Joel Schalit
@jschalit.bsky.social
Co-Founder & Editor-in-Chief @ The Battleground • Ex-i24News, EURACTIV, France 24 & Tikkun • Akashic Books, NYU Press & Pluto Press.
In a country where class remains a perpetual visual cue, what better reminder do journalists need about the economy than witnessing people sleeping rough on the streets, and dressed as bears? This is how I remind myself why street photography is such an effective way of reaching people.
Street Photography and News Journalism
Aperture Priorities #32
thebattleground.eu
September 16, 2025 at 6:48 PM
In a country where class remains a perpetual visual cue, what better reminder do journalists need about the economy than witnessing people sleeping rough on the streets, and dressed as bears? This is how I remind myself why street photography is such an effective way of reaching people.
Eastern Front Redux
Preparing for Ukraine. Balon, Torino.
thebattleground.eu
September 15, 2025 at 3:14 PM
The killing of Charlie Kirk is more than an isolated act. It reveals how political violence has transformed into spectacle. Today’s assassin acts alone, yet reports and images of their violence circulate endlessly, reshaping politics without ever resolving it. John Foster, in The Battleground.
Convulsions of the Body Politic
Charlie Kirk and the Molecularisation of Violence
thebattleground.substack.com
September 13, 2025 at 11:53 AM
The killing of Charlie Kirk is more than an isolated act. It reveals how political violence has transformed into spectacle. Today’s assassin acts alone, yet reports and images of their violence circulate endlessly, reshaping politics without ever resolving it. John Foster, in The Battleground.
The Economist reminds you how much the world has changed in the last ten years. @jtwhitenoise.bsky.social, on the neoliberal mag, and its crisis of legitimacy under populism. [See link in comments].
September 9, 2025 at 11:29 AM
The Economist reminds you how much the world has changed in the last ten years. @jtwhitenoise.bsky.social, on the neoliberal mag, and its crisis of legitimacy under populism. [See link in comments].
There was no way around it. Even though I was supposed to take a break, a grant opportunity arose, and it would take two weeks to apply for it. Yours truly, on preparing my first photo book, about Brussels, and ten photos of the city. This week, in The Battleground newsletter.
Brussels is a Country
Aperture Priorities Contact Sheet #31
thebattleground.substack.com
September 6, 2025 at 4:33 AM
There was no way around it. Even though I was supposed to take a break, a grant opportunity arose, and it would take two weeks to apply for it. Yours truly, on preparing my first photo book, about Brussels, and ten photos of the city. This week, in The Battleground newsletter.
For Benjamin Netanyahu and his allies, particularly Donald Trump, journalism is hostile to the national project and aligned with every perceived enemy. @ariaripaulpaul.bsky.social, on the killing of Anas al-Sharif and the War on Terror buildup to their blitzkrieg against the press.
They Always Shoot the Messengers
Daniel Pearl and Anas Al-Sharif
thebattleground.eu
September 2, 2025 at 3:40 PM
For Benjamin Netanyahu and his allies, particularly Donald Trump, journalism is hostile to the national project and aligned with every perceived enemy. @ariaripaulpaul.bsky.social, on the killing of Anas al-Sharif and the War on Terror buildup to their blitzkrieg against the press.
Antisemitism and Islamophobia are different variations of a common bigotry: we’re all outsiders. This is why attempts to smear Zohran Mamdani as an Antisemite offends Jews and Muslims equally. Ari Paul, in The Battleground.
@ariaripaulpaul.bsky.social
@ariaripaulpaul.bsky.social
Jews like Mamdani Because He’s One of Us
Antisemitism and Islamophobia in New York City
thebattleground.eu
August 11, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Antisemitism and Islamophobia are different variations of a common bigotry: we’re all outsiders. This is why attempts to smear Zohran Mamdani as an Antisemite offends Jews and Muslims equally. Ari Paul, in The Battleground.
@ariaripaulpaul.bsky.social
@ariaripaulpaul.bsky.social
In the fourth edition of Gaza War Blues, Battleground Editor-in-Chief Joel Schalit and journalist William Noah Glucroft discuss the European Union’s reluctance to restrain Israel, despite mounting evidence of genocide, and how this reflects the bloc’s drift rightwards.
A Moral Failure
The EU on Gaza
thebattleground.substack.com
July 28, 2025 at 2:25 PM
In the fourth edition of Gaza War Blues, Battleground Editor-in-Chief Joel Schalit and journalist William Noah Glucroft discuss the European Union’s reluctance to restrain Israel, despite mounting evidence of genocide, and how this reflects the bloc’s drift rightwards.
Genocide is universally condemned, yet persistently underacknowledged. Until enforcement mechanisms catch up with the weight of the word, genocide will remain a term of last resort, deployed sparingly, and often too late. @magadh.bsky.social, in The Battleground.
The Trouble With Genocide
Why It's so Hard to Evoke
thebattleground.eu
July 19, 2025 at 11:43 AM
Genocide is universally condemned, yet persistently underacknowledged. Until enforcement mechanisms catch up with the weight of the word, genocide will remain a term of last resort, deployed sparingly, and often too late. @magadh.bsky.social, in The Battleground.
It's Bibi's get-out-of-jail free card, and then some. Yours truly, on the Israeli-Iranian war and its political significance, at home and abroad. @doughenwood.bsky.social's Behind the News show, together with Mouin Rabbani.
fresh audio product:
two perspectives on Israel’s war on Iran: Mouin Rabbani on the regional/global context and Joel Schalit @jschalit.bsky.social on Israeli society and politics
www.leftbusinessobserver.com/Radio.html#S...
two perspectives on Israel’s war on Iran: Mouin Rabbani on the regional/global context and Joel Schalit @jschalit.bsky.social on Israeli society and politics
www.leftbusinessobserver.com/Radio.html#S...
June 20, 2025 at 12:59 PM
It's Bibi's get-out-of-jail free card, and then some. Yours truly, on the Israeli-Iranian war and its political significance, at home and abroad. @doughenwood.bsky.social's Behind the News show, together with Mouin Rabbani.
Combatting the legacy of Antisemitism is the right thing to do. But honouring Alfred Dreyfus without acknowledging how the discrimination he suffered is linked to the discrimination against Muslims today misses the point. @magadh.bsky.social, in The Battleground.
Postcolonial Racism Rehearsal
Antisemitism and the Gaza War
thebattleground.eu
June 9, 2025 at 11:56 AM
Combatting the legacy of Antisemitism is the right thing to do. But honouring Alfred Dreyfus without acknowledging how the discrimination he suffered is linked to the discrimination against Muslims today misses the point. @magadh.bsky.social, in The Battleground.
No Other Land immerses us in a tale of dislocation and resilience. By turning raw footage of this event into the montage found in fictional narratives, it succeeds where countless documentaries about Israel’s mistreatment of the Palestinians have failed. Charlie Bertsch, in The Battleground.
Story From Below
No Other Land Sets the Record Straight
thebattleground.eu
May 29, 2025 at 4:20 PM
No Other Land immerses us in a tale of dislocation and resilience. By turning raw footage of this event into the montage found in fictional narratives, it succeeds where countless documentaries about Israel’s mistreatment of the Palestinians have failed. Charlie Bertsch, in The Battleground.
Forget Gaza. The real story is Kneecap. That’s what the British press wants you to believe. The true scandal is that mainstream journalists are far more concerned with the deeds of a Northern Irish rap group than the horrors being inflicted on Palestinians. Josh White, in The Battleground.
Bait and Switch
The Kneecap Scandal
thebattleground.eu
May 26, 2025 at 6:23 PM
Forget Gaza. The real story is Kneecap. That’s what the British press wants you to believe. The true scandal is that mainstream journalists are far more concerned with the deeds of a Northern Irish rap group than the horrors being inflicted on Palestinians. Josh White, in The Battleground.
Italo-Palestinian and black metal rap, UK hip-hop and trap, experimental punk and techno, noise and musique concrète. Battleground editor-in-chief Joel Schalit, with this week’s Office Ambience playlist.
Office Ambience
What I'm Listening To
substack.com
May 23, 2025 at 4:50 PM
Italo-Palestinian and black metal rap, UK hip-hop and trap, experimental punk and techno, noise and musique concrète. Battleground editor-in-chief Joel Schalit, with this week’s Office Ambience playlist.
This is the situation in #Europe. The political right creates chaos, shifting the goalposts to refashion every failure as a victory. Meanwhile, the centre-left proffers the xenophobic libertarianism dominating the right. @magadh.bsky.social on Tariq Ali's The Extreme Centre, in The Battleground.
Fascism is Not Eternal
Remembering the Resistenza
thebattleground.eu
May 17, 2025 at 10:20 AM
This is the situation in #Europe. The political right creates chaos, shifting the goalposts to refashion every failure as a victory. Meanwhile, the centre-left proffers the xenophobic libertarianism dominating the right. @magadh.bsky.social on Tariq Ali's The Extreme Centre, in The Battleground.
Modern feminist hardcore. This week's Office Ambience playlist, featuring Stress Positions, Slant, Buggin, Influx, Tozcos, Cannonball, Petrol Girls, Punitive Damage, Dry Socket, False Reality, Pest Control, Scowl, and the almighty Habak. Compiled by Joel Schalit, for The Battleground newsletter.
Office Ambience
What I'm Listening To
thebattleground.substack.com
May 13, 2025 at 4:23 PM
Modern feminist hardcore. This week's Office Ambience playlist, featuring Stress Positions, Slant, Buggin, Influx, Tozcos, Cannonball, Petrol Girls, Punitive Damage, Dry Socket, False Reality, Pest Control, Scowl, and the almighty Habak. Compiled by Joel Schalit, for The Battleground newsletter.
What Novara has achieved without corporate backing is a testament to technological change and the decline of traditional news. It’s a millennial left response to status quo media, made possible by YouTube and other platforms. @jtwhitenoise.bsky.social, for @battlegroundeu.bsky.social .
Leftist Success Story
The Case of Novara
thebattleground.eu
May 13, 2025 at 9:10 AM
What Novara has achieved without corporate backing is a testament to technological change and the decline of traditional news. It’s a millennial left response to status quo media, made possible by YouTube and other platforms. @jtwhitenoise.bsky.social, for @battlegroundeu.bsky.social .
When I was a college radio DJ, I always wanted to curate sets like this. We just didn’t have enough records to do so. This week’s Battleground playlist, featuring thunderous French crust punk, Italian hardcore, Middle Eastern EDM, modern Turkish psych and more.
Battleground Playlist #48
Playlist · Joel Schalit · 18 items
open.spotify.com
March 24, 2025 at 5:22 PM
When I was a college radio DJ, I always wanted to curate sets like this. We just didn’t have enough records to do so. This week’s Battleground playlist, featuring thunderous French crust punk, Italian hardcore, Middle Eastern EDM, modern Turkish psych and more.
It’s about solidarity. The message of Jeanne Carstensen’s Greek Tragedy is that when governance falters, rescue will depend on holding on to what we have in common. Gary Isaac Wolf, on the best new book about the refugee crisis.
When Governance Falters
A Greek Tragedy: One Day, a Deadly Shipwreck, and the Human Cost of the Refugee Crisis, by Jeanne Carstensen
thebattleground.eu
March 21, 2025 at 11:27 AM
It’s about solidarity. The message of Jeanne Carstensen’s Greek Tragedy is that when governance falters, rescue will depend on holding on to what we have in common. Gary Isaac Wolf, on the best new book about the refugee crisis.
The more people speak out, the more likely they’ll become targets. @cbertsch.bsky.social, on Giorgia Meloni’s lawsuit against Placebo’s Brian Molko and mounting pressures on freedom of speech in Italy.
Silencing the Opposition
Giorgia Meloni vs. Placebo
thebattleground.eu
March 20, 2025 at 10:21 AM
The more people speak out, the more likely they’ll become targets. @cbertsch.bsky.social, on Giorgia Meloni’s lawsuit against Placebo’s Brian Molko and mounting pressures on freedom of speech in Italy.
The post-liberal era that Trump has ushered in isn’t simply the final deterioration of democratic government. According to Ari Paul, it’s a rejection of the democratic ideal as a whole.
American Democracy is Dead
The History of a Crisis
thebattleground.eu
March 19, 2025 at 10:40 AM
The post-liberal era that Trump has ushered in isn’t simply the final deterioration of democratic government. According to Ari Paul, it’s a rejection of the democratic ideal as a whole.
Trump is trying to bring the 1960s back every bit as much as ageing Boomers on the left. Whereas they have the counterculture in mind, he wants to restore the counter-counter culture, to deal with political opponents. According to @cbertsch.bsky.social, the Black Power Mixtape can help us respond.
Learning From the Black Panthers
The Black Power Mixtape, Directed by Göran Hugo Olsson
thebattleground.eu
March 13, 2025 at 9:35 AM
Trump is trying to bring the 1960s back every bit as much as ageing Boomers on the left. Whereas they have the counterculture in mind, he wants to restore the counter-counter culture, to deal with political opponents. According to @cbertsch.bsky.social, the Black Power Mixtape can help us respond.
The US may be a declining hegemon, but the old days of Great Power politics are back. @jtwhitenoise.bsky.social, on Keir Starmer’s attempt to lead on Ukraine, and remilitarise the UK.
Starmer's War
The Ukraine Gamble
thebattleground.eu
March 12, 2025 at 1:42 PM
The US may be a declining hegemon, but the old days of Great Power politics are back. @jtwhitenoise.bsky.social, on Keir Starmer’s attempt to lead on Ukraine, and remilitarise the UK.
What she said. Women’s Day, Torino. [Joel Schalit]
March 9, 2025 at 12:08 PM
What she said. Women’s Day, Torino. [Joel Schalit]
The far right wants to destroy every institution “infected” by the left. @cbertsch.bsky.social, on Antonio Gramsci, and his influence on the Reactionary International.
The Italian Job
Rush Limbaugh on Antonio Gramsci
thebattleground.eu
March 6, 2025 at 11:54 AM
The far right wants to destroy every institution “infected” by the left. @cbertsch.bsky.social, on Antonio Gramsci, and his influence on the Reactionary International.