James McDougall

The destruction of Palestine is breaking the world | Moustafa Bayoumi The rules of the institutions that define our lives bend like reeds when it comes to Israel – so much that the whole global order is on the verge of collapse

Great piece by Mustafa Bayoumi www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2025/jul/06/destruction-of-palestine-is-breaking-the-world?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

🚨 Job alert 🚨Join @emorier.bsky.social, @vincentfoucher.bsky.social, @corinnajentzsch.com and me, and be part of a new exciting research project on jihadism in Africa. Two more positions will follow. Feel free to approach @emorier.bsky.social if you have questions. Please circulate widely

I am a staunch free speech supporter. But after ten years of freaking out about woke students deplatforming right-wing speakers, I don't have the energy to pivot to criticizing a fascist president for launching an all-out attack on free expression at universities.

It’s (always) a good day to recognize student movements and to recognize the costs they’ve paid to stand against violence, genocide, segregation and apartheid.

Statement on Gaza by Tom Fletcher, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator | United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs - Occupied Pal... Two months ago, the Israeli authorities took a deliberate decision to block all aid to Gaza, and halt our efforts to save survivors of their military offensive. They have been bracingly honest that th...

Thread of the searing statement by @tomfletcherun.bsky.social (for those who may not click the link)- and prefer to scroll, read and amplify the clarity in our desperation to assist. 1/

Tu m’étonnes.

I think about this a lot (allowing obvs for the obvious fact that in some places it was a catastrophic time too); so many wasted opportunities in those years, above all on climate, as well.

😥

No!! What? (& how did I miss this?)

Word of the day is ‘lickspittle’ (17th century): a person who fawns upon someone in power for personal gain.

If I remember right the screenplay has a surprising amount of direct quotation from Napoleon’s letters. Not sure if this is one though.

Same

The Tory govt deliberately waged war on culture (see also their warning institutions off “political” art…), and as with their other acts of harm, the damage is probably irreparable 😡

Future proofing the present through the past Historical research has always been political and indeed the very act of memorialization is necessarily partial, selective and therefore exclusionary.  No-one can write a comprehensive history…

This from @christophersmith.bsky.social will (like the blog-post immediately before it) be of interest for @kawulf.bsky.social , @alanlester.bsky.social , @sathnam.bsky.social , @nevillemorley.bsky.social and others. Good to see the inherently collaborative nature of historical research recognised.

This is a great one—source?

Nope-universities are not neutral. They're evidence-led. They stand for rigorous, evidenced claims, openness to scrutiny but consensus on facts.

"Institutional neutrality" is a calling-card of rightwing orgs in the US, leading to policing classrooms & breaches of academic freedom. Don't fall for it

😂

just blurted out in class "yes, you have to cite where you got your info. in a world in which lying loudly is the only thing that seems to get rewarded, citing your sources is an act of resistance" and folks, I really believe that.

Fwiw Alan I think you were entirely right to point out his lack of relevant credentials and wholly relevant institutional affiliation to PE; this is context, not ad hominem antipathy.

Here’s a very cool thing #skystorians

Great opportunity here for prospective MA History students of any nationality. Instruction is in English. Deadline is 4 Feb 2025.

Shocked, I tell you I’m *shocked*…

Gentle reminder to journalists flooding into the Syrian capital Damascus for the first time in more than a decade (an undeniably riveting opportunity): Any documents you come across are the property of the Syrian people & crucial evidence. It’s not finders keepers.

😬😵‍💫 (Wld call that more a trek than a commute, tho I know well & love both ends of it)

Congrats on no longer having to do what is undoubtedly the worst commute in England x

Universities do not exist to 'train', produce 'skills' or generate 'impact'. They exist to create new knowledge and teach about it. Any assertion to the contrary is in error, and is destroying everything it touches.

Great piece from @merip.bsky.social on the carbon offsetting racket, Africa, & the Gulf 👇

If you want to assess significance of protest movements, beyond the short-termism blinding all our politics rn, maybe listen to someone who actually studies protest movements, like @jillianschwedler.bsky.social

“It’s far more straightforward to blame an abstract “wokeness” than to reckon with the fact that Harris ran a broadly right-of-centre campaign and still lost.”
@nesrinemalik.bsky.social being as acutely excellent as ever.

Good.