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Philip Proudfoot @philipproudfoot.bsky.social · Sep 8

Read in the style of Adam Curtis: “People thought that by putting flags on lampposts, they were taking back their country. But those symbols of sovereignty were made thousands of miles away by workers who’d never heard of Britain. And while the flags fluttered, nothing had changed.”

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Reposted by Philip Proudfoot

Institute of Development Studies (IDS) @ids.ac.uk · Jun 11

"When the legal threshold for genocide is met, we must call it genocide – and act accordingly."

Read the commentary from Martin Griffiths, former UN humanitarian chief and @philipproudfoot.bsky.social

https://ac.pulse.ly/q5ldukwti0

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Reposted by Philip Proudfoot

Institute of Development Studies (IDS) @ids.ac.uk · Jun 10

"When the legal threshold for genocide is met, we must call it genocide – and act accordingly."

Martin Griffiths, former UN humanitarian chief, writes for IDS and calls for action to prevent genocide in #Gaza 👇

https://ac.pulse.ly/yuhzem0hlv

It is genocide: Humanitarian law must be enforced in Gaza - Institute of Development Studies

On 30 May 2025, IDS Honorary Associate and former UN Humanitarian Chief Martin Griffiths described the situation in Gaza as genocide. Alongside IDS Research Fellow Philip Proudfoot, here he calls for a decisive realignment of humanitarian law and humanitarian action to halt genocide and other atroci...

ac.pulse.ly

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Philip Proudfoot @philipproudfoot.bsky.social · Jun 11

With Martin Griffiths, former UN ERC, we write:

"But above all, how we classify the carnage in Gaza matters. Words carry consequences & must trigger concrete steps. When the legal threshold for genocide is met, we must call it genocide – and act accordingly @ids.ac.uk

www.ids.ac.uk/opinions/it-...

It is genocide: Humanitarian law must be enforced in Gaza - Institute of Development Studies

On 30 May 2025, IDS Honorary Associate and former UN Humanitarian Chief Martin Griffiths described the situation in Gaza as genocide. Alongside IDS Research Fellow Philip Proudfoot, here he calls for ...

www.ids.ac.uk

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Reposted by Philip Proudfoot

Development Studies Association @devcomms.bsky.social · Jun 6

👋 Are you on BlueSky and coming to #DSA2025 ❓

We've spotted @keetieroelen.bsky.social with a paper on poverty, stigma and dignity in Bangladesh and @philipproudfoot.bsky.social on labour, social protection and livelihoods analysis 📊

🔎 Who else is coming to the conference at @cdsbath.bsky.social ❓

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Reposted by Philip Proudfoot

Peter Taylor @petertaylor-uk.bsky.social · Jun 10

Martin Griffiths, former UN Chief and IDS Honorary Associate and @philipproudfoot.bsky.social call for the law to be enforced to halt genocide in Gaza:

www.ids.ac.uk/opinions/it-...

It is genocide: Humanitarian law must be enforced in Gaza - Institute of Development Studies

On 30 May 2025, IDS Honorary Associate and former UN Humanitarian Chief Martin Griffiths described the situation in Gaza as genocide. Alongside IDS Research Fellow Philip Proudfoot, here he calls for ...

www.ids.ac.uk

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Philip Proudfoot @philipproudfoot.bsky.social · Feb 12

Sometimes we focus a lot on the negatives (and there are many) but god I would have loved this when I first started learning Arabic

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Philip Proudfoot @philipproudfoot.bsky.social · Feb 12

One thing AI is actually amazing at is languages. I’ve been asking it to read out loud Arabic news as I’m trying to keep up my fus7a and it’s unlike any other language tool. And chatGPT can also speak and recognise and hold a conversation in pretty much all spoken Arabic dialects too

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Philip Proudfoot @philipproudfoot.bsky.social · Feb 12

Trump is emboldened to announce he will commit war crime because the global north establishment — for 15-months — decided that Israel can act with total impunity.

They destroyed the pretence of entire rules based order. And now they have the audacity to cry about consequences.

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Philip Proudfoot @philipproudfoot.bsky.social · Feb 8

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Philip Proudfoot @philipproudfoot.bsky.social · Feb 8

A good addition to this critical work by Stephen Devereux at from @ids.ac.uk

www.ids.ac.uk/publications...

Was There a Famine in Gaza in 2024? - Institute of Development Studies

This paper assesses the extent to which a famine occurred in Gaza. It concludes that, whilst the answer depends on which definition of famine is used, Israel’s use of food as a weapon of war against c...

www.ids.ac.uk

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Philip Proudfoot @philipproudfoot.bsky.social · Feb 8

Brilliant as ever is Alex de Waal in LRB on Famine Classification in Gaza

www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Alex de Waal · How to Measure Famine

During the past year, as starvation started to appear in Gaza, Israel has clashed with the United Nations and aid...

www.lrb.co.uk

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Philip Proudfoot @philipproudfoot.bsky.social · Feb 7

This could be a new Co-operative + Labour style merger, but socialists and greens,

Can’t see how else we win.

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Philip Proudfoot @philipproudfoot.bsky.social · Feb 7

In Britain, I continue to think that the only way forward is if Jeremy Corbyn launches a new party, just to give it some basic momentum, and a few defections from the remaining left of the party, with a broad alliance from the start with the greens if not a combined new party

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Philip Proudfoot @philipproudfoot.bsky.social · Feb 7

It’s a real struggle to not just collapse into a deep depression; always see myself as an optimist but everywhere is burning, the left is busy organising “networks” and “spaces” and a continued rightward slide feels inevitable.

Feeling particularly doom-pilled today.

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Philip Proudfoot @philipproudfoot.bsky.social · Feb 6

Google Earth / Maps is now updating its satellite imagery of Gaza.

We now have a top-down view of some of the worst atrocities committed since the Second World War.

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Philip Proudfoot @philipproudfoot.bsky.social · Feb 5

For Development Studies / Academic BlueSky (if it exists here) … our new paper on the politics of social assistance in Lebanon is out, with the BASIC programme @ids.ac.uk

It explores how Lebanon’s fractured social contract remained in place during the fiscal crisis.

www.ids.ac.uk/publications...

The Politics of Social Assistance in Lebanon - Institute of Development Studies

This brief examines the politics of social protection amid ongoing financial crisis in Lebanon. It finds that Lebanon’s political settlement remains characterised by sectarian-clientelism and fracture...

www.ids.ac.uk

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Philip Proudfoot @philipproudfoot.bsky.social · Feb 4

Michael Burawoy was killed on Monday in a hit and run.

Horrendous. Burawoy was one of the greatest sociologists of labour.

www.mercurynews.com/2025/02/04/o...

Oakland resident dead in hit-and-run crash at intersection

The collision happened around 7:10 p.m. Monday near the entrance to Children’s Fairyland.

www.mercurynews.com

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Philip Proudfoot @philipproudfoot.bsky.social · Feb 4

There’s also a direct causal line from the Iraq war to this exact moment. Utterly mad

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Philip Proudfoot @philipproudfoot.bsky.social · Feb 4

We can put aside any points about HTS or their plans for Syria etc.

What this underscores is just the hypocrisy of “proscribing” organisations

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Philip Proudfoot @philipproudfoot.bsky.social · Feb 4

The main takeaway from this is that it confirms proscription in Britain is a political tool not objective application of law:

Countless journalists detained for writing about Palestine, but these two jokers can have a chat with the leader of a still proscribed organisation.

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Philip Proudfoot @philipproudfoot.bsky.social · Feb 4

What we know is aid — in its current form — isn’t helping to end crises. They keep growing. The US-led system functions to, at best, contain emergencies and exert influence, warding off other actors.

USAID attacks are bad, but let’s not pretend the old system was on the side of the angels.

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Philip Proudfoot @philipproudfoot.bsky.social · Feb 4

Humanitarianism started as a collection of amateurs, often socialist as much as religious. Over time, it became increasingly reliant on donor states predominantly in the global north. Inevitably, this meant it become an expression of political power rather than humanity.

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Philip Proudfoot @philipproudfoot.bsky.social · Feb 4

Aid — since it was formalised and linked to gov — has always served as a state arm.

Trump merging USAID to the DoS is an acknowledgement of that fact. The same as DFID into FCDO.

In some sense, this was inevitable, given the decline of activism and rise of donor-power.

We need a new model.

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Philip Proudfoot @philipproudfoot.bsky.social · Feb 3

Over at the other place, people seem to have not heard of a printer.

Image of a supermarket shelf in Canada with signs over American spirits, “buy Canadian instead”

In reply a person says, “this was planned you don’t just get signs like this overnight”

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