Before Iranians were killed, they had to become killable. And shows like Homeland and Tehran did precisely that. While an early generation built an image of Iran as fanatical, backward, and savage, recent shows turn Iran into an active war zone.
Alex Shams
@alexshams.bsky.social
Writer, Anthropologist, Editor @ajammc.bsky.social
It’s a Trumpian World Cup for racism and cynicism – why don’t those who condemned Qatar 2022 say so? | Jeremy Corbyn
It’s a Trumpian World Cup for racism and cynicism – why don’t those who condemned Qatar 2022 say so? | Jeremy Corbyn
We must highlight the awful stance of the White House towards so many competing nations, but also the hypocrisy of leaders who acquiesce, says MP Jeremy Corbyn
theguardian.com
Iranian monarchists' radicalization into the global far right is finally receiving some mainstream attention: Boosting this excellent article in The Nation by Alex Shams @alexshams.bsky.social to show how diaspora influencers sold Iranians monarchist fantasies and helped sell a catastrophic war.
My article in The Nation:
The Nation Magazine@thenation.com · 5mo agoIn the months before the US & Israel attacked Iran, Persian-language social media began lighting up with pleas from the Iranian diaspora for the US to strike Iran. Here, @alexshams_ delves into the details of the diaspora campaign—and the consequences. https://bit.ly/4upyhLd
My latest article is a sweeping deep dive into how Iranians were sold the idea that war would bring freedom - and who is paying the price. If you're trying to understand how consent was manufactured for the US war on Iran, please give it a read:
US and Israeli bombs don't just kill Iranians. They destroy homes, communities, and holy places. Here's just one story: a Tehran synagogue with a vibrant Jewish community, obliterated in an instant. But what Israel destroyed, Iranians plan to rebuild: ajammc.com/2026/05/03/t...
Bricks of My Soul: Remembering a Tehran Synagogue Destroyed by Israeli Bombs - Ajam Media Collective
Her voice was marked by shock and disbelief: Rafi-Nia Synagogue had been destroyed by an Israeli missile strike. I was stunned. How could a small, modest, almost invisible building tucked away in a de...
ajammc.com
Our new issue, FOREVER WARS, heads to press soon. Featuring a roundtable on Iran with @peymanjafari.bsky.social, Ali Kadivar, Manijeh Moradian, @naghmehs.bsky.social, @alexshams.bsky.social. Plus @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social @harshawalia.bsky.social @dwaldstreicher.bsky.social +
"When political hopes are divorced from organized movements and instead pinned on fragile fantasies of royal restoration, they risk collapsing at their first encounter with reality. The Afghan diaspora learned this lesson the hard way." ajammc.com/2026/04/17/a...
Recording of the panel I moderated for the Boston Review with four distinguished scholars—Peyman Jafari, Ali Kadivar, Manijeh Moradian, and Naghmeh Sohrabi—to discuss the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran: www.bostonreview.net/articles/the...
The War on Iran: A Conversation
Four scholars on the consequences of U.S. and Israeli aggression, reactions from Iran and the Iranian diaspora, and the warped analysis that pervades U.S. media.
bostonreview.net
Demilitarize the Indian Ocean. NOW. ajammc.com/2026/03/28/d...
Demilitarize the Indian Ocean - Ajam Media Collective
Over three billion people inhabit the Indian Ocean rim and yet the decisive power in its waters lay with an external, unaccountable hegemon in Washington. How did the Indian Ocean become a geography o...
ajammc.com
From the war diary of an art director in Tehran: "To feel sadness at the death of this kid and so many kids like him now brands you as a regime supporter. When all it is is just grief for the catastrophe that has befallen all of us." www.bostonreview.net/articles/the...
The Catastrophe That Has Befallen All of Us
The director of an art center in Tehran on life under U.S.-Israeli bombardment.
bostonreview.net
"Iranians need reconciliation. Trump delivered bloodshed." I wrote for TIME about how assassinating Khamenei robbed Iranians of justice. I explore what his death means in the context of the long arc of Iran's grassroots struggle for democracy: time.com/article/2026...
The Eyes That Watched Iran: Ali Khamenei and His Legacy of Repression and War
The late Iranian Supreme Leader suppressed a determined grassroots struggle for self-determination—often with crushing violence.
time.com
Powerful, heart wrenching piece on the unbearable pain of witnessing this war on Iran and our people: "People greet each other with a joke—“Haha, you’re still alive?” When survival becomes the joke, ordinary life is already gone." ajammc.com/2026/03/11/w...
We are Alive, Tehran is Dying - Ajam Media Collective
“Our neighborhood was hit. But we are alive.” I woke up to this message from my friend in Iran. A message like that rearranges the meaning of language. Alive becomes a threshold, a daily confirmation,...
ajammc.com
“The opposition remains deeply fragmented. Many constituencies—including liberals, democrats, leftists, women’s groups, and marginalized communities such as Kurds, Azeris, Baluchis, and those in southern Khuzestan—do not align with Pahlavi.” @alexshams.bsky.social talks with Asef Bayat:
Iran After Khamenei
An interview with sociologist Asef Bayat on the U.S.-Israeli war, democratic opposition to the Islamic Republic, and the country’s uncertain future.
bostonreview.net
Alex Shams (@alexshams.bsky.social) traced how these networks grew during the war, when communities defied isolation and came together in acts of everyday solidarity. Read: thepublicsource.org/tehran-solid...
The Underground Networks that Defied Israel's War on Iran
From bread lines to aid networks, how Iranians resisted Israel's 12 days of bombardment.
thepublicsource.org
Iran was at the negotiating table. Instead, Trump and Israel chose this: "Iran’s aim is not immediate victory but to raise the cost of the war to prohibitive levels. If regime change is the declared objective, then compromise is not an option." www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/ma...
Eskandar Sadeghi-Boroujerdi | The dry and the wet burn together
The war launched against Iran by the United States and Israel is a war of choice and of hubris. There is scarcely even...
lrb.co.uk
My heart breaks for Iran More than 1,000 people have been killed since the US and Israel started bombing Millions are traumatized. No one is any freer
“Only through autonomous and organized civic agency can Iranians safeguard their own future—and the future of their country—amid profound and uncertain transformation.” Iranian sociologist Asef Bayat talks with @alexshams.bsky.social about the war, democratic resistance, and what may come next:
Iran After Khamenei
An interview with sociologist Asef Bayat on the U.S.-Israeli war, democratic opposition to the Islamic Republic, and the country’s uncertain future.
bostonreview.net
www.bostonreview.net/articles/ira... Superb interview with Asef Bayat: ‘Iran’s leftists are also frustrated with the Western left, which they believe mischaracterizes the Islamic Republic as “anti-imperialist” and overlooks the real struggles of Iranians fighting for dignity and democracy.’
Iran After Khamenei
An interview with sociologist Asef Bayat on the U.S.-Israeli war, democratic opposition to the Islamic Republic, and the country’s uncertain future.
bostonreview.net
I interviewed Asef Bayat about the Dey protests, the broader history of Iranian opposition to the Islamic Republic, the impact of foreign intervention and diaspora voices on the current political landscape, and possibilities for a democratic transition in Iran:
Boston Review@bostonreview.bsky.social · 8mo ago“In a sense, we have witnessed the ‘Syrianization of Iran,’ not in terms of civil conflict (though it remains a risk) but in the brutality of governance.” Just online, @alexshams.bsky.social talks with sociologist Asef Bayat about the U.S.-Israeli war, recent protests, and Iran’s uncertain future:
The U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran mark a dramatic escalation of Trump’s belligerent foreign policy. Essential reading from the BR archive on the folly of regime change, with Alexander B. Downes, Greg Grandin, Neta C. Crawford, @alexshams.bsky.social, @tparsi.bsky.social, Aslı Ü. Bâli & Aziz Rana:
War on Iran and the Folly of Regime Change
Essential reading from the BR archive.
bostonreview.net
Please stop saying the Iranian diaspora supports this war Many of us oppose both Israel and Trump's unprovoked war AND the Islamic Republic We are terrified for our loved ones in Iran cowering under the bombs More than 700 Iranians have already died. This war needs to end NOW
Powerful letter from Tehran taking stock of the violence of the last weeks and the mood on the street: "When politics lacks depth, spectacle rushes in. When history is erased, myth rushes in. When education fails, fantasy becomes governance." www.equator.org/articles/teh...
A Society Exhausted by Repetition • EQUATOR
A young Iranian weighs the protests in his country, and traces the line between hope and despair, in an essay delivered through a frail WhatsApp connection
equator.org
"Iranians face a double bind between domestic oppression on one hand and foreign oppression on the other. But that is not a reason to pity them. It is a reason to honor their struggle and learn from it." truthout.org/articles/ira...
Iran’s Protesters Are Caught Between State Repression and Foreign Intervention
Both Trump and the Iranian government are treating Iranian protesters as political pawns.
truthout.org
“Hardly anything could be more damaging to Iran’s pro-democracy movements than making this unpopular, deposed monarch with ties to Israel and U.S. neocons the face of opposition.” @alexshams.bsky.social on Reza Pahlavi:
Our Man for Tehran
The U.S.- and Israel-backed campaign positioning Reza Pahlavi, son of the Shah, for regime change in Iran.
bostonreview.net
“More surprising were cheers for the attacks heard from corners of the Iranian diaspora. While Netanyahu and Trump bombed Iran, dozens of prominent Iranian Americans waved Israel’s flag and pled for harder strikes.” @alexshams.bsky.social on the political backdrop to calls for foreign intervention:
Our Man for Tehran
The U.S.- and Israel-backed campaign positioning Reza Pahlavi, son of the Shah, for regime change in Iran.
bostonreview.net
"Iranians face a double bind between domestic oppression on one hand and foreign oppression on the other." "Iranians deserve global solidarity." "[W]e are all fighting despots and wannabe-despots in our own context." #Iran #USA #Israel #Protest #Military
Iran's Protesters Are Caught Between State Repression and Foreign Intervention
Both Trump and the Iranian government are treating Iranian protesters as political pawns.
truthout.org
"Blackout does not mean the screen is empty. It has retreated behind walls, behind checkpoints, behind “authorized access.” You do not stop seeing. You lose the right to see. Somewhere in Tehran, a monitor stays on." ajammc.com/2026/01/18/k...
Kahrizak, 720×480 - Ajam Media Collective
Blacking out communications and jamming signals have become tools of power worldwide, from Iran to Gaza and beyond. But blackouts do not erase events, they shape what can be proven, mourned, and acted...
ajammc.com