Julia Elyachar

As someone who runs a lefty publication that activists read, let me tell you — X, BlueSky, and all social media are vanishingly inconsequential to our work. None of them drive traffic — most days ChatGPT generates more hits — and we all live and die by SEO and the loyalty of our newsletter subs.

Reconstruction and Ruin Winter 2025

NEW: "Reconstruction and Ruin" the Winter 2025 Issue of Middle East Report is now live!

This issue captures the challenges facing ordinary people in the Middle East as the warfare politics of dispossession and division continue amidst efforts to rebuild urban landscapes.

Dear Mr. Nadeau: As long as there is one upright man, as long as there is one compassionate woman, the contagion may spread and the scene is not desolate. Hope is the thing that is left to us, in a bad time. I shall get up Sunday morning and wind the clock, as a contribution to order and steadfastness. Sailors have an expression about the weather: they say, the weather is a great bluffer. I guess the same is true of our human society — things can look dark, then a break shows in the clouds, and all is changed, sometimes rather suddenly. It is quite obvious that the human race has made a queer mess of life on this planet. But as a people we probably harbor seeds of goodness that have lain for a long time waiting to sprout when the conditions are right. Man’s curiosity, his relentlessness, his inventiveness, his ingenuity have led him into deep trouble. We can only hope that these same traits will enable him to claw his way out. Hang on to your hat. Hang on to your hope. And wind the clock, for tomorrow is another day. Sincerely, E. B. White

I just stumbled across this and thought some of you might like to see it. A letter from E.B. White to a man who'd written he'd lost all hope:

If you happen to be in London on Thursday, please consider attending this conversation about On the Semicivilized -- or any of the other great talks coming up in this series "Histories of Capitalism and Race" at SOAS.

Here’s the latest.

Trump: “Nobody understands a word this guy is saying.”

Reminder: 550 million people worldwide speak Spanish, 45 million of them in the USA.

Poor monolingual president. He doesn’t get it and can barely even speak English.

www.nytimes.com/live/2026/02...

From the nfl community on Reddit: [Highlight] Bad Bunny, Lady Gaga, & Ricky Martin's Super Bowl LX Halftime Show Explore this post and more from the nfl community

for those who missed the Bad Bunny halftime show, a long clip on reddit www.reddit.com/r/nfl/commen...

Covers of These Survivals, Blues Mamas and Broadway Belters, Sex Isn't Real, Unruly Comparison, Pollution Is Colonialism, My Father the Messiah, On the Semicivilized, Atomic Bombshells, P FKN R, and Body Problems, arranged in a 5x5 grid.

Catch authors @naylandblake.bsky.social, @wolffdr.bsky.social, @jeelyachar.bsky.social, @beansvelocci.bsky.social, and @maxliboiron.bsky.social at in-person and virtual events in February!
buff.ly/SJZ076W

Imperial Boomerang The murders of unarmed civilians on the streets of Minneapolis, including the killing today of the intensive-care nurse Alex Jeffrey Pretti, would not come as a shock to Iraqis in Fallujah or Afghans ...

Imperial Boomerang
open.substack.com/pub/chrished...

"Guess who is the largest direct investor in the US?"
-- @philippasigl.bsky.social

The Almighty Dollar In this text, Lily H. Chumley traces the making of the US dollar as a paper currency tied to histories of sovereignty, aesthetics, and competing institutions. She shows how the design of dollar bills…

"Cash is anonymous. It’s the first choice for unhoused and undocumented communities,... for people who are legally subject to income reporting to maintain their education or benefits status, for elderly people... Cash is less vulnerable to taxation or garnishment than bank accounts...."

Our attempt to make sense of Trump II, sans sane-washing.

Big thanks to @andrewelrod.bsky.social and Maya Adereth whose editing made the piece much, much better.

Opinion | I’m the Secretary General of the Council of Europe. This Is Something I Thought I’d Never Have to Write.

Secretary General of the Council of Europe says “International law is either universal or meaningless. Greenland will show which one we choose.” Yes, well. Did Gaza show which one we choose?

www.nytimes.com/2026/01/19/o...

Can't wait to be in conversation with the four brilliant scholars organizing this series Sarah El-Kazaz, Hengameh Ziai, Lisa Tilley, and Samia Khatun. @dukepress.bsky.social , @kwissoker.bsky.social @soasuni.bsky.social

Histories of Capitalism and Race in the Middle East and Indian Ocean seminar series, Autumn 2022 — Walter Rodney Collective for Historical Research Nada Moumtaz, God's Property; Alden Young, Transforming Sudan; Muriam Haleh Davis, Markets of Civilization; Aaron Jakes, Egypt's Occupation; Nurfadzilah Yahaya, Fluid Jurisdictions; Johan Mathew, Marg...

Honored to be speaking February 12th in London as part of the Histories of Capitalism and Race series of the SOAS Walter Rodney Collective Spring 2026 series. www.soas-walter-rodney-collective.com/events. www.dukeupress.edu/on-the-semic....

The Second Emancipation <em>Publishers Weekly</em> • Best Books of 2025 [Nonfiction]<br /> <em>Foreign Policy </em>• Most Anticipated Books of 2025<br /><br /> &#8220;Howard French&#8217;s <em>The Second Emancipation </em>s...

Been making my way through @hofrench.bsky.social biography of Kwame Nkrumah and it’s every bit as good as advertised. So good at connecting African American experience to African liberation, without ignoring the problems and contradictions. Loved it.

wwnorton.com/books/978132...

Trump Sets $1 Billion Price Tag To Serve On His Peace Board: Report

The Trump administration is asking countries that want a permanent spot on his new Board of Peace to contribute at least $1 billion.

Trump’s reported duties would include: approving the board's agenda, deciding which countries to invite, and controlling the money

"The incredible work that’s been done to crystallize a broad opposition to Israeli & U.S. genocide against Palestinians in Gaza needs to move forward. Our space at @historians.org, extraordinary capacity building, & the conversations that bring us together—we’re not going to rescind that space.”

me in @publicbooks.bsky.social thinking through what a philology beyond liberalism might look like via one book which really shows us a path forward and one which very much so does not // the age of babel is dead, long live the age of the pentecost!

The cover of Time and the Other: How Anthropology Makes its Object (1983), only teal and black, with mostly horizontal stripes

RIP German anthropologist Johannes Fabian, who passed away last Tuesday. Fabian was most widely known as the author of "Time and the Other: How Anthropology Makes its Object" (1983), a then-radical & still-influential critique of anthropological writing, knowledge-making & fieldwork relations. RIP.

Yup

www.crisesnotes.com/trump-vs-pow...

FT Column by Ed Luce: Second, adding Greenland to his column would be lucrative. Trump’s libertarian friends have been eyeing it for some time. Peter Thiel, who wants to set up crypto-empowered “network states” on undeveloped territory, has invested in Praxis, a start-up that aims to do just that and which has scouted Greenland. Trump’s ambassador to Denmark, Ken Howery, was a co-founder with Thiel and Elon Musk of PayPal. Silicon Valley is awash with billionaires invested in one kind of networked venture or another. Greenland is high on most lists. Unlike Mars, occupying Greenland is doable.

Why Greenland?

"Peter Thiel, who wants to set up crypto-empowered 'network states' on undeveloped territory, has invested in Praxis, a start-up that aims to do just that and which has scouted Greenland. Trump’s ambassador to Denmark, Ken Howery, was a co-founder with Thiel and Elon Musk of PayPal."

Blue states & cities could use sub federal public institutions to create sub federal public money

See @moneyontheleft.bsky.social for more

A Guide for the Perplexed - MERIP You have reached the village of Kafr Bir‘im. Enjoy the clean air of the Upper Galilee. Listen to the mountain silence. Observe the elegance of the stone construction in front of you; it is left standi...

And follow the link to this incredible essay by Samera Esmeir from 2014 which I can't believe I never read before. www.merip.org/2014/04/a-gu...

The Time beneath the Concrete: Palestine between Camp and Colony

For a great introduction to Nasser Abourahme's must-read new book, dukeupress.edu/the-time-ben..., @dukepress.bsky.social , read this conversation in Journal of Palestine Studies www.palestine-studies.org/en/node/1658.... @dukepress.bsky.social

The first time Charlie Chaplin spoke onscreen, he implored the people of the world to resist the rising tide of fascism.

Nearly 90 years later, it remains a timely message.

As a newcomer to the podcast world, it has been amazing to see how each interviewer brings out different aspects of the book and challenges me to think in new ways. I am so grateful. @dukepress.bsky.social @kwissoker.bsky.social

He covered how reintroducing the concept of the semicivilized changes the way we think about colonialism, postcolonialism, sovereignty and power in Egypt and beyond; history of finance in my writing; language of the "barbarian" and the Israeli genocide in Gaza; embodied infrastructure and more!

I also had a great time talking to @armanc.bsky.social for @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social about www.dukeupress.edu/on-the-semic.... He really pushed me to think on my feet.

Mohammad Bakri: ‘We Resist with Art’ Palestine Square

In 2021, our Arabic journal sat down with Mohammad Bakri to explore the broader dimensions of the Palestinian struggle as they intersect with art, culture, and political expression.

The interview with the late filmmaker & actor is now available in English: www.palestine-studies.org/en/node/1658...