Sara Silverstein
@sarasilverstein.bsky.social
Historian. Writer. Public & global health, rights, internationalism, migration, citizenship & statelessness, Modern & Eastern Europe. Associate Professor at the University of Connecticut, Department of History and Human Rights Institute. Views my own.
Pinned
I’m very pleased to have written the chapter on health and to be in fantastic company in this volume.
Reposted by Sara Silverstein
One way concentration camps become zones where law doesn't apply is by neglecting policies & standards that would protect health & provide healthcare. You deny laws & norms & dehumanize your victim.
Read "Illness and Inhumanity in Stalin’s Gulag" by Alexopoulos
www.texastribune.org/2026/02/07/i...
Read "Illness and Inhumanity in Stalin’s Gulag" by Alexopoulos
www.texastribune.org/2026/02/07/i...
Two tuberculosis cases detected at Camp East Montana ICE facility
Eighteen cases of COVID-19 were also identified. U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar on Friday visited the 5,000-bed tent facility on the Fort Bliss Army base and said she saw many "chronic issues."
www.texastribune.org
February 8, 2026 at 2:32 PM
One way concentration camps become zones where law doesn't apply is by neglecting policies & standards that would protect health & provide healthcare. You deny laws & norms & dehumanize your victim.
Read "Illness and Inhumanity in Stalin’s Gulag" by Alexopoulos
www.texastribune.org/2026/02/07/i...
Read "Illness and Inhumanity in Stalin’s Gulag" by Alexopoulos
www.texastribune.org/2026/02/07/i...
Reposted by Sara Silverstein
“For 280 days we haven’t eaten a single piece of fruit, banana, apple, orange, or anything fresh. We are all in one big room with no doors or windows. We can’t see any grass or trees. We are all constantly sick.”
Conditions in a San Diego concentration camp, via message hurled out in a bottle.
Conditions in a San Diego concentration camp, via message hurled out in a bottle.
![“Good afternoon. My name is [redacted] and my wife and I have been at OMDC since April 15 2025,” reads a handwritten note, wrapped around a lotion bottle that was thrown by a man held captive inside the Otay Mesa Detention Center (OMDC) on Sunday.
“It’s cold here all the time and the food is poor,” the missive continues. “For 280 days we haven’t eaten a single piece of fruit, banana, apple, orange, or anything fresh. We are all in one big room with no doors or windows. We can’t see any grass or trees. We are all constantly sick.”](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:tgw3d4hvw3x5ijrxax7lg26u/bafkreiet46krrk7ovnqxsd6vr7ogw2lgame43jsqw25u2ygi5el5i5toom@jpeg)
February 8, 2026 at 1:29 PM
“For 280 days we haven’t eaten a single piece of fruit, banana, apple, orange, or anything fresh. We are all in one big room with no doors or windows. We can’t see any grass or trees. We are all constantly sick.”
Conditions in a San Diego concentration camp, via message hurled out in a bottle.
Conditions in a San Diego concentration camp, via message hurled out in a bottle.
Reposted by Sara Silverstein
I feel so sick reading this. She dedicated her life to helping her immigrant trans siblings, finally got the medical care she sought her whole life, and then a year later ICE tricked her, kidnapped her and used her postoperative status as a weapon to destroy her health.
CW for basically everything
CW for basically everything
She Was Honored With A Human Rights Award. Then She Says ICE Tricked And Arrested Her.
A HuffPost investigation found how the Trump administration systematically destroyed safeguards for detainees, subjecting them to abuse and neglect.
www.huffpost.com
February 8, 2026 at 4:01 PM
I feel so sick reading this. She dedicated her life to helping her immigrant trans siblings, finally got the medical care she sought her whole life, and then a year later ICE tricked her, kidnapped her and used her postoperative status as a weapon to destroy her health.
CW for basically everything
CW for basically everything
One way concentration camps become zones where law doesn't apply is by neglecting policies & standards that would protect health & provide healthcare. You deny laws & norms & dehumanize your victim.
Read "Illness and Inhumanity in Stalin’s Gulag" by Alexopoulos
www.texastribune.org/2026/02/07/i...
Read "Illness and Inhumanity in Stalin’s Gulag" by Alexopoulos
www.texastribune.org/2026/02/07/i...
Two tuberculosis cases detected at Camp East Montana ICE facility
Eighteen cases of COVID-19 were also identified. U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar on Friday visited the 5,000-bed tent facility on the Fort Bliss Army base and said she saw many "chronic issues."
www.texastribune.org
February 8, 2026 at 2:32 PM
One way concentration camps become zones where law doesn't apply is by neglecting policies & standards that would protect health & provide healthcare. You deny laws & norms & dehumanize your victim.
Read "Illness and Inhumanity in Stalin’s Gulag" by Alexopoulos
www.texastribune.org/2026/02/07/i...
Read "Illness and Inhumanity in Stalin’s Gulag" by Alexopoulos
www.texastribune.org/2026/02/07/i...
(7/7) "what would you think
To be thus used? This is the strangers’ case;
And this your mountainish inhumanity."
William Shakespeare, in "Sir Thomas More," Act 2, Scene 4 (c. 1590s)
To be thus used? This is the strangers’ case;
And this your mountainish inhumanity."
William Shakespeare, in "Sir Thomas More," Act 2, Scene 4 (c. 1590s)
February 5, 2026 at 8:53 PM
(7/7) "what would you think
To be thus used? This is the strangers’ case;
And this your mountainish inhumanity."
William Shakespeare, in "Sir Thomas More," Act 2, Scene 4 (c. 1590s)
To be thus used? This is the strangers’ case;
And this your mountainish inhumanity."
William Shakespeare, in "Sir Thomas More," Act 2, Scene 4 (c. 1590s)
(6/7) "would you be pleased
To find a nation of such barbarous temper,
That, breaking out in hideous violence,
Would not afford you an abode on earth,
Whet their detested knives against your throats,
Spurn you like dogs, and like as if that God
Owed not nor made not you [...]
To find a nation of such barbarous temper,
That, breaking out in hideous violence,
Would not afford you an abode on earth,
Whet their detested knives against your throats,
Spurn you like dogs, and like as if that God
Owed not nor made not you [...]
February 5, 2026 at 8:53 PM
(6/7) "would you be pleased
To find a nation of such barbarous temper,
That, breaking out in hideous violence,
Would not afford you an abode on earth,
Whet their detested knives against your throats,
Spurn you like dogs, and like as if that God
Owed not nor made not you [...]
To find a nation of such barbarous temper,
That, breaking out in hideous violence,
Would not afford you an abode on earth,
Whet their detested knives against your throats,
Spurn you like dogs, and like as if that God
Owed not nor made not you [...]
(5/7) "Say now the king [...]
Should so much come too short of your great trespass
As but to banish you, whither would you go?
What country, by the nature of your error,
Should give you harbor? [...]
Why, you must needs be strangers:
Should so much come too short of your great trespass
As but to banish you, whither would you go?
What country, by the nature of your error,
Should give you harbor? [...]
Why, you must needs be strangers:
February 5, 2026 at 8:53 PM
(5/7) "Say now the king [...]
Should so much come too short of your great trespass
As but to banish you, whither would you go?
What country, by the nature of your error,
Should give you harbor? [...]
Why, you must needs be strangers:
Should so much come too short of your great trespass
As but to banish you, whither would you go?
What country, by the nature of your error,
Should give you harbor? [...]
Why, you must needs be strangers:
(4/7) "For other ruffians, as their fancies wrought,
With self same hand, self reasons, and self right,
Would shark on you, and men like ravenous fishes
Would feed on one another.
With self same hand, self reasons, and self right,
Would shark on you, and men like ravenous fishes
Would feed on one another.
February 5, 2026 at 8:53 PM
(4/7) "For other ruffians, as their fancies wrought,
With self same hand, self reasons, and self right,
Would shark on you, and men like ravenous fishes
Would feed on one another.
With self same hand, self reasons, and self right,
Would shark on you, and men like ravenous fishes
Would feed on one another.
(3/7) "I’ll tell you. You had taught
How insolence and strong hand should prevail,
How order should be quelled; and by this pattern
Not one of you should live an aged man,
How insolence and strong hand should prevail,
How order should be quelled; and by this pattern
Not one of you should live an aged man,
February 5, 2026 at 8:53 PM
(3/7) "I’ll tell you. You had taught
How insolence and strong hand should prevail,
How order should be quelled; and by this pattern
Not one of you should live an aged man,
How insolence and strong hand should prevail,
How order should be quelled; and by this pattern
Not one of you should live an aged man,
(2/7) "Imagine that you see the wretched strangers,
Their babies at their backs and their poor luggage,
Plodding to the ports and coasts for transportation,
And that you sit as kings in your desires,
Authority quite silent by your brawl,
And you in ruff of your opinions clothed;
What had you got?
Their babies at their backs and their poor luggage,
Plodding to the ports and coasts for transportation,
And that you sit as kings in your desires,
Authority quite silent by your brawl,
And you in ruff of your opinions clothed;
What had you got?
February 5, 2026 at 8:53 PM
(2/7) "Imagine that you see the wretched strangers,
Their babies at their backs and their poor luggage,
Plodding to the ports and coasts for transportation,
And that you sit as kings in your desires,
Authority quite silent by your brawl,
And you in ruff of your opinions clothed;
What had you got?
Their babies at their backs and their poor luggage,
Plodding to the ports and coasts for transportation,
And that you sit as kings in your desires,
Authority quite silent by your brawl,
And you in ruff of your opinions clothed;
What had you got?
"this your mountanish inhumanity"
Shakespeare of course had the words to describe attacks on immigrants, writing 400 years ago. (1/7)
www.tiktok.com/@colbertlate...
Shakespeare of course had the words to describe attacks on immigrants, writing 400 years ago. (1/7)
www.tiktok.com/@colbertlate...
Leave it to Shakespeare and Ian McKellen to so eloquently speak of man's mountainish inhumanity. See Ian McKellan in AN ARK, a new play for mixed reality, at @The Shed now! #Colbert #IanMcKellen #Sh...
TikTok video by colbertlateshow
www.tiktok.com
February 5, 2026 at 8:53 PM
"this your mountanish inhumanity"
Shakespeare of course had the words to describe attacks on immigrants, writing 400 years ago. (1/7)
www.tiktok.com/@colbertlate...
Shakespeare of course had the words to describe attacks on immigrants, writing 400 years ago. (1/7)
www.tiktok.com/@colbertlate...
Reposted by Sara Silverstein
Expectant mothers were left so hungry after the U.S. cut foreign food aid that one woman ate clay and charcoal.
Her baby struggled to gain weight after being born prematurely.
By @annamaria.bsky.social, photos by @storitellah.com & illustrations by Phoebe Ouma
Her baby struggled to gain weight after being born prematurely.
By @annamaria.bsky.social, photos by @storitellah.com & illustrations by Phoebe Ouma
What I Saw at a Maternity Ward in Kenya After the U.S. Cut Off Food and Foreign Aid
Photographs tell a story of two mothers determined to help their babies gain enough weight to leave the hospital — only to face little to no food again.
www.propublica.org
December 29, 2025 at 4:00 AM
Expectant mothers were left so hungry after the U.S. cut foreign food aid that one woman ate clay and charcoal.
Her baby struggled to gain weight after being born prematurely.
By @annamaria.bsky.social, photos by @storitellah.com & illustrations by Phoebe Ouma
Her baby struggled to gain weight after being born prematurely.
By @annamaria.bsky.social, photos by @storitellah.com & illustrations by Phoebe Ouma
"Trump officials celebrated with cake after slashing aid. Then people died of cholera."
John Gai carried his sick father to a nearby clinic in a wheelbarrow, but he died from cholera on the way.
Gai then pushed the wheelbarrow for hours through the camp to take him to the cemetery: “Nobody should have to carry a dead body among the living.”
Gai then pushed the wheelbarrow for hours through the camp to take him to the cemetery: “Nobody should have to carry a dead body among the living.”
Trump Officials Celebrated With Cake After Slashing Aid. Then People Died of Cholera.
Behind closed doors in Washington, top advisers made a series of decisions that had devastating repercussions for the poorest country on earth. We went to South Sudan and found people who died as a re...
www.propublica.org
December 30, 2025 at 6:39 PM
"Trump officials celebrated with cake after slashing aid. Then people died of cholera."
The Soviet gulag is one important comparison. I also keep thinking of the classic question of World War II history: "Did people know?" Did Germans know about concentration camps? Did people living next to the camps and death facilities know? How could they go about their lives if they knew?
We know.
We know.
The CBS investigation portrays a modern concentration camp, similar to the Soviet GULAG (like CECOT, an acronym): sadistic guards, 24 hour lighting, isolation cells.
Americans once opposed this inhumane system.
The Trump administration sent innocent people there to suffer.
Americans once opposed this inhumane system.
The Trump administration sent innocent people there to suffer.
The full spiked 60 Minutes CECOT package, clean & subtitled. 1/5
December 23, 2025 at 6:05 PM
The Soviet gulag is one important comparison. I also keep thinking of the classic question of World War II history: "Did people know?" Did Germans know about concentration camps? Did people living next to the camps and death facilities know? How could they go about their lives if they knew?
We know.
We know.
Reposted by Sara Silverstein
For an excellent study of medicalizing euphemisms please see Golfo Alexopolous’s history of the Gulag, entitled "Illness and Inhumanity."
December 22, 2025 at 8:06 PM
For an excellent study of medicalizing euphemisms please see Golfo Alexopolous’s history of the Gulag, entitled "Illness and Inhumanity."
“We should be just as outraged by the deaths that take place out of sight”
@willbunch.bsky.social
@willbunch.bsky.social
It's great that the media, Congress is going all Watergate on one of Trump's many crimes, the 'double-tap' murder of 2 Caribbean sailors
But the reality is that Trump's death cult has killed hundreds of thousands, mostly through senseless USAID cuts
My new column www.inquirer.com/columnists/a...
But the reality is that Trump's death cult has killed hundreds of thousands, mostly through senseless USAID cuts
My new column www.inquirer.com/columnists/a...
The Trump regime murders that aren’t on video | Will Bunch Newsletter
Plus, troubled Mount Airy Lodge is a perfect Trump venue.
www.inquirer.com
December 10, 2025 at 12:38 PM
“We should be just as outraged by the deaths that take place out of sight”
@willbunch.bsky.social
@willbunch.bsky.social
Reposted by Sara Silverstein
Journalists and media: stop bothsidesing attacks on childhood vaccines. We look to you to report what is happening and what the effects will be, not repeat the administration’s rhetoric. The effects will be more sickness and more death. That is not something to bothsides. Hold power accountable.
December 6, 2025 at 4:03 PM
Journalists and media: stop bothsidesing attacks on childhood vaccines. We look to you to report what is happening and what the effects will be, not repeat the administration’s rhetoric. The effects will be more sickness and more death. That is not something to bothsides. Hold power accountable.
Reposted by Sara Silverstein
Heartbreaking. The University of Nebraska will terminate its entire Earth science department.
One of the country's most successful and respected geology & climate programs: gone.
When ideologues & politicians are threatened by the very act of studying climate change, I wonder: who of us is next?
One of the country's most successful and respected geology & climate programs: gone.
When ideologues & politicians are threatened by the very act of studying climate change, I wonder: who of us is next?
It's over.
Despite the fact that the academic council recommended against it, despite the fact that the program brought in more tuition than it cost, and despite the fact that Nebraskans need & deserve this expertise, Earth & Atmospheric Sciences will be cut.
www.dailynebraskan.com/news/adminis...
Despite the fact that the academic council recommended against it, despite the fact that the program brought in more tuition than it cost, and despite the fact that Nebraskans need & deserve this expertise, Earth & Atmospheric Sciences will be cut.
www.dailynebraskan.com/news/adminis...
BREAKING: ‘This hurts’: UNL eliminates 4 programs despite faculty, student pleas
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln eliminates the Earth and atmospheric sciences 8-0, educational administration 7-1, statistics 7-1, textiles, merchandising and fashion design 7-1 programs.
www.dailynebraskan.com
December 6, 2025 at 8:40 PM
Heartbreaking. The University of Nebraska will terminate its entire Earth science department.
One of the country's most successful and respected geology & climate programs: gone.
When ideologues & politicians are threatened by the very act of studying climate change, I wonder: who of us is next?
One of the country's most successful and respected geology & climate programs: gone.
When ideologues & politicians are threatened by the very act of studying climate change, I wonder: who of us is next?
I’m honored to be part of Ukrainian History Global Initiative’s project. I’m contributing on state forms and statelessness. It’s a privilege to be welcomed into the vibrant community of scholars committed to the humanities and knowledge in the midst of war. I have learned so much from my colleagues.
We are told that, under stress, the humanities must be sacrificed. But amidst a war of aggression scholars in Ukraine have undertaken one of the most ambitious knowledge projects of our time. It's a privilege to be involved with Ukrainian History Global Initiative
snyder.substack.com/p/ukrainian-...
snyder.substack.com/p/ukrainian-...
Ukrainian History Global Initiative
The Creative Humanities During a War of Destruction
snyder.substack.com
December 7, 2025 at 12:33 AM
I’m honored to be part of Ukrainian History Global Initiative’s project. I’m contributing on state forms and statelessness. It’s a privilege to be welcomed into the vibrant community of scholars committed to the humanities and knowledge in the midst of war. I have learned so much from my colleagues.
Journalists and media: stop bothsidesing attacks on childhood vaccines. We look to you to report what is happening and what the effects will be, not repeat the administration’s rhetoric. The effects will be more sickness and more death. That is not something to bothsides. Hold power accountable.
December 6, 2025 at 4:03 PM
Journalists and media: stop bothsidesing attacks on childhood vaccines. We look to you to report what is happening and what the effects will be, not repeat the administration’s rhetoric. The effects will be more sickness and more death. That is not something to bothsides. Hold power accountable.
Reposted by Sara Silverstein
Hugely proud of and happy for Prof David Petruccelli, whose history of Interpol is published by OUP today. It provides a complete revision of a major chapter of the history of international policing & is full of amazing anecdotes from the history of international crime
global.oup.com/academic/pro...
global.oup.com/academic/pro...
global.oup.com
December 5, 2025 at 6:04 PM
Hugely proud of and happy for Prof David Petruccelli, whose history of Interpol is published by OUP today. It provides a complete revision of a major chapter of the history of international policing & is full of amazing anecdotes from the history of international crime
global.oup.com/academic/pro...
global.oup.com/academic/pro...
They are pro-disease and pro-death — for our children.
Name names. Shame on all the ACIP members who voted to strip the recommendation for the birth dose of the HBV vaccine. Call them out. Give them no peace. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/05/h...
An End to Hepatitis B Shots for All Newborns
www.nytimes.com
December 5, 2025 at 4:47 PM
They are pro-disease and pro-death — for our children.
Reposted by Sara Silverstein
Georgian authorities have adopted a series of laws that unjustifiably interfere with the right to peaceful assembly and are being used to suppress dissent.
People are being detained or slapped with ruinous fines for exercising their fundamental rights.
People are being detained or slapped with ruinous fines for exercising their fundamental rights.
Georgia: Repressive Laws Effectively Criminalize Peaceful Protests
(Berlin, December 4, 2025) – Georgian authorities have adopted a series of laws that unjustifiably interfere with the right to peaceful assembly and are being used to suppress dissent, Human Rights Wa...
www.hrw.org
December 5, 2025 at 10:00 AM
Georgian authorities have adopted a series of laws that unjustifiably interfere with the right to peaceful assembly and are being used to suppress dissent.
People are being detained or slapped with ruinous fines for exercising their fundamental rights.
People are being detained or slapped with ruinous fines for exercising their fundamental rights.
Reposted by Sara Silverstein
This fetid landmark, this historical stain on humanity is primarily due to the stunningly reckless obliteration of America's foreign assistance agency earlier this year.
Led by the richest man on earth. In secret, on a weekend. With zero analysis or discussion of its catastrophic impacts.
Led by the richest man on earth. In secret, on a weekend. With zero analysis or discussion of its catastrophic impacts.
For First Time in Decades, Child Deaths Will Rise This Year
Almost a quarter of a million more children around the world are projected to die in 2025 than in 2024.
www.wsj.com
December 4, 2025 at 4:18 PM
This fetid landmark, this historical stain on humanity is primarily due to the stunningly reckless obliteration of America's foreign assistance agency earlier this year.
Led by the richest man on earth. In secret, on a weekend. With zero analysis or discussion of its catastrophic impacts.
Led by the richest man on earth. In secret, on a weekend. With zero analysis or discussion of its catastrophic impacts.
Reposted by Sara Silverstein
While we're reacting to Prasad's anti-vax proclamations, it's helpful to read of responses to shared challenges in other places. Romania's anti-vax is tied up in memories of authoritarianism, an underfunded health system, & disinformation. Rebuilding trust in politics and public health go together.
In 2024, Romania, an upper middle income European country, had over 30,000 cases — putting it on the world's top ten measles list. Its vaccination rate hovers around 60%. How did this happen?
Are there lessons for the U.S. in this European country's struggle with measles?
In 2024, Romania, an upper middle income European country, had over 30,000 cases — putting it on the world's top ten measles list. Its vaccination rate hovers around 60%. How did this happen?
n.pr
November 29, 2025 at 5:46 PM
While we're reacting to Prasad's anti-vax proclamations, it's helpful to read of responses to shared challenges in other places. Romania's anti-vax is tied up in memories of authoritarianism, an underfunded health system, & disinformation. Rebuilding trust in politics and public health go together.