Author | Lightnews

Joel Schalit

Joel Schalit

@jschalit.bsky.social

530 followers 440 following 220 posts

Co-Founder & Editor-in-Chief @ The Battleground • Ex-i24News, EURACTIV, France 24 & Tikkun • Akashic Books, NYU Press & Pluto Press.

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Joel Schalit @jschalit.bsky.social · Sep 16

In a country where class remains a perpetual visual cue, what better reminder do journalists need about the economy than witnessing people sleeping rough on the streets, and dressed as bears? This is how I remind myself why street photography is such an effective way of reaching people.

Street Photography and News Journalism

Aperture Priorities #32

thebattleground.eu

Joel Schalit @jschalit.bsky.social · Sep 15

Eastern Front Redux

Preparing for Ukraine. Balon, Torino.

thebattleground.eu

Joel Schalit @jschalit.bsky.social · Sep 13

The killing of Charlie Kirk is more than an isolated act. It reveals how political violence has transformed into spectacle. Today’s assassin acts alone, yet reports and images of their violence circulate endlessly, reshaping politics without ever resolving it. John Foster, in The Battleground.

Convulsions of the Body Politic

Charlie Kirk and the Molecularisation of Violence

thebattleground.substack.com

Joel Schalit @jschalit.bsky.social · Sep 9

thebattleground.eu/2025/09/08/d...

Down and Out With The Economist

The Davos Mag in the Era of Populism

thebattleground.eu

Joel Schalit @jschalit.bsky.social · Sep 9

The Economist reminds you how much the world has changed in the last ten years. @jtwhitenoise.bsky.social, on the neoliberal mag, and its crisis of legitimacy under populism. [See link in comments].

Joel Schalit @jschalit.bsky.social · Sep 6

There was no way around it. Even though I was supposed to take a break, a grant opportunity arose, and it would take two weeks to apply for it. Yours truly, on preparing my first photo book, about Brussels, and ten photos of the city. This week, in The Battleground newsletter.

Brussels is a Country

Aperture Priorities Contact Sheet #31

thebattleground.substack.com

Joel Schalit @jschalit.bsky.social · Sep 2

For Benjamin Netanyahu and his allies, particularly Donald Trump, journalism is hostile to the national project and aligned with every perceived enemy. @ariaripaulpaul.bsky.social, on the killing of Anas al-Sharif and the War on Terror buildup to their blitzkrieg against the press.

They Always Shoot the Messengers

Daniel Pearl and Anas Al-Sharif

thebattleground.eu

Joel Schalit @jschalit.bsky.social · Aug 11

Antisemitism and Islamophobia are different variations of a common bigotry: we’re all outsiders. This is why attempts to smear Zohran Mamdani as an Antisemite offends Jews and Muslims equally. Ari Paul, in The Battleground.
@ariaripaulpaul.bsky.social

Jews like Mamdani Because He’s One of Us

Antisemitism and Islamophobia in New York City

thebattleground.eu

Joel Schalit @jschalit.bsky.social · Jul 28

In the fourth edition of Gaza War Blues, Battleground Editor-in-Chief Joel Schalit and journalist William Noah Glucroft discuss the European Union’s reluctance to restrain Israel, despite mounting evidence of genocide, and how this reflects the bloc’s drift rightwards.

A Moral Failure

thebattleground.substack.com

Joel Schalit @jschalit.bsky.social · Jul 19

Genocide is universally condemned, yet persistently underacknowledged. Until enforcement mechanisms catch up with the weight of the word, genocide will remain a term of last resort, deployed sparingly, and often too late. @magadh.bsky.social, in The Battleground.

The Trouble With Genocide

Why It's so Hard to Evoke

thebattleground.eu

Joel Schalit @jschalit.bsky.social · Jun 20

It's Bibi's get-out-of-jail free card, and then some. Yours truly, on the Israeli-Iranian war and its political significance, at home and abroad. @doughenwood.bsky.social's Behind the News show, together with Mouin Rabbani.

Doug Henwood @doughenwood.bsky.social · Jun 19

fresh audio product:

two perspectives on Israel’s war on Iran: Mouin Rabbani on the regional/global context and Joel Schalit @jschalit.bsky.social on Israeli society and politics

www.leftbusinessobserver.com/Radio.html#S...

Joel Schalit @jschalit.bsky.social · Jun 9

Combatting the legacy of Antisemitism is the right thing to do. But honouring Alfred Dreyfus without acknowledging how the discrimination he suffered is linked to the discrimination against Muslims today misses the point. @magadh.bsky.social, in The Battleground.

Postcolonial Racism Rehearsal

Antisemitism and the Gaza War

thebattleground.eu

Joel Schalit @jschalit.bsky.social · May 29

No Other Land immerses us in a tale of dislocation and resilience. By turning raw footage of this event into the montage found in fictional narratives, it succeeds where countless documentaries about Israel’s mistreatment of the Palestinians have failed. Charlie Bertsch, in The Battleground.

Story From Below

No Other Land Sets the Record Straight

thebattleground.eu

Joel Schalit @jschalit.bsky.social · May 26

Forget Gaza. The real story is Kneecap. That’s what the British press wants you to believe. The true scandal is that mainstream journalists are far more concerned with the deeds of a Northern Irish rap group than the horrors being inflicted on Palestinians. Josh White, in The Battleground.

Bait and Switch

The Kneecap Scandal

thebattleground.eu

Joel Schalit @jschalit.bsky.social · May 23

Italo-Palestinian and black metal rap, UK hip-hop and trap, experimental punk and techno, noise and musique concrète. Battleground editor-in-chief Joel Schalit, with this week’s Office Ambience playlist.

Office Ambience

What I'm Listening To

Joel Schalit @jschalit.bsky.social · May 17

This is the situation in #Europe. The political right creates chaos, shifting the goalposts to refashion every failure as a victory. Meanwhile, the centre-left proffers the xenophobic libertarianism dominating the right. @magadh.bsky.social on Tariq Ali's The Extreme Centre, in The Battleground.

Fascism is Not Eternal

Remembering the Resistenza

thebattleground.eu

Joel Schalit @jschalit.bsky.social · May 13

Modern feminist hardcore. This week's Office Ambience playlist, featuring Stress Positions, Slant, Buggin, Influx, Tozcos, Cannonball, Petrol Girls, Punitive Damage, Dry Socket, False Reality, Pest Control, Scowl, and the almighty Habak. Compiled by Joel Schalit, for The Battleground newsletter.

Office Ambience

What I'm Listening To

thebattleground.substack.com

Joel Schalit @jschalit.bsky.social · May 13

What Novara has achieved without corporate backing is a testament to technological change and the decline of traditional news. It’s a millennial left response to status quo media, made possible by YouTube and other platforms. @jtwhitenoise.bsky.social, for @battlegroundeu.bsky.social .

Leftist Success Story

The Case of Novara

thebattleground.eu

Joel Schalit @jschalit.bsky.social · Mar 24

When I was a college radio DJ, I always wanted to curate sets like this. We just didn’t have enough records to do so. This week’s Battleground playlist, featuring thunderous French crust punk, Italian hardcore, Middle Eastern EDM, modern Turkish psych and more.

Battleground Playlist #48

Playlist · Joel Schalit · 18 items

open.spotify.com

Joel Schalit @jschalit.bsky.social · Mar 21

It’s about solidarity. The message of Jeanne Carstensen’s Greek Tragedy is that when governance falters, rescue will depend on holding on to what we have in common. Gary Isaac Wolf, on the best new book about the refugee crisis.

When Governance Falters

A Greek Tragedy: One Day, a Deadly Shipwreck, and the Human Cost of the Refugee Crisis, by Jeanne Carstensen

thebattleground.eu

Joel Schalit @jschalit.bsky.social · Mar 20

The more people speak out, the more likely they’ll become targets. @cbertsch.bsky.social, on Giorgia Meloni’s lawsuit against Placebo’s Brian Molko and mounting pressures on freedom of speech in Italy.

Silencing the Opposition

Giorgia Meloni vs. Placebo

thebattleground.eu

Joel Schalit @jschalit.bsky.social · Mar 19

The post-liberal era that Trump has ushered in isn’t simply the final deterioration of democratic government. According to Ari Paul, it’s a rejection of the democratic ideal as a whole.

American Democracy is Dead

The History of a Crisis

thebattleground.eu

Joel Schalit @jschalit.bsky.social · Mar 13

Trump is trying to bring the 1960s back every bit as much as ageing Boomers on the left. Whereas they have the counterculture in mind, he wants to restore the counter-counter culture, to deal with political opponents. According to @cbertsch.bsky.social, the Black Power Mixtape can help us respond.

Learning From the Black Panthers

The Black Power Mixtape, Directed by Göran Hugo Olsson

thebattleground.eu

Joel Schalit @jschalit.bsky.social · Mar 12

The US may be a declining hegemon, but the old days of Great Power politics are back. @jtwhitenoise.bsky.social, on Keir Starmer’s attempt to lead on Ukraine, and remilitarise the UK.

The Ukraine Gamble

thebattleground.eu

Joel Schalit @jschalit.bsky.social · Mar 9

What she said. Women’s Day, Torino. [Joel Schalit]