Soraya Chemaly

Pictures of our March Literary Thursdays guests—Mary Kay McBrayer, Michael Arceneaux, Amelia Thomas, and Soraya Chemaly—and their book covers.

Our virtual Literary Thursdays series brings you live conversations with amazing writers.

Learn More about our March guests: Mary Kay McBrayer, Michael Arceneaux, Amelia Thomas, and @sorayachemaly.bsky.social!

queenslibrary.org/calendar?sea...

#WomensHistoryMonth

Thank you 🙌🏽

Cover of the book TO CATCH A FASCIST THE FIGHT TO EXPOSE THE RADICAL RIGHT CHRISTOPHER MATHIAS

Cover of the book ALL WE WANT IS EVERYTHING SORAYA CHEMALY

Cover of the book BLANK SPACE W. DAVID MARX

Cover of the book Ain't Nobody's Fool THE LIFE AND TIMES OF DOLLY PARTON By MARTHA ACKMANN

Best 📚 since last 📚

#BookSky
#FridayReads
#PubLibs

Many thanks for sharing this

22. Epstein: Why are We Talking about “Elite Complicity” and not Male Supremacy? Understanding the engine is the only way to stop this machine

Another must read by @sorayachemaly.bsky.social

open.substack.com/pub/sorayach...

Extra! Extra! 2/23 Yes! Good things are STILL HAPPENING! 🎉🎉

"So if you’ve spent the week doomscrolling it’s time for you to take a break to bask in the fact that good things are also happening. It matters."

@jesscraven101.bsky.social has another long list of wins:

chopwoodcarrywaterdailyactions.substack.com/p/extra-extr...

Twin Cities Unions Planning ‘Largest US Rent Strike in 100+ Years’ as ICE Occupation Drives Eviction Crisis | Common Dreams "Tenants in Minnesota are in a crisis," said Minneapolis City Council Member Aisha Chughtai. "The federal invasion forced many of our neighbors to stay home and devastated our local economy."

Twin Cities Unions Planning 'Largest US Rent Strike in 100+ Years' as ICE Occupation Drives Eviction Crisis
#ICEOUT #FDT #Rent #Eviction #MN #ICEOUTNOW
www.commondreams.org/news/minneso...

4 journalists detained in Cameroon reporting on Trump’s deportations Lawyers say Trump is sending migrants to Cameroon who originated elsewhere. AP freelancers, among others, were detained while reporting on the deportees.

Four journalists, including three working for the Associated Press, were detained in Cameroon while reporting from a facility where migrants deported by the Trump administration are held, according to two lawyers.

22. Epstein: Why are We Talking about “Elite Complicity” and not Male Supremacy? Understanding the engine is the only way to stop this machine

It’s possible to hold several ideas at once. Epstein was protected by a ruling class *and* that ruling class is male supremacist. “Elite complicity” degenders what’s happening and erases the central role of sexual violence in maintaining abusive power. open.substack.com/pub/sorayach...

People can say it’s utopian or dreamy but it’s a fact that you have to believe new things are possible, fundamentally, in order to make them real. You have to make the choice to believe that more than this is possible & not be resigned to this being the way things have to be because it’s not at all.

Center for Institutional Courage The Center for Institutional Courage is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) institution dedicated to scientific research, wide-reaching education, and data-driven action promoting institutional courage.

PS Visit us www.institutionalcourage.org

"The Antidote: Institutional Courage"

www.damemagazine.com/2026/02/12/i...

"DARVO: The Favorite Weapon of Institutional Self-Protection"
www.damemagazine.com/2026/02/12/i...

We really want to keep publishing features like this one. Your support for just ONE DOLLAR 💵 makes a huge difference (really!). Sign up here: www.damemagazine.com/membership/

some of you are looksmaxxing when you need to be booksmaxxing

It's a perfect example of "institutional betrayal' @sorayachemaly.bsky.social as explains in her piece for us:

YouTube video by Governor Wes Moore The President is Lying to the Public

The President is lying to the public:

1) For the past century, the federal government has been responsible for the Potomac Interceptor – not Maryland. The sewage pipe is on federal land.

youtu.be/OKyIKHW8ONI

Normalize laughing derisively in men's faces when they deserve it.

Thousands of institutions abandoned programs, ended or rewrote scholarships, closed down clubs and publications, all in pre-emptive compliance.

And you know why?

Mostly because they wanted to do it if they thought they could blame someone else for it.

TY for sharing this

Hi Jenn, tysm

Thanks, Sarah

Thank you for sharing it!

damemagazine.com - DAME magazine Support Us The failure of trusted institutions to do what we expect them to — keep people safe, protect them, hold bad actors accountable — deepens trauma and its costs to individuals and collectives by eviscerating social trust. The trauma stems not only from interpersonal violence but also from the awareness that a collective body purporting to be just and protective is the opposite, instead more likely to punish the vulnerable than to help them. DARVO: The Favorite Weapon of Institutional Self-Protection

damemagazine.com - DAME magazine Support Us Freyd's work also led her to another concept with incredible value and usefulness today, DARVO. DARVO stands for Deny, Attack, and Reverse Victim and Offender. It's a pattern Freyd identified in how perpetrators of violence respond when confronted. However, institutions also use this strategy, and they often have more power and resources, allowing them to be more effective than individuals. Today, DARVO is a weapon wielded against the public by people and institutions meant to represent and protect us as citizens. The handling of the Epstein files, for instance, follows the classic abuser's playbook identified by Freyd: the obstruction, and then slow-walk, of selectively redacted release of information (Deny); the constant discrediting and threatening of survivors (Attack); the protection of powerful men's identities, reputations, and privacy (Reverse Victim and Offender). Asymmetrical power and the government's use of "transparency" have exposed victims' identities while masking those of the powerful. At various points, their names. Faces. Bodies. Addresses. Families.

“…The trauma stems not only from interpersonal violence but also from the awareness that a collective body purporting to be just and protective is the opposite, instead more likely to punish the vulnerable than to help them.” #DARVO #InstitutionalBetrayal #Trauma #CollectiveTrauma #ICEGestapo

The Emotional Toll of Living With Institutional Betrayal - Dame Magazine What happens to us when institutions protect power instead of people? From Epstein to ICE, institutional betrayal is inflicting trauma and moral injury.

Great piece:
“Images of sexual violence against children, racist policing, family separation, & mass killing aren’t simply “news” or “content” that informs us, but rather knowledge that is rewiring us. The triggers might differ, but the wounds inflicted by the content we are consuming are the same…”

Ireland announces scheme to provide basic income for artists The Basic Income for Artists (BIA) project is believed to be the first permanent one of its kind in the world.

Ireland: a proper country.

Thank you @signsjournal.org for the vital work you do and to @carmenriosss.bsky.social @profkori.bsky.social and @renee.bsky.social for your thoughtful (and humbling!) considerations of All We Want is Everything!

Thank you for the opportunity to think and write about @sorayachemaly.bsky.social’s new book and the impact it will have.

You are the best, thank you for this.

Gladys Mae West obituary: mathematician who pioneered GPS technology She made key contributions to US cold-war science despite facing huge barriers as a Black woman.

No joke: I got angry hate mail today for writing an obituary of a Black woman scientist—because the person felt she did didn’t deserve the recognition.

Which just makes me want to share it again: www.nature.com/articles/d41...