The Battleground
@battlegroundeu.bsky.social
Narratives Matter in Critical Times
https://thebattleground.eu/ > thebattleground.substack.com
The Battleground is a non-profit media to counter false narratives and propaganda that are eroding trust in politics and the media.
https://thebattleground.eu/ > thebattleground.substack.com
The Battleground is a non-profit media to counter false narratives and propaganda that are eroding trust in politics and the media.
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Homepage
Europe and Beyond
thebattleground.eu
We founded The Battleground in Brussels on Armistice Day 2018, as Europe marked 100 years since the end of the First World War.
thebattleground.eu
thebattleground.eu
"While Serbian protestors are not marching or holding vigils for anyone other than themselves, their example should inspire people around the world who are trying to figure out how to mount resistance to authoritarian regimes in our high-tech era."
@cbertsch.bsky.social
@cbertsch.bsky.social
April 10, 2025 at 11:45 AM
"While Serbian protestors are not marching or holding vigils for anyone other than themselves, their example should inspire people around the world who are trying to figure out how to mount resistance to authoritarian regimes in our high-tech era."
@cbertsch.bsky.social
@cbertsch.bsky.social
“We're on autopilot. We're all very close personally as well as professionally...I literally just have to check in with the team every week and see what they are planning on doing.”
#TheBattleground
@jschalit.bsky.social
Check out the full video on YouTube 👉 www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSa8...
#TheBattleground
@jschalit.bsky.social
Check out the full video on YouTube 👉 www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSa8...
April 10, 2025 at 8:31 AM
“We're on autopilot. We're all very close personally as well as professionally...I literally just have to check in with the team every week and see what they are planning on doing.”
#TheBattleground
@jschalit.bsky.social
Check out the full video on YouTube 👉 www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSa8...
#TheBattleground
@jschalit.bsky.social
Check out the full video on YouTube 👉 www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSa8...
"Lowe built his reputation hyping Muslim rape gangs and promoting the mass deportation of migrants."
In this episode of Left To Burn, @jtwhitenoise.bsky.social dissects the split. The crisis could determine the future of the UK right.
thebattleground.eu/podcast/cult...
In this episode of Left To Burn, @jtwhitenoise.bsky.social dissects the split. The crisis could determine the future of the UK right.
thebattleground.eu/podcast/cult...
Cult of Personality
The Nigel Farage Party
thebattleground.eu
April 10, 2025 at 7:10 AM
"Lowe built his reputation hyping Muslim rape gangs and promoting the mass deportation of migrants."
In this episode of Left To Burn, @jtwhitenoise.bsky.social dissects the split. The crisis could determine the future of the UK right.
thebattleground.eu/podcast/cult...
In this episode of Left To Burn, @jtwhitenoise.bsky.social dissects the split. The crisis could determine the future of the UK right.
thebattleground.eu/podcast/cult...
"Too few analyses affirm that Le Pen had to bow to the law, which she clearly and massively broke, whereas Donald Trump did not. Progressives need to do more to promote and legitimise the rule of law."
thebattleground.eu/2025/04/04/m...
thebattleground.eu/2025/04/04/m...
Marine's Bad Day
The Le Pen Conviction Frenzy
thebattleground.eu
April 7, 2025 at 3:37 PM
"Too few analyses affirm that Le Pen had to bow to the law, which she clearly and massively broke, whereas Donald Trump did not. Progressives need to do more to promote and legitimise the rule of law."
thebattleground.eu/2025/04/04/m...
thebattleground.eu/2025/04/04/m...
"Although the past may inspire us in our struggle to move forward, as the example of Bob Dylan clearly does for Jesse Welles, making real progress requires that we stop believing in the magic of repetition."
@cbertsch.bsky.social
thebattleground.eu/2025/04/02/a...
@cbertsch.bsky.social
thebattleground.eu/2025/04/02/a...
A Populist for Progressives
Jesse Welles Finds New Life in Folk Songs
thebattleground.eu
April 7, 2025 at 12:21 PM
"Although the past may inspire us in our struggle to move forward, as the example of Bob Dylan clearly does for Jesse Welles, making real progress requires that we stop believing in the magic of repetition."
@cbertsch.bsky.social
thebattleground.eu/2025/04/02/a...
@cbertsch.bsky.social
thebattleground.eu/2025/04/02/a...
“I eventually developed an aesthetic out of that for my own work which is the guiding aesthetic for the photos that we publish”
#Photography #StreetPolitics #TheBattleground
Watch the full video here 📸 www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSa8...
@jschalit.bsky.social
#Photography #StreetPolitics #TheBattleground
Watch the full video here 📸 www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSa8...
@jschalit.bsky.social
April 7, 2025 at 12:07 PM
“I eventually developed an aesthetic out of that for my own work which is the guiding aesthetic for the photos that we publish”
#Photography #StreetPolitics #TheBattleground
Watch the full video here 📸 www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSa8...
@jschalit.bsky.social
#Photography #StreetPolitics #TheBattleground
Watch the full video here 📸 www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSa8...
@jschalit.bsky.social
"Labour is set to unleash a new level of hellish welfare cuts. And the most vulnerable people in the country are up against it."
"This system degrades more than it raises anyone up, but Labour wants to make it even worse."
@jtwhitenoise.bsky.social
thebattleground.eu/2025/03/31/w...
"This system degrades more than it raises anyone up, but Labour wants to make it even worse."
@jtwhitenoise.bsky.social
thebattleground.eu/2025/03/31/w...
Warfare Not Welfare
Starmer’s War on the Poor
thebattleground.eu
April 3, 2025 at 3:43 PM
"Labour is set to unleash a new level of hellish welfare cuts. And the most vulnerable people in the country are up against it."
"This system degrades more than it raises anyone up, but Labour wants to make it even worse."
@jtwhitenoise.bsky.social
thebattleground.eu/2025/03/31/w...
"This system degrades more than it raises anyone up, but Labour wants to make it even worse."
@jtwhitenoise.bsky.social
thebattleground.eu/2025/03/31/w...
"It’s hard to know which is more alarming: the explicit assumption that the collective father figure is always going to be pale, male, and stale, or the fixation on corporal abuse of children by the people who profess to be the defenders par excellence of children and childhood."
March 31, 2025 at 9:51 AM
"It’s hard to know which is more alarming: the explicit assumption that the collective father figure is always going to be pale, male, and stale, or the fixation on corporal abuse of children by the people who profess to be the defenders par excellence of children and childhood."
"Anti-imperialism used to be a good political name. If it has not become yet another victim of the post-truth era, the truth of post-democracy seems likely to follow."
thebattleground.eu/2025/03/21/t...
thebattleground.eu/2025/03/21/t...
The Russian Shadow
Trump and the Far Right
thebattleground.eu
March 27, 2025 at 3:17 PM
"Anti-imperialism used to be a good political name. If it has not become yet another victim of the post-truth era, the truth of post-democracy seems likely to follow."
thebattleground.eu/2025/03/21/t...
thebattleground.eu/2025/03/21/t...
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.
thebattleground.eu/2025/03/20/w...
thebattleground.eu/2025/03/20/w...
When Governance Falters
A Greek Tragedy: One Day, a Deadly Shipwreck, and the Human Cost of the Refugee Crisis, by Jeanne Carstensen
thebattleground.eu
March 21, 2025 at 1:37 PM
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.
thebattleground.eu/2025/03/20/w...
thebattleground.eu/2025/03/20/w...
The more people speak out, the more likely they’ll become targets. Charlie Bertsch, on Giorgia Meloni’s lawsuit against Placebo’s Brian Molko, and mounting pressures on freedom of speech in Italy.
@cbertsch.bsky.social
thebattleground.eu/2025/03/19/s...
@cbertsch.bsky.social
thebattleground.eu/2025/03/19/s...
Silencing the Opposition
Giorgia Meloni vs. Placebo
thebattleground.eu
March 20, 2025 at 10:43 AM
The more people speak out, the more likely they’ll become targets. Charlie Bertsch, on Giorgia Meloni’s lawsuit against Placebo’s Brian Molko, and mounting pressures on freedom of speech in Italy.
@cbertsch.bsky.social
thebattleground.eu/2025/03/19/s...
@cbertsch.bsky.social
thebattleground.eu/2025/03/19/s...
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.
thebattleground.eu/2025/03/18/a...
thebattleground.eu/2025/03/18/a...
American Democracy is Dead
The History of a Crisis
thebattleground.eu
March 19, 2025 at 1:17 PM
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.
thebattleground.eu/2025/03/18/a...
thebattleground.eu/2025/03/18/a...
Germany’s decision to dispense with its debt brake is a sobering reminder of the costs that militarisation brings and, according to Josh Foster, why its political effects must be reigned in.
thebattleground.eu/2025/03/14/b...
thebattleground.eu/2025/03/14/b...
Borrowing Against War
Debt Brake Militarisation
thebattleground.eu
March 19, 2025 at 10:29 AM
Germany’s decision to dispense with its debt brake is a sobering reminder of the costs that militarisation brings and, according to Josh Foster, why its political effects must be reigned in.
thebattleground.eu/2025/03/14/b...
thebattleground.eu/2025/03/14/b...
"Like Jack Torrance, Iman is a man possessed. And like Jack Torrance, his possession eventually turns him against his family."
"It’s a deeply upsetting tale, with disturbing implications for a world in which freedom is under attack around the world."
thebattleground.eu/2025/02/12/f...
"It’s a deeply upsetting tale, with disturbing implications for a world in which freedom is under attack around the world."
thebattleground.eu/2025/02/12/f...
Father Knows Best
The Seed of the Sacred Fig, Directed by Mohammad Rasoulof
thebattleground.eu
March 17, 2025 at 9:29 AM
"Like Jack Torrance, Iman is a man possessed. And like Jack Torrance, his possession eventually turns him against his family."
"It’s a deeply upsetting tale, with disturbing implications for a world in which freedom is under attack around the world."
thebattleground.eu/2025/02/12/f...
"It’s a deeply upsetting tale, with disturbing implications for a world in which freedom is under attack around the world."
thebattleground.eu/2025/02/12/f...
Massive Attack didn’t just change music — they exposed Britain’s blind spots. "Listening to Massive Attack today is a great way to remember that translational labour." Maybe if we’d been paying attention, we wouldn’t be where we are now.
thebattleground.eu/2025/02/19/p...
thebattleground.eu/2025/02/19/p...
Postcolonial Heavy Lifting
The Massive Attack Legacy
thebattleground.eu
March 14, 2025 at 12:24 PM
Massive Attack didn’t just change music — they exposed Britain’s blind spots. "Listening to Massive Attack today is a great way to remember that translational labour." Maybe if we’d been paying attention, we wouldn’t be where we are now.
thebattleground.eu/2025/02/19/p...
thebattleground.eu/2025/02/19/p...
Angela Davis in The Black Power Mixtape on violence: “That was a different time,” but was it? Her words remind us that the state has always crushed resistance, from Black Panthers to today’s Gaza protests.
thebattleground.eu/2025/03/12/l...
thebattleground.eu/2025/03/12/l...
Learning From the Black Panthers
The Black Power Mixtape, Directed by Göran Hugo Olsson
thebattleground.eu
March 14, 2025 at 11:32 AM
Angela Davis in The Black Power Mixtape on violence: “That was a different time,” but was it? Her words remind us that the state has always crushed resistance, from Black Panthers to today’s Gaza protests.
thebattleground.eu/2025/03/12/l...
thebattleground.eu/2025/03/12/l...
“America is in a fraught condition.” John Foster argues that Trumpism is a form of fascism, but not in the traditional sense. Unlike Mussolini and Hitler, Trump’s crisis is manufactured. But can we afford to downplay the rise of such fear-based politics?
thebattleground.eu/2025/02/21/i...
thebattleground.eu/2025/02/21/i...
In Fascism’s Shadow
The Trump Effect
thebattleground.eu
March 13, 2025 at 4:51 PM
“America is in a fraught condition.” John Foster argues that Trumpism is a form of fascism, but not in the traditional sense. Unlike Mussolini and Hitler, Trump’s crisis is manufactured. But can we afford to downplay the rise of such fear-based politics?
thebattleground.eu/2025/02/21/i...
thebattleground.eu/2025/02/21/i...
Nazism should have killed eugenics. Instead, it’s quietly returning - this time named natalism. Behind talk of saving civilisation is the same obsession with controlling who gets to be born. The far right is back in the business of "fixing" humanity. #FarRight
thebattleground.eu/2025/03/07/p...
thebattleground.eu/2025/03/07/p...
Perfection Means Death
The Return of Eugenics
thebattleground.eu
March 13, 2025 at 3:16 PM
Nazism should have killed eugenics. Instead, it’s quietly returning - this time named natalism. Behind talk of saving civilisation is the same obsession with controlling who gets to be born. The far right is back in the business of "fixing" humanity. #FarRight
thebattleground.eu/2025/03/07/p...
thebattleground.eu/2025/03/07/p...
5Pillars claims to represent British Muslims, but when you platform far-right extremists like Griffin and Collett, the lines blur. Is this a defence of free speech or something darker? #5Pillars #FarRight #FreeSpeech
thebattleground.eu/2025/02/24/n...
thebattleground.eu/2025/02/24/n...
News for British Muslims
5Pillars and the Far Right
thebattleground.eu
March 12, 2025 at 4:16 PM
5Pillars claims to represent British Muslims, but when you platform far-right extremists like Griffin and Collett, the lines blur. Is this a defence of free speech or something darker? #5Pillars #FarRight #FreeSpeech
thebattleground.eu/2025/02/24/n...
thebattleground.eu/2025/02/24/n...
The US may be a declining hegemon, but the old days of Great Power politics are back. Josh White, on Keir Starmer’s attempt to lead on Ukraine, and remilitarise the UK.
thebattleground.eu/2025/03/10/s...
thebattleground.eu/2025/03/10/s...
Starmer's War
The Ukraine Gamble
thebattleground.eu
March 12, 2025 at 2:55 PM
The US may be a declining hegemon, but the old days of Great Power politics are back. Josh White, on Keir Starmer’s attempt to lead on Ukraine, and remilitarise the UK.
thebattleground.eu/2025/03/10/s...
thebattleground.eu/2025/03/10/s...
"Print the legend." Tony Wilson's words in 24 Hour Party People make us question: how far should we trust the stories we hear, especially when they’re told so well? Do we crave the myth more than the truth? #24HourPartyPeople #Film #ManchesterScene #FactVsFiction
thebattleground.eu/2025/02/26/d...
thebattleground.eu/2025/02/26/d...
Drugs Will Tear Us Apart
24 Hour Party People, Directed by Michael Winterbottom
thebattleground.eu
March 12, 2025 at 12:12 PM
"Print the legend." Tony Wilson's words in 24 Hour Party People make us question: how far should we trust the stories we hear, especially when they’re told so well? Do we crave the myth more than the truth? #24HourPartyPeople #Film #ManchesterScene #FactVsFiction
thebattleground.eu/2025/02/26/d...
thebattleground.eu/2025/02/26/d...
At a time when surveillance has never been more exhaustive, producing records like Natalie Berdizes’ Street Life may turn out to be the best way of doing politics. Charlie Bertsch, on the art of disguising protestors, not protests.
@cbertsch.bsky.social
thebattleground.eu/2025/02/05/p...
@cbertsch.bsky.social
thebattleground.eu/2025/02/05/p...
Protest in Code
Natalie Beridze’s Street Life
thebattleground.eu
March 10, 2025 at 4:05 PM
At a time when surveillance has never been more exhaustive, producing records like Natalie Berdizes’ Street Life may turn out to be the best way of doing politics. Charlie Bertsch, on the art of disguising protestors, not protests.
@cbertsch.bsky.social
thebattleground.eu/2025/02/05/p...
@cbertsch.bsky.social
thebattleground.eu/2025/02/05/p...
Technocracy has failed. Without something new, the parties that pursued it will soon follow. John Foster on the German election, and why the new government will usher in the far right.
thebattleground.eu/2025/02/28/n...
thebattleground.eu/2025/02/28/n...
New Politics Needed
Germany After the Election
thebattleground.eu
March 10, 2025 at 1:09 PM
Technocracy has failed. Without something new, the parties that pursued it will soon follow. John Foster on the German election, and why the new government will usher in the far right.
thebattleground.eu/2025/02/28/n...
thebattleground.eu/2025/02/28/n...
The far right wants to destroy every institution “infected” by the left. Charlie Bertsch, on Antonio Gramsci, and his influence on the Reactionary International.
@cbertsch.bsky.social
thebattleground.eu/2025/03/05/t...
@cbertsch.bsky.social
thebattleground.eu/2025/03/05/t...
The Italian Job
Rush Limbaugh on Antonio Gramsci
thebattleground.eu
March 6, 2025 at 3:47 PM
The far right wants to destroy every institution “infected” by the left. Charlie Bertsch, on Antonio Gramsci, and his influence on the Reactionary International.
@cbertsch.bsky.social
thebattleground.eu/2025/03/05/t...
@cbertsch.bsky.social
thebattleground.eu/2025/03/05/t...
Europe borders the Middle East, and its politics reflect that. Joel Schalit, on projecting the Arab-Israeli conflict abroad, and why journalists get it wrong.
@jschalit.bsky.social
thebattleground.eu/2025/03/03/o...
@jschalit.bsky.social
thebattleground.eu/2025/03/03/o...
On the Border
Aperture Priorities Contact Sheet #27
thebattleground.eu
March 5, 2025 at 8:19 AM
Europe borders the Middle East, and its politics reflect that. Joel Schalit, on projecting the Arab-Israeli conflict abroad, and why journalists get it wrong.
@jschalit.bsky.social
thebattleground.eu/2025/03/03/o...
@jschalit.bsky.social
thebattleground.eu/2025/03/03/o...