iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Ben Gidley @bengidley.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Looking forward to our Psychosocial postgraduate conference today. Every year of students is special but I am deeply impressed by the sophistication and wisdom of our cohort graduating this month who have organised this event.

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Neil Abrams @readthedetox.com · 24/09/2026

The folks over at leftrenewal.org have been kind enough to republish my latest essay on genocide denial in Israel and Serbia. They’ve built a great outlet there, and I encourage you all to subscribe. leftrenewal.org/articles-en/...

leftrenewal.org

Israel, Serbia, and Genocide Denial, by Neil A. Abrams – 16 September 2026 – Left Renewal Blog

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Ben Gidley @bengidley.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Thank you Katharina Hadassah Wendl for this nice write up of July’s @biajs.bsky.social conference at Birkbeck. (Among Bsky folks featured are @ankahajkova.bsky.social @dmf101.bsky.social and @sgollance.bsky.social.)

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Ben Gidley @bengidley.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Fascinating analysis by @samgeall.bsky.social on China’s escape from fossil fuel dependency and Europe’s risk of dependency on China if we mismanage green transition www.chathamhouse.org/2026/09/chin... (also highly relevant if you’ve been wading through the new series of Vigil)

chathamhouse.org

China is weathering the Hormuz energy crisis. But copying its model comes with risks

China absorbed the shock by drawing on stockpiles and a decade of electrification. Europe needs electrification for security, but it needs to decide which parts of the system it is willing to buy from...

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Ben Gidley @bengidley.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Claude McKay: Born on this day in 1890 liminalwater.uni-graz.at/en/blog/blog... @liminalwater.bsky.social

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BISA at Birkbeck @bisa-bkk.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Join us on 6 Oct for a panel discussion on ‘The Battle of Cable Street ninety years on: the struggle against fascism and antisemitism, then and now’ with Nadia Valman, Liam Liburd (@liamliburd.bsky.social) and Joseph Finlay (@josephfinlay.bsky.social). Book here: bit.ly/4xoQuJC

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Ben Gidley @bengidley.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Lots of exciting new content on #LeftRenewal, with a particular focus on #Iran, but also material on caste in #India, #Israel/#Palestine, #LGBT rights in #SouthAfrica, and authoritarianism in #Mexico leftrenewal.org

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Ben Gidley @bengidley.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Welcome this very special journal to this site:

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Ben Gidley @bengidley.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

A Nation That Hunts Its Women: A Night in Chongqing, and the Country It Reveals, by Chu Yang Misogynistic violence and pop culture in china - a wild read and amazing storytelling leftrenewal.org/articles-en/...

leftrenewal.org

A Nation That Hunts Its Women: A Night in Chongqing, and the Country It Reveals, by Chu Yang – 19 August 2026 – Left Renewal Blog

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Ben Gidley @bengidley.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Excellent post by @will-davies.bsky.social on left paranoia and the need for a sociological imagination willd10.substack.com/p/on-left-pa...

willd10.substack.com

On Left paranoia

sociology or barbarism

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Ben Gidley @bengidley.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Powerful response to the “controversy” re the Guardian open letter by Alberto Toscano et al (which sadly a couple of big name signatories have un-signed under pressure from online campists). Mokhtareizadeh shows how those attacking the letter for speaking over Iranians have in fact erased Iranians.

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Ben Gidley @bengidley.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

6 October: amazing hybrid seminar organised by @ihrhistorylab.bsky.social and @ihr.bsky.social Migration & Mobility group. Port cities, convict letters, mixed couples, Victorian Muslims and more Sign up: forms.gle/tUCt9uWatCYK...

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Ben Gidley @bengidley.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

13 Aug was anniversary of the Battle of Lewisham. Sister Midnight FM gave a half day to it, now on Soundcloud & Mixcloud. @transpontine.bsky.social & I did an hr telling the story, playing some of the music of the day, interviews we did in 2007, & audio from battle on.soundcloud.com/YsL9ol6NsXot...

soundcloud.com

Lewisham 77 w/ Neil Gordon - Transpontine [13.08.26]

A South East London based community run radio station, brought to you by Sister Midnight. ➡️ More info, tune in: https://radio.sistermidnight.org/ ➡️ Support us by becoming a member on Patreon

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Ben Gidley @bengidley.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

49th anniversary of the battle of Lewisham today, when Southeast London turned back the fascist National Front. Tune into Sister Midnight FM at 2 pm today to hear me and @transpontine.bsky.social talk about it and play some of the music of the time radio.sistermidnight.org

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British and Irish Association for Jewish Studies @biajs.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

An enriching panel on 'Ritual space and Jewish memory in the Mizrahi world' also included Ilana Webster-Kogen @soasuni.bsky.social on 'Religious Pop Songs Shaping North African Pilgrimage' & Agnese Tati on 'Reconstructing the Ritual Spaces of Iraqi Jews' chaired by @evafrommviolet666.bsky.social

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British and Irish Association for Jewish Studies @biajs.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

A busy final day of great papers! Alex Tepperman @uwinnipeg.bsky.social on Jewish criminality in the 21st century, @ankahajkova.bsky.social on same sex desire in Holocaust history, Martin Orloff on Melillian Jewish cemeteries, & José Alberto R. Silva Tavim on the 'dos Judeus' of 16th c colonial Goa

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Dr Anna Hájková @ankahajkova.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

What a fun workshop! Joanna Spyra and @alephross.bsky.social on ‘Researching Sexuality in (Jewish) Archives: Tools, Ethics, and Practice’ #BIAJS26

Spyra and Ross make us discuss difficult and fascinating questions

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Sophie Cardin @sophiecardin.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Bringing zines to @biajs.bsky.social's 2026 conference — Space and Place in Jewish Studies! You can catch my talk on old and new diasporism at 13.45 tomorrow, Wednesday 14 July

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British and Irish Association for Jewish Studies @biajs.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

And a couple of great papers on “Jewish urbanism - ghettos, squares and shtetls” with @guesnet.bsky.social on the urban experience of Eastern European Jews and Laura Vaughan on mapping the special character of the ghetto @uclhjs.bsky.social

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British and Irish Association for Jewish Studies @biajs.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

It's day 2 at #BIAJS2026! We begin with Anne Caldwell on rural cosmopolitanism, Lyman Gamberton on British cultural production, Meitar Tewel on rebuilding Frankfurt am Main, and a roundtable on 'Jewish Heritage Now: Politics, Visibility, Agency' @evafrojmovic0.bsky.social @anoushka-ar.bsky.social

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WhoJewThinkYouAre Podcast @whojewthinkur.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

Wonderful day at the 2026 @biajs.bsky.social conference. Grateful to @hannahewence.bsky.social and @bengidley.bsky.social for inviting @eylanezekiel.bsky.social to speak about racism in Jewish life. Learned so much from all especially Daniella Shaw.

Bald man in glasses in front of Birkbeck college front entrance

Woman point to one of two display boards

3 white appearing women and a man on a panel at a lecture theatre

Conference stage . Man at lecturn, two men and one women seated below screen

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Dr Anna Hájková @ankahajkova.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

Talking about antisemitism and antiracism, you will get lots of comments #biajs26 @toby-kunin.bsky.social @bengidley.bsky.social

Feldman, Gidley, McGeever on their two reports on antisemitism in the UK today

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British and Irish Association for Jewish Studies @biajs.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

Excellent panels on “reconceptualising Jewish American histories of place and space: testimony, Zionism, refugees” & “antisemitism and other racisms” @bisa-bkk.bsky.social @parkesinstitute.bsky.social @toby-kunin.bsky.social @bjschreier.bsky.social @bengidley.bsky.social @hannahewence.bsky.social

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British and Irish Association for Jewish Studies @biajs.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

#BIAJS2026 begins at sunny Birkbeck - check out today’s schedule here: docs.google.com/document/d/1... - our next session includes panels on borders in ancient Judaism, Israeli culture, Jewish American history, British diversity & gender in religious spaces

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Ben Gidley @bengidley.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

Had yet another working Saturday so it was lovely to switch off for a lovely lake swim at Beckenham. Beautiful light and baby moorhens.

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Ben Gidley @bengidley.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

This is a lovely piece. (Also mentions @jaydprosser.bsky.social and features Michal Nahman, two great scholars stretching UK Jewish studies. Jay will speak at #BIAJS2026 next week, along with number of interesting Mizrahj and Indian Ocean focused papers.)

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British and Irish Association for Jewish Studies @biajs.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

Yiddishland curator Maria Veits (featured in this article) will be speaking at #BIAJS2026 in London next week. It’s not too late to register to join us! forward.com/culture/8361...

forward.com

A synagogue will soar above the Venice Biennale's politics, and its lagoon

The art installation 'Nabatele' consists of a shtetl-style synagogue floating above Venice's waters

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Eylan Ezekiel @eylanezekiel.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

Facing up to Racism WITHIN the Jewish community in the UK - a roundtable with @bengidley.bsky.social @hannahewence.bsky.social and (me) @whojewthinkur.bsky.social Monday lunchtime. Thanks to @biajs.bsky.social for inviting me.

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Ben Gidley @bengidley.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Absolutely fantastic talk by @ankahajkova.bsky.social at @bisa-bkk.bsky.social tonight, chaired by @brendanmcgeever.bsky.social. Deeply moving AND entertaining AND challenging.

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Nandita Sharma @nsharma101.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Ralf Ruckus and I discuss the emergence of nation-states, the construction of the 'migrant', the role of left-wing nationalism in the failure of anti-imperialist struggles, and whether the No Borders movement points toward a revolutionary strategy for overcoming working-class divisions.

illwill.com

The Revolution Nationalists Cannot Join • Ill Will

Nandita Sharma argues that supporting people's liberation needn't require endorsing nationalism.

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Ben Gidley @bengidley.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

On the hidden anarchist history of the Stonewall moment, featuring the late, great Ben Morea

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Ben Gidley @bengidley.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

Some random images from my week in Krakow while I wait for my plane:

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Ben Gidley @bengidley.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

Looking at the sociology section in a krakow bookstore. Not too many names I recognise: the great Zygmunt Bauman of course. Edward Said. But depressingly also Frank Furedi.

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Daniel Mang @danielmang.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

Le boycott d’Israël ne doit pas devenir le boycott des Juif·ves ! Texte co-signé par le CLARA, les JJR, le RAAR et l’UJRE – 25 juin 2026 leftrenewal.org/fr/statement...

leftrenewal.org

Le boycott d’Israël ne doit pas devenir le boycott des Juif·ves ! Texte co-signé par le CLARA, les JJR, le RAAR et l’UJRE – 25 juin 2026 – Left Renewal Blog

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Ben Gidley @bengidley.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Yesterday — welcoming students to the #EUMUS* summer school at the Middle East Institute in Krakow. *apologies for misnaming my own project in earlier post…

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Ben Gidley @bengidley.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

In rainy Krakow yesterday. A landscape soaked also in nationalism

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Ben Gidley @bengidley.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Greetings from Krakow where I’m part of the team for the #EUMES summer school. Here’s the hotel I’m staying in — quite intense right?

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Ben Gidley @bengidley.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

Organised by my amazing colleague Jan Etienne: Borders, Havens and Digital Spaces for Resistance: Black feminist lives in autoethnographic research Tuesday 7th July, Birkbeck www.bbk.ac.uk/events/event...

bbk.ac.uk

Borders, Havens and Digital Spaces for Resistance: Black feminist lives in autoethnographic research

Autoethnography conference: 'What is the future of radical spaces for Black women's activism?'

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Ben Gidley @bengidley.bsky.social · 21/06/2026

Just arriving at Seven Sisters and very happy to be participating in this lovely event today at Muslim Welfare House, at a time when I feel we need it more than ever

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Ben Gidley @bengidley.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

A reminder that British (and Australian) universities pay KPMG millions to give them reports like these which they then use to decide who jobs to slash.

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