Ruha Benjamin

@ruha9
4K Followers
75 Following
28 Posts
analog girl in a digital whirl
Toni Morrison on Fascism and Censorship

In this reprint of "Peril" and "Racism and Fascism," Toni Morrison warns of the creative depths of fascism's reach.

In These Times
“Amid the genocide, the image of displaced people in Gaza City seeking books speaks volumes. An undefeated people—knowledge seekers, even as they face the risk of being killed or shattered into pieces while reading, or simply while choosing the book they want to read. Photo by journalist Amal Habib.”
Alt text: A flyer reads “Symposium + VR Exhibit, Princeton University, Dec 5-6th 2024” in white text against a red, textured background. A blue dome is below the text serving as the backdrop of a collaged image of a women in a tatreez dress facing to the right of the flyer with dilapidated buildings, white doves, images of women and children blooming from around her. Above the woman’s head, black text reads “The Phoenix of Gaza: From Freedom Dreams to Falasteen Futures” below an orange phoenix.

Hi friends, please join us for Phoenix of Gaza: From Freedom Dreams to Falasteen Futures🐦‍🔥 Dec 5-6, 2024: bit.ly/PhoenixOfGaza.

*Art by Imad Abu Shtayyah + Delali Agawu

My latest on “The New Artificial Intelligentsia,” part of the Legacies of Eugenics series in the Los Angeles Review of Books. Thanks to all who read + share! https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/the-new-artificial-intelligentsia
“In my two decades of working at this institution, I have never seen so many different people afraid to speak… you can see the whole suite of repressive tactics that are making people expressing support for Palestinians scared to speak up.”
https://open.substack.com/pub/rupamarya/p/to-voice-the-unspeakable?r=3lznt&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
To Voice the Unspeakable

On the Fall Equinox 2024, I was suspended from my faculty position as a Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) because of my support for the liberation of Palestinians who are suffering genocide.

"Black faces in high places are not going to save us....if we allow ourselves to be conscripted in positions of power that maintain the oppressive status quo..." - Dr. Ruha Benjamin

Having just finished Ruha Benjamin's "Imagination", my to-read pile is now awaiting the arrival of more new books: https://www.ruhabenjamin.com/imagination-a-manifesto .

What are you all reading?

Imagination — Ruha Benjamin

Race After Technology (Polity) cuts through tech-industry hype to understand how emerging technologies can reinforce white supremacy and deepen social inequity. Benjamin argues that automation has the potential to hide, speed, and even deepen discrimination, while appearing neutral and even benevole

Ruha Benjamin
For those who missed the conversation at New York Public Library, here’s the link: https://www.youtube.com/live/PUsHPZpdz4E?feature=shared
Ruha Benjamin with Rujeko Hockley: Imagination | LIVE from NYPL

YouTube

“THE REALITY ON THE GROUND IS INFINITELY WORSE THAN THE WORST VIDEOS AND PHOTOS WE’RE SEEING IN THE WEST.”

https://www.democracynow.org/2024/3/6/gaza_update

What I Witnessed in Gaza Is a Holocaust: Palestinian Writer Susan Abulhawa

We speak with Palestinian novelist, poet and activist Susan Abulhawa, who is in Cairo and just returned from two weeks in Gaza. “What’s happening to people isn’t just this death and dismemberment and hunger. It is a total denigration of their personhood, of their whole society,” says Abulhawa. “What I witnessed personally in Rafah and some of the middle areas is incomprehensible, and I will call it a holocaust — and I don’t use that word lightly. But it is absolutely that.”

Democracy Now!