The black woman’s burden

You stare up at this man's face in Victoria Square, in the centre of Athens. He's offering you a place to stay and you don't want to think about what he'll want in return. All you can think about is not spending another night on the street in this place, finding a doorway out of …

Welcome to Athens, you are 54,674 in the queue

Burn down Moria and all borders I arrived in Athens the day that David Graeber died and the same week that Moria camp on Lesvos went up in flames in a act of resistance against the brutality of Europe's carceral logic of inhospitability towards refugees fleeing war, violence and poverty across the Middle East and …

How white is your reading list?

Academia can't go on like this. I'm starting a new job teaching security studies and political violence at a major university in the UK. In the first term I'll be teaching a Master's level course, Security Studies, owned by a senior academic who does important and critical work on security in the global south. I …

Locking on in solidarity with Khan al Ahmar

Thursday 5th July was a hot day in the West Bank. Late on Wednesday night we'd got a taxi from Ramallah in the early hours to Khan al Ahmar, and snatched a few hours sleep before the army arrived in the morning. We went to the road and watched as the Israeli military and security …

Green and grey

What land are you from? asks the stranger on the road. It's green and it's grey and it's hard to find a place to camp. Me and R go camping a few days after I got back to the UK. I'm reminded of how tightly controlled all our spaces are. Everywhere is owned, fenced and …

Things i didn’t want to know

The Zen master hit me on the arm and said 'where did the words go?' They left me somewhere in Palestine, between Hebron and the Jordan Valley and Khan al Ahmar. I was writing, elsewhere, but here I couldn't find the words. Which words would I use to describe how it felt the morning after …

A month in Palestine

A few from occupied Hebron   Nakba 70/Great Return March protests in Hebron (14th/15th May) soldiers invade Bab Azawieh and shoot live ammunition, rubber-coated steel bullets, tear gas and stun grenades at protesters, injuring at least 7 in two days.   Below: Israeli military shot tear gas into two boys schools, both elementary schools, on first …

Not just a bicycle race

The Giro D’Italia opened last Friday in the occupied city of Jerusalem. The race is one of the biggest in professional cycling and despite being a cyclist, over-paid and over-drugged lycra-clad advertisements taking the form of cyclists is really not my thing, though I took a political interest in this race. Giro’s publicity material describes …

On a bicycle in Palestine

On Tuesday I cycled from Tel Aviv to Ramallah. Google warns me my route ‘may cross a country border’. So vague, google, keeper of the world’s knowledge. My bicycle has crossed many borders with me. One more today. Or perhaps not. To Palestine? Or was I in Palestine yesterday in Jaffa? Israel/Palestine, Palestine/Israel. From a …

Lone cyclist’s guide to wild camping

I have a habit of continuing cycling until the last moment possible, as the sky is getting darker and the pink of the sunset is disappearing and the cars lights are coming on and I know that I’m still on the road, still pedalling, and I need to find somewhere to sleep. I cooked and …