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Rebecca Turkington

@rcturk.bsky.social
377 followers 199 following 46 posts

Historian of feminism, colonialism, and conflict. Museum enthusiast, former think-tanker. Currently at Cambridge working on a global history of women's/gender studies.

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Reposted by Rebecca Turkington
POLITICO Europe @politico.eu · 11/09/2026
Indefatigable Italian rights activist and European heavyweight Emma Bonino has died at 78, her party Più Europa has announced.
politico.eu
Emma Bonino, Italy’s activist commissioner, dies at 78
The lifetime public servant had a decades-long career straddling unpredictable national politics and the bloc’s evolving political system.
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Rebecca Turkington @rcturk.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
I can't even talk about this one. Gloria! I found a copy of one of her books at the library book sale when I was 12 and it changed my life irrevocably.
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Rebecca Turkington @rcturk.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
RIP to an icon, a role model, a truly good person. (and I'm honored by the number of friends who texted to say I was "the first person I thought of" when they heard about Dolly.) youtu.be/FI64u773FaA?...
youtu.be
Dolly Parton Light Of A Clear Blue Morning (Clear Copy)
YouTube video by AManOfManyFaces
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Rebecca Turkington @rcturk.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
The SPLC is one of a handful of orgs I regularly give money to because of their excellent work tracking and responding to racism and far-right violence, and I'm actually fine with that money being used to infiltrate white nationalist extremist groups.
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Rebecca Turkington @rcturk.bsky.social · 23/03/2026
Too bad I already have a PhD, this funded opportunity is a dream project. Memory, gender, war, Northern Ireland, women paramilitaries, historical representation, oral history: www.strath.ac.uk/studywithus/...
strath.ac.uk
A Sisterhood of Sorts | University of Strathclyde
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Reposted by Rebecca Turkington
Lizzie Brannon @lizziebrannon.bsky.social · 23/02/2026
In this Elements, Jakana Thomas & I consider how women’s representation impacts the implementation of gendered peace provisions after war. With new data on peace provision implementation, we show that the representation of ex-rebel women has significant effects on implementation & therefore peace!
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Reposted by Rebecca Turkington
Elmira Bayrasli @elmirab.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
Remembering Yanar Mohammed—because mainstream media has failed to. She was a human and women's rights defender, gunned down in Baghdad. She deserves to be honored. And we deserve a media with a wider lens. open.substack.com/pub/interrup...
open.substack.com
Remembering Yanar Mohammed
The Iraqi feminist and human rights activist was gunned down in Baghdad
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Reposted by Rebecca Turkington
Erica Chenoweth @chenoweth.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
Taken together, an overall look at protest patterns in 2026 reinforces the sense of a growing, durable, and disciplined pro-democracy movement increasingly mobilized at the grassroots.
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Rebecca Turkington @rcturk.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
"Issues affecting women and girls are chronically and unconscionably underfunded. Organizations dedicated to women and girls receive only around 2% of U.S. philanthropic dollars. If you put aside cancer research, women’s health receives just 1% of research funding." www.forbes.com/sites/luisak...
forbes.com
Melinda French Gates’ Plans To Give Away More Than $12.5 Billion
Divorced from Bill Gates and the foundation they created, French Gates discusses connecting with other women to maximize their impact at a critical time.
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Reposted by Rebecca Turkington
Adam Bonica @adambonica.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
1/ I recently wrote about Frances Perkins—FDR’s Labor Secretary and first woman cabinet member. She is best known as the architect of the New Deal but she had a lesser-known achievement: She dismantled her era’s version of ICE.🧵
President Roosevelt signing the Social Security Act into law on August 14, 1935, with Perkins among those witnessing the signing (third from right)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/28/Signing_Of_The_Social_Security_Act.jpg
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Reposted by Rebecca Turkington
Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu · 13/01/2026
Read Frank Foer's amazing essay on the civil servants we have lost www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...
theatlantic.com
The Purged
Donald Trump’s destruction of the civil service is a tragedy not just for the roughly 300,000 workers who have been discarded, but for an entire nation.
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Reposted by Rebecca Turkington
Saskia Brechenmacher @saskiabr.bsky.social · 08/01/2026
My latest article, for @foreignaffairs.com, on how to the fight for women's rights has to adapt to a changed geopolitical landscape:
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Reposted by Rebecca Turkington
National Security Archive @nsarchive.bsky.social · 11/12/2025
We published our "Top 40" declassified documents to celebrate 40 years of the National Security Archive! (Click below to read them.) nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-boo...
nsarchive.gwu.edu
“Heroic Excavators of Government Secrets”
Washington, D.C., December 10, 2025 - Almost 40 years ago, as White House aide Lt. Col. Oliver North was secretly running the Reagan administration’s Iran-Contra operations, he became concerned about ...
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Reposted by Rebecca Turkington
History Workshop @historyworkshop.org.uk · 11/12/2025
What insights can feminists gain from revisiting the 1975 World Congress for International Women's Year? Natali Moreira explores this overlooked event using the Women of the Whole World journal archived at @fotwl.bsky.social 🗃️✊
historyworkshop.org.uk
A People's Congress
What insights can feminists gain from revisiting the 1975 World Congress for International Women’s Year in East Berlin?
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Rebecca Turkington @rcturk.bsky.social · 11/12/2025
I really enjoyed talking with @thepixelproject.bsky.social earlier this year about what we can learn from history to inform and inspire campaigns to end gender-based violence:
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Rebecca Turkington @rcturk.bsky.social · 09/12/2025
"As some women in the party are realizing, there’s a big difference between being useful and being respected." www.nytimes.com/2025/12/09/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | Republican Women Suddenly Realize They’re Surrounded by Misogynists
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Rebecca Turkington @rcturk.bsky.social · 24/11/2025
“There are some countries that want to push us back to 30 years ago. But we will not accept anything less than what we already have.” Lorena Aguilar on the familiar fight over the term "gender" as a way to stall productive action on equality. www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
Row over definition of ‘gender’ hangs over Cop30 plans to support women
Advocates say conservative states’ push to define gender as ‘biological sex’ would backslide on decade-old language within the UN
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Rebecca Turkington @rcturk.bsky.social · 21/11/2025
I wrote about Tunisian anti-fascism and the messy solidarities between French leftist women and the nationalist movement for @newlinesmag.bsky.social. The first piece of my dissertation research to live beyond the thesis!
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Reposted by Rebecca Turkington
NPR @npr.org · 06/11/2025
A shrewd political strategist, California Rep. Nancy Pelosi has had an unprecedented career in Congress. First elected in a special election in 1987, Pelosi went on to become one of the most effective leaders of the Democratic party. n.pr/4oNT0F6
n.pr
Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi will not seek reelection
A shrewd political strategist, California Rep. Nancy Pelosi has had an unprecedented career in Congress. First elected in a special election in 1987, Pelosi went on to become one of the most effective leaders of the Democratic party.
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Reposted by Rebecca Turkington
Emile Chabal @emile-chabal.bsky.social · 06/11/2025
I wrote something with the wonderful @mcslaven.bsky.social about how the immigration debate in the UK has becoming so mind-bogglingly radicalised. foreignpolicy.com/2025/11/05/b...
foreignpolicy.com
Britain Is Having the World’s Most Extreme Immigration Debate
The British discourse makes even the Trump administration look moderate.
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Rebecca Turkington @rcturk.bsky.social · 02/11/2025
"The United States government was required by law to submit a report to Congress on its progress towards its Women, Peace, and Security commitments yesterday. It didn’t." giwps.georgetown.edu/2025/11/01/u...
giwps.georgetown.edu
U.S. Government Fails to Report to Congress on WPS Progress - Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security
The United States government was required by law to submit a report to Congress on its progress towards its Women, Peace, and Security commitments yesterday. It didn’t.  The failure of the Administrat...
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Reposted by Rebecca Turkington
Monica Marks @monicamarks.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
President Kais Saied is making Tunisia an ever more repressive authoritarian regime. He’s placed suspensions on FTDES (leftist economic think tank), ATFD (feminist NGO) & Nawaat (leftist media outlet). All 3 groups, ironically, had many members who cheered his coup in 2021. 🧵 1/6
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19thnews @19thnews.org · 31/10/2025
The disruption the Trump administration has wrought on this critical public safety and public health infrastructure is unprecedented, threatening a framework built over a half-century.
19thnews.org
Without the federal government, almost no money exists to fight domestic violence
Work to prevent intimate partner violence, feed families in shelters fleeing abuse or help survivors file for legal protection would not exist on the scale it does today if the federal government step...
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Rebecca Turkington @rcturk.bsky.social · 28/10/2025
An excellent 1325 Anniversary reflection from @paulcinnamon.bsky.social and @drljshepherd.bsky.social reminding us that a unified Women, Peace & Security agenda is illusory. The WPS community/ecosystem is inherently pluralist: theglobalobservatory.org/2025/10/forg...
theglobalobservatory.org
Forgetting WPS: On Being Careful What You Wish For - IPI Global Observatory
We concluded our recent book, Governing the Feminist Peace, with an exhortation to “forget WPS”—to abandon attempts to force coherence onto an agenda that had become so sprawling and intricate over it...
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Rebecca Turkington @rcturk.bsky.social · 24/10/2025
My colleagues at @giwps.bsky.social launched the results from a global survey of women peacebuilders. Of almost 3,000 women working on the front lines, most say they still struggle to access formal halls of power, and have seen decreased funding for their work: giwps.georgetown.edu/resource/wom...
giwps.georgetown.edu
Women, Peace and Security Survey - Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security
The Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security (GIWPS) released results from a global survey of nearly 3,000 women in 121 countries—one of the largest samples of women peacebuilders to date. T...
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Rebecca Turkington @rcturk.bsky.social · 23/10/2025
"This demolition suggests that the current White House does not think that the first lady does anything of value [...] the office itself — they’re not cognizant of the history.” 19thnews.org/2025/10/east...
19thnews.org
First ladies made history in the East Wing. It was razed for Trump’s ballroom.
The East Wing is home to the Office of the First Lady and has played a key role in women’s visibility in the White House.
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Rebecca Turkington @rcturk.bsky.social · 23/10/2025
"Over 15 years ago, the then British Prime Minister publicly acknowledged the role of British soldiers on Bloody Sunday, yet not one British soldier or their military and political superiors has ever been held to account." www.bbc.com/news/live/cg...
bbc.com
Bloody Sunday: Soldier F found not guilty of all charges in Bloody Sunday murder trial
Soldier F - who cannot be named - was accused of murdering two people in Londonderry in 1972, plus five counts of attempted murder.
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Reposted by Rebecca Turkington
Kori Schake @kschake.bsky.social · 21/10/2025
Infuriating quote from President Trump: “Both sides should go home, go to their families, stop the killing.” The Ukrainians are home. A home that’s been invaded by Russia.
washingtonpost.com
White House says no Putin-Trump summit anytime soon
The decision came after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Trump’s call for a ceasefire contradicted the understandings he reached with Putin.
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Reposted by Rebecca Turkington
Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu · 16/10/2025
Congratulations to @mariaressa.bsky.social, as well as the representatives of the Bangladeshi and Venezuelan democracy movements who joined me at the Hillary Rodham Clinton awards at @giwps.bsky.social. Great to spend a day surrounded by people working hard to make their countries better.
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Rebecca Turkington @rcturk.bsky.social · 16/10/2025
I've heard from so many people since we published on Monday saying this article resonated with them. We need more attention to this complete destruction of women's rights programming and the impact it has on women, and on national security.
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Reposted by Rebecca Turkington
Foreign Policy @foreignpolicy.com · 16/10/2025
The Trump administration has abandoned the consensus that women’s participation and perspectives add value to U.S. security policy and operations.
foreignpolicy.com
Trump Erases Women From Foreign Policy
The White House has overturned the decades-old bipartisan policy consensus that female empowerment serves U.S. interests.
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Jacob Ware @jacobware.bsky.social · 15/10/2025
"The Trump administration has abandoned the consensus that women's participation and perspectives add value to U.S. security policy and operations." @rcturk.bsky.social @saskiabr.bsky.social @foreignpolicy.com foreignpolicy.com/2025/10/13/t...
foreignpolicy.com
Trump Erases Women From Foreign Policy
The White House has overturned the decades-old bipartisan policy consensus that female empowerment serves U.S. interests.
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Reposted by Rebecca Turkington
ICAN (International Civil Society Action Network) @whatthewomensay.bsky.social · 15/10/2025
🗣️ #WPSWednesday: “An inclusive approach to peace & security has never been more urgent. The best way to mark 25 yrs of 1325 is to reaffirm its agenda & turn commitment into action.” Melanne Verveer @rcturk.bsky.social gjia.georgetown.edu/2025/10/08/r...
gjia.georgetown.edu
Reflecting on 25 Years of Women, Peace, and Security - Georgetown Journal of International Affairs
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Carnegie Democracy @carnegiedcg.bsky.social · 14/10/2025
🆕| In erasing women from U.S. foreign policy, the Trump administration has overturned the decades-old bipartisan policy consensus that female empowerment serves U.S. interests. Read @saskiabr.bsky.social & @rcturk.bsky.social's latest for @foreignpolicy.com👇
foreignpolicy.com
Trump Erases Women From Foreign Policy
The White House has overturned the decades-old bipartisan policy consensus that female empowerment serves U.S. interests.
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Rebecca Turkington @rcturk.bsky.social · 14/10/2025
@saskiabr.bsky.social and I wrote in @foreignpolicy.com about the dismantling of gender equality architecture in U.S. foreign policy, including offices that were created more than six decades ago with bipartisan consensus. foreignpolicy.com/2025/10/13/t...
foreignpolicy.com
Trump Erases Women From Foreign Policy
The White House has overturned the decades-old bipartisan policy consensus that female empowerment serves U.S. interests.
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Rebecca Turkington @rcturk.bsky.social · 09/10/2025
This month marks 25 years since UNSCR 1325 formalized the "Women, Peace & Security" Agenda. Amb. Verveer and I reflect on the ambitions of the resolution and why WPS matters more than ever in these profoundly difficult times: gjia.georgetown.edu/2025/10/08/r...
gjia.georgetown.edu
Reflecting on 25 Years of Women, Peace, and Security - Georgetown Journal of International Affairs
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Rebecca Turkington @rcturk.bsky.social · 26/09/2025
🙄 Ah yes, the famously radical feminist Harry Truman imposing his "divisive feminist agenda" on the U.S. armed forces in 1951: www.politico.com/news/2025/09...
politico.com
Hegseth axes panel that encourages women to enter military
The advisory committee, which has existed for nearly a century, advances “a divisive feminist agenda,” a Pentagon spokesperson said.
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Rebecca Turkington @rcturk.bsky.social · 25/09/2025
About once I year I remember this perfect Nanci Griffith live set exists and I want to share it with everyone. And today is that day, enjoy: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDpT...
youtube.com
Nanci Griffith - Austin City Limits (1989) Full Show
YouTube video by Nanci Griffith Rarities
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Reposted by Rebecca Turkington
Anjali Dayal @anjalikdayal.bsky.social · 23/09/2025
António Guterres is addressing the 80th UNGA now: 80 years on, he says, we face the same question the UN's founders did, but more urgent: "what kind of world do we choose together?...a world of raw power, or a world of law?"
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Hillary Rodham Clinton @hillaryclinton.bsky.social · 14/08/2025
Among the deletions in this year's Trump-era human rights report: women's rights. Barely a mention for half of humanity. Both outrageous and pathetic. www.bbc.com/news/article...
BBC: Trump administration rewrites and scales back annual human rights report
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Rebecca Turkington @rcturk.bsky.social · 14/08/2025
The State Department has abandoned standardized reporting on women’s rights in the Human Rights Reports, a practice adopted in the 1970s! www.npr.org/2025/08/12/n...
npr.org
State Department slashes its annual reports on human rights
Required by Congress, the reports no longer single out things like rigged elections or sexual violence against children as human rights violations.
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History Workshop @historyworkshop.org.uk · 04/06/2025
OTD in 1989 the Tiananmen Square Protests were forcibly suppressed by the Chinese state. In this piece from our archive, Rebecca Turkington (@rcturk.bsky.social) discusses the Chinese #MeToo movement and the women resisting state repression in contemporary China.
historyworkshop.org.uk
#MeToo in China
Rebecca Turkington explores how the #MeToo movement in China today is made possible through rich histories of Chinese feminists organising inside, alongside and beyond the state.
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Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · 30/04/2025
Unhappy to confirm that the entire Historical Advisory Committee at the State Department received termination notices this afternoon (myself included). The HAC, set up by Congress, oversees the office that produces the FRUS series. history.state.gov/about/hac/in... 1/
Tim Naftali's tweet on the termination of the HAC members without cause.
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Reposted by Rebecca Turkington
I Scare You Like Sound Dog @chadstanton.blacksky.app · 06/04/2025
“Tubman’s photograph is now gone. In its place are images of Postal Service stamps that highlight “Black/White cooperation” in the secret network and that feature Tubman among abolitionists of both races.” wapo.st/4jdXL8m
wapo.st
Amid anti-DEI push, National Park Service rewrites history of Underground Railroad
Since Trump took office, the park service, an agency charged with preserving American history, has changed how its website describes key moments from slavery to Jim Crow
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Rebecca Turkington @rcturk.bsky.social · 06/04/2025
It's so dumb how much this administration relies on ctrl+F searches with zero human thought behind them. Really, Naval Academy students can't read "Enacting Gender on the English Renaissance Stage" and "Gender in Early Modern German History"? www.nytimes.com/2025/04/04/u...
nytimes.com
These Are the 381 Books Removed From the Naval Academy Library
Maya Angelou’s “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” and books on the Holocaust were among the works removed in response to an order from the office of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
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Jacob Ware @jacobware.bsky.social · 19/03/2025
Brigadier General Harriet Tubman, a pioneer of U.S. special operations forces.
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Anjali Dayal @anjalikdayal.bsky.social · 19/03/2025
bsky.app/profile/reil... this is bonkers and deeply disturbing. Private security, DOJ, DOGE, and the DC police together worked to take control over a private building the government *does not own* and dismiss the staff *whom the president does not employ,* removing them, it seems, with armed force
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Rebecca Turkington @rcturk.bsky.social · 19/03/2025
Amidst many horrifying stories, this one hits home; I used to be at USIP almost weekly for events and coalition meetings. DOGE called the police to break in and evict staff of an independent organization that is NOT part of the executive branch: www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
theguardian.com
Doge occupies US Institute of Peace headquarters after White House guts its board
A Trump executive order targeted the non-profit despite the organization not being part of the executive branch
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Rebecca Turkington @rcturk.bsky.social · 06/03/2025
I'm happy to work at a university defending its first amendment rights and religious freedom as a Jesuit institution in the face of this administration's bullying. And defining the principle of diversity as "a moral and educational imperative."
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