Monica Marks
Prof of Middle East Politics at NYU Abu Dhabi. Tunisia, Turkey, Gulf. PhD St Antony's College, Oxford. Rhodes, Fulbright, Harvard WCFIA. 14 years writing on Tunisia.
Religion & democracy. Tango & bizarre travel enthusiast. Perpetually craving Istanbul.
- Reposted by Monica MarksAnd if you have time then this might interest you: www.spectator.com.au/2025/12/the-...
- Can’t believe it, but I’m en route to Antarctica. Seeing this continent—whose fast-shifting geopolitical significance & massive climate change vulnerabilities must concern us all—feels like the journey of a lifetime.
- Travelling to a new place always motivates me to tear into the journalism & scholarship on it. For Antarctica, I am especially loving Eric Paglia’s “Polar Geopolitics” podcast & the scholarship of British professor @klausdodds.bsky.social. Their insights are lighting up whole new parts of my brain!
- Buenos Aires’ idea of Kentucky food bears absolutely ZERO relationship to the fast food & dry Bible Belt country counties of my childhood… And I love it! 😂 Merry Xmas from Argentina, where this Kentucky woman tango danced her heart out today! 💃🏻🇦🇷🎄😍
- Reposted by Monica MarksWorth reading this ….
- Reposted by Monica MarksPeter Beinart declared he wanted to 'challenge Jewish supremacy' by speaking at Tel Aviv University. Twelve hours later, he executed a whiplash-inducing apology, conceding to the BDS movement's purity tests, @monicamarks.bsky.social writes. Gift Link: www.haaretz.com/opinion/2025...
- Very sad to hear of this terrorism (bombing attacks) plot by a far left group in Southern California, but glad it was foiled. Respect to Palestinians like @hamzahowidy.bsky.social who publicly reiterate “not in our name.” AP, PBS & local media have reported on this: abc7.com/post/souther...
- Reposted by Monica MarksTwo Palestinian men have told the BBC they personally experienced the kind of beatings and sexual abuse highlighted in recent reports into the treatment of prisoners in Israeli detention. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
- Ahmed el Ahmed, a 43 yr-old Muslim father of two, risked his life to tackle the terrorist who killed 12 at a Sydney Hanukkah celebration, disarming him in that incredible video. He is in hospital with two gunshot wounds to the arm & hand. Thank you, dear Ahmed. You are a hero!
- Incredible footage out of Bondi Beach, Sydney. Attacks on Jewish communities keep happening globally. Ten people were killed in Sydney tonight. Tonight is the first night of Hanukkah, a celebration of light, love & Jewish survival. No one’s Hanukkah should be spent this way.
- The death toll has risen to 12. Tonight’s Hanukkah attack is one of the deadliest massacres (not counting colonial massacres of aboriginal Australians) in modern Australian history. PM Albanese calls out the antisemitism for what it is. Good on him.
- Amine Mahfoudh & Sadok Belaid were the only Tunisian legal scholars to support President Kais Saied’s replacement of Tunisia’s sole democratic constitution (the 2014 one) w/ his own error-laden pro-autocracy draft in 2022. Now Mahfoudh is talking about a post-Saied transition.
- People need to be keeping eyes on Tunisia. A range of frail & elderly political prisoners—including famous politicians like Rached Ghannouchi—are hunger striking & could die any day now, god forbid. Meanwhile, Saied is undertaking yet another crackdown & discontent is growing.
- Excellent piece. True to his typical form, Joel does not shy away from the contradictions & knotty bits, but looks them head-on.
- I'll be back more regularly after my semester ends, but in the mean time, I'm in the @forward.com talking about Mamdani's response to the protest at Park East synagogue last week, and why ambivalence is sometimes okay. forward.com/opinion/7861...
- Reposted by Monica Marks“In American cinema, as in American life, the siren song of anti-politics is sounding.” @MonicaMarks.bsky.social reflects on recent films depicting a future U.S. defined by vigilantism, insurgencies and violence, for @newlinesmag.bsky.social
- Reposted by Monica Marks[Not loaded yet]
- At night, to stop replaying torture sessions in her mind, Elizabeth Tsurkov recited whole chapters of her PhD that she wrote in her head in captivity. Like Deborah Amos, I was elated that Tsurkov not only survived, but that she remains herself—as fiercely intelligent as ever. A must-read:
- In DC for a conference. Walked up to the White House for the first time in a few years. The accompanying soundtrack here was about as American as it gets 😂 You can’t make my country up sometimes.
- In DC for a conference. Walked up to the White House for the first time in a few years. The accompanying soundtrack here was about as American as it gets 😂 You can’t make my country up sometimes.
- Reposted by Monica MarksWhat makes this review-essay by @monicamarks.bsky.social so illuminating — beyond her rich insights on Civil War, The Order, Eddington and One Battle After Another — is her reading of various left-wing and right-wing responses to these films, and what they reveal about our ideological condition ⤵️
- NEW: Several recent movies depict an American future defined by vigilantism, insurgencies and violence. @monicamarks.bsky.social reflects on what these films and the polarized responses to them reveal about the current crossroads of U.S. politics newlinesmag.com/review/ameri...
- Reposted by Monica Marks“In American cinema, as in American life, the siren song of anti-politics is sounding.” @MonicaMarks.bsky.social reflects on recent films depicting a future U.S. defined by vigilantism, insurgencies and violence, for @newlinesmag.bsky.social
- Trump is now engaging on Sudan. He likewise has the power to mitigate enormous carnage there, as he did in Gaza, by pressuring external elites—something Biden never did.
- Reposted by Monica MarksA good question to ponder--why are we imagining a future of fragmentation and violence as our only possibility?
- My latest piece. Films are increasingly depicting an American future defined by vigilantism, insurgencies & violence. For @newlinesmag.bsky.social, I explored what these films & polarized responses to them reveal about current U.S. politics. Feedback is appreciated! newlinesmag.com/review/ameri...
- My latest piece. Films are increasingly depicting an American future defined by vigilantism, insurgencies & violence. For @newlinesmag.bsky.social, I explored what these films & polarized responses to them reveal about current U.S. politics. Feedback is appreciated! newlinesmag.com/review/ameri...
- Reposted by Monica MarksNEW: Several recent movies depict an American future defined by vigilantism, insurgencies and violence. @monicamarks.bsky.social reflects on what these films and the polarized responses to them reveal about the current crossroads of U.S. politics newlinesmag.com/review/ameri...
- This was the most gilded White House visit I’ve ever seen. Replete w/ horses & flyover welcome. I just watched Trump & MBS’ presser in the Oval. Trump accused ABC’s Mary Bruce, who asked this Q, of trying to “embarrass our guest.” MBS himself fielded her Q more calmly. But it got worse: 🧵
- Live in the Oval Office just now, Trump was extremely defensive of MBS, attempting to shield him from uncomfortable questions. He even said this:
- “Israel’s aware, and they’re gonna be very happy,” Trump claimed, about Saudi getting F-35s. “This is really a great ally.” Saudi, Trump said, has actually strengthened US national security by investing in the US to create jobs. “That creates a lot of power for the United States.”
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View full threadI think it’s incontrovertible that MBS, ironically, comported himself far better than Trump in the face of critical Qs from American reporters in that Oval Office presser. How sad that was to see. Far from modelling press freedom there, Trump modelled silencing of the press.
- Reposted by Monica MarksThe films Civil War, The Order, Eddington & One Battle After Another both register and reflect back at us the miasma of our moment and force us to think about anti-politics versus politics, purism versus pluralism, and violence versus coalition building. A tour de force by @monicamarks.bsky.social ⬇️
- NEW: Several recent movies depict an American future defined by vigilantism, insurgencies and violence. @monicamarks.bsky.social reflects on what these films and the polarized responses to them reveal about the current crossroads of U.S. politics newlinesmag.com/review/ameri...
- So much corruption exists. “The latest project adds to a string of developments undertaken by the [Trump Organization & Saudi developer Dar Global] & bearing the Trump name. Most have been in the Gulf & span Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Oman & Qatar. Dar Global is building Trump Towers in Jeddah & Dubai.”
- If Biden had enforced the Leahy Law on Netanyahu, it would’ve saved both American political parties—& Israel itself—a world of drama. Now both Democrats & Republicans are facing civil wars within their parties that pivot on one litmus test in particular: US support for Israel.
- It’s an incredible position for both US parties to be in. And it’s an alarming turning point for many supporters of Israel to see, as US support becomes not just hotly debated, but the sharpest wedge driving a rift amongst Democrats & MAGA alike. This was all so avoidable.
- If Yahya Sinwar was practicing strategic, as opposed to merely expressive, terrorism, one imagines it was to achieve something rather like this: Israel plunging into the terrorism trap & falling on the weight of its own spear in the court of US public opinion.
- Democracy’s death in Tunisia—home of the Arab Spring—is one of the greatest tragedies of my life. Just spoke w/ London’s Times Radio on Saied’s worsening abuses. Jailed democracy leaders are getting their ribs broken by prison guards. They’re barred from court at their own “trials.” 🧵
- I told Times Radio that the rule of law is less present in Tunisia today than at any moment since its independence in 1956. Pre-Arab Spring dictators did mass trials & systemic human rights abuses. But Saied’s regime is even blocking defendants from their own “trials” & imprisoning their lawyers.
- We also discussed the EU’s complicity in his regime’s gravest human rights abuses—those against Black migrants. Tunisian security forces have raped & even sold Black migrants. In June 2024 Tunisia ended all paths to amnesty. But the EU prioritises stopping migrants over all else. At any price.
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View full threadRead more on Tunisia’s ever-worsening abuses in this month’s @hrw.org & @amnesty.org updates, which I screenshot above in this 🧵. Thanks to their teams including @khawaja.bsky.social. And to you all for reading & sharing this. 1) www.hrw.org/news/2025/11... 2) www.amnestyusa.org/press-releas...
- Reposted by Monica MarksEssential college/university teaching thread. 👇
- Reposted by Monica MarksThis is so exactly right - AI produced writing is like Stepford Wives.
