AI Resistance Art & Symbols of Resistance: A Visual Archive
Boston Plaza Demonstration
More…
A Graphic composed by Mentor Ehren Brav
Leveraging the power of AI image generation... Feel free to distribute - I certainly will be.
Christina Goldbaum's latest: Syria, Lebanon, and more
Recent articles, videos and podcasts from on the ground in some of the most fragile places in the world by wonderful alum and Convisero mentor Christina Goldbaum, winner of the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting for the New York Times.
To access the latest news from her: https://www.nytimes.com/by/christina-goldbaum#latest
Christina Goldbaum Wins 2025 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting
Christina Goldbaum, a young journalist at The New York Times and member of Convisero, has been awarded the 2025 Pulitzer Prize in Explanatory Reporting, alongside colleagues Azam Ahmed and Matthieu Aikins. The prize honors their remarkable work in the New York Times series titled “How the U.S. Lost Afghanistan.”
The award-winning reporting reveals how the United States, years before the fall of Kabul, laid the groundwork for the unraveling of its two-decade war in Afghanistan. Through in-depth investigations and frontline accounts, the series demonstrates the consequences of misaligned strategy, internal dysfunction, and long-ignored warnings.
Explore the full Pulitzer-winning series here:
How the U.S. Lost Afghanistan
Courtesy of The New York Times
In one of the centerpiece reports, Goldbaum and colleagues gained rare access to Sirajuddin Haqqani, one of the most powerful and controversial figures within the Taliban, offering a close view into the inner workings of the regime now governing Afghanistan.
Read the story: Sirajuddin Haqqani Is a Taliban Hard-Liner and Power Broker
A Voice for Critical Truths
Goldbaum’s recognition marks a significant moment not only for foreign reporting but for a new generation of journalists pushing boundaries in international investigative work. Her reporting has consistently centered the lived realities of those caught in conflict, while critically examining U.S. policy decisions with rigor and clarity.
Goldbaum has become known for her fieldwork in difficult and often dangerous conditions. Her work in Afghanistan stands as a testament to the power of explanatory journalism to illuminate complex geopolitical failures with humanity and urgency.
For more on Pulitzer Prize winners and featured stories, visit: Pulitzer.org
To explore more of Goldbaum’s international reporting, follow her work at The New York Times
Navigating Humanitarian Realities: OCHA oPt’s Mapping Resources
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the occupied Palestinian territory (OCHA oPt) offers a valuable collection of interactive and thematic maps that aid understanding of humanitarian conditions. These maps shed light on issues ranging from movement restrictions and displacement to access to essential services.
Understanding the Maps
OCHA oPt’s Maps section organizes visual data into several categories and filters:
Themes such as access to services (health, education, water, sanitation), displacement, casualties, destruction of property, and movement and access issues like blockades or checkpoints.
Areas covering geographic zones including the West Bank (including Area C and East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip.
Types of maps, including barrier maps, closure maps, situation maps, thematic maps, and reference maps.
Years, offering a timeline of changes from 2015 onward.
Featured Maps & Highlights
Recent featured products include:
West Bank Access Restrictions Map | July 2025, detailing areas where movement is limited.
Population and Internal Displacement since 7 October 2023 | Gaza Strip, showing displacement patterns after renewed conflict.
Gaza Strip Access and Movement | July 2024, illustrating constraints on mobility and humanitarian access.
Gaza Strip: Humanitarian Access Constraints, updated as of June 2024.
These visual tools help stakeholders—from aid agencies to community leaders—analyze and respond to evolving humanitarian needs.
Learn more here: https://www.ochaopt.org/maps
The 2025 Goldziher Prize Opens for Submissions
The Goldziher Prize has announced its 2025 call for entries, seeking journalists and digital creators whose work illuminates stories of solidarity between Jews and Muslims. At a time when discourse is dominated by violence, polarization, and the rise of both Islamophobia and antisemitism, the prize seeks to highlight overlooked narratives of cooperation, connection, and hope.
Beyond the Binary of Conflict
Mainstream coverage often reduces Jewish–Muslim relations to a framework of conflict. The Goldziher Prize encourages storytelling that moves past this binary to explore the deeper truths — the relationships sustained by shared history, high-level diplomacy, everyday acts of decency, and a stubborn hope for something better.
The 2025 competition specifically invites journalism and opinion pieces that may grapple with contradictions and uncertainties but ultimately broaden public understanding. From accounts of international negotiations to local community collaborations, the prize values work that sparks curiosity and challenges stereotypes.
Honoring a Legacy
Named in honor of Ignác Goldziher, a 19th-century Hungarian scholar of Islam who championed cross-cultural understanding, the prize reflects his legacy of dialogue and respect. By awarding monetary prizes to journalists and creators worldwide, the Goldziher Prize continues to recognize excellence in storytelling that brings to light new and nuanced perspectives.
In spotlighting these stories, the organizers hope to expand collective vision and trace pathways toward resolution in an era overshadowed by division.
For more details on the prize and entry guidelines, visit The Goldziher Prize.
Israel’s Assassination of Memory
Chris Hedges, journalist and Pulitzer Prize–winning former correspondent, argues that Israel’s current campaign in Gaza is not only an act of ethnic cleansing but also an attempt to erase cultural memory itself.
The Razing of Gaza
According to Hedges, Israel’s operations have escalated beyond military assault into the deliberate destruction of Gaza City, one of the oldest cities in the world. Bulldozers, tanks, and jets are reducing neighborhoods to rubble while food and water supplies collapse under siege. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) has confirmed famine conditions in Gaza City, with over 500,000 people facing starvation and nearly 300 already dead from hunger, including more than 100 children.
Cultural Erasure
The essay details the destruction of historic and religious sites: the Great Omari Mosque, the Qasr al-Basha fortress, the Barquq Castle, Roman cemeteries, and even Anthedon Harbor dating back to 1100 B.C. Hedges compares this obliteration of memory to the destruction of mosques in Bosnia, arguing the aim is to eliminate Palestinian history and replace it with myth.
The Politics of Denial
Hedges contends that erasing Gaza’s heritage enables Israel to sustain a narrative of victimhood and avoid confronting its violent past. Banning public commemorations of the Nakba and prohibiting Palestinian flags are cited as part of a wider campaign to suppress historical truth. In his view, this denial calcifies society, fuels illusions, and prevents regeneration or reform.
Lessons From History
Referencing South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Hedges stresses that only by acknowledging verifiable facts and confronting atrocities can societies move toward healing. Without this reckoning, he warns, Israel risks not only destroying Gaza but also undermining itself from within.
Source: https://countercurrents.org/2025/08/israels-assassination-of-memory/
Is There a Moral Majority in Israel?
In a recent essay, Israeli commentator Gershon Baskin reflects on the shifting public mood after nearly two years of war in Gaza. He highlights polling that suggests up to 80 percent of Israelis want the fighting to end and hostages returned, even if that outcome means Hamas remains in power and thousands of Palestinian prisoners are released.
Questions of Morality and Accountability
Baskin challenges Israelis to examine whether their desire to end the war stems from moral conviction or war fatigue. He raises pointed questions about the army’s self-image as “the most moral army in the world” and whether the public is willing to acknowledge accusations of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and famine conditions in Gaza.
He cites the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a UN-backed body, which recently accused Israel of responsibility for famine in Gaza, reporting over half a million people in catastrophic conditions. Israel has dismissed the findings, but Baskin argues that without open access for international journalists, official denials lack credibility.
The Black Flag of Illegality
The essay describes a “black flag” hanging over Israel’s actions in Gaza and the West Bank, including widespread destruction, displacement of millions, and continued settlement expansion. Baskin warns that silence among ordinary Israelis risks complicity in policies viewed internationally as violations of humanitarian and international law.
A Call to Israel’s “Moral Majority”
Despite acknowledging Israel’s cultural, technological, and democratic achievements, Baskin urges citizens to confront the reality of the war. He writes that true moral responsibility now lies in stopping the conflict, holding leaders accountable, and preventing the erosion of Israel’s legacy.
According to Baskin, whether Israelis act or remain silent will determine how history judges this period — as a defense of national values or as a “dark age” in the country’s story.
Inside the World’s Longest Running Fraudulent Flag Registry Scheme
An investigation by the Center for Advanced Defense Studies (C4ADS), in partnership with the Financial Times, has uncovered what is believed to be the most expansive and longest-running network of fraudulent ship flag registries in modern history.
At the center of this scheme is Indian national Suniel Kumar Sharma, who, along with a group of associates, has allegedly overseen fraudulent flagging operations for at least a decade. Evidence suggests that this network is responsible for more than half of all fraudulent ship flags currently identified worldwide.
How the Scheme Worked
Legitimate flagging requires ships to obtain official permission from a recognized state, binding them to that nation’s laws and oversight. Fraudulent registries bypass this process by falsely claiming state authorization to issue flag certificates. Ships flying such flags are legally “stateless” and in direct violation of international treaties.
C4ADS reports that Sharma’s network issued hundreds of counterfeit certificates across as many as 12 nations and territories — including the uninhabited South Pacific island of Matthew Island. These false documents allowed vessels, including dozens under international sanctions, to operate under the appearance of legitimacy, shielding them from scrutiny.
Industry Reaction
The revelations have shocked the maritime community. For years, the network evaded detection, exploiting gaps in regulatory oversight. Its exposure underscores the risks posed when private individuals manipulate international shipping norms to enable illicit activity.
Horizons: A New Investigative Tool
The investigation also coincides with the launch of Horizons, a new C4ADS-built platform designed to assist investigators in uncovering hidden links in complex networks. Horizons combines vast datasets — from corporate records and property ownership to sanctions lists — into one of the largest searchable repositories of public information available.
By structuring and modeling this data, Horizons enables investigators, journalists, and researchers to identify patterns and connections that may otherwise remain hidden. C4ADS hopes that both this investigation and the launch of Horizons highlight the value of collaborative, data-driven approaches to tackling systemic vulnerabilities in global industries.
Opinion: Worship of Force and Endless War Risks Undermining Israeli Society
In an op-ed published by Haaretz on August 21, 2025, Ariel E. Levite argues that Israel’s reliance on military might as the ultimate solution to its security challenges is corroding the nation from within.
Levite highlights that Israel is currently engaged across multiple fronts—Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and Iran. While the country has achieved short-term military successes, he warns that these victories mask deeper failures. Social, economic, and political dimensions, often more decisive than battlefield outcomes, are being ignored.
The essay criticizes the dominance of what Levite calls a “Spartan model” of governance, rooted in endless war, militarism, and the suppression of dissent. He outlines three critical shortcomings in Israel’s approach: treating force as the formula for victory, assuming society will endlessly bear the burden of war, and neglecting the need for political and social strategies alongside military ones.
Levite contrasts this with examples where nuanced strategies yielded durable gains—peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan, normalization with Gulf states, and even temporary deals with the Palestinian Authority. He stresses that translating battlefield gains into political arrangements is vital. Without this, Israel risks losing legitimacy, undermining its economic stability, and fueling global hostility.
The op-ed concludes that maintaining a state of perpetual conflict threatens Israel’s future more than its enemies do. Levite, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and Belfer Center at Harvard Kennedy School, calls for a reckoning with the limits of force and a shift toward strategies that combine military capability with diplomacy and societal resilience
Applications to Open for CFR’s 2026–27 International Affairs Fellowship Programs
The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) has announced that applications for its 2026–27 International Affairs Fellowship (IAF) programs will open on September 15, 2025. These prestigious fellowships provide mid-career professionals in the field of foreign policy with opportunities to broaden their expertise and gain experience in new environments.
Fellowship Opportunities
The upcoming application cycle includes four fellowship tracks:
The International Affairs Fellowship
The International Affairs Fellowship in Indonesia
The International Affairs Fellowship in Japan
The Robert A. Belfer International Affairs Fellowship in European Security
Awardees may spend time working in the United States, Europe, Indonesia, Japan, at an international organization, or at CFR itself (for IAF recipients coming from government service).
A Transformational Program
CFR notes that the programs have advanced the careers of more than 650 alumni since their founding. Past fellows include a former U.S. secretary of state, several undersecretaries of state and defense, and leading scholars and writers in international relations.
Application Timeline
Application portal opens: September 15, 2025
Deadline: October 31, 2025
Applicants must be U.S. citizens and demonstrate a strong commitment to a career in foreign policy.
Learn more about the fellowships and application process here: CFR Fellowships.
Little Amna Went to Get Water. An Israeli Drone Killed Her
Amna and her brother, Baraa, were both killed in separate Israeli airstrikes. Photo via the family’s social media.
The story of 11-year-old Amna al-Mufti from Gaza has drawn global attention after video footage emerged of her final moments. On December 21, 2024, Amna left her temporary shelter near Kamal Odwan Hospital in Beit Lahia to fetch desalinated water. Carrying a white container, she was struck and killed by an Israeli drone missile.
Her father, Ashraf al-Mufti, had been recovering from injuries sustained in an earlier airstrike. He described his daughter as eager to help her family, particularly after his wounding. The footage, released on August 17, 2025, shows Amna running down a street before the missile strikes, a scene that has circulated widely and provoked outrage.
Amna’s burial took place in Beit Lahia Cemetery. Her mother, Najla, and younger brother, Baraa, were later killed in a separate airstrike on May 17, 2025, while sheltering in Jabalia Camp. They were buried in Gaza City’s Shekh Redwan Cemetery, far from Amna’s grave. Another son, Mohammad, was wounded in that same attack—his fourth injury from previous incidents while collecting water.
The tragedy is compounded by the targeting of medical facilities. Six days after Amna’s death, Israeli forces raided Kamal Odwan Hospital, detaining staff, including the pediatrician-director, and setting critical sections of the hospital ablaze.
Pulitzer Prize–winning writer and poet Mosab Abu Toha, who recently joined Zeteo as a contributor, reported the story after speaking with Amna’s father. His account emphasizes the broader reality of daily risks faced by children in Gaza, where access to water itself can become deadly.
Read the full article here: Little Amna Went to Get Water. An Israeli Drone Killed Her.
Make-A-Will Month: Supporting New Voices in Journalism with The VII Foundation
While traveling to a safer place, Yazidi refugees mourn family members lost in the fight with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, ISIS, while they were trapped on Mount Sinjar in Faysh Khabur, Zakho, Iraq on Aug. 9, 2014. © Ali Arkady / VII.
This August, The VII Foundation is highlighting Make-A-Will Month as an opportunity for individuals to create lasting support for press freedom and documentary journalism. The initiative emphasizes how legacy gifts can help sustain the work of independent photojournalists who risk their lives to report the truth.
A Story of Courage: Ali Arkady
One example of this mission is the journey of Ali Arkady, a former participant in the VII Mentor Program and now a contributing photographer with The VII Foundation. In 2017, Arkady documented evidence of war crimes committed by an elite Iraqi military unit. Despite significant threats and pressure to remain silent, he persisted in exposing the truth.
With support from The VII Foundation, Arkady’s work was published, and when the risks to his life grew, the foundation helped relocate him and his family out of Iraq. Today, he is not only an award-winning journalist but also an educator, continuing to train new generations in the power and responsibility of visual storytelling.
Legacy Through FreeWill
In recognition of Make-A-Will Month, The VII Foundation has partnered with FreeWill to provide tools for individuals to create or update their wills at no cost. By including the foundation in their estate plans, supporters can ensure the protection of journalists, the amplification of vital stories, and the continuation of documentary projects that advocate for justice and change.
Continuing the Mission
Stories like Arkady’s underscore the importance of safeguarding truth-telling in dangerous environments. Legacy gifts, whether large or small, help guarantee that future generations of journalists can continue this work and that communities worldwide remain informed.
For more information, visit https://www.freewill.com/theviifoundation.
Indonesia at 80: Islamic Roots of Pluralism and the Middle Path
Eighty years after proclaiming independence in 1945, Indonesia continues to navigate the challenges and opportunities of pluralism. A recent essay by journalist and author Sameer Arshad Khatlani highlights how the nation’s resilience is grounded in Pancasila—its national ideology—and the Islamic concept of the ummah wasat, or middle path.
Foundations of Pluralism
Indonesia, the world’s largest archipelago and home to more Muslims than the Middle East and North Africa combined, reflects extraordinary diversity. Its population of 270 million includes Muslims, Protestants, Catholics, Hindus, and others, speaking over 525 languages and dialects. Despite periods of tension, Indonesia has largely sustained peaceful coexistence, which many scholars attribute to the adoption of Pancasila in 1945.
Proposed by the country’s first president, Sukarno, Pancasila enshrines principles such as democracy, social justice, and humanism, and was accepted as compatible with Islamic teachings. Scholars including Azyumardi Azra have described this compromise as a defining example of the Islamic roots of pluralism in modern Indonesia.
Quranic Emphasis on Diversity
Azra and others have argued that the Qur’an’s teachings on diversity and mutual recognition underpin Indonesia’s pluralism. Verses describing the variety of nations, languages, and communities affirm pluralism as a divine principle rather than a threat to religious identity. This perspective links the Indonesian experience to broader traditions of tolerance in Islamic history, including the seventh-century Medina Charter, which recognized Jews and Muslims as part of one political community.
Civil Society and Global Dialogue
Indonesia’s pluralism has also been shaped by influential organizations such as Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah, which collectively represent large segments of the population. These groups have promoted democratic values, human rights, and interfaith cooperation, engaging with local and international partners in the aftermath of global conflicts.
Scholars such as Robert W. Hefner and Aziz Sachedina note that Indonesia offers a model of how religious pluralism can foster active engagement and inclusiveness in multiethnic societies. In this context, the ummah wasat continues to guide Indonesians toward moderation, coexistence, and civic harmony.
Looking Ahead
Indonesia’s story, from independence through decades of change, demonstrates how a Muslim-majority nation has balanced religious heritage with democratic governance. As it marks 80 years of independence, the country’s integration of Islamic principles with pluralism remains a significant case study in how diverse societies can thrive.
Read the full essay here: Indonesian Pluralism: How Islamic Middle Path Ummah Wasat Fosters It.
The Math of Power Structures: Utility Function and PrinceRank
Political power can be studied not only through history and theory but also through mathematics. In the second part of his series on Power Structure Theory (PST), Michael Poulshock introduces two core equations that describe how actors within a power system adapt their relationships: the utility function and PrinceRank.
Beyond the Law of Motion
In the first installment, Poulshock explained the “law of motion,” which models how power levels change based on relationships among actors. This second part explores the reverse dynamic — how actors alter their relationships in response to the overall structure.
PST uses two building blocks:
A size vector, representing how much power each actor holds relative to others.
A tactic matrix, mapping whether relationships are cooperative or conflictual.
The Utility Function
According to the theory, actors seek power above all. They may pursue absolute power (increasing their own strength) or relative power (gaining advantage over rivals even at personal cost). This preference is encoded in a parameter, alpha (α), where values closer to 2 represent relative power-seeking and those closer to 3 reflect absolute power-seeking.
The utility function expresses how “satisfied” actors are with the distribution of power. It implies that actors prefer:
To be stronger rather than weaker.
To increase their share of total power.
To face opponents who are divided rather than concentrated.
For example, an actor may prefer two weaker rivals over a single strong one, even if its overall share of power remains the same.
PrinceRank
The third major equation in PST is PrinceRank, inspired by both Machiavelli’s The Prince and Google’s PageRank algorithm. PrinceRank calculates how “happy” each actor is in a structure, factoring in their power, relationships, and preferences. It also incorporates time by discounting future rewards depending on an actor’s patience (measured by the parameter δ).
Visualizations of PrinceRank show how incentives shift across a network, sometimes encouraging aggression, cooperation, or realignment. For instance, an actor may attack a rival not for immediate gain but to prevent that rival from growing stronger later.
Broader Implications
Together, the law of motion, utility function, and PrinceRank allow PST to simulate the dynamics of power politics. These tools can “game out” possible moves, showing how balances of power, domination, resistance, or revolutions might unfold.
Poulshock notes that PST is relevant across many domains — from international relations to organizational politics — wherever power is contested.
Read the full essay here: The Math of Power Structures (Part 2).
The Long War on Gaza
Palestinians in Rafah, a city in the southern Gaza Strip, conducting search and rescue operations in the rubble of buildings destroyed by Israeli airstrikes, December 14, 2023
The humanitarian and political crisis in Gaza has deep historical roots. In an essay published in The New York Review of Books, Sara Roy examines how more than five decades of occupation and conflict have steadily dismantled Gaza’s economy, infrastructure, and social fabric.
From Functional to Dysfunctional Economy
Roy argues that since Israel’s occupation of the Gaza Strip in 1967, the territory has been transformed from a politically and economically integrated region into an isolated enclave. Once functioning as part of a broader economy, Gaza has steadily shifted into dependence, with high levels of poverty and unemployment. What was a productive society has become, over time, a population reliant on humanitarian aid for basic survival.
Current Conflict and Displacement Concerns
The latest war, which escalated after Hamas’s October 2023 attack in southern Israel, has killed more than 19,400 Palestinians and 1,200 Israelis. While Israel has stated that its objective is to destroy Hamas, critics suggest that the broader aim may be the permanent displacement of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents. Roy cites reports of an Israeli intelligence “concept paper” proposing the transfer of Gaza’s population to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, as well as subsequent inquiries and public statements pointing in that direction.
Everyday Struggles
The devastation in Gaza is not only defined by bombs and airstrikes but also by daily hardships. Accessing water, electricity, education, medical care, and food has long been fraught with obstacles. Infrastructural collapse and environmental degradation—including water contamination and soil damage—have compounded the suffering. According to Roy, these pressures have been immense, constant, and deliberately sustained, producing long-term impoverishment.
Long Aftermaths
The article places current events within a continuum of policies and actions that have reshaped Gaza over 56 years. The conclusion points to a transformation not only of the economy and infrastructure but also of the political status of its people—from a population with national claims to one struggling primarily for humanitarian survival.
Read the full article here: The Long War on Gaza.
Warmer Futures and the Edge of Habitability
A new article by Peter Droege, published in Sustainable Earth Reviews (2025), warns that Earth is moving past its peak habitability and highlights the urgent need for systemic climate actions.
A Planet at Risk
Droege argues that politically set targets, such as limiting warming to 1.5°C or 2°C, were never grounded in scientific reality and have already been surpassed. Global temperatures crossed the 1.5°C threshold in 2023 and continue to rise at an accelerating pace. Conventional measures like net zero commitments, he notes, are misleading and insufficient.
Climate Engineering vs. Climate Regeneration
The paper distinguishes between quick-fix “climate engineering” projects and the broader concept of “climate regeneration.” While geoengineering approaches often focus on narrow, risky technological solutions, regeneration emphasizes restoring the biosphere’s natural ability to stabilize climate—through protecting forests, soils, and ocean ecosystems.
Ten Policy Imperatives
Droege outlines ten urgent policy measures for climate stabilization, including:
Moving from net zero to absolute zero and net-negative emissions.
Establishing climate defense budgets, redirecting national resources as if preparing for war.
Developing climate peace diplomacy, prioritizing cooperation over conflict.
Creating regenerative financing mechanisms that shift global investments toward long-term biosphere protection.
Ending fossil fuel production and restructuring fossil-based industries.
Supporting natural carbon removal, biodiversity recovery, and regenerative agriculture.
Addressing global migration challenges that will intensify as habitability declines.
Broader Implications
The article warns of cascading tipping points—such as polar ice cap collapse, AMOC disruption, and runaway methane emissions—that could push the planet into conditions unseen since the Pliocene or Eocene eras. Droege emphasizes that only transformative, collective action can prevent irreversible ecological collapse.
About the Author
Peter Droege is Director of the Liechtenstein Institute for Strategic Development and a member of Convisero – the community of Trebuchet, a platform of thinkers and practitioners addressing global challenges.
You can access the full article here: Habitability at the brink: Beyond Paris—emergency imperatives for global policy and local action
War and Cultural Heritage: Biographies of Place
The reconstruction of society after conflict is never straightforward. It involves not only rebuilding physical structures but also redefining the cultural and symbolic meanings attached to them. The book War and Cultural Heritage: Biographies of Place explores this theme by examining how heritage sites across Europe have been reshaped in the aftermath of wars since 1864.
Cultural Heritage in Post-Conflict Societies
Through a series of case studies, the book investigates how buildings, landscapes, and monuments become central to processes of post-war reconstruction. These sites often act as agents of memory and identity, carrying contested meanings that can both unite and divide communities. In many cases, they serve as battlegrounds for competing historical narratives and political claims.
Shifts in Meaning Over Time
The authors highlight how the meaning of heritage sites is not fixed but evolves with changing social and political contexts. A monument may begin as a marker of victory, later be reinterpreted as a symbol of reconciliation, and eventually stand as a reminder of contested history. By tracing these transformations, the book connects theoretical debates on reconstruction and memorialisation with the lived realities of specific places.
Broader Implications
The analysis underscores the enduring impact of war on cultural heritage and shows how the aftermath of destruction continues to shape societies for generations. It also situates heritage within the wider frameworks of conflict, Cold War politics, and post-conflict reconstruction, offering new empirical evidence and critical perspectives on how cultural heritage influences recovery and identity.
For readers interested in cultural heritage, anthropology, war studies, and post-conflict development, this book provides both detailed case studies and broader theoretical insights.
The book’s co-author Dacia Viejo Rose, who has made significant contributions to cultural heritage and war studies, is also a member of Convisero – the community of Trebuchet.
Access the full text here: War and Cultural Heritage: Biographies of Place
Modernization to Collapse: How Foreign Interventions Unmade Afghanistan
Afghan poet: Khalilullah Khalili
A recent feature by journalist and author Sameer Arshad Khatlani traces Afghanistan’s turbulent journey from modernization in the mid-20th century to collapse under decades of foreign intervention and conflict. The account draws on historical analysis, personal stories, and academic research to examine how a country once on the path toward a modern, secular state has been repeatedly undone.
From Reform to Resistance
Khatlani recounts the experience of Afghan poet and diplomat Khalilullah Khalili, who anticipated Soviet intervention following the communist takeover of Kabul in 1978. His son, Masood Khalili, left doctoral studies in Delhi to join the Afghan resistance, later chronicling nine years of struggle in diaries published as Whispers of War (2017). The book records the suffering and resilience of Afghans during the Soviet occupation, a period that shaped subsequent decades of turmoil.
The Promise of Modernization
According to scholars Jawied Nawabi and Peter Kolozi of the City University of New York, Afghanistan in the 20th century had developed significant features of a modern secular state. By the 1970s, it had institutions such as Kabul University, a professional army, and a national airline, alongside reforms advancing women’s rights and education. Political modernization, however, was disrupted by successive foreign interventions that empowered reactionary forces.
Collapse Under Foreign Agendas
The paper Afghanistan: The Making and Unmaking of a Modern State argues that the neoliberal approach after 2001 emphasized governance and capacity-building while leaving Afghanistan dependent on foreign assistance. This, the authors contend, erased the country’s history of modernization and undermined its institutional base. The result was what they call a “phantom state” unable to unify or sustain itself.
Paul Fishstein of Harvard’s Carr Center for Human Rights Policy challenges the persistent myth that Afghanistan never had a functioning state. He points to achievements from the early 20th century under leaders such as Amir Amanullah Khan, who introduced constitutional reform, compulsory education, and women’s emancipation. Foreign-backed conflicts, Fishstein argues, dismantled rather than revealed state weakness.
Personal Stories Amid National Struggles
Masood Khalili’s life reflects Afghanistan’s arc of resistance and loss. He survived the Soviet war, served as a diplomat, and narrowly escaped death in the 2001 assassination of Mujahideen commander Ahmad Shah Massoud. The attack, carried out two days before 9/11, left Khalili severely injured but alive. Massoud, regarded by many as a visionary leader, was killed. His death preceded the U.S.-led invasion that toppled the Taliban, though the victory was tempered for Khalili by the absence of his commander.
The Present Day
The Taliban’s return to power in 2021 has brought Afghanistan back to restrictions reminiscent of earlier decades, with women largely excluded from public life. Masood Khalili, now 74, has reflected on the failures to establish enduring leadership despite past victories. “We won against the Soviets but eventually lost,” he said in a 2017 interview, citing a lack of vision for Afghanistan’s future.
The article concludes that Afghanistan’s story is not one of inherent statelessness but of interrupted modernization, where foreign intervention repeatedly dismantled progress. For many, the lives of figures such as the Khalilis symbolize both the hope and the unfinished struggle for a stable Afghan state.
Read more here: Modernization to Collapse: How Foreign Interventions Unmade Afghanistan
A Search for Truth Behind “Napalm Girl”
A new documentary, The Stringer, is raising questions about the authorship of one of the most iconic war photographs ever taken. Known as “The Terror of War” or more informally as “Napalm Girl”, the image of nine-year-old Kim Phuc fleeing a napalm attack in 1972 became a defining moment of the Vietnam War.
The photograph, long credited to Associated Press staff photographer Nick Ut, won both the Pulitzer Prize and World Press Photo awards. However, the film suggests that the photo may in fact have been taken by a Vietnamese freelance photographer, Nguyen Thanh Nghe.
The Documentary
Directed by Bao Nguyen, produced by Fiona Turner, and co-created with photojournalist Gary Knight, The Stringer premiered earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival. The filmmakers combined archival material, eyewitness testimony, and forensic analysis to revisit the events of June 8, 1972.
Former AP photo editor Carl Robinson, a key source in the documentary, claims that the image came from a roll of film purchased from a Vietnamese stringer for $50, but that senior AP leadership decided to credit Ut. This was allegedly done in part out of loyalty to Ut, whose brother—also an AP photographer—had been killed in Vietnam years earlier.
The investigation uncovered further details, including evidence about the type of camera used. The negative of the famous photo appeared consistent with a Pentax camera, which Nghe used, though AP has noted that Ut also owned a Pentax.
Broader Implications
The film explores not only who took the photograph but also the broader issue of how local photographers, or “stringers,” have historically been overlooked and under-credited. Gary Knight, who is a member of Convisero – the community of Trebuchet, emphasized the risks stringers face compared to foreign correspondents, often without protective equipment or institutional support.
The documentary also highlights parallels to the present day, where local photographers in conflict zones such as Gaza face similar challenges to credibility, recognition, and safety.
Continuing Debate
The Associated Press has conducted its own internal investigation and maintains that there is no conclusive evidence to change the attribution. Ut has consistently defended his authorship, and his attorney has indicated plans to file a defamation lawsuit. World Press Photo, however, has suspended authorship attribution while awaiting further evidence.
The filmmakers note that Ut himself may also be a victim of circumstance, as the decision to credit him was reportedly made by his superiors.
What Comes Next
The Stringer is currently screening at festivals, with wider distribution expected later this year. Its release is anticipated to spark renewed debate about authorship, accountability, and the recognition of local journalists in war reporting.
For more details, the original article by Charles Sennott can be read here: A Search for Truth Behind “Napalm Girl”.
Palestinian Doctor Highlights Struggles of Healthcare Amid Conflict
A new documentary released by The Guardian, titled The Oath, has drawn attention to the experiences of Palestinian doctors working in Israel and the occupied territories. The film follows Dr. Lina Qasem-Hassan, chairwoman of Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHRI), who describes the challenges of practicing medicine during a period of escalating conflict.
The Profession and Its Responsibilities
Dr. Qasem-Hassan emphasizes that medicine is grounded in humanistic values—justice, compassion, and the commitment to do no harm. She argues that doctors have a dual responsibility: to provide medical care and to advocate for patients’ right to health. According to her account, this commitment has become increasingly difficult to uphold in the face of war, displacement, and discrimination.
Impact of the Gaza War
The documentary was filmed over the past year, beginning in March 2024, several months after Israel’s assault on Gaza began. By then, thousands had been killed and Gaza’s health system had already sustained major damage. Since then, the destruction has continued, with hospitals, schools, and residential areas affected. International observers, including some legal scholars and human rights groups, have described the situation as amounting to genocide.
Dr. Qasem-Hassan recounts personal tragedies, including the death of relatives of her sister-in-law in bombings, as well as the injury of young family members who lacked access to adequate treatment due to the collapse of Gaza’s healthcare system. She also notes that over 1,500 Palestinian medical personnel have been killed since October 2023, with others detained or subjected to mistreatment.
Persecution and Silencing
According to her testimony, Palestinian healthcare workers in Israel face increasing hostility, both within medical institutions and from the public. Expressions of sympathy for civilians in Gaza, she says, are often equated with support for terrorism and can result in disciplinary measures or dismissal. One of her colleagues was reportedly fired after delivering a speech criticizing the conduct of the war.
She describes the environment as one in which anti-Palestinian sentiment has surged, and slogans advocating for Gaza’s destruction are tolerated within the healthcare system. This, she argues, undermines the neutrality of medicine and erodes the professional oath of equal care.
A Continuing Struggle
Despite the risks, Dr. Qasem-Hassan states that she continues to speak out, insisting that silence renders the medical oath meaningless. For her, the act of treating patients, particularly in Gaza, is not only a medical duty but also a moral stance against injustice.
The film The Oath presents her story as part of a broader examination of how conflict reshapes the responsibilities and challenges of healthcare workers.
Click here to watch the film: The Oath