Rebecca Ruth Gould

Check out this amazing new MA Race and Empire programme at SOAS in London!

www.soas.ac.uk/study/find-c...

£10,000 fee waivers available for international students!

Programme launches in September 2026.

#BRISMES2026 | We are deeply grateful to Gaza-based artist Osama Hussein for the official illustration of this year’s conference, "War, Empire and Sabotage in an Age of Genocide."

Check out Osama’s work here: instagram.com/os.hussen/

#AcademicConference #MiddleEastStudies #GazaArtists

I was born in an Iranian prison. My parents were held in their jails. My uncles lie in their mass graves. Nothing you can tell me about the crimes of the Iranian regime that I haven't lived in blood and bone. That doesn't mean I want my people bombed, maimed, killed, their homes in ruins. If your vision of liberation comes only through the destruction of innocent lives, then it's not freedom you're after. Sahar Delijani, Iranian author

I am pro Iranian people. I stand with them against their own government’s repression AND against the imperial violence in the form of bombs dropped from the sky from Israel & the US who have already killed hundreds.

I support neither imperialism or dictatorship.

Sahar Delijani said it best:

How a Labour Government Helped to Crush Iran’s Workers’ Movement As the Second World War came to a close, the rise of Iran's workers' movement posed a growing threat to British capital – so a Labour government set about crushing it for a generation.

tribunemag.co.uk/2021/11/attl...

Beyond antisemitism Recent works on antisemitism from the Jewish left forge a new path but ultimately fail to escape the limits of the term itself

Excellent critique of recent books on antisemitism from @josephfinlay.bsky.social in @vashtimedia.bsky.social

"If we adopt the frame of antisemitism orthodoxy we remain bound by its contours. As Audre Lorde taught us, the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house"

shorturl.at/uNy60

“How Gaza Changed the World”

My review of two new books on the Gaza genocide by Gilbert Achcar @saqibooks.bsky.social @ucpress.bsky.social and Avi Shlaim @irishpages.bsky.social

rgould.substack.com/p/how-gaza-c...

I was privileged to be able to attend the launch of the European Legal Support Centre's Index of Repression today. It holds 964 cases of repression of pro-Palestine speech/action since 2019, just the tip of the iceberg. The index is very user friendly - www.index-of-repression.org/uk/platform

Nasser Abu Srour

In my interview with Palestinian writer & former political prisoner Nasser Abu Srour I was struck by how closely his aesthetic aligns with Ghassan Kanafani:

“Writers are obliged to reflect the reality in which they live. We don’t need symbolism or allegory. We need writing that conveys reality.”

And yet I still consider his masterpiece, The Tale of the Wall, to be multifaceted (allegorical, symbolic, and realist all at once) in its meanings!

Nasser Abu Srour

In my interview with Palestinian writer & former political prisoner Nasser Abu Srour I was struck by how closely his aesthetic aligns with Ghassan Kanafani:

“Writers are obliged to reflect the reality in which they live. We don’t need symbolism or allegory. We need writing that conveys reality.”

Over the past few days, a row has been growing over the British Museum’s removal of the word ‘Palestine’ from some of its displays, following pressure from UK Lawyers for Israel.

We find out how people are responding to the long-term implications of the move:

You can now watch the whole interview on YouTube: m.youtube.com/watch?v=q5PI...

The judgment in full for those who might want to understand the full nature and scope of the decision.

www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/u...

Huda Ammori: "This is a.. victory both for our fundamental freedoms here in Britain & in the struggle for freedom for the Palestinian people, striking down a decision that will forever be remembered as one of the most extreme attacks on free speech in recent British history"

Israel used weapons in Gaza that made thousands of Palestinians evaporate US-made thermal weapons burning at 3,500C caused 2,842 people to "evaporate" in Gaza, Al Jazeera investigation finds.

“Four of my children just evaporated,” Badran said, holding back tears. “I looked for them a million times. Not a piece was left. Where did they go?”

There are no words to adequately describe the evil here.

Edward Said and the Task of the Intellectual Today | Los Angeles Review of Books What does a new edition of Edward Said’s classic ‘Representations of the Intellectual’ reveal in the context of the crisis in Gaza?

Edward Said and the Task of the Intellectual Today | Rebecca Ruth Gould

What does a new edition of Edward Said’s classic ‘Representations of the Intellectual’ reveal in the context of the crisis in Gaza?
lareviewofbooks.org/article/edwa...

“no one who has witnessed over two years of genocide in Gaza is likely to disagree with either Hammad or Said that the intellectual class has utterly failed to fulfill its social function”

““the major choice faced by the intellectual is whether to be allied with the stability of the victors and rulers or—the more difficult path—to consider that stability as a state of emergency threatening the less fortunate with the danger of complete extinction.”

That Ryan Grim allegedly fired Alex Colston for a critical tweet after he literally faced Israeli abuse for Dropsite on the flotilla is, in my opinion, positively heinous.

"What is the task of the intellectual at a time when, at the heart of liberal democracies, genocide is normalized and protest suppressed?"

Rebecca Ruth Gould revisits Edward Said: https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/edward-said-representations-intellectual-gaza-crisis-israel-fitzcarraldo/

The video is based on 70 testimonies from women experiencing starvation in Gaza, gathered together in this report. Extraordinarily important work

www.miftah.org/PublicationD...

Sounds Of Hunger - أصوات الجوع YouTube video by MIFTAH - مفتاح

Watch “Sounds of Hunger,”
an excruciating short documentary on how Israel is using starvation as a weapon of genocide in Gaza. Produced by MIFTAH
youtu.be/Upua4oCq3UQ?...

Edward Said and the Task of the Intellectual Today | Los Angeles Review of Books What does a new edition of Edward Said’s classic ‘Representations of the Intellectual’ reveal in the context of the crisis in Gaza?

"If being an intellectual means carrying forward the legacy our vocation, what obligations does their systematic annihilation impose on us now?"

Rebecca Ruth Gould on Edward Said: https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/edward-said-representations-intellectual-gaza-crisis-israel-fitzcarraldo/

Palestine Action protesters not guilty of defence firm burglary The group are cleared of aggravated burglary over the alleged raid at an Elbit Systems warehouse.

Pleased to see the jury make this decision.

We need to have eyes wide open this is exactly why the Government wants to abolish juries.

People protesting against a genocide are not the criminals here - it's the politicians who continue to provide cover.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

See the transcription from the relevant part of the conversation here: substack.com/@rgould/note...

Meanwhile, human rights groups have verified 6,000+ names and are investigating tens of thousands more. Those who treat regime numbers as credible during a communications blackout repeat the same mistakes made with Syria.

Particularly important for me was Arian's clear statements regarding the denialism that is circulating on the left regarding atrocities committed by the Iranian state. He notes that the official number, 3,117, has suspiciously appeared before in unrelated crises, which suggests it is fabricated.

This is the best podcast I have heard on the Iran uprising and massacres of 2026. I encourage everyone to listen to it. Chowra Makaremi @chowmak.bsky.social and Amir Ahmadi Arian say important things here which I have not heard so clearly stated elsewhere.

Amir Ahmadi Arian - Iran: The Islamic Republic on The Brink YouTube video by In Bed with the Elephant (with Adrian Harewood)

On my @ricochetmedia.bsky.social podcast acclaimed @binghamtonu.bsky.social writer/ journalist/academic Amir Ahmadi Arian discusses the distress & disorientation Iranians have been feeling in the wake of the bloody response of the Islamic Republic to nationwide protests. youtu.be/AOQTxIKdO5Y?...