Ben Gidley
@bengidley.bsky.social
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
Reposted by Ben Gidley
The 1st of my 3-part series on digital politics is out in the Guardian.
Read, comment, tell me I'm wrong, attack me. As I argue:
'The real battleground is over emotion and attention, which is what determines whether information – good or bad – finds an audience.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Read, comment, tell me I'm wrong, attack me. As I argue:
'The real battleground is over emotion and attention, which is what determines whether information – good or bad – finds an audience.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
How liberals lost the internet | Robert Topinka
In the first part of our series on digital politics, we look at how centrists have lost ground fighting disinformation – when the real battle is over emotion and attention, says digital media academic...
www.theguardian.com
January 30, 2026 at 10:08 AM
The 1st of my 3-part series on digital politics is out in the Guardian.
Read, comment, tell me I'm wrong, attack me. As I argue:
'The real battleground is over emotion and attention, which is what determines whether information – good or bad – finds an audience.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Read, comment, tell me I'm wrong, attack me. As I argue:
'The real battleground is over emotion and attention, which is what determines whether information – good or bad – finds an audience.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Quite an honour to be one of the keynotes at Greenwich University’s #HolocaustMemorialDay event last night, in very grand surroundings. I spoke about how we can learn from antisemitism’s history to resist it, & how intergenerational learning & multidirectional solidarity can create safer communities
January 28, 2026 at 4:30 PM
Quite an honour to be one of the keynotes at Greenwich University’s #HolocaustMemorialDay event last night, in very grand surroundings. I spoke about how we can learn from antisemitism’s history to resist it, & how intergenerational learning & multidirectional solidarity can create safer communities
Reposted by Ben Gidley
In April, all three of us will be coming together for a Left Renewal webinar to discuss our critical perspectives further. Many thanks to @danielmang.bsky.social and @bengidley.bsky.social for the invitation, more details coming soon and in the meantime, this blog is worth following: leftrenewal.org
Left Renewal Blog
leftrenewal.org
January 27, 2026 at 6:02 PM
In April, all three of us will be coming together for a Left Renewal webinar to discuss our critical perspectives further. Many thanks to @danielmang.bsky.social and @bengidley.bsky.social for the invitation, more details coming soon and in the meantime, this blog is worth following: leftrenewal.org
New article by my lovely colleague Arndt Emmerich on the Jewish Sopranos* of Frankfurt.
(*Sopranos as in Tony Soprano, not as in opera)
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
(*Sopranos as in Tony Soprano, not as in opera)
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
January 27, 2026 at 11:47 AM
New article by my lovely colleague Arndt Emmerich on the Jewish Sopranos* of Frankfurt.
(*Sopranos as in Tony Soprano, not as in opera)
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
(*Sopranos as in Tony Soprano, not as in opera)
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
If you’re in #Southampton, this #HMD2026 event tomorrow, focusing on the Roma and Sinti genocide (sometimes called the Porrajmos, “devouring”), looks excellent:
📢Last call to get tickets for Southampton's Holocaust and Genocide Memorial Day 2026 event tomorrow evening. To join us, sign up using the link below:
🎟️ www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/southampto...
🎟️ www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/southampto...
January 26, 2026 at 6:36 PM
If you’re in #Southampton, this #HMD2026 event tomorrow, focusing on the Roma and Sinti genocide (sometimes called the Porrajmos, “devouring”), looks excellent:
On how Ernst Fraenkel’s 1930s theory of the Nazi Dual State illuminates the Trump regime’s campaign of violence in Minnesota
Via @theunpopulist.net
open.substack.com/pub/theunpop...
Via @theunpopulist.net
open.substack.com/pub/theunpop...
In Trump's 'Dual State,' Dissenters Face Extrajudicial Executions, Loyalists Enjoy Protections
America's system of justice has fundamentally broken because the regime believes it can justify attacks on citizens via lies rather than in a court of law
open.substack.com
January 26, 2026 at 1:28 PM
On how Ernst Fraenkel’s 1930s theory of the Nazi Dual State illuminates the Trump regime’s campaign of violence in Minnesota
Via @theunpopulist.net
open.substack.com/pub/theunpop...
Via @theunpopulist.net
open.substack.com/pub/theunpop...
Brilliant new article by Yasmeen Narayan on the endless reimaginings of the human that flowed from the translation houses of Islamic Iraq to the Ṣufi practices of medieval Timbuktu to turn provision grounds of the plantation Caribbean
www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi...
www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi...
Towards a Reparatory Theory of Creolization
This article presents a transtemporal analysis of subsistence land cultivation in late eighteenth and nineteenth-century Jamaica and British Guiana that unfolds into a reparatory theory of creolizatio...
www.degruyterbrill.com
January 23, 2026 at 3:43 PM
Brilliant new article by Yasmeen Narayan on the endless reimaginings of the human that flowed from the translation houses of Islamic Iraq to the Ṣufi practices of medieval Timbuktu to turn provision grounds of the plantation Caribbean
www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi...
www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi...
Reposted by Ben Gidley
Important piece from Melanie Goldberg, who was fired from the UK Holocaust Memorial Day Trust for her involvement with the Israeli Palestinian-Jewish organization Standing Together, which has called Israel's actions in Gaza a genocide. www.haaretz.com/opinion/2026...
Jews gatekeeping Jews: How British Jewish leaders are policing dissent on Israel | Opinion
***
www.haaretz.com
January 20, 2026 at 2:18 PM
Important piece from Melanie Goldberg, who was fired from the UK Holocaust Memorial Day Trust for her involvement with the Israeli Palestinian-Jewish organization Standing Together, which has called Israel's actions in Gaza a genocide. www.haaretz.com/opinion/2026...
Interview by Aamna Mohdin of my @bisa-bkk.bsky.social colleague @dmf101.bsky.social in which he crisply articulates why we need a reset in our antisemitism debate
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j... @runnymedetrust.bsky.social @shabna.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j... @runnymedetrust.bsky.social @shabna.bsky.social
Tuesday briefing: Why efforts to tackle Britain’s long history of antisemitism have fallen short
In today’s newsletter: A scholar of antisemitism on how we define it, how it has operated in Britain, and what can be done
www.theguardian.com
January 20, 2026 at 11:56 AM
Interview by Aamna Mohdin of my @bisa-bkk.bsky.social colleague @dmf101.bsky.social in which he crisply articulates why we need a reset in our antisemitism debate
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j... @runnymedetrust.bsky.social @shabna.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j... @runnymedetrust.bsky.social @shabna.bsky.social
#HolocaustMemorialDay webinar from @ucu.org.uk
The genocide of Europe's Roma, with Eve Rosenhaft, University of Liverpool
Tuesday 27 January 2026, 13:00-14:00
www.ucu.org.uk/hmd
The genocide of Europe's Roma, with Eve Rosenhaft, University of Liverpool
Tuesday 27 January 2026, 13:00-14:00
www.ucu.org.uk/hmd
Holocaust Memorial Day
UCU commemorates Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD), observed annually on 27 January, marking the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp.
www.ucu.org.uk
January 20, 2026 at 11:26 AM
#HolocaustMemorialDay webinar from @ucu.org.uk
The genocide of Europe's Roma, with Eve Rosenhaft, University of Liverpool
Tuesday 27 January 2026, 13:00-14:00
www.ucu.org.uk/hmd
The genocide of Europe's Roma, with Eve Rosenhaft, University of Liverpool
Tuesday 27 January 2026, 13:00-14:00
www.ucu.org.uk/hmd
Two fantastic events coming up from Jargon: Holocaust Memorial Day with the great @ankahajkova.bsky.social, author of People Without History Are Dust, at the brilliant @bricklanebookshop.bsky.social, and legend David Rosenberg doing a From Yiddish to Bangla Street Life walk
www.jargon.org.uk/events
www.jargon.org.uk/events
Events — Jargon
We organise in-person events in London, from writers in conversation to film screenings, panel discussions, artist workshops, and more.
www.jargon.org.uk
January 20, 2026 at 11:06 AM
Two fantastic events coming up from Jargon: Holocaust Memorial Day with the great @ankahajkova.bsky.social, author of People Without History Are Dust, at the brilliant @bricklanebookshop.bsky.social, and legend David Rosenberg doing a From Yiddish to Bangla Street Life walk
www.jargon.org.uk/events
www.jargon.org.uk/events
Very sad to hear of the passing of, after a long fight with cancer, of my colleague Matthias Koenig. Matthias was the embodiment of the scholarly vocation, a gentle, self-effacing, diligent, rigorous man. I’m told he was signing off doctoral paperwork even as he went into palliative care.
January 13, 2026 at 9:58 AM
Very sad to hear of the passing of, after a long fight with cancer, of my colleague Matthias Koenig. Matthias was the embodiment of the scholarly vocation, a gentle, self-effacing, diligent, rigorous man. I’m told he was signing off doctoral paperwork even as he went into palliative care.
No longer paywalled, and worth reading in full:
1. The Anti-Trans Playbook by Paisley Currah @paisleycurrah.com This looks like a powerful account of the right’s lawfare against trans rights in the USA. I haven’t gone past the paywall though and don’t have a NYRB subscription…
www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
The Anti-Trans Playbook | Paisley Currah
The current crusade against trans people imperils not just their rights but the survival of the legal doctrine built to protect all women from discrimination.
www.nybooks.com
January 12, 2026 at 11:05 AM
No longer paywalled, and worth reading in full:
Beautiful piece by @bryan-cheyette.bsky.social:
The Palestinian Ghetto — on reading Elias Khoury in a time of war
refugeehistory.org/blog/2026/1/...
The Palestinian Ghetto — on reading Elias Khoury in a time of war
refugeehistory.org/blog/2026/1/...
The Palestinian Ghetto — Refugee History.
Remembering the work of Elias Khoury, the late Lebanese writer who explored the Palestinian ghetto as a bridge to justice and mutual understanding even when it is a manifestation of dehumanization.
refugeehistory.org
January 12, 2026 at 11:03 AM
Beautiful piece by @bryan-cheyette.bsky.social:
The Palestinian Ghetto — on reading Elias Khoury in a time of war
refugeehistory.org/blog/2026/1/...
The Palestinian Ghetto — on reading Elias Khoury in a time of war
refugeehistory.org/blog/2026/1/...
Reposted by Ben Gidley
A weekend read from our own Jelena Lalatovic:
On reading eco-critique as a Marxist
open.substack.com/pub/philolog...
On reading eco-critique as a Marxist
open.substack.com/pub/philolog...
What Made Me Care about Environmental Struggles? Spoiler: It Wasn’t the Usual Doom‑mongering.
Last year I landed a job on the project “Liminal Waterway Countercultures,” and here I want to highlight some amazing writings I have explored along the way.
open.substack.com
January 10, 2026 at 11:50 AM
A weekend read from our own Jelena Lalatovic:
On reading eco-critique as a Marxist
open.substack.com/pub/philolog...
On reading eco-critique as a Marxist
open.substack.com/pub/philolog...
Content via @naghmehs.bsky.social @friedaafary.bsky.social @rezahakbari.bsky.social @amwajmedia.bsky.social @crimethinc.com @workersliberty.bsky.social
#IranUprising #LeftRenewal
#IranUprising #LeftRenewal
UPDATE: We have now published our dossier on perspectives on the Iranian uprising, which we will continue to expand in the coming days: leftrenewal.org/perspectives...
Perspectives on the Iranian uprising, January 2026 – Left Renewal Blog
leftrenewal.org
January 10, 2026 at 2:04 PM
This is now heavily updated with texts in English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Italian, Croatian and Ukrainian, including a number of pieces by South American leftists and anarchists. On Monday, we will publish something similar around the uprising in Iran.
On the #LeftRenewal blog we’ve just posted a multilingual dossier of texts on Trump’s Venezuelan takeover. We’ll keep adding over the coming days
leftrenewal.org/us-venezuela...
leftrenewal.org/us-venezuela...
Perspectives on the US Intervention in Venezuela – Left Renewal Blog
leftrenewal.org
January 9, 2026 at 6:56 PM
This is now heavily updated with texts in English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Italian, Croatian and Ukrainian, including a number of pieces by South American leftists and anarchists. On Monday, we will publish something similar around the uprising in Iran.
Next Social Scientists against the Hostile Environment webinar, 2 Feb:
On flags and resurgent nationalism, brilliant line up: Michael Billig, Sivamohan Valluvan, Kojo Kyerewaa.
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/flags-and-...
On flags and resurgent nationalism, brilliant line up: Michael Billig, Sivamohan Valluvan, Kojo Kyerewaa.
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/flags-and-...
Flags and Performative Nationalism
Eventbrite - Social Scientists Against the Hostile Environment presents Flags and Performative Nationalism - Monday, February 2, 2026 - Find event and ticket information.
www.eventbrite.co.uk
January 9, 2026 at 8:11 AM
Next Social Scientists against the Hostile Environment webinar, 2 Feb:
On flags and resurgent nationalism, brilliant line up: Michael Billig, Sivamohan Valluvan, Kojo Kyerewaa.
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/flags-and-...
On flags and resurgent nationalism, brilliant line up: Michael Billig, Sivamohan Valluvan, Kojo Kyerewaa.
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/flags-and-...
Cites @nafeez.bsky.social @mkaradjis.bsky.social @robtoes.bsky.social @beppo22.bsky.social @stefwolff.bsky.social @aplutsoc.bsky.social
In a bout of insomnia the night before last I wrote something about Trump’s regime capture in Caracas
leftrenewal.org/articles-en/... #LeftRenewal
leftrenewal.org/articles-en/... #LeftRenewal
In a Time of Helicopters, by Ben Gidley – 7 January 2026 – Left Renewal Blog
leftrenewal.org
January 8, 2026 at 12:52 PM
In a bout of insomnia the night before last I wrote something about Trump’s regime capture in Caracas
leftrenewal.org/articles-en/... #LeftRenewal
leftrenewal.org/articles-en/... #LeftRenewal
In a Time of Helicopters, by Ben Gidley – 7 January 2026 – Left Renewal Blog
leftrenewal.org
January 8, 2026 at 12:28 PM
In a bout of insomnia the night before last I wrote something about Trump’s regime capture in Caracas
leftrenewal.org/articles-en/... #LeftRenewal
leftrenewal.org/articles-en/... #LeftRenewal
On Eastern Europe and what the global left can’t see: a #LeftRenewal webinar with historian @ankahajkova.bsky.social
Really interesting, touching on anti-Eastern European racism, decoloniality re the post-Stalinist world, & gender politics within Holocaust studies.
leftrenewal.org/videos-en/ha...
Really interesting, touching on anti-Eastern European racism, decoloniality re the post-Stalinist world, & gender politics within Holocaust studies.
leftrenewal.org/videos-en/ha...
Anna Hájková on Eastern Europe and the Blind Spots of the Global Left – 4 January 2026 – Left Renewal Blog
leftrenewal.org
January 6, 2026 at 4:58 PM
On Eastern Europe and what the global left can’t see: a #LeftRenewal webinar with historian @ankahajkova.bsky.social
Really interesting, touching on anti-Eastern European racism, decoloniality re the post-Stalinist world, & gender politics within Holocaust studies.
leftrenewal.org/videos-en/ha...
Really interesting, touching on anti-Eastern European racism, decoloniality re the post-Stalinist world, & gender politics within Holocaust studies.
leftrenewal.org/videos-en/ha...
On the #LeftRenewal blog we’ve just posted a multilingual dossier of texts on Trump’s Venezuelan takeover. We’ll keep adding over the coming days
leftrenewal.org/us-venezuela...
leftrenewal.org/us-venezuela...
Perspectives on the US Intervention in Venezuela – Left Renewal Blog
leftrenewal.org
January 5, 2026 at 1:23 PM
On the #LeftRenewal blog we’ve just posted a multilingual dossier of texts on Trump’s Venezuelan takeover. We’ll keep adding over the coming days
leftrenewal.org/us-venezuela...
leftrenewal.org/us-venezuela...
I have 496 tabs open on Safari on my phone so maybe I’ll take inspiration from this and see if I can tick some off…
Inspired by @drspacejunk.bsky.social, I'm going to see what inroads I can make into #TabClosed2026... since I've hit my tab limit and consistently play with only one (1) tab space, I can only imagine the open vistas of possibilities this will create for the new year!
Onwards...
Onwards...
January 4, 2026 at 12:52 PM
I have 496 tabs open on Safari on my phone so maybe I’ll take inspiration from this and see if I can tick some off…
So today I’ve been added to a Bluesky moderation list called “Hitlets” for the crime of saying that not all anti-Zionism is antisemitism…
January 4, 2026 at 12:49 PM
So today I’ve been added to a Bluesky moderation list called “Hitlets” for the crime of saying that not all anti-Zionism is antisemitism…
David Miller says Jews have been conducting a “centuries-long programme of entryism and subversion.” But this is just anti-Zionism right?
January 3, 2026 at 10:19 AM
David Miller says Jews have been conducting a “centuries-long programme of entryism and subversion.” But this is just anti-Zionism right?