I am sure these projects are well meaning. But, I struggle to see them as allyship. Rather, they are a form of structural violence, produced by research and education systems that operate through colonial and racist logics. 8/8
And why evaluate interventions already known to have positive effects for children and caregivers through research trials, instead of simply providing them - with proper professional monitoring - to everyone who needs them? 7/8
Do we really need more research data to know that war and genocide devastates mental health? Who benefits from these findings - especially while the violence is ongoing? 6/8
But what exactly are researchers trying to prove by documenting poor mental health among people living through an ongoing genocide? People are being killed. Families are lost. Children are maimed. There is no safety. Many face daily hunger and thirst. 5/8
I am also not against research that answers urgent questions, such as the health effects of new or rarely used chemical weapons. And I support assessments that identify urgent needs and how they can be addressed in collapsed health systems. 4/8
To be clear: I am not against documenting war-related violence and its effects. Evidence matters - for accountability and for understanding the scale of human rights violations, destruction, and loss. 3/8
I also regularly receive emails from Master’s students wanting to pursue PhDs with me on the mental health consequences of the genocide among people in Gaza. I find these requests jarring. 2/8
Possibly an unpopular view. I often get requests from journals to review papers on the mental health impact of the genocide in Gaza. Some rely on data collected by research assistants on the ground whose safety could not be guaranteed and whose names don't appear anywhere. 🧵 1/8
@helenbamber.bsky.social @kings-sga.bsky.social @kingscollegelondon.bsky.social @kingscsmh.bsky.social @unhcr.org @refugeeaction.bsky.social @refugeestudies.bsky.social @refugeestogether.bsky.social @rli-sas.bsky.social
📣Join us for our next Refugee Mental Health and Place Series event with Dr Bhavna Sennik!
▶️"Talking About the Past and Reliving It: Colonial Violence, Diasporic Memory, and the Afterlives of Empire in Britain"
✏️Sign up: www.kcl.ac.uk/events/talki...
‼️‼️‼️ Israel has expanded it's genocidal violence to Lebanon, threatening to make it "resemble Khan Younis". We have seen in Gaza that they mean what they say. Israel needs to be stopped by all means and with all available pressures NOW. #ceasefire #NoToWar
www.lemkininstitute.com/red-flag-ale...
Germany allows the US to use the Ramstein airbase to launch attacks against Iran. Germany is, therefore, directly involved in an illegal war, killing people in Iran and putting its own population at risk. #NoToWar #ceasefire
www.berliner-zeitung.de/politik-gese...
This unconscionable war feels like an ultra-dangerous version of global Russian roulette - no one knows who will be hit, where, or when. Our Western leaders (with the exception of Pedro Sánchez) seem to take pleasure in terrorising people, driven by their sickening death drive.
The Culture Ministry consults the Verfassungsschutz and removes three bookstores from the jury's recommendation list.
Involving the domestic intelligence service into decisions about cultural funding. Great idea...
www.sueddeutsche.de/kultur/wolfr...
📣Call for Papers for the German Middle East Studies Association (DAVO) Congress 2026.
🌟Great keynote by Prof. Abdel Razzaq Takriti and featured panel on Academic Freedom and Middle East Studies at a Time of Political Pressure.
➡️ davo1.de/en/en-call-f...
Call for Papers for the upcoming annual congress of the German Middle East Studies Association!
This year's keynote speaker: Prof. Abdel Razzaq Takriti (Associate Professor of History and Arab-American Educational Foundation Chair in Arab Studies at Rice University)
Interested in the link between young people in coastal communities and mental health?
Join us next week for our seminar with Dr Emily Murray from the University of Essex, who will discuss the environments of English youth and their association with mental health.
www.kcl.ac.uk/events/young...
Interested in how lived experience involvement can enrich mental health research?
Sign up to our seminar on 11 March to hear our Lived Experience Advisory Board discuss their position paper: “Exploring the Value of Lived Experience in a Mental Health Research Centre"
www.kcl.ac.uk/events/trans...
Open Letter of Scholars in Support of UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese.
twailr.com/open-letter-...
Shout-out to the organizers of this open letter addressed to various Ministries of Foreign Affairs, including @aussenminister.diplo.de!
Our governments endanger democracy, weaken international bodies, and disregard international law. 👇
"Israel setzt internationale Hilfsorganisationen unter Druck – Deutschland muss handeln!" @michaelbarenboim.bsky.social warnt, dass ohne unabhängige Organisationen eine weitere massive Verschlechterung der Versorgungslage für die Zivilbevölkerung droht.
www.berliner-zeitung.de/politik-gese...
Medics in the UK & US have been barred from entering Gaza after giving first-hand testimony about the horrors inflicted by Israel’s ongoing genocide against Palestinians. Denying Palestinians access to healthcare is one of Israel’s key genocidal strategies
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/f...
Check out our new Palestine Global Health Collective newsletter 🇵🇸. It contains a wealth of information!
➡️ mailchi.mp/0c1f25037d86...
The UK government spent £10m of taxpayers’ money prosecuting people unlawfully for supporting Palestine Action. This is perverse. observer.co.uk/news/nationa...
In defence of Francesca Albanese. By Mouin Rabbani: "Defaming Francesca Albanese. Those who have made it their profession to defame her and all for which she advocates, defame only themselves." mouinrabbani.substack.com/p/defaming-f...
King's College London walkout against repression as Israel escalates genocide and annexation. www.thecanary.co/uk/news/2026...
Apparently, we live in a time of apolitical art, apolitical science, and dumb politics devoid of art and science. #ArundhatiRoy #FrancescaAlbanese #FreePalestine
Amnesty International verurteilt die Angriffe der Aussenminister*innen von Österreich, Deutschland, Frankreich, Tschechien und Italien auf die UN-Sonderberichterstatterin Francesca Albanese.
Wir fordern die Aussenminister*innen dazu auf, ihre Kommentare zu löschen.
www.amnesty.org/en/latest/ne...
German foreign minister @aussenminister.diplo.de discredits UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese on the basis of fake news that is easily verifiable. Unbelievable.
Full solidarity with Francesca Albanese.
