2024: The reign of terror
In 2024, unhinged acts of violence became normalized. As the year ends, Bhakti Shringarpure lists some books and films that felt cathartic, and writes up a short forecast for what awaits us in 2025.
The past year has been marked by some of the most unhinged acts of terror towards the Palestinian people and those opposing Israel's savagery remain powerless in the face of America's monstrous appetite for anti-Muslim hatred. Europe is also to blame having set these dynamics in motion centuries ago with their colonial conquests, and having proven repeatedly that they have a real taste for genocide. At the Radical Books Collective, we have taken the work of resistance, education, shaping counter-narratives, and community and solidarity building seriously. It has felt futile, desperate, depressing and heartbreaking to see just how hard it is to move the needle.
The dissonance between the utter misery being livestreamed on our screens alongside scenes from award galas, fashion shows, viral dance videos, sports spectacles, celebrities promoting themselves, and meaningless products being sold has become unbearable. When entire TV channels, newspapers and even friends and family members are gaslighting you about whats being done to Palestinians, spending time with like-minded people has become the only way to stay sane. For me, the beautiful, engaged, empathetic and politically sharp Radical Books Collective community has kept me personally hopeful and motivated. As 2024 comes to a close, here’s a list some of the books and films that have served to inspire and educate. Some of these are new, some are older and some I needed to revisit. They all offer direct and indirect ways to reflect on unfolding events, and have allowed moments of comfort and catharsis.
Books
Reem Gaafar | A Mouth Full of Salt
Sara Ahmed | The Feminist Killjoy Handbook: The Radical Potential of Getting in the Way
Sonia Nimr | The Thunderbird Trilogy
Janika Oza | A History of Burning
Elaine Mokhtefi | Algiers, Third World Capital: Freedom Fighters, Revolutionaries, Black Panthers
Suheir Hammad | Born Palestinian, Born Black
Peter Novick | The Holocaust in American Life
Isabella Hammad | Recognizing the Stranger: On Palestine and Narrative
Uhuru Portia Phalafala | Mine Mine Mine
Melani McAllister | Epic Encounters: Culture, Media, and U.S. Interests in the Middle East since 1945
Laila El Haddad & Maggie Schmidt | The Gaza Kitchen
Kate Abramson | On Gaslighting
Films
Bye Bye, Tiberias, directed by Lina Soualem (2024)
Dahomey, directed by Mati Diop (2024)
Goodbye Julia, directed by Mohammed Kordofani (2023)
Black Tea, directed by Abderrahmane Sissako (2023)
True Chronicles of the Blida Joinville Psychiatric Hospital in the Last Century, when Dr Frantz Fanon Was Head of the Fifth Ward between 1953 and 1956, directed by Abdenour Zahzah (2024)
Talking about Tress | Suhaib Gasmelbari (2019)
The Great Indian Kitchen, directed by Jeo Baby (2021)
Highlights of 2024
I want to celebrate the incredible events that the Radical Books Collective put together last year with the help of our friends at The Polis Project, ArabLit, Publishers for Palestine, Daraja Press and the many other members of our collective. We started the year by honoring slain writer and educator Refaat Alareer and read out his poem “If I Must Die” in 11 languages. To launch Insurgent Feminisms: Writing War, our edited anthology of women’s writing on war, we organized 5 programs featuring various themes from the book while making sure to center Palestine, Sudan, and questions of race, gender, coloniality, justice and human rights. We also did a very large event in New York to commemorate Nakba day featuring over 20 writers and artists speaking up for Palestine and we organized literary reading groups throughout the year. And we tried to shed light on whats happening in Sudan through some political and literary talks.
A true highlight of the last few months has been joining forces with my brilliant friends to co-host and produce the podcast It’s Not You, It’s The Media which unpacks and resists mainstream media gaslighting. Produced by The Polis Project, we’ve published 10 episodes exploring topics such as unethical reporting on sexual violence, how headlines are created, the importance of culture pages, Islamophobia, the media’s war on children, the media’s performative wokeness, and warmongering literary institutions, among others. Please subscribe to our podcast on your preferred platform and follow/ amplify us here on Substack and also on Instagram.
Doom and gloom but also some advice
2024 has been literally mind-blowing but 2025 seems poised to be worse given that the entire Western world has made racism, anti-Muslim hatred, land seizures, brutal weaponry, incarceration and white supremacy their only modus operandi. I predict that 2025 will see a massive rise in genocide denial. As the United Nations, some countries, prestigious human rights organizations, and several institutions and influential individuals draw up reports with strong evidence that there is genocide taking place in Palestine, mainstream media and racist, white and Zionist platforms will invest energy and funds in facilitating a discourse of genocide denial. Sadly, we are looking at several years before genocide denial for holocausts other than the one perpetrated by the Nazis can be criminalized.
When it comes to the American empire, Biden and Harris might be on their way out but they are hellbent on ensuring more weapons sales to Israel. The Democratic Party will be leaving the incoming Trump government with a fully funded genocide, an atmosphere of saturated anti-Black and anti-Muslim ideology, a breakdown in freedom of speech and right of protest, a complete disregard for youth, and an utterly broken domestic policy. Europe’s already existing right-wing tendencies will gain a renewed impetus with Trump’s presidency. If the sun is about to set on a year of shocking massacres, we are all about to enter a long night of terror in 2025.
With a Trump presidency and a consolidation of Republican power, the Democratic Party will further their own demise by refusing a reckoning with their values and agendas. They will spiral further into conservatism in hopes of pandering to a rising right-wing. Even though it is clear to everyone that the DNC must seek new leadership, re-activate their progressive, working class and migrant voter bases, and appeal to younger people, they will absolutely not do so in the coming year.
2025 will be the year that mainstream media (newspapers, TV or web) will end up entirely in the pocket of the tyrannical US and European governments. The liberal media outlets will tell themselves that they are progressive because they are anti-Trump and give disproportionate attention to reporting on him, his wife, his family, his cronies, his tweets and his speeches. This will only serve to publicize and normalize his agendas as we already saw in the previous Trump presidency. The media will refuse to engage with issues that matter. Western media and entertainment industry will openly begin to resemble media in places like India where journalism, films and television are actively in service of governmental propaganda.
This means that the small, progressive, alternative and independent media will grow exponentially but these opinions will sadly become even more siloed because of social media algorithms that decide what content you see and also because of the open practice of censorship by internet giants like Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, among others. Thus while alternative media will thrive, there will be a growing factionalism and polarization everywhere in the world.
There might come about a fragile peace in Sudan but the genocide in Palestine will likely continue and we will see Israel settling unprecedented amounts of territory in Palestine, Lebanon and Syria. Despite the popular consent for exterminating Palestinians, there will be some stirring of dissent among Israelis because the country’s already inorganic, heavily US-dependent economy will completely collapse.
And with that out of the way, below is my advice to fortify against a difficult tide, and to keep yourself morally centered.
Stop letting mainstream media control your mind. Unsubscribing from large outlets like New York Times, CNN, BBC, Economist, Wall Street Journal and their likes and divest from insular regional newspapers will not only be cleansing, you’ll find yourself with some extra cash too. And you’ll still be in the know because I made an alternatives list below.
Unleash your inner killjoy. When your politics feels unpalatable to family and friends, detachment can seem like an easy solution. But the truth is that nodding along to both-sideism, racism, sexism, inappropriate jokes, and listening to them defend violent, oppressive structures can start to wear on your soul. Instead, let people hear what you’re thinking. Go ahead and educate them. You might bristle at being accused of being combative and pedantic but remember there’s a genocide happening on our watch, so refusing silence on these topics is first priority.
Shift the discourse. Contributing to fundraisers is important but raising awareness, speaking up, holding firm in small and large conversations at home and at work is also vital. Changing the dominant narrative is urgent. And so is BDS.
Stop leaning into escape mechanisms. Even though some escapes and breaks are healthy, know when to snap out of it. Escapism into soulless entertainment, shopping and individualistic self-care can become a morally bankrupt default mode.
On social media, cut down on consuming celebrities, brands and influencer culture since it creates low self-esteem and depressive feelings, and fosters anti-intellectualism.
Try to be part of something political. Choose something that forces engagement however small and takes you outside of your routine.
Be mindful about the culture you consume. Be careful about the books, entertainment, films, podcasts and TV shows that you dive into because this is where all the political messaging takes place without you knowing its happening.
Finally, here is a list of people and platforms that have literally kept us all sane all year by their commitment to truth-telling. Find them, read them, listen to their podcasts, attend their events, and resolve to make them your main media in the coming year:
Ghassan Abu Sittah | Susan Abulhawa | Bisan Owda | Yousra Elbagir | Francesca Albanese | Steven Salaita | Sana Saeed | Nisrin Elamin | Huda Fakhreddine | Noura Erakat | Fatima Bhutto | BDS Movement | Publishers for Palestine | Palfest | Al Jazeera | Dropsite News | Intercept | Mondoweiss | ArabLit | Middle East Eye | Workshops4Gaza | Mothers Against Genocide | Forensic Architecture | WAWOG (Writers Against the War in Gaza)
Amid my forecast of doom and gloom, beautiful acts of resistance and solidarity will shine, I promise you. It is indeed a difficult and unprecedented time but this too shall pass….
Love and solidarity,
Bhakti Shringarpure