Shervin Malekzadeh
@swarthy-bastard.bsky.social
Pitzer prof. Former kindergarten teacher, & sometime swarthy bastard. I work on democratic movements and the politics of postrevolutionary schooling in Iran.
Pinned
Opinion | A Different Iranian Revolution (Gift Article)
Americans have to stop looking at the Tehran demonstrations through the prism of 1979.
www.nytimes.com
Only a handful of anonymous op-eds have been published by The New York Times. I had the (hidden) honor of being one of those authors with my piece, "A Different Iranian Revolution," written in hope & fear at my aunt's dining room table during the early stages of the 2009 Green Movement in #Iran.
Reposted by Shervin Malekzadeh
my jaw is on the floor and yet im completely unsurprised. trump’s only political conviction is that he loves a handsome winner
A reporter asks if Mamdani stands by calling Trump a fascist. Mamdani starts to give a delicate answer.
Trump (smiles, pats Mamdani's arm): "That's OK, you can just say yes. It's easier. I don't mind."
Trump (smiles, pats Mamdani's arm): "That's OK, you can just say yes. It's easier. I don't mind."
November 21, 2025 at 8:58 PM
my jaw is on the floor and yet im completely unsurprised. trump’s only political conviction is that he loves a handsome winner
Reposted by Shervin Malekzadeh
Sort of wild that American Democracy is being dismantled by a guy who can be charmed into basically anything by any New Yorker will to talk to him while wearing a suit
November 21, 2025 at 9:01 PM
Sort of wild that American Democracy is being dismantled by a guy who can be charmed into basically anything by any New Yorker will to talk to him while wearing a suit
😂
Reporter: Stefanik has campaigned on calling Mamdani a jihadist. Do you think you’re standing next to a jihadist?
Trump: No… but she's out there campaigning. You say things sometimes in a campaign. You’d have to ask her about that. I met with a man who is a rational person.
Trump: No… but she's out there campaigning. You say things sometimes in a campaign. You’d have to ask her about that. I met with a man who is a rational person.
November 21, 2025 at 9:16 PM
😂
Reposted by Shervin Malekzadeh
Well that was fucking incredible. He cast a charm spell on the most odious man alive.
November 21, 2025 at 9:13 PM
Well that was fucking incredible. He cast a charm spell on the most odious man alive.
Reposted by Shervin Malekzadeh
Authoritarian learning is a thing but so too is civil society adaptation to repression, as this clip illustrates. The state has violence at its disposal but it can never match the creativity or nimbleness of ordinary citizens banding together in love & solidarity.
Also: white allies, best allies!
Also: white allies, best allies!
When Border Patrol showed up across Charlotte, parents and neighbors rushed to Berryhill to meet kids at the bus stop. They stood watch, linked arms, and made one thing clear: if the city gets targeted, its children will not face it alone.
This is what community looks like.💙
This is what community looks like.💙
November 21, 2025 at 2:43 AM
Authoritarian learning is a thing but so too is civil society adaptation to repression, as this clip illustrates. The state has violence at its disposal but it can never match the creativity or nimbleness of ordinary citizens banding together in love & solidarity.
Also: white allies, best allies!
Also: white allies, best allies!
Authoritarian learning is a thing but so too is civil society adaptation to repression, as this clip illustrates. The state has violence at its disposal but it can never match the creativity or nimbleness of ordinary citizens banding together in love & solidarity.
Also: white allies, best allies!
Also: white allies, best allies!
When Border Patrol showed up across Charlotte, parents and neighbors rushed to Berryhill to meet kids at the bus stop. They stood watch, linked arms, and made one thing clear: if the city gets targeted, its children will not face it alone.
This is what community looks like.💙
This is what community looks like.💙
November 21, 2025 at 2:43 AM
Authoritarian learning is a thing but so too is civil society adaptation to repression, as this clip illustrates. The state has violence at its disposal but it can never match the creativity or nimbleness of ordinary citizens banding together in love & solidarity.
Also: white allies, best allies!
Also: white allies, best allies!
A terrific reminder that authoritarian regimes, aspiring or otherwise, are if nothing else *incompetent* af
2/ go up in smoke completely. My write-up: buff.ly/KAc0LDp
Halligan the Hooligan
Hooligan: A lawless young person who causes trouble, often as part of a gang
open.substack.com
November 20, 2025 at 9:57 PM
A terrific reminder that authoritarian regimes, aspiring or otherwise, are if nothing else *incompetent* af
Reposted by Shervin Malekzadeh
👏🏽🌹
Various group-philosophical pessimisms will have you believing that universalism is impossible, not worth striving for. That if you don't oppress, you will inevitably be a victim. I refuse. We are best protected by democracy, by the rule of law, by human and civil rights.
November 19, 2025 at 7:23 PM
👏🏽🌹
Reposted by Shervin Malekzadeh
Fostering and exploiting divisions within authoritarian structures is a predicate to defeating them
Marjorie Taylor Greene's big takedown of Trump today is powerful because it broadcasts that he's losing control over the GOP. His sudden call for release of files wasn't about transparency. It was about sustaining the illusion that he controls the party.
New piece:
newrepublic.com/article/2033...
New piece:
newrepublic.com/article/2033...
Marjorie Taylor Greene Just Wrecked the Cult of Trump
The Georgia congresswoman’s extraordinary takedown of Trump Tuesday morning sent a signal that no Republican can now ignore.
newrepublic.com
November 18, 2025 at 8:40 PM
Fostering and exploiting divisions within authoritarian structures is a predicate to defeating them
Reposted by Shervin Malekzadeh
I will never forget having to edit Jamal’s final, posthumous piece for the Washington Post, after he was murdered.
He was calling for free expression in the Arab world. You can read it here :
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/glo...
He was calling for free expression in the Arab world. You can read it here :
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/glo...
Opinion | Jamal Khashoggi: What the Arab world needs most is free expression
The Arab world needs a modern version of the old transnational media so citizens can be informed about global events.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 18, 2025 at 6:48 PM
I will never forget having to edit Jamal’s final, posthumous piece for the Washington Post, after he was murdered.
He was calling for free expression in the Arab world. You can read it here :
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/glo...
He was calling for free expression in the Arab world. You can read it here :
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/glo...
Fostering and exploiting divisions within authoritarian structures is a predicate to defeating them
Marjorie Taylor Greene's big takedown of Trump today is powerful because it broadcasts that he's losing control over the GOP. His sudden call for release of files wasn't about transparency. It was about sustaining the illusion that he controls the party.
New piece:
newrepublic.com/article/2033...
New piece:
newrepublic.com/article/2033...
Marjorie Taylor Greene Just Wrecked the Cult of Trump
The Georgia congresswoman’s extraordinary takedown of Trump Tuesday morning sent a signal that no Republican can now ignore.
newrepublic.com
November 18, 2025 at 8:40 PM
Fostering and exploiting divisions within authoritarian structures is a predicate to defeating them
Reposted by Shervin Malekzadeh
you don't have to embarrass our guest by asking if he had someone killed and hacked to pieces
Trump suggests Khashoggi had it coming: "You're mentioning someone that was extremely controversial. A lot of people didn't like that gentleman that you're talking about. Whether you like him or didn't like him, things happen. But he knew nothing about it. You don't have to embarrass our guest."
November 18, 2025 at 7:07 PM
you don't have to embarrass our guest by asking if he had someone killed and hacked to pieces
Fuck this guy
Trump suggests Khashoggi had it coming: "You're mentioning someone that was extremely controversial. A lot of people didn't like that gentleman that you're talking about. Whether you like him or didn't like him, things happen. But he knew nothing about it. You don't have to embarrass our guest."
November 18, 2025 at 6:43 PM
Fuck this guy
Reposted by Shervin Malekzadeh
This is exactly what we need scholars and think tanks to be doing right now.
We need to be able to hit the ground running with well-thought out ideas on how to strengthen every hole trump has used to gut our govt, our economy, foreign relations, military, judiciary (SCOTUS), Constitution, etc.
We need to be able to hit the ground running with well-thought out ideas on how to strengthen every hole trump has used to gut our govt, our economy, foreign relations, military, judiciary (SCOTUS), Constitution, etc.
The failure of legal actions to fight corruption at the highest levels of government reinforces the need for legislation and other congressional actions. Our latest report offers recommendations for strengthening the Constitution’s Emoluments Clauses: bit.ly/3XdgCaq
Codifying the Constitution’s Emoluments Clauses
To prevent corruption, the Constitution prohibits the president and other officials from receiving untoward benefits. Congress, however, must take action to enable enforcement.
www.brennancenter.org
November 17, 2025 at 2:37 PM
This is exactly what we need scholars and think tanks to be doing right now.
We need to be able to hit the ground running with well-thought out ideas on how to strengthen every hole trump has used to gut our govt, our economy, foreign relations, military, judiciary (SCOTUS), Constitution, etc.
We need to be able to hit the ground running with well-thought out ideas on how to strengthen every hole trump has used to gut our govt, our economy, foreign relations, military, judiciary (SCOTUS), Constitution, etc.
Reposted by Shervin Malekzadeh
Assaults on US Academic Freedom: Acquiescence and Resistance
Assaults on US Academic Freedom: Acquiescence and Resistance
Academic freedom siege in the US is under siege as never in our nation’s history
dlvr.it
November 17, 2025 at 6:39 AM
Assaults on US Academic Freedom: Acquiescence and Resistance
Reposted by Shervin Malekzadeh
A leftist and a far-right candidate grabbed the top 2 spots in Chilean election today, but the eliminated candidates were rallying around the latter: www.reuters.com/world/americ...
www.reuters.com
November 17, 2025 at 12:39 AM
A leftist and a far-right candidate grabbed the top 2 spots in Chilean election today, but the eliminated candidates were rallying around the latter: www.reuters.com/world/americ...
Reposted by Shervin Malekzadeh
Chile's presidential race heads to runoff between communist and hard-right candidates
Chile's presidential race heads to runoff between communist and hard-right candidates
Jeannette Jara, 51, a communist and former labor minister representing Chile's center-left governing coalition, received over 26% of votes with over 80% counted – insufficient to win outright in the first round. Hard-right ex-lawmaker and devout Catholic José Antonio Kast, 59, captured more than 24%. The race now goes to a second round on December 14.
www.lemonde.fr
November 17, 2025 at 1:52 AM
Chile's presidential race heads to runoff between communist and hard-right candidates
Reposted by Shervin Malekzadeh
Watching Chilean election results come in and once again thinking about this tweet
November 17, 2025 at 12:16 AM
Watching Chilean election results come in and once again thinking about this tweet
Reposted by Shervin Malekzadeh
I’ve now aged out of this but navigating the pestering attention of older men in my field—which varied from manipulative flattery when they were trying to sleep with you to contemptuous retaliation when they realized they couldn’t—was an exhausting and demoralizing tax of my early professional life.
Keep coming back to Summers’ annoyance that this female mentee he’s trying to sleep with “takes her presentation very seriously.” To men like this—to a lot of men—women’s intellectual or professional ambition is an irritating presumption that they condescend to tolerate.
The emails have Summers reporting to Epstein about his attempts to date a Harvard economics student & to hit on her during a seminar she was giving.
November 16, 2025 at 3:41 PM
I’ve now aged out of this but navigating the pestering attention of older men in my field—which varied from manipulative flattery when they were trying to sleep with you to contemptuous retaliation when they realized they couldn’t—was an exhausting and demoralizing tax of my early professional life.
This is, from a poli sci and social movement perspective, critical and true, supported by volumes of empirical evidence. Whether it’s Iran or Chile, creating and exploiting divisions between soft- and hard-liners is indispensable for any transition (back) to democracy!
Securing defections from the authoritarian regime is the centerpiece of any successful pro-democracy resistance.
Politics isn’t fandom—when someone leaves the authoritarian coalition, we should take it as a win.
Politics isn’t fandom—when someone leaves the authoritarian coalition, we should take it as a win.
BASH: We have seen these attacks from the president at other people. It's not new. And I haven't heard you speak out about it until it was directed at you.
MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE: I think that's fair criticism. And I would like to say, humbly, I'm sorry for taking part in the toxic politics.
MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE: I think that's fair criticism. And I would like to say, humbly, I'm sorry for taking part in the toxic politics.
November 16, 2025 at 3:31 PM
This is, from a poli sci and social movement perspective, critical and true, supported by volumes of empirical evidence. Whether it’s Iran or Chile, creating and exploiting divisions between soft- and hard-liners is indispensable for any transition (back) to democracy!
Reposted by Shervin Malekzadeh
“It would be much better to educate [our students] here in the country where they are going to live, and with whose progress they must inevitably be concerned. But we do not yet have the necessary machinery…I don’t want to turn the Persian into a bad copy of a European.”
![“It would be much better to educate [our students] here in the country where they are going to live, and with whose progress they must inevitably be concerned. But we do not yet have the necessary machinery…I don’t want to turn the Persian into a bad copy of a European.”](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:mo3udds7fbejja3xyafe26mg/bafkreiboa723u3rfln2zsgdhkqynltszhwxl3hm6kpbg74cdf4dy7ixjka@jpeg)
November 15, 2025 at 4:50 PM
“It would be much better to educate [our students] here in the country where they are going to live, and with whose progress they must inevitably be concerned. But we do not yet have the necessary machinery…I don’t want to turn the Persian into a bad copy of a European.”
Gendarmerie. They re-invented the gendarmerie. Ask Turks or Iranians how that works out.
With @arynbraun.bsky.social, this week we ran this big look at what ICE/CBP has become under Donald Trump and how the agencies increasingly resemble a sort of national police force he can send to whatever city he likes to intimidate people:
www.economist.com/interactive/...
www.economist.com/interactive/...
See how Donald Trump is creating his own police force
Immigration agents are operating in cities with few legal constraints
www.economist.com
November 16, 2025 at 3:08 AM
Gendarmerie. They re-invented the gendarmerie. Ask Turks or Iranians how that works out.
Reposted by Shervin Malekzadeh
happy slightly belated 22nd birthday to one of the best movies ever made
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World | Priscilla Page
Get more from Priscilla Page on Patreon
www.patreon.com
November 16, 2025 at 1:59 AM
happy slightly belated 22nd birthday to one of the best movies ever made
Reposted by Shervin Malekzadeh
If women are underrepresented in STEM, it's at least partly because men like this offer mentoring, then embarrass themselves by assuming their mentees must be into them, then decide the best solution is to cut ties, which sends the signal to other faculty that the mentee must not be good enough.
The emails have Summers reporting to Epstein about his attempts to date a Harvard economics student & to hit on her during a seminar she was giving.
November 16, 2025 at 12:13 AM
If women are underrepresented in STEM, it's at least partly because men like this offer mentoring, then embarrass themselves by assuming their mentees must be into them, then decide the best solution is to cut ties, which sends the signal to other faculty that the mentee must not be good enough.