David Wearing
@davidwearing.bsky.social
Assistant Professor in International Relations at the University of Sussex (own views, obviously).
Interested in British (and Western) foreign relations in the Middle East and elsewhere, and how they're shaped by legacies of colonialism.
Interested in British (and Western) foreign relations in the Middle East and elsewhere, and how they're shaped by legacies of colonialism.
Reposted by David Wearing
The reason I'm reluctant to concede Remembrance Sunday and the symbol of the poppy to jingoistic scolds and nationalistic chauvinists is that I'm old enough to remember the generation who experienced the horrors of 1914-45. Nothing disrespects them more than what many are trying to turn today into.
I recall around 1990 an elderly supply teacher explaining to my class what war is actually like, macho mythology aside. The sound bullets make. Men crying for their mummys as they die on the battlefield. It's haunted me ever since, and certainly played a role in politicising me.
As a teen or young adult in the 1990s you had constant encounters with people in their 50s-80s who were combatants, victims or perpetrators during catastrophes of the mid-20th century
That direct link to realities of Nazism and other forms of oppression such as Stalinism or colonialism is now gone
That direct link to realities of Nazism and other forms of oppression such as Stalinism or colonialism is now gone
November 9, 2025 at 9:21 AM
The reason I'm reluctant to concede Remembrance Sunday and the symbol of the poppy to jingoistic scolds and nationalistic chauvinists is that I'm old enough to remember the generation who experienced the horrors of 1914-45. Nothing disrespects them more than what many are trying to turn today into.
The reason I'm reluctant to concede Remembrance Sunday and the symbol of the poppy to jingoistic scolds and nationalistic chauvinists is that I'm old enough to remember the generation who experienced the horrors of 1914-45. Nothing disrespects them more than what many are trying to turn today into.
I recall around 1990 an elderly supply teacher explaining to my class what war is actually like, macho mythology aside. The sound bullets make. Men crying for their mummys as they die on the battlefield. It's haunted me ever since, and certainly played a role in politicising me.
As a teen or young adult in the 1990s you had constant encounters with people in their 50s-80s who were combatants, victims or perpetrators during catastrophes of the mid-20th century
That direct link to realities of Nazism and other forms of oppression such as Stalinism or colonialism is now gone
That direct link to realities of Nazism and other forms of oppression such as Stalinism or colonialism is now gone
November 9, 2025 at 9:21 AM
The reason I'm reluctant to concede Remembrance Sunday and the symbol of the poppy to jingoistic scolds and nationalistic chauvinists is that I'm old enough to remember the generation who experienced the horrors of 1914-45. Nothing disrespects them more than what many are trying to turn today into.
Read that from Musk closely:
"Civilisations" with seperate and distinct characters are locked in a Darwinian fight for survival, and hearts must be sufficiently hardened to do what is necessary in order to prevail.
Can you name a historical precedent for this worldview?
"Civilisations" with seperate and distinct characters are locked in a Darwinian fight for survival, and hearts must be sufficiently hardened to do what is necessary in order to prevail.
Can you name a historical precedent for this worldview?
I helped make a film, out this week, called “Rovina’s Choice,” about the deaths this man without conscience or accountability has caused — already 600,000, ⅔ of them children.
November 7, 2025 at 8:04 PM
Read that from Musk closely:
"Civilisations" with seperate and distinct characters are locked in a Darwinian fight for survival, and hearts must be sufficiently hardened to do what is necessary in order to prevail.
Can you name a historical precedent for this worldview?
"Civilisations" with seperate and distinct characters are locked in a Darwinian fight for survival, and hearts must be sufficiently hardened to do what is necessary in order to prevail.
Can you name a historical precedent for this worldview?
Reposted by David Wearing
Which one is more English?
November 6, 2025 at 11:58 AM
Which one is more English?
...and racism
November 7, 2025 at 12:08 PM
...and racism
That mild-mannered Goldilocks sweet spot between being overtly racist and being against racism.
If that's your starting point then you're already highly susceptible to "radicalisation", or rather, the invitation to remove the mask, regardless of the wildly over-hyped factor of social media. 🧵
If that's your starting point then you're already highly susceptible to "radicalisation", or rather, the invitation to remove the mask, regardless of the wildly over-hyped factor of social media. 🧵
November 7, 2025 at 9:19 AM
That mild-mannered Goldilocks sweet spot between being overtly racist and being against racism.
If that's your starting point then you're already highly susceptible to "radicalisation", or rather, the invitation to remove the mask, regardless of the wildly over-hyped factor of social media. 🧵
If that's your starting point then you're already highly susceptible to "radicalisation", or rather, the invitation to remove the mask, regardless of the wildly over-hyped factor of social media. 🧵
Reposted by David Wearing
What’s happened here is that, by sticking to their guns and refusing to be intimidated and shitehoused, the club and police have thankfully prevented Parliament and the press inciting rioting and running battles in the streets of a major city.
November 7, 2025 at 8:54 AM
What’s happened here is that, by sticking to their guns and refusing to be intimidated and shitehoused, the club and police have thankfully prevented Parliament and the press inciting rioting and running battles in the streets of a major city.
Reposted by David Wearing
Actually, Mamdani's views on Israel did register: They helped him win.
First Israeli reporter I've seen comment on the NYC race
November 7, 2025 at 4:51 AM
Actually, Mamdani's views on Israel did register: They helped him win.
Reposted by David Wearing
good morning specifically to the FBI agent who introduced Mamdani’s dad to Marx
November 5, 2025 at 2:21 PM
good morning specifically to the FBI agent who introduced Mamdani’s dad to Marx
Reposted by David Wearing
I'm Brazilian and I live some 4,800 miles away from NY. Still, I care a lot about that mayoral election. It has a enormous impact on US' national right-wing politics, which has influence all over the world - particularly on Brazil's far-right movements. It shows a path of resistence and brings hope
The "why do you care so much about the NY mayoral election" takes strike me as pretty obtuse. The world's sole superpower is being taken over by fascists, and this was part of the struggle to define what the opposition to that will look like. That obviously has major implications for all of us?
November 5, 2025 at 12:31 PM
I'm Brazilian and I live some 4,800 miles away from NY. Still, I care a lot about that mayoral election. It has a enormous impact on US' national right-wing politics, which has influence all over the world - particularly on Brazil's far-right movements. It shows a path of resistence and brings hope
Reposted by David Wearing
I wish I could show you all the joyous photos and videos being shared on Muslim and South Asian WhatsApp right now with people reacting to Mamdani's victory.
It's really beautiful and cathartic.
So many years of anti-Muslim bigotry, racism & hate.
And all those tears are now sugar for our chai.
It's really beautiful and cathartic.
So many years of anti-Muslim bigotry, racism & hate.
And all those tears are now sugar for our chai.
November 5, 2025 at 7:00 AM
I wish I could show you all the joyous photos and videos being shared on Muslim and South Asian WhatsApp right now with people reacting to Mamdani's victory.
It's really beautiful and cathartic.
So many years of anti-Muslim bigotry, racism & hate.
And all those tears are now sugar for our chai.
It's really beautiful and cathartic.
So many years of anti-Muslim bigotry, racism & hate.
And all those tears are now sugar for our chai.
The "why do you care so much about the NY mayoral election" takes strike me as pretty obtuse. The world's sole superpower is being taken over by fascists, and this was part of the struggle to define what the opposition to that will look like. That obviously has major implications for all of us?
November 5, 2025 at 10:06 AM
The "why do you care so much about the NY mayoral election" takes strike me as pretty obtuse. The world's sole superpower is being taken over by fascists, and this was part of the struggle to define what the opposition to that will look like. That obviously has major implications for all of us?
Reposted by David Wearing
He did a whole two minute ad highlighting the life of Sylvia Rivera! That was backed by a banger of a track from Sophie, noting the murder of Martha P Johnson. Never mind not running away he embraced NYC trans folks. AND WON! youtu.be/bEvVSpN0BXg?...
November 5, 2025 at 9:27 AM
He did a whole two minute ad highlighting the life of Sylvia Rivera! That was backed by a banger of a track from Sophie, noting the murder of Martha P Johnson. Never mind not running away he embraced NYC trans folks. AND WON! youtu.be/bEvVSpN0BXg?...
And note that he never rejected what some sneeringly refer to as "idpol". Never came close to throwing minorities under the bus. On the contrary. The affordability agenda came hand in hand with him actively standing up for those principles. He could never have mobilised his base like this otherwise.
Zohran's campaign was his determination to make New York a city everyone can afford to live in. Huge congratulations!
His success will resonate throughout the world. A story where no one is left behind.
It's time to write that story across England & Wales too.
His success will resonate throughout the world. A story where no one is left behind.
It's time to write that story across England & Wales too.
November 5, 2025 at 8:25 AM
And note that he never rejected what some sneeringly refer to as "idpol". Never came close to throwing minorities under the bus. On the contrary. The affordability agenda came hand in hand with him actively standing up for those principles. He could never have mobilised his base like this otherwise.
Reposted by David Wearing
In the intro issue of New Left Review, Stuart Hall noted, “The humanist strengths of socialism—which are the foundations for a genuinely popular socialist movement—must be developed in cultural and social terms, as well as in economic and political.“
Zohran Kwame Mamdani‘s campaign got the point!
Zohran Kwame Mamdani‘s campaign got the point!
November 5, 2025 at 12:53 AM
In the intro issue of New Left Review, Stuart Hall noted, “The humanist strengths of socialism—which are the foundations for a genuinely popular socialist movement—must be developed in cultural and social terms, as well as in economic and political.“
Zohran Kwame Mamdani‘s campaign got the point!
Zohran Kwame Mamdani‘s campaign got the point!
The views of the average pro-Palestinian student broadly match what the academic literature says, what international courts say, what the relavant UN officials & orgs say and what the relevant NGOs say. It is views of Clinton and her peers in Western capitals which are largely divorced from reality.
What Hillary is saying here is a conspiracy theory and not even a tame, silly one, but a whopper. A more balefully consequential and widespread one than e.g. Trump complaining that the media lied about his crowds being big.
November 4, 2025 at 8:16 PM
The views of the average pro-Palestinian student broadly match what the academic literature says, what international courts say, what the relavant UN officials & orgs say and what the relevant NGOs say. It is views of Clinton and her peers in Western capitals which are largely divorced from reality.
One of the two parties of government in the world's sole superpower has been in the grip of extremists for the past quarter century.
Still one of the bleakest quotes I have ever read, from one of George W Bush’s senior advisers.
November 4, 2025 at 5:06 PM
One of the two parties of government in the world's sole superpower has been in the grip of extremists for the past quarter century.
British socialists have become too used to making excuses for the flaws and shortcomings of our leaders. Look at this. This is the standard. We deserve this every bit as much as New York does.
November 4, 2025 at 12:57 PM
British socialists have become too used to making excuses for the flaws and shortcomings of our leaders. Look at this. This is the standard. We deserve this every bit as much as New York does.
Neo-conservativism presaged Trumpian neo-fascism in several respects. It saw violence as a positive policy option not a defensive last resort. It held laws, norms and the lives of non-white people in total contempt. And many, many centrists either cringed in deference to it or actively collaborated.
Dick Cheney, vice-president and giant of Republican politics, dies aged 84
Dick Cheney, vice-president and giant of Republican politics, dies aged 84
*
VP served under presidents from Nixon to George W Bush
*
Cheney will be remembered for key role after 9/11
The former White House chief of staff, congressman, secretary of defense and US vice-president Dick Cheney has died, his family has said. He was 84.
A Yale dropout who avoided service in Vietnam, Cheney nonetheless became a giant of Republican politics. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
November 4, 2025 at 12:12 PM
Neo-conservativism presaged Trumpian neo-fascism in several respects. It saw violence as a positive policy option not a defensive last resort. It held laws, norms and the lives of non-white people in total contempt. And many, many centrists either cringed in deference to it or actively collaborated.
A tiny fraction. One of the major rationales I've seen offered for setting up a new progressive party when we already have the Greens was that YP would be a mass party. Well currently, the Greens have treble the membership of YP. Do we really expect YP to overtake them?
Corbyn's Your Party has just announced it has reached 50,000 paying members.
Pretty impressive given the leadership chaos (though, as expected, a fraction of the 800,000 mailing list sign ups)
Pretty impressive given the leadership chaos (though, as expected, a fraction of the 800,000 mailing list sign ups)
November 4, 2025 at 8:38 AM
A tiny fraction. One of the major rationales I've seen offered for setting up a new progressive party when we already have the Greens was that YP would be a mass party. Well currently, the Greens have treble the membership of YP. Do we really expect YP to overtake them?
No doubt best practice in a secondary school would be different from best practice at a university. But I teach young people a few months out of school and I know of no pedagogical literature than recommends I treat them in this sadistic, vindictive manner. Entirely the opposite.
November 4, 2025 at 7:58 AM
No doubt best practice in a secondary school would be different from best practice at a university. But I teach young people a few months out of school and I know of no pedagogical literature than recommends I treat them in this sadistic, vindictive manner. Entirely the opposite.
Political wisdom does not in fact lie in shrinking and contorting yourself into whatever shape an imagined white conservative might find tolerable. You can be authentically, cheerfully yourself, and set your stall out on that basis.
Zohran is stone cold man. Putting out an ad in Arabic after all the Islamophobic shit that’s been thrown his way? Pure swag.
Dems don’t need to copy his politics or even necessarily his campaign strategy, they need to learn how to grow a fucking spine.
Dems don’t need to copy his politics or even necessarily his campaign strategy, they need to learn how to grow a fucking spine.
أنا اسمي زهران ممدان وعم رشّح حالي لأكون العمدة الجديد في مدينة نيويورك
November 3, 2025 at 4:37 PM
Political wisdom does not in fact lie in shrinking and contorting yourself into whatever shape an imagined white conservative might find tolerable. You can be authentically, cheerfully yourself, and set your stall out on that basis.
This fanatical commitment to portraying racialised Others as inherently bestial is an unmistakable characteristic of a very specific kind of politics.
Matt Goodwin attributes a crime that he now knows appears to have been committed by people born in Britain in the early 1990s to "mass uncontrolled immigration"
November 2, 2025 at 1:26 PM
This fanatical commitment to portraying racialised Others as inherently bestial is an unmistakable characteristic of a very specific kind of politics.
I recall around 1990 an elderly supply teacher explaining to my class what war is actually like, macho mythology aside. The sound bullets make. Men crying for their mummys as they die on the battlefield. It's haunted me ever since, and certainly played a role in politicising me.
As a teen or young adult in the 1990s you had constant encounters with people in their 50s-80s who were combatants, victims or perpetrators during catastrophes of the mid-20th century
That direct link to realities of Nazism and other forms of oppression such as Stalinism or colonialism is now gone
That direct link to realities of Nazism and other forms of oppression such as Stalinism or colonialism is now gone
November 1, 2025 at 12:24 PM
I recall around 1990 an elderly supply teacher explaining to my class what war is actually like, macho mythology aside. The sound bullets make. Men crying for their mummys as they die on the battlefield. It's haunted me ever since, and certainly played a role in politicising me.
The clear thread running through Goodwin's career is the drive to imbue his creepy fixation on immigration with the legitimising authority of supposed mass support. Here, audience members have disqualified themselves from the category of "the people" in his eyes by virtue of disagreeing with him.
Faiza Shaheen, "I'm so proud to be in this room at to hear so many people fight back against this hateful energy from Reform UK's Matt Goodwin - what's wrong with you"
Matt Goodwin, "Do you think this audience reflects Britain?"
#BBCQT
Matt Goodwin, "Do you think this audience reflects Britain?"
#BBCQT
October 31, 2025 at 3:25 PM
The clear thread running through Goodwin's career is the drive to imbue his creepy fixation on immigration with the legitimising authority of supposed mass support. Here, audience members have disqualified themselves from the category of "the people" in his eyes by virtue of disagreeing with him.