Shane Burley

Antisemitism

A Primer to Antisemitism Studies in 2023

Academia is famous for employing a litany of words to say rather little. Emerging subfields, specific topics within a larger academic department, often announce their supposed relevance with extensive publishing. In theory, the density of publications, journals, and books, would indicate the depth of the new field, but this is

Israel

The Case for Ceasefire

Ceasefire is a unifying demand.

horror

October Horror Round-Up

Christmas and Other Horrors: An Anthology of Solstice Horror - Ed. Ellen Datlow (Titan Books) Pick of the Month There’s a certain obviousness to an Ellen Datlow anthology. As perhaps the premiere short horror editor, she has a winning formula: pick a concept and then find the best writers

mutual aid Featured

Communities of Care: An Interview with Kelly Hayes

Any truly revolutionary movement makes care its absolute center.

Jewish Studies

The Complicated Jewish Politics of a War on Gaza

Below was published earlier this week on Kelly Hayes' newsletter and reposted here. It is an interview with Shane Burley outlining some of the biggest issues surrounding the Israel-Gaza war including questions of antisemitism, 9/11-like jingoism, anti-Zionism, and the Israeli far-right. About 300 Jewish Americans were arrested on

Israel

Killing Amalek

“I think the [Palestinian] village of Huwara needs to be wiped out. I think the state of Israel should do it,” said Israel’s Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, earlier this year. Though shocking to many at the time, it now seems like a popular sentiment among Israel's political

rothschild conspiracy theories

The Rothschilds and Our Economic Myth Machine

Conspiracy theories give us more than we give them credit for. "What's the difference between a conspiracy theory and false consciousness and ideology, that's coming up with narratives and stories to explain the world that otherwise you can't make sense of with the

paul tremblay Featured

Paul Tremblay's Beast

Paul Tremblay's new collection shows him at top form, pushing past the limits of genre fiction.

horror

September Horror Round-Up

The Black Lord - Colin Hinckley (Tenebrous Press) *Pick of the Month* This is exactly the kind of book that small, “weird fiction” press like Tenebrous do so incredibly well. This debut novella by Colin Kinckley is a challengingly fast paced bit of cosmic horror that plays with a variety

horror

August Horror Round-Up

Some of the best horror books from this summer, and of 2023 so far.

anti-racist action

The Lessons of Anti-Racist Action: An Interview About We Go Where They Go

A conversation with the authors of We Go Where They Go about the history and legacy of Anti-Racist Action.

Paid-members only

Ignition

jewish anarchism

Recovering Jewish Anarchism: A Conversation with Anna Elena Torres and Kenyon Zimmer

A conversation about the history of Jewish anarchism and its resonance in the 21st Century Jewish left.

horror

July Horror Round-Up

A look at some of the best (and less great) horror books for the month of July.

Antisemitism Featured

A Friend of the Jews

Despite decades of antisemitic theology and conspiracy theories, we are still being told that Pat Roberston was a friend of the Jews. Is support for Israel enough to forgive the rest?

June 2023 Horror Round-Up

After a break last month, we have four books that all sort of display emerging trends in the horror world. There is an effort towards not just the celebration of queer horror in proximity to Pride, but also to give it a distinctively young flavor, and it’s great seeing

How to Understand the Proud Boys

On August 17th, 2019, the Proud Boys staged a rally against “domestic terrorism” in Portland, Oregon, allegedly in response to a prior scuffle between far-right media personality Andy Ngo and counter-demonstrators who were opposing the Proud Boys and the Christian nationalist group Patriot Prayer. Despite the ironies of one of

police repression

Are the Jan 6th Convictions a Test-Case for Repressing the Left?

The novel legal logic used to prosecute the Proud Boys could be employed against antifascist protesters as well. So what is the alternative for those fighting for accountability for the insurrection?

Blood Libel

The Long Legacy of the Blood Libel: A Conversation with Magda Teter

Scholar Magda Teter talks about the origins and history of the Blood Libel, and how this myth is continuing to motivate conspiracy theories today.

A Life of Anarchy: An Interview with Cindy Milstein

In a conversation with anarchist writer and organizer Cindy Milstein, we discuss how mutual aid, direct action, and solidarity can help build a revolutionary life.

April 2023 Horror Round-Up

Sundial - Catriona Ward (Macmillan) * Pick of the Month* Catriona Ward has created one of the most enticing, addicting, and frankly devastating horror novels of the year, while also crafting one of the most incisive meta-narratives about the generational consequences of abuse. Ward’s prose is reminiscent of the stream-of-consciousness

The Israeli Uprising: A Mizrahi Perspective

Over the past few months, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s radical right-wing coalition government has moved to curtail the independence of Israel’s judiciary and weaken the democratic separation of powers, against the backdrop of a frightening uptick of settler violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. This

March 2023 Horror Round-Up

While the selections this month all may have been amongst my most anticipated, this was not the strongest month in 2023 thus far. Each book had some reason I had been tracking it: the second in one trilogy, the long belated conclusion to a comic miniseries (and thus setting the

How Antifascists Remember the Holocaust

The alt-right may not have become a known term until 2015, but early on there were major controversies centering on movement founder Richard Spencer. The first was reported by MSNBC host Rachel Maddow that singled out an article by British white nationalist Colin Liddell on Spencer’s AlternativeRight.com. Amidst

The Anti-Defamation League's Weekend of Fear

You may have noticed a panic brewing across hashtags and trending Twitter topics last week, one echoed in endless emails from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). “White supremacist groups are trying to organize antisemitic activities as a ‘National Day of Hate’ throughout this coming weekend and especially this Saturday,” read one