Working on an essay about Assisted Return (AR) for the Federal Agency for Civic Education (@bpb.de) and reviewing the latest research. Excellent mapping of AR programmes across the EU by @rossellamarin.bsky.social et al. & @lukasfuchs.bsky.social (@dezim-institut.de). Highly recommended!

2/3 In our latest #blog post @rossellamarin.bsky.social and #MustaphaSallah consider the mixed reactions of Gambians, who resent their government for accepting the deal but try to enter the scheme for lack of better alternatives.

Trump's politics is appalling from every point of view. People made vulnerable by (neo)colonialism deserve immediate help with their predicaments. But I read too many supposedly reasonable people regretting USAID cuts *without saying* that decolonisation is needed over manufactured dependence. 1/3

In 2025, my partner, whose name is Mustapha, has been given a 'French' name at the French language class: Thèo

A reflection on occupying the 'central' position in our societies and universities, where equating radical justice with anti-woke sentiments means reifying the superficially nicer kind of fascism that liberals embody

Btw, I'm on Substack: Happy New Year!

How many other academics are feeling worthless at the Xmas table? I find it so hard to confront family over their unreflexive beliefs without sounding patronising or outright crazy.

Maybe it's time for me to come back to this platform? Let me start with sharing this post I wrote together with Ngozi Umah for Statewatch and migration-control.info on the detrimental effects of Frontex's involvement in reintegration after deportation in The Gambia and Nigeria: tinyurl.com/533kxx62

I have a youtube channel! I talk about "voluntary" returns here. Please check it out: youtu.be/3OZ462UlY2s?....

That time I was judged through a positivist lens by the selection committee of FWO despite being clear about my post-positivist stance. Discrimination against non-hegemonic epistemologies in academia and grant allocation must stop.

American terrorists.

People are focusing (understandably) on the Israeli military AI targeting system highlighted in this article: www.972mag.com/mass-assassi... But don't miss: • That AI system is apparently being used to auto-generate targeting recommendations for *junior militants' family homes.* 1/2

And now, with the motivation and career statements, the reflections on my disciplinary contributions, the drafting of the proposal done, as I FINALLY complete the super-boring reference part, I realise I'M TWO PAGES LONGER THAN THE LIMIT allowed by the grant application. Kill me please.

It's all here.

Nope. Woke up to more indiscriminate raids and bombing of a hospital, and Biden shamelessly doubling down in his support of this horror. I hate this world.

Forcing myself to complete this post-doc funding application. Clinging on the tiny hope I have that this 10-page overview will not be dismissed on the basis of some arbitrary evaluation of the approximate number of interviews I would conduct in a distant future if I got this money.

Certainly academics are not the only ones talking about colonialism and dispossession. But we do. A lot. What is happening is also due to the fact that we are given funds and accolades as long as our reflections stay in the realm of theory.

I have come to talk about the epistemological difference of using onion in Italian and Gambian food with my partner.

For sure there will be no shortage of children ghosts hunting them this year.

I can’t bear it. We are all watching this happen and they will pretend they didn’t know afterwards, if they are ever even held to account.

We all continue to live with the legacies of Europe’s philosophical inability to coexist with difference.

Following the UN debate. Canada refers to the root cause of the current situation. Dating back to TWO WEEKS AGO.

The US is involved in a textbook case of humanity hierarchisation, as Biden questions Palestinians' death count and Thomas-Greenfield criticises the current UN resolution for not referring to the hostages taken by Hamas.

In twenty years I will ask where you stood. Did you stand against genocide? Did you stand for an end to occupation? Did you stand for the humanity of all? Did you stand for peace and for the right of everyone to live in dignity? Or did you beat the drums of war?