Recording of Panel Discussion: Almost two years into a genocide that has sought to devastate all Palestinian life in Gaza, this move to conditionally recognize a Palestinian state comes across as a response essentially out of time. While this attempt at redeeming a liberal international legal order is no doubt far too little, far too late, what might a Palestinian national liberation movement tactically salvage and repurpose from this irredeemable wreck, and what should they approach with caution? This panel critically examines this urgent question at a time of immense danger and devastation.
international law
Almost two years into a genocide that has sought to devastate all Palestinian life in Gaza, this move to conditionally recognize a Palestinian state comes across as a response essentially out of time. While this attempt at redeeming a liberal international legal order is no doubt far too little, far too late, what might a Palestinian national liberation movement tactically salvage and repurpose from this irredeemable wreck, and what should they approach with caution? This panel critically examines this urgent question at a time of immense danger and devastation.
Issue 06 is out now with articles on space resource exploitation, non-performative restorative justice, sanitary regulation of food production, global regulation of data, preventing illicit financial flows, desensitization to wartime violence, the suspicious ‘magic’ of AI + 1 key TWAIL text now in Spanish.
Mohamed Thahir Sulaiman explores how the Global South has challenged mainstream notions of what it means for a state to be specially affected when it comes to customary international law formation. Sulaiman argues that the doctrine of specially affected states can be used to counteract hegemonic international law and amplify the voices of the Global South in shaping customary international law.
Sarah Riley Case talks with Usha Natarajan about the foundational link between racism and ecological harm and how to repair relations between peoples and planet. They discuss Sarah’s research on recovering third world ecologies, making reparations, and reconceptualizing the human, and conclude by considering the crucial situation in Palestine.
What is the role of the (legal) intellectual in social transformation today, amid escalating environmental and economic injustice, and the rise of racist regimes worldwide? How should the tactics of third world anti-imperialists evolve amid the disintegration of US power and the mass suffering inflicted by the death throes of US imperialist and capitalist hegemony? While international laws and institutions have contributed to structuring and reproducing suffering across the global south, what role (if any) can law play towards structuring a world order for peace and ecological stability based on respectful interrelations? Vijay Prashad discussed these issues and more with Usha Natarajan and John Reynolds online on 23 April 2025.
A roundtable discussion involving Sumedha Choudhury, Julia Dehm, André Dao, Haris Jamil, Richard Joyce, Adil Hasan Khan, Tanvee Nandan, Dianne Otto and Saika Sabir, expressing their indebtedness to the Palestinian scholars they had read together.
Jasmin Lilian Diab delves into the deceptive use of the term ‘evacuation’ in modern warfare, where it often masks forced displacement and population expulsion. Highlighting the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict as a prime example, the author argues that this language manipulation not only distorts the truth but also shields perpetrators from accountability for war crimes and human rights abuses.
Issue 5 is out now, including articles on Bob Marley, the neoliberal transformation of the Indian state, teaching international economic law in Africa, children of African Irish descent, settler colonial logics in Nigeria, transnational labour mobility + 2 key TWAIL texts now in Spanish.
Scholars and practitioners of international law, international relations, conflict studies, politics and genocide studies call for the Israeli state to be unseated from the UN General Assembly.