umutozkirimli.bsky.social
IBEI (Institut Barcelona d'Estudis Internacionals); Blanquerna University; CIDOB | Academic Director, Barcelona Summer School of the Mediterranean and the Middle East | Last book Cancelled: The Left Way Back from Woke | Back to writing on nationalism
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But more irritating than the grifters are the “progressive reactionaries”—the guardians of The Discourse, gatekeeping from their ergonomic chairs, telling us that Reform’s rise is purely a media construct. “It’s the mainstream, stupid!” they scream.
umutozkirimli.substack.com/p/endlessly-...
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4. What do comparativists, populism and far right experts recommend us to reverse this trend - other than calling a spade a spade (i.e. Farage is a far right grifter)?
5. More generally, why are Bluesky denizens spending most of their time complaining, instead of searching for answers?
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My new Substack - Partisan post on Spain's Blackout.
🔎 That’s the real tragedy. Spain, Europe, the world—we’ve become so good at forgetting. We’ll forget this, too. We always do.
DON'T FORGET TO SUBSCRIBE TO PARTISAN.
IT IS, AND WILL ALWAYS BE FREE.
bit.ly/Partisan_Spa...
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My new Substack - Partisan post on Spain's Blackout.
🔎 Will anything change? I doubt it. The electricity buzzed back to life eventually. Screens flickered on. Cafés reopened. Taxis resumed prowling the streets. Normality reasserted itself, smug and unbothered.
bit.ly/Partisan_Spa...
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What better way to wrap up this thread than with a shoutout to my partner-in-crime @solerlecha.bsky.social
and his course on "Mediterranean Geopolitics"?
@ibei.org @blanquerna.bsky.social @iemed.bsky.social @catalunyaintl.bsky.social @uab.cat
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We’ve hosted events on migration but we’ve never had the chance to welcome the leading voice on migration in Catalonia/Spain @blancagarcesmas.bsky.social to teach a course with us.
@ibei.org @blanquerna.bsky.social @iemed.bsky.social @catalunyaintl.bsky.social @cidobbarcelona.bsky.social
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Our longtime collaborators @prioresearch.bsky.social are back to strengthen our Mediterranean flank, this time with a sharp focus on "connectivity". No jargon—just clear analysis.
@ibei.org @blanquerna.bsky.social @iemed.bsky.social @catalunyaintl.bsky.social
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Ever come across the term "blue economy"? If not, now’s your chance. Join “The Geopolitics of the Sea,” a course led by Senior Environment and Sustainability Expert Raffaele Mancini.
@ibei.org @blanquerna.bsky.social @iemed.bsky.social @catalunyaintl.bsky.social
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Thrilled to announce a course we’re genuinely proud of—huge thanks to @iemed.bsky.social.
It’s led by one of the best in the field @laurentalfonso.bsky.social, firefighter officer and Senior Advisor at Jordan Civil Defense.
@ibei.org @blanquerna.bsky.social @catalunyaintl.bsky.social
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Like any Middle East enthusiast, I knew Fawaz Gerges from ISIS: A History and The New Middle East. Now our paths cross again at the Barcelona Summer School.
@ibei.org @blanquerna.bsky.social @iemed.bsky.social @catalunyaintl.bsky.social @lsemiddleeast.bsky.social
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Yezid Sayigh returns with a timely course tracing the Oct 7 Hamas attack and Israel’s war on Gaza through a deeper historical lens.
@ibei.org @blanquerna.bsky.social @iemed.bsky.social @catalunyaintl.bsky.social @yezidsayigh.bsky.social @carnegieendowment.org
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Who better to sum up this powerhouse course than the instructor herself? bsky.app/profile/moni...
"We’ll delve into a handful of hotly debated Qs to grasp key developments in Tunisia, Saudi, Oct. 7 & beyond"
@ibei.org @blanquerna.bsky.social @iemed.bsky.social @catalunyaintl.bsky.social
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📢 A quick note for applicants: Scholarships are limited, but we’re doing our best to offer as many as possible.
Fees accessible, with discounts (10–20%) and bundles for multiple courses — but we know a week in Barcelona isn’t easy.
If you can make it, it’ll be worth it. Two special events included
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7️⃣ History doesn’t always repeat itself, but it rhymes with remarkable precision. And the rhyme scheme here is bitter indeed — a sonnet where every line ends with the same word: “too late”.
thecritic.co.uk/how-the-anti...
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5️⃣ The ideas that got me labelled a fascist sympathiser are now repeated by the same people who did the labelling, without so much as a footnote acknowledging their about-face.
6️⃣ What use is being right when the damage is already done?
thecritic.co.uk/how-the-anti...
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7️⃣ History doesn’t always repeat itself, but it rhymes with remarkable precision. And the rhyme scheme here is bitter indeed — a sonnet where every line ends with the same word: “too late”.
thecritic.co.uk/how-the-anti...
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5️⃣ The ideas that got me labelled a fascist sympathiser are now repeated by the same people who did the labelling, without so much as a footnote acknowledging their about-face.
6️⃣ What use is being right when the damage is already done?
thecritic.co.uk/how-the-anti...
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4️⃣ The views expressed in CANCELLED have become conventional wisdom for the few who can spot both a trend and a revenue stream. The ambassadors of moral purity have become anti-woke overnight, executing ideological pirouettes that would make Olympic gymnasts envious.
thecritic.co.uk/how-the-anti...
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2⃣ Two years later, everything I warned about has happened. The culture war wasn’t lost in a skirmish—it was a total rout.
3️⃣ Yet the woke left survived, mostly by moving to Bluesky or Canada, while others — deported students, immigrants, workers—paid the real price.
thecritic.co.uk/how-the-anti...
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I read it in high school (don't laugh, compulsory reading in French high schools!) and I had it in my notes since then. I don't have the book with me now, but I downloaded it to answer: 8th walk. Translations vary of course.
Now going back to marking papers. 🙂
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And that’s exactly the problem. Rousseau was one of the most wide-ranging thinkers out there, and some of his other stuff — e.g. on education — is just as well known as his political hits. Some better than others, and a few are too controversial, even by today’s standards. @carmunist.bsky.social
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Apparently, you haven't read the decision, so there is no point in discussing. I believe you're an activist and member of Green Party. You have an obligation to read it before commenting on it in public. Have a nice day!
(P.S. I engage you bc until so many others, you're open to discussion. Best)
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The other sentence, "Trans women are women", is open to debate for it depends on how you define a woman. If it's all gender, fine. But may "women" don't think it's all about belief or sentiment. And that has policy implications. Instead of debating them, you call them Terfs = you lose.
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I just wrote precisely that - that's what made you win the elections in the case you mention. Not culture wars. That's the right's game. wWhy are you playing it the way they're playing it? Trans rights are human rights. Period. There is nothing in the court decision that says otherwise. ++
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Forget about the buzz. Have you read the decision? I did. 88 pages. It just says for the purposes of EA 2010, a woman is a biological female. It also says on p. 3 that trans rights are protected "as trans rights". It says nothing about how you feel or describe yourself. What's the objection here?
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1 .Just check the list of issues winning candidates campaigned on again.
2. Small constituencies or local (by)-elections mean nothing for general elections.
3. Do a survey among your voters. Show them your tweets on the UK Supreme Court decision and ask them whether they agree or not.
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That wasn't my aim but a fair point. I should have been more nuanced. Thanks for pointing that out. I mean it, no sarcasm.
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❌ They are not progressive. They are not radical. They are simply reactionaries, a loud tribal minority hollowing out genuine leftist politics. Their "activism"—selfish, dangerous, and divisive—is the dictionary definition of reactionary politics.
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⛔️ Identitarian activism embodies an insidious form of privilege, advocating a defeatist stance oblivious to the harm inflicted upon the marginalized communities they claim to represent. While actual victims struggle for survival, identitarians virtue-signal from comfortable perches on Bluesky.
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⛔️ Identitarian activism rarely engages in meaningful debate, preferring hyperbole, ad hominem attacks, and emotional appeals over reasoned argumentation.
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⛔️ Identitarian activism is untethered from reality, swiftly embracing misinformation whenever politically convenient.
⛔️ Identitarian activism is deeply unprincipled, upholding liberal democratic values only when outcomes align perfectly with its own agenda.
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UK Supreme Court clarifies the legal definition of “woman” under the Equality Act 2010 while protecting trans rights.
➡️.......... [crickets. confusion. meltdown.]
Why? Because outrage is a choice, never consistent.
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A federal judge blocks Trump’s attempt to revoke legal status and work permits for half a million people.
➡️ Rule of law. Victory for democracy.
Italian judges thwart Giorgia Meloni’s plan to outsource asylum seekers to Albania
➡️ Rule of law. Victory for democracy.
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