Three Substacks to Follow; Three Pieces of Proof

By Rya Vallabhaneni. "Substack is one of those rare platforms that lets us engage directly with each other’s work, and for that, I am eternally thankful."

When I have a moment, I scroll through Substack. I dawdle on my home page, check out what other substacks my fellow subscribers are reading, and text an endless supply of links to myself for future downtime. Often, this moment doesn’t last more than twenty minutes, but it’s enough to remind me of what we know so well: writers are not alone. Substack is one of those rare platforms that lets us engage directly with each other’s work, and for that, I am eternally thankful.

The following three substacks all deserve a shoutout. From military ethics and border conflicts to the war in Gaza and settler colonial violence, they handle the current, precarious state of our world with diligent research, attention, and care. All resonate with the work we do here at Consequence Forum. All are more than worth a read (and are highly encouraged to follow), when you have a few moments of your own.

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The Voices of War Dispatch: “Military Ethics in the Age of Impunity”

🎙️ Military Ethics in the Age of Impunity

In this episode of The Voices of War, host Vedran Maslic is joined by Dr. Pauline Shanks Kaurin and Dr. David Whetham to discuss the meaning of military ethics today. Beginning with current conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine, they point towards a breakdown in permission structures, the weaponization of narrative, as well as frequent clashes between a warring country’s long-term values and short-term interests. The podcast additionally touches on concepts such as disciplined disobedience and the Jus in bello principles of distinction, proportionality, and necessity. Both Kaurin and Whetham cite challenges for military ethics while also finding a way forward for the field. As Kaurin asks herself: How do we create accountability in the conclusions of these conflicts? How do we make sure they never happen again?

The Border Chronicle: “The Long-Distance Run”

The Long-Distance Run

Journalist Melissa del Bosque begins this story on a long drive to Denver, taking a short break from her job covering border communities in Mexico and the US. There, she encounters an exhibit on the Sand Creek Massacre. The moment immediately sends her spiraling back to our current humanitarian crisis, in which masked agents sweep people off the streets, and ICE just saw its budget skyrocket. But instead of lingering on fear and disillusionment, del Bosque sounds a different note. She asks of several border human rights advocates: How do you manage to find hope? Their answers are wide-ranging: some run, others talk to therapists, a couple of them make art. All take action for the sake of others. They work to ensure their communities are on the “right side of history,” just as Chief Raven and Captain Silas Soule were over 160 years ago.

Radical Books Collective: “‘If you want to claim Fanon, do something: Act.’ - Oliver Fanon”

“If you want to claim Fanon, do something: Act." - Olivier Fanon

This essay and interview is part of a series by Radical Books Collective that links Frantz Fanon’s life and work with Palestine. In it, Bhakti Shringarpure speaks with Oliver Fanon to commemorate the hundredth anniversary of his father’s birth. Touching on the legacy of both his parents, their active participation in Algeria’s struggle for independence from France, and his mother Josie’s work as a prolific journalist, Oliver points to the necessity of reading and rereading his father’s writing, especially in our present moment. Amidst ongoing violence in Palestine, as well as conflicts in Western Sahara, Fanon’s ideas of revolution, resistance, decolonization, and racism are crucial to understand. More than that, they are a call to action.

Other pieces in the series “The Age of Fanon” are linked here.

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Thanks, everyone. Until next time . . .

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