This is an excellent thread. Exactly as @profpech.bsky.social describes...a descent into authoritarianism

On ICE: “ICE goes masked for a single reason -- to terrorize Americans into quiescence. … In all our history we have never tolerated an armed masked secret police. Carrying on in this fashion, ICE brings indelible obloquy to this administration and everyone who works in it.”

& importantly - these two things can be happening at once...violating the rights of pro-Palestinian students & finding that the Anti-Defamation League is too interested in tackling anti-semitism because it points out exactly who Charlie Kirk was. www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/10...

“FBI Director Kash Patel made the announcement on Wednesday after prominent conservative influencers, including Elon Musk, pounced on the ADL’s inclusion of the murdered right-wing activist Charlie Kirk in its “Glossary of Extremism and Hate”.” www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/10...

This is going to be an excellent event with speakers including @maireadenright.bsky.social @conorkelly.bsky.social @dkennytcd.bsky.social @aileenkavanagh.bsky.social @aileenmcharg.bsky.social @danielwincott.bsky.social @profnicolamcewen.bsky.social 📢

293. Ancient Gaza: The Rise of Christianity Empire – Apple Podcasts share.google/aipCVlVuadDF...

This is a lovely set of posts. Worth the 5 mins to read and learn.

Our @EmpirePodUK look at the deep history of Palestine continues THE GAZA EROTIC LITERARY FESTIVAL: THE GOLDEN AGE OF BYZANTINE GAZA With the brilliant Peter Sarris podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/2...

Only an administration intent on committing war crimes in the present and future would stoop to calling Wounded Knee a "battle" rather than what it truly was: a massacre of over 250 Lakotas, mainly women, children, and the elderly. 1/

👇

Worth saying that I think there are really good reasons why this was a highly dubious prosecution and that the Art 10 arguments should always have militated against bringing charges.

If the authorities are using counter terrorism powers against influential performers with effective legal teams, it's a really good idea not to clown yourselves getting muddled up with procedural technicalities. The UK Govt are Kneecap's best publicity machine: www.theguardian.com/music/2025/s...

The phrase "on a technicality" is better used when a procedural flaw prevents what would otherwise be a finding of liability. But this was a jurisdictional error - it prevented the court even having jurisdiction to decide the case one way or the other. Pretty basic stuff.

"on a technicality" Not really. A failure to get necessary consents to a terror charge is not a slight error. They are safeguards when a person faces a serious charge. Prosecutors should take such safeguards seriously: this is terrorism law they are using. www.theguardian.com/music/2025/s...

Sarah Clancy is an amazing poet, activist and human being. She wrote this fantastic poem for the Northern/Ireland Feminist Judgments Project - always on the right side dflw.ie/a-prayer-to-...

Our friend, poet and activist Sarah Clancy, is on the Spectre, one of the boats on the Flotilla which was attacked last night. Contact the Taoiseach and Tánaiste to demand protection, there must be safe passage for all trying to break apartheid Israel's illegal siege of Gaza. #LiftTheSiege

It's ridiculous that an intervention before the UKSC is being hyped, let alone backed by the Tories: 1 This Dillon appeal is not about immunity, which the current UK Govt has already agreed to abandon. 2 The UKSC thus has no basis to consider these claims. 3 The end. share.google/FB8av9HYogyN...

Wrote this piece on the need to recognise gendered oppression - in all its forms - as always the path to #tyranny. Gendered domination is alway present but failing to confront that = also failing to see the rapid return to patriarchy as the first sign of authoritarianism dflw.ie/power-gender...

This is well worth a read from @ccindle-eu.bsky.social 'By tapping into familiar tropes about tradition, order, and identity, they make their message feel like a return to some “natural” way of life that existed in the past, and which is depicted as better.' ccindle.org/how-europes-...

I'm sorry, worldwide, irrevocable, non-exclusive, transferable permission to my voice and likeness? For what now? In any manner for any purpose??? This is in academia/.edu's new ToS, which you're prompted to agree to on login. Anyway I'll be jumping ship. You can find my stuff at hcommons.org.

Its becoming worryingly fashionable to suggest academics are all out to get you with their facts about authoritarianism

Speaking of Orban's mafia state, its propaganda mouthpiece in BXL has decided to attack professors in past/current receipt of EU Jean Monnet funding in manner reminiscent of Brexit-era attacks. Here is their evidence of bias in my case & source to back up claim: "Laurent Pech, X x.com". Impressive

Nav Pillay: if govts refuse to take action when the ICJ rules there is a plausible risk of genocide because the court hasn't ruled that genocide is taking place, how do you expect to prevent genocide (which signatories to the genocide convention have a legal obligation to do)

Claims that the UK could leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) without breaching the 1998 Good Friday Agreement (GFA) are “not credible”, a new report has concluded.

This is an excellent rebuttal of the Policy Exchange paper that tried to cast doubt on whether leaving the ECHR would (unless Ireland agreed) be in breach of the UK’s binding obligations to Ireland under the Good Friday Agreement.

Thanks to Lord Hain and @clairehanna.bsky.social for providing powerful forewords, to the @cajni.bsky.social for all the work that went into publishing the Explainer, and to @georgeperetzkc.bsky.social and @anuragdeb.bsky.social for their considerable (and considered) input.

From myself & @colinmurray.bsky.social on the European Convention on Human Rights & very briefly (bc it is clear) why it is not plausible to claim that it is possible to leave & not breach the 1998 Good Friday/Belfast Agreement.

A new Explainer out from @aoifemod.bsky.social and me detailing the UK's ECHR commitments under the 1998 Agreement in response to recent speculation. It is short, because there is very little to say - the UK's obligations are evident on the B/GFA's plain text: caj.org.uk/wp-content/u...

Lovely chat re Ruth Bader Ginsburg's legacy on @newstalkfm.bsky.social - an interesting bridge btwn seeing US Supreme Ct as a place you could argue a set of cases & 'progress' & now you 'regress' & the foolheartedness of relying soley on any* Ct decision for rights www.newstalk.com/podcasts/hig...

I wrote a short piece on definitions that conflate anti/semitism with (anti)-Zionism and the dangers that their adoption poses specifically for international lawyers, including for our Palestinian colleagues and students: voelkerrechtsblog.org/defining-awa...

To whom it may concern: There is an open acces Anti-Autocracy Handbook (2025) calling to action, resilience, and collective defence of democracy, truth, and academic freedom in the face of mounting authoritarianism. Download: zenodo.org/records/1569... #academia #academicchatter #academicSky

Conor was an incredible man, a good friend, and so much fun, with a great mind and ability to argue and persuade and take a stand on issues when it was needed. He'll be so missed and my heart goes out to Aoife and the kids and his whole family. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a n-anam

RTÉ says Ireland may not enter Eurovision 2026 if Israel is taking part. Statement out today follows similar stances taken by Spain and Slovenia in recent days.

My governing body, the British Psychological Society (@bpsofficial.bsky.social) is also highly critical of the EHRC Code of Practice. Thank you, BPS, for making this public statement. www.bps.org.uk/psychologist...

Given the recent US Supreme Court case - www.scotusblog.com/2025/09/supr... - the use of racial profilling, already widely used, is now sanctioned. - as the law written in stone below says - equal justice under the law - but apparently only if you look white

Good, took them long enough. I wonder will we get the Commission Report now on the EU's international legal responsibilities as an institution?

Taking research off websites because you don't like what it is saying is not a great look. It suggests that facts are not the basis of policy basis.

Research on LGBT pupils removed from Stormont's education department website www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

I've written a brief summary in The IPKat to highlight some key points from the report: ipkitten.blogspot.com/2025/09/expe...

Finally! 🤩 Our position piece: Against the Uncritical Adoption of 'AI' Technologies in Academia: doi.org/10.5281/zeno... We unpick the tech industry’s marketing, hype, & harm; and we argue for safeguarding higher education, critical thinking, expertise, academic freedom, & scientific integrity. 1/n

And Lord Garnier is just not buying the narrative that one more Brexit will solve the policy issues facing the UK today:

More positive, Dominic Grieve points out that machinations trying to decouple the ECHR commitment from the GFA just cannot be reconciled with it's plain text. And also the extent to which a discourse that sees abandoning all rights commitments as a means to tackle "small boats" is nonsensical:

The Times letters page is full of grandee comment on ECHR withdrawal, which flags how deep misconceptions over UK rights commitments go into establishment thinking. Lord Blunkett thinks the UK can derogate over refugees, but where is the war or comparable emergency? www.thetimes.com/comment/lett...

A must read from Guy S Goodwin-Gill - his exortation at the end 'We must make it known that we do not want and will not share our space with war criminals or génocidaires.' & that we must talk & talk about genocide needs to be heard loud & clear among public international law scholars

Beautiful

I have a Chapter in the new collection The Contemporary Reader of Feminist International Relations ed by Catherine Goetze & Khushi Singh Rathore It proposes a '#feminist treaty interpretation' as a way of worlding women into #internationalrelations & #law 1/2 www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edi...

I designed this poster which is going to be in the windows of every Lush store as they close business for the day today in solidarity with the people of Gaza. www.lush.com/uk/en/a/gaza...

An important intervention from human rights NGOs in Northern Ireland whose are very familar with the operation of the 1998 Agreement. Any argument that claims that it is not, is very much a marginal perspective which has no basis in the text of the 1998 Agreement

The ECHR is deeply embedded within the 1998 Belfast/Good Friday Agreement. This commitment does not allow the UK Government to formulate some version of what it regards as ECHR-equivalent protections. Read our joint statement 👇 @ppr-org.bsky.social & Human Rights Consortium NI