Joel Schalit

Demystifying the Levant Middle East Eye's Alternative Journalism

Middle East Eye deserves tremendous credit for consistently platforming Palestinians. It’s particularly important now that the suffering of Palestinians is being sidelined in the news cycle. Josh White, on the twelve-year-old UK media and its alternative regional journalism.

Disloyal Territory: Why Trump is Targeting Minneapolis Ruthless Cosmopolitan

Land doesn’t vote. Ari Paul, on how geography and cultural identity get weaponised politically, and why Minneapolis is the anti-MAGA.

Intellectual city: My brother Joel has been covering anti-government/anti-fascism protests in Torino, and when I saw this photo of his, I thought: I don't think I've ever seen a protest against the repression of CRITICAL THINKING thebattleground.eu/photo/

Staring Horror in the Face Theodor Adorno on Mourning

Fascism, for Theodor Adorno, was not an alien intrusion into an otherwise healthy society, but the culmination of tendencies already at work in bourgeois life. John Foster, on the Frankfurt School critical theorist's philosophy of mourning.

Battleground Playlist #88

Raised in four different countries, I think in a patois of the languages my parents spoke at home: English, French, Hebrew and Spanish, with bits of Arabic thrown in. Spanish remains my favourite. This week’s playlist is a testimony to the latter, a 52-minute mix of Latin American punk and hardcore.

Irish Anticolonialism: Lynn Boylan and Palestine Ruthless Cosmopolitan

With the US-EU relationship rapidly deteriorating over Greenland and tariffs, European lawmakers are busier than ever. But Sinn Féin MEP Lynn Boylan thinks there’s a moral imperative to keep Palestine front and centre. Ari Paul, in conversation with the progressive Irish parliamentarian.

Selling Out to the Far Right Manfred Weber and the Logic of Trumpism

Donald Trump’s greatest influence on Europe may not lie in any specific policy, but in the way he has normalised a politics of acquisition, confrontation, and spectacle. John Foster, on EPP chief Manfred Weber's enthusiasm for far-right politics, and refusing the realpolitik of collaboration.

The Battleground Needs You Support Our Independent Journalism

What a way to start the year. It’s only January, and we’re battling to hold onto the rules-based international order. In a world where might increasingly means right, independent journalism is needed now, more than ever, to hold the powerful to account.

Broken Bonds No Other Choice, Directed by Park Chan-wook

It's about post-Fordism. Charlie Bertsch's review of Park Chan-wook's wickedly smart, brutal, funny, and ultimately devastating film critiquing late capitalism in our historical moment.

Battleground Playlist #87

Iran is inseparable from popular culture. Whether it’s the films of Jafar Panahi or the graphic novels of Marjane Satrapi, it has consistently produced critical works since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Little attention, however, has been paid to how the clerical state has been represented in music.

Minneapolis Execution: Is Renée Good Our Bảy Lốp? Ruthless Cosmopolitan

It’s a horrifying image. Capturing a South Vietnamese cop shooting a handcuffed Viet Cong, Eddie Adams’ 1968 photo, Saigon Execution, helped turn Americans against the Vietnam War. According to Ari Paul, footage of an ICE agent killing Renée Good could do the same to Trump’s war on migrants.

Right of Farage Britain's Fascist Renaissance

It's not just the Iron Cross logo. Anti-communism, Christian nationalism and whiteness are UKIP's new priorities. Josh White, on the party's radicalisation and the fascist renaissance in British politics.

Stuck in the 19th Century Empire, According to Donald Trump

Empire is back because the alternatives have collapsed. John Foster, on Donald Trump's nostalgia complex and reviving 19th-century American foreign policy.

The Sound of Collapse Implosion, by The Bug and Ghost Dubs

Window-rattling throbs, crackle and hiss, and an exquisite sense of how to use negative space push the dub reggae aesthetic into territory where most of its features are, as deconstructionists say, “under erasure”. Charlie Bertsch, on The Bug and Ghost Dubs’ Implosion LP.

Never Mind the Natives: Trump's Settler Colonialism Ruthless Cosmopolitan

It’s not just Trump misbehaving. According to Ari Paul, the Greenland crisis is another chapter in the settler colonial assault on native populations. If you ever wondered why American politicians turn a blind eye to the Palestinian genocide, let US history be your guide.

Battleground Playlist #86

When dubstep first emerged in South London, the genre was barely identifiable. Slowed-down drum and bass, with effects borrowed from dub, was sonically limited. Hybridised with dancehall, EDM and grime, the 20-year-old style is getting a second lease on life, and leftist politics.

Imperialism Without Confidence The Arrest of Nicolás Maduro

Nicolás Maduro’s arrest belongs to a world in which the only laws that exist are those that serve state interests. John Foster, on the Trump Administration’s insecure imperialism and the anti-democratic measures it’s resorting to in order to retain power.

War of Position Soaked by water cannons. Askatasuna eviction protest, Torino.

German riot control equipment is a permanent fixture at most of the leftist protests I've covered in Europe. Particularly at the big antiwar demos I've been to since October 7.

Jungle for Multiculturalism Noches Sephardies, by Coco Bryce

Coco Bryce decided to make a jungle record that nods to the Mediterranean aesthetic of Sephardic Jews. Charlie Bertsch, on Bryce’s new Noches Sephardies LP and embracing Jewish multiculturalism.

Battleground Playlist #82

In 2025, The Battleground published 85 weekly playlists, covering every conceivable underground, politically significant artist that we, of course, like. This was my favourite of the bunch, and the one I'm most proud of, featuring multilingual music from Israel, Palestine and Syria.

Might Makes Right: Opposing American Exceptionalism Ruthless Cosmopolitan

Trump's imperialism isn't an anomaly. It's a feature of American history. Ari Paul, on the abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and why it's time for the United States to stop pretending it's above the law.

Failing British Jews The Telegraph on Antisemitism

The Telegraph has focused so relentlessly on combating Antisemitism that it is making the problem worse. Josh White, on the UK's most respected right-wing newspaper, and how it's capitalising on racism. The third article in a series for his forthcoming Battleground book on British media.

Street Photography and News Journalism Aperture Priorities #32

In a country where class remains a perpetual visual cue, what better reminder do journalists need about the economy than witnessing people sleeping rough on the streets, and dressed as bears? This is how I remind myself why street photography is such an effective way of reaching people.

Convulsions of the Body Politic Charlie Kirk and the Molecularisation of Violence

The killing of Charlie Kirk is more than an isolated act. It reveals how political violence has transformed into spectacle. Today’s assassin acts alone, yet reports and images of their violence circulate endlessly, reshaping politics without ever resolving it. John Foster, in The Battleground.

Down and Out With The Economist The Davos Mag in the Era of Populism

thebattleground.eu/2025/09/08/d...

The Economist reminds you how much the world has changed in the last ten years. @jtwhitenoise.bsky.social, on the neoliberal mag, and its crisis of legitimacy under populism. [See link in comments].

Brussels is a Country Aperture Priorities Contact Sheet #31

There was no way around it. Even though I was supposed to take a break, a grant opportunity arose, and it would take two weeks to apply for it. Yours truly, on preparing my first photo book, about Brussels, and ten photos of the city. This week, in The Battleground newsletter.

They Always Shoot the Messengers Daniel Pearl and Anas Al-Sharif

For Benjamin Netanyahu and his allies, particularly Donald Trump, journalism is hostile to the national project and aligned with every perceived enemy. @ariaripaulpaul.bsky.social, on the killing of Anas al-Sharif and the War on Terror buildup to their blitzkrieg against the press.