swim breaks.

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

and I underscored the importance of solidarity & collective action in order to protect our academic spaces and communities. I also had the chance to further discuss the arguments of my article Silencing Palestinian voices: On freedom of expression and Gaza (journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...) 4/

This was an amazing panel full of insights and integrity. Thanks so much to both of you.

I am also delighted to have had the opportunity to discuss, together with @jannisgrimm.bsky.social the pressing issue of academic freedom and the discourse on international law, where I also shared insights on the silencing attempts we have endured in the lead up to our workshop 3/

I am grateful to them for their contribution and engagement, as well as our panelists for their thought-provoking presentations, and our audience for the captivating debates. I am also grateful to the local organisers, and the ESIL Board, for the support in making this event happen. 2/

And it’s a wrap on #ESIL2025 !

This year, with my colleagues of the ESIL IG on Int’l Law and Technology, we have had the privilege of welcoming Francesca Albanese, UN SR on the oPt, and Eyal Weizman, Founder and Director of Forensic Architecture, as keynote speakers for our annual workshop. 1/

‘We took the gloves off’: ex-IDF chief confirms Gaza casualties over 200,000 Retired general Herzi Halevi says ‘not once’ had legal advice constrained Israel’s military decisions in the strip

Israeli military commanders openly speak of not being constrained by legal advice

That the role of legal advisers is to defend Israel's actions in Gaza to the outside world using international law

They are "rubber stamps", as @michaelsfard.bsky.social put it

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...

UC Berkeley shares 160 names with Trump administration in ‘McCarthy era’ move Prominent professor Judith Butler among students and faculty investigated for ‘alleged antisemitic incidents’

The University of California, Berkeley has given the Trump administration the names of 160 faculty members and students as part of an investigation into “alleged antisemitic incidents”, a move a targeted scholar likened to a “practice from the McCarthy era”. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

As someone who is used to speaking on the “miscellaneous international issues” panel at conferences, it was an honour to share my research with a large and attentive audience of specialists at the @esil-sedi.bsky.social Annual Conference in Berlin. I’m still thinking about the questions and comments