Shiva Balaghi
@sbalaghi.bsky.social
cultural historian of the Middle East
Reposted by Shiva Balaghi
Rob Reiner: “Silence in the face of authoritarianism is complicity. Speaking out is a patriotic act. Democracy doesn’t defend itself. It requires participation, vigilance, and courage from ordinary people."
December 15, 2025 at 1:41 PM
Rob Reiner: “Silence in the face of authoritarianism is complicity. Speaking out is a patriotic act. Democracy doesn’t defend itself. It requires participation, vigilance, and courage from ordinary people."
Reposted by Shiva Balaghi
We want celebrated actors, directors, athletes, singers to be Good People. We want to know that fame can sometimes be deployed in life- and world-enhancing ways not distorting a person. It tends not to be so.
Rob Reiner set the bar for Good People very high.
RIP to him. He‘s already missed.
Rob Reiner set the bar for Good People very high.
RIP to him. He‘s already missed.
December 15, 2025 at 2:23 PM
We want celebrated actors, directors, athletes, singers to be Good People. We want to know that fame can sometimes be deployed in life- and world-enhancing ways not distorting a person. It tends not to be so.
Rob Reiner set the bar for Good People very high.
RIP to him. He‘s already missed.
Rob Reiner set the bar for Good People very high.
RIP to him. He‘s already missed.
Reposted by Shiva Balaghi
A horrific attack. No one should be killed because of their religion, identity,culture or nationality. No one at all should fear violence like this.
And Ahmed Al Ahmed’s act of courage can be seen by all on video…a man without a gun saving others from men with guns.
And Ahmed Al Ahmed’s act of courage can be seen by all on video…a man without a gun saving others from men with guns.
12 dead at a mass shooting at a Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach.💔
A 43-year-old father of two, Ahmed al Ahmed, snuck up & tackled a gunman to disarm him. Ahmed was shot twice.
Both Jewish & Muslim faiths teach that “to save one life is to save all humanity.” Let us hold fast to our humanity.❤️
A 43-year-old father of two, Ahmed al Ahmed, snuck up & tackled a gunman to disarm him. Ahmed was shot twice.
Both Jewish & Muslim faiths teach that “to save one life is to save all humanity.” Let us hold fast to our humanity.❤️
December 14, 2025 at 9:28 PM
A horrific attack. No one should be killed because of their religion, identity,culture or nationality. No one at all should fear violence like this.
And Ahmed Al Ahmed’s act of courage can be seen by all on video…a man without a gun saving others from men with guns.
And Ahmed Al Ahmed’s act of courage can be seen by all on video…a man without a gun saving others from men with guns.
Thinking of everyone at Brown. Horrible, just awful.
December 13, 2025 at 11:35 PM
Thinking of everyone at Brown. Horrible, just awful.
Reposted by Shiva Balaghi
‘a 3% global tax on fewer than 100,000 centimillionaires and billionaires would raise $750bn a year – the education budget of low and middle-income countries.’
www.theguardian.com/inequality/2...
www.theguardian.com/inequality/2...
Just 0.001% hold three times the wealth of poorest half of humanity, report finds
Data from World Inequality Report also showed top 10% of income-earners earn more than the other 90%
www.theguardian.com
December 11, 2025 at 5:29 PM
‘a 3% global tax on fewer than 100,000 centimillionaires and billionaires would raise $750bn a year – the education budget of low and middle-income countries.’
www.theguardian.com/inequality/2...
www.theguardian.com/inequality/2...
Reposted by Shiva Balaghi
I recently took my father to his rural Vermont hospital and he remarked that the list of practitioners on the board at check-in was significantly smaller than it used to be. There were literally only two medical doctors listed.
Two months after President Donald Trump signed an executive order restricting H-1B visas, soaring costs are roiling rural health care facilities that have long struggled to find staff.
Rural America relies on foreign doctors. Trump’s visa fee shuts them out.
The Trump administration’s demand for companies to pay a $100,000 fee to hire an immigrant worker using an H1B visa has created turmoil among rural health providers.
wapo.st
December 9, 2025 at 2:42 PM
I recently took my father to his rural Vermont hospital and he remarked that the list of practitioners on the board at check-in was significantly smaller than it used to be. There were literally only two medical doctors listed.
Reposted by Shiva Balaghi
Arab Lit Quarterly is making all of their pdfs of works with Palestinian authors free for #ReadPalestine week. arablit.gumroad.com
Subscribe to ArabLit Store on Gumroad
Scroll down for buyable items related to ArabLit (Arabic Literature and Translation) and the Bulaq podcast.
arablit.gumroad.com
December 1, 2025 at 1:13 AM
Arab Lit Quarterly is making all of their pdfs of works with Palestinian authors free for #ReadPalestine week. arablit.gumroad.com
Reposted by Shiva Balaghi
Elliott Erwitt, Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. New York City, USA. 1988.
November 27, 2025 at 1:41 PM
Elliott Erwitt, Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. New York City, USA. 1988.
Reposted by Shiva Balaghi
The Pulitzer Prize-winning art critic Christopher Knight will retire from the Los Angeles Times on Friday, November 28. As the paper’s staff art critic, he published exhibition reviews and commentary on the city’s arts institutions, writing for the publication for 36 years.
Art Critic Christopher Knight Retires From LA Times
The Pulitzer-winning journalist said he'll keep writing, but the "daily journalism thing is done.”
hyperallergic.com
November 26, 2025 at 9:02 PM
The Pulitzer Prize-winning art critic Christopher Knight will retire from the Los Angeles Times on Friday, November 28. As the paper’s staff art critic, he published exhibition reviews and commentary on the city’s arts institutions, writing for the publication for 36 years.
Reposted by Shiva Balaghi
UPDATE:
#BREAKING: Former Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers will immediately leave his role as an instructor at Harvard while the University investigates his ties to child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
Dhruv T. Patel and Cam N. Srivastava report.
Dhruv T. Patel and Cam N. Srivastava report.
Summers Will Not Finish Semester of Teaching as Harvard Investigates Epstein Ties | News | The Harvard Crimson
Former Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers will immediately leave his role as an instructor at Harvard while the University investigates his ties to child sex trafficker Jeffrey E. Epstein.
www.thecrimson.com
November 20, 2025 at 12:40 AM
UPDATE:
Reposted by Shiva Balaghi
The @theharvardcrimson.bsky.social has been on fire lately, and this is oped is no exception. (And worth noting as an aside that no LLM could produce an article of this power and precision).
www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
The Professor and the Pedophile | Opinion | The Harvard Crimson
Summers should choose the most straightforward path and resign. Should he refuse to, though, the University must cut ties with its former president to the greatest extent possible.
www.thecrimson.com
November 19, 2025 at 9:55 PM
The @theharvardcrimson.bsky.social has been on fire lately, and this is oped is no exception. (And worth noting as an aside that no LLM could produce an article of this power and precision).
www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
Reposted by Shiva Balaghi
For context: Larry Summers continued with Epstein despite
2008: Epstein guilty plea in Florida
2008-19: MANY civil lawsuits (including by Virginia Giuffre) against Epstein for child rape/trafficking
2018: Miami Herald's @jkbjournalist.bsky.social blockbuster series on Epstein trafficking ring
2008: Epstein guilty plea in Florida
2008-19: MANY civil lawsuits (including by Virginia Giuffre) against Epstein for child rape/trafficking
2018: Miami Herald's @jkbjournalist.bsky.social blockbuster series on Epstein trafficking ring
When former Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers was pursuing a romantic relationship with a woman he described as a mentee, he turned to a longtime associate for guidance: Jeffrey E. Epstein.
Dhruv T. Patel and Cam N. Srivastava report.
Dhruv T. Patel and Cam N. Srivastava report.
As Summers Sought Clandestine Relationship With Woman He Called a Mentee, Epstein Was His ‘Wing Man’ | News | The Harvard Crimson
When former Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers was pursuing a romantic relationship with a woman he described as a mentee, he turned to a longtime associate for guidance: convicted sex offender…
www.thecrimson.com
November 17, 2025 at 11:08 PM
For context: Larry Summers continued with Epstein despite
2008: Epstein guilty plea in Florida
2008-19: MANY civil lawsuits (including by Virginia Giuffre) against Epstein for child rape/trafficking
2018: Miami Herald's @jkbjournalist.bsky.social blockbuster series on Epstein trafficking ring
2008: Epstein guilty plea in Florida
2008-19: MANY civil lawsuits (including by Virginia Giuffre) against Epstein for child rape/trafficking
2018: Miami Herald's @jkbjournalist.bsky.social blockbuster series on Epstein trafficking ring
Reposted by Shiva Balaghi
“I am a full-time college student from a low-income family, and I rely on these benefits to buy groceries — as do many of my close friends.“
Mia Vesely | I use SNAP benefits, and many other college students do too
Senior columnist Mia Vesely discusses the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and dispels the notion that such programs are misused or unessential.
www.thedp.com
November 13, 2025 at 6:09 PM
“I am a full-time college student from a low-income family, and I rely on these benefits to buy groceries — as do many of my close friends.“
Homayoun Ershadi, who starred in Abbas Kiarostami’s A Taste of Cherry, has died after a battle w cancer. The film, a layered meditation on life and death, won the Palme d’Or at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival.
November 11, 2025 at 6:15 PM
Homayoun Ershadi, who starred in Abbas Kiarostami’s A Taste of Cherry, has died after a battle w cancer. The film, a layered meditation on life and death, won the Palme d’Or at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival.
Reposted by Shiva Balaghi
Reposted by Shiva Balaghi
Reminder that many Republican elected officials aren’t just hostile to Obamacare but to the very concept of “insurance” which violates their deeply held creed of fuck-you social Calvinism. My Le Monde diplo report from Trump I mondediplo.com/2017/07/05he...
November 8, 2025 at 11:48 PM
Reminder that many Republican elected officials aren’t just hostile to Obamacare but to the very concept of “insurance” which violates their deeply held creed of fuck-you social Calvinism. My Le Monde diplo report from Trump I mondediplo.com/2017/07/05he...
Reposted by Shiva Balaghi
Today @TheNewYorker released our short documentary “Rovina’s Choice” online.
It traces the ongoing effects of the sudden shutdown of US foreign aid through the story of one mother in Kenya as she seeks to save her daughter from sickness and starvation. 🎥 1/ www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
It traces the ongoing effects of the sudden shutdown of US foreign aid through the story of one mother in Kenya as she seeks to save her daughter from sickness and starvation. 🎥 1/ www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
The Shutdown of U.S.A.I.D. Has Already Killed Hundreds of Thousands
The short documentary “Rovina’s Choice” tells the story of what goes when aid goes.
www.newyorker.com
November 6, 2025 at 12:41 PM
Today @TheNewYorker released our short documentary “Rovina’s Choice” online.
It traces the ongoing effects of the sudden shutdown of US foreign aid through the story of one mother in Kenya as she seeks to save her daughter from sickness and starvation. 🎥 1/ www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
It traces the ongoing effects of the sudden shutdown of US foreign aid through the story of one mother in Kenya as she seeks to save her daughter from sickness and starvation. 🎥 1/ www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
Reposted by Shiva Balaghi
I really try to mind my business when it comes to this loser, but MY GOD.
November 6, 2025 at 4:04 PM
I really try to mind my business when it comes to this loser, but MY GOD.
"Artists know that you only have to do something once to prove to others that the unimaginable is actually very much possible." Read @hrag.bsky.social's powerful essay on artistic creative imagination and Mamdani's election. hyperallergic.com/1055167/the-...
The Creative Essence of Zohran Mamdani's Ascent
The sentiments that drove his inspiring campaign should be familiar to any artistic soul.
hyperallergic.com
November 6, 2025 at 3:35 PM
"Artists know that you only have to do something once to prove to others that the unimaginable is actually very much possible." Read @hrag.bsky.social's powerful essay on artistic creative imagination and Mamdani's election. hyperallergic.com/1055167/the-...
Reposted by Shiva Balaghi
One of the most important articles you will read this year. Esmat Elhalaby, "Genocide and the Limits of History in Gaza," Journal of Palestine Studies. @esmat.bsky.social 🗃️
Genocide and the Limits of History in Gaza
This essay, parts of which were initially delivered at the annual Indigenous art gathering aabaakwad in December 2024 at the University of Toronto, offers three contributions to the historiography ...
doi.org
November 5, 2025 at 9:53 PM
One of the most important articles you will read this year. Esmat Elhalaby, "Genocide and the Limits of History in Gaza," Journal of Palestine Studies. @esmat.bsky.social 🗃️
Reposted by Shiva Balaghi
The wealth of the 10 richest Americans surged $698B in the past year.
Trump’s tax handouts to billionaires and cuts to health care will only make inequality worse.
We need an economy that works for everyone – not one that works for the 1% and hangs everyone else out to dry.
Trump’s tax handouts to billionaires and cuts to health care will only make inequality worse.
We need an economy that works for everyone – not one that works for the 1% and hangs everyone else out to dry.
November 5, 2025 at 10:14 PM
The wealth of the 10 richest Americans surged $698B in the past year.
Trump’s tax handouts to billionaires and cuts to health care will only make inequality worse.
We need an economy that works for everyone – not one that works for the 1% and hangs everyone else out to dry.
Trump’s tax handouts to billionaires and cuts to health care will only make inequality worse.
We need an economy that works for everyone – not one that works for the 1% and hangs everyone else out to dry.
Huge victory in Mississippi www.mississippifreepress.org/mississippi-...
Mississippi Democrats Break Republican Senate Supermajority, Flipping 3 Legislative Seats
After 13 years, Mississippi Democrats broke the Republican Party's supermajority in the Mississippi Senate, flipping 3 legislative seats.
www.mississippifreepress.org
November 5, 2025 at 4:12 PM
Huge victory in Mississippi www.mississippifreepress.org/mississippi-...
So is he packing his bags???
November 5, 2025 at 3:02 PM
So is he packing his bags???
Reposted by Shiva Balaghi
Breaking news: California voters approved a congressional map that could give Democrats up to five more House seats, countering Texas’s GOP-favored redistricting in a nationwide battle over district lines. https://wapo.st/3WYEm2h
November 5, 2025 at 4:05 AM
Breaking news: California voters approved a congressional map that could give Democrats up to five more House seats, countering Texas’s GOP-favored redistricting in a nationwide battle over district lines. https://wapo.st/3WYEm2h