@bengidley
Sociologist, dad, attenuated Jew, nervous anti-fascist, rootless cosmopolitan, drum and bass fan, out of practice salsa dancer, asphalt botaniser, glutton, insomniac, hearing impaired, union member, living in London
New series on our blog, Points of Reference, starting with our PI @bengidley.bsky.social on “Six #BlueHumanities classics”.
Includes @amitav.bsky.social among others!
liminalwater.uni-graz.at/en/blog/blog...
If you are in Leeds, this is in a couple of weeks:
I failed to share this earlier. It was a deep honour to be asked by Rumana Hashem & @paulvdudman.bsky.social to contribute to this.
I dedicated my piece to my grandparents, my teachers Michael Keith & Vic Seidler and to the memory of Phil Cohen.
PDF: www.livingrefugeearchive.org/wp-content/u...
Enregistrez vous pour suivre ces webinaires formidables organisés par LEFT RENEWAL – Alex Guschanski, Ben Gidley, Charlotte Rubin, Daniel Mang, Lumi C, Mahir Geçikligün, Natalie Högström.
L'archive des enregistrements est également très précieux.
Good post by @rachelshabi.bsky.social on antisemitism and “Semites”. (Quoting @jamesrenton.bsky.social, so extra points from me.) Tl;dr: if you’re using 19th century Orientalist language to talk about Jews and Muslims you probably haven’t thought enough about the issue to be worth listening to.
Our very own BIAJS Director @bengidley.bsky.social is giving the Selig Brodetsky Memorial Lecture at @lahri.bsky.social Centre for Jewish Studies on 24th March 5.30pm on 'Is antisemitism rising in the UK?'
Sign up forms.office.com/pages/respon...
@bisa-bkk.bsky.social @universityofleeds.bsky.social
Thank you Matthew! We are starting to populate our Humap map and really looking forward to watching it grow over the coming months
This is a personally heartbreaking story, and also a symbol of a wider pattern of capitalist core states using a growing range of carrots and sticks to enrol poorer states as offshore prison camps and dumping grounds for migrants.
UK Home Office now only accepting 4.5% of Ukrainian asylum seekers because it’s a “safe country”. Families sent to cities being bombed, told to use noise cancelling headphones to block out the horror.
news.sky.com/story/ukrain...
Which one is your grandad?
In the first in a new “Glossary” series on our blog, Jelena Lalatović explains “Liminality”
liminalwater.uni-graz.at/en/blog/blog...
The #LiminalWater blog has launched with @bengidley.bsky.social’s introductory post on the project, looking for resources for hope in a time of multiple crises.
liminalwater.uni-graz.at/de/blog/blog... @fwf-at.bsky.social @jennywustenberg.bsky.social @samsamev.bsky.social @bbkhistorical.bsky.social
This day looks absolutely amazing for anyone who’s interested in documentary film, working class history, Hungarian emigration, the anti-Stalinist left or the Jewish East End. Starring Alan Dein, Sukhdev Sandhu and Rachel Lichtenstein among others:
I’ll find out if there might be a remote option or if it’s being recorded. I’m unable to go too.
Later this month in Leeds, @rachelshabi.bsky.social discussing decoloniality and Jewish identity
Exposing Foreign Involvement in Sudan’s Evolving War, by Husam Mahjoub – 15 February 2026 leftrenewal.org/articles-en/...
Tout le mérite revient à mon camarade @danielmang.bsky.social
Haoues Seniguer sur la violence au nom du judaïsme et de l’islam au prisme du 7 octobre et de ses conséquences.
vimeo.com/1164956197
Really good article on the diversity of historic Zionism, the gap between it and contemporary Zionism, and how US Jewish public opinion has shifted on this question as a result. [The dynamic is similar in the UK, but hasn’t moved so fast.]
The next @ihr.bsky.social Migration and Mobility Seminar is on 3rd March - @conniethomas.bsky.social will be presenting 'Public activism and the 1798 Alien and Sedition Acts' - of (huge) interest to those interested in migration, citizenship & US history. Sign up here: tinyurl.com/3s6yym7t
It is one of the bigger honours of my adult life to have been asked to contribute to Chip’s festschrift
bsky.app/profile/tran...
This is very sad news. Chip was a major influence on my political development as well as an anti-fascist icon.
I reviewed "Far-Right France: Le Pen, Bardella and the Future of Europe" by Victor Mallet for @litreview.bsky.social. (February issue) Article in free access below. 👇
literaryreview.co.uk/normal-circu...
And I forgot the link: leftrenewal.org/perspectives... There’s content in English but also French, Persian, Italian, Greek and other languages.
We also updated our Venezuela dossier up to the end of January. leftrenewal.org/us-venezuela...
At #LeftRenewal, we continue to update our dossier on the Iranian uprising and its repression, with voices from trade unions and activists from the region and its diaspora. Recent content from @sia-shahabi.bsky.social @sepehrhaghighi.bsky.social @radiozamaneh.bsky.social @chowmak.bsky.social + more.
🙏🏼
I've tried to translate some of what I was feeling and thinking about the recent events in Minneapolis into something a bit more analytical.
bylinetimes.com/2026/01/29/w...
Check out our new website!
(Here’s the page for my project: liminalwater.uni-graz.at/en/projects/... )
Chicken soup? (Peer reviewer = my grandmother.)
Writers have no control over the headlines above their name in most publications. Sub-editors (who might have dozens of articles they’ve barely read to publish) are choosing titles that will outrage and titillate.