Iyiola Solanke
@ivy180.bsky.social
Jacques Delors Professor in EU Law, University of Oxford/ Somerville College
Reposted by Iyiola Solanke
Mazhar Makatemele - 19th Century
"The history of Afro-Swedes - who were they? With the help of new research, we can present the lives of both famous and unknown black people in Sweden through the ages."
www.varldskulturmuseerna.se/en/projects/...
"The history of Afro-Swedes - who were they? With the help of new research, we can present the lives of both famous and unknown black people in Sweden through the ages."
www.varldskulturmuseerna.se/en/projects/...
October 29, 2025 at 7:53 PM
Mazhar Makatemele - 19th Century
"The history of Afro-Swedes - who were they? With the help of new research, we can present the lives of both famous and unknown black people in Sweden through the ages."
www.varldskulturmuseerna.se/en/projects/...
"The history of Afro-Swedes - who were they? With the help of new research, we can present the lives of both famous and unknown black people in Sweden through the ages."
www.varldskulturmuseerna.se/en/projects/...
Reposted by Iyiola Solanke
Letter to the local community from asylum seekers living in overcrowded hotels:
"Coming to the UK, we have lost a lot of things in our past life.
You should not judge us by our appearance - our inner selves hold mountains of worries and sadness.
Many of us have left families behind."
"Coming to the UK, we have lost a lot of things in our past life.
You should not judge us by our appearance - our inner selves hold mountains of worries and sadness.
Many of us have left families behind."
Asylum seekers, housed in hotels in Manchester, are reaching out in their own words to address the concerns of the local community.
Please take a minute to read their letter, & share it with the people in your life who need to hear the truth about the people they are protesting.
Please take a minute to read their letter, & share it with the people in your life who need to hear the truth about the people they are protesting.
October 27, 2025 at 11:51 AM
Letter to the local community from asylum seekers living in overcrowded hotels:
"Coming to the UK, we have lost a lot of things in our past life.
You should not judge us by our appearance - our inner selves hold mountains of worries and sadness.
Many of us have left families behind."
"Coming to the UK, we have lost a lot of things in our past life.
You should not judge us by our appearance - our inner selves hold mountains of worries and sadness.
Many of us have left families behind."
Reposted by Iyiola Solanke
“Whether it’s Nigel [Farage] banging on about the [small] boats, or Robert Jenrick talking about Handsworth, [politicians] are stoking a fire ... I feel it’s doing more harm than good in terms of community relations.”
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Reform’s only Black branch chair quits over ‘harmful’ migration debate
Exclusive: Neville Watson leaves amid concerns about weaponisation of religion and erosion of community relations
www.theguardian.com
October 23, 2025 at 2:40 PM
“Whether it’s Nigel [Farage] banging on about the [small] boats, or Robert Jenrick talking about Handsworth, [politicians] are stoking a fire ... I feel it’s doing more harm than good in terms of community relations.”
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Reposted by Iyiola Solanke
Here I provide snapshots of 20+ films that have something to tell us about law and race and argue for their use as pedagogical tools. The post also includes a rare clip from Death is Part of the Process [1986], a film about the early days of Umkhonto we Sizwe.
folukeafrica.com/the-law-and-...
folukeafrica.com/the-law-and-...
The Law and Race Film Club
20+ films on Law, Race and Society
folukeafrica.com
October 3, 2025 at 11:07 AM
Here I provide snapshots of 20+ films that have something to tell us about law and race and argue for their use as pedagogical tools. The post also includes a rare clip from Death is Part of the Process [1986], a film about the early days of Umkhonto we Sizwe.
folukeafrica.com/the-law-and-...
folukeafrica.com/the-law-and-...
Reposted by Iyiola Solanke
"The film ends with these lines spoken by the character of Gandhi, ‘When I despair, I remember that the way of truth and love has always won. There may be tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it: always.’"
My reflection on the movie "Gandhi" (1982) notes that for any movement for social justice to achieve its goals, it requires the endurance of the long-distance runner more than the brief burst of speed of the sprinter.
folukeafrica.com/gandhi-the-m...
folukeafrica.com/gandhi-the-m...
Gandhi The Movie: A child in the 80s learns about resistance
‘There may be tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall.’
folukeafrica.com
October 2, 2025 at 10:34 AM
"The film ends with these lines spoken by the character of Gandhi, ‘When I despair, I remember that the way of truth and love has always won. There may be tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it: always.’"
Reposted by Iyiola Solanke
Great piece by @anandmenon.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
The European Union was designed for peace – it is never going to be a war machine | Anand Menon
Reacting to the Russian military threat would require the bloc to be agile and decisive. It is many great things, but it is not that, says Anand Menon, director of UK in a Changing Europe
www.theguardian.com
October 1, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Great piece by @anandmenon.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Reposted by Iyiola Solanke
I think this is probably true. Yes I still don’t thing there’s much appetite to revisit the arguments.
Why is Starmer becoming more confident criticising Brexit? Because quietly, without any great drama, a consensus has been reached. It's a disaster inews.co.uk/opinion/brex...
October 1, 2025 at 6:30 PM
I think this is probably true. Yes I still don’t thing there’s much appetite to revisit the arguments.
Reposted by Iyiola Solanke
A few of us have been working to set up a research network of legal scholars innovating in the teaching of race, colonialism & empire. We have received provisional approval as a new Collaborative Research Network (CRN) of the Law and Society Association (LSA)!
www.lawandsociety.org/crn-58critic...
www.lawandsociety.org/crn-58critic...
CRN 58 Critical Legal Pedagogies of Race and Empire - Law and Society Association
www.lawandsociety.org
August 27, 2025 at 1:37 PM
A few of us have been working to set up a research network of legal scholars innovating in the teaching of race, colonialism & empire. We have received provisional approval as a new Collaborative Research Network (CRN) of the Law and Society Association (LSA)!
www.lawandsociety.org/crn-58critic...
www.lawandsociety.org/crn-58critic...
Reposted by Iyiola Solanke
If your mate formed a useless indie band called Asylum Hotels they would get bigger crowds than this
"CROWDS wave flags" according to the Daily Mail caption of this picture
August 24, 2025 at 9:30 PM
If your mate formed a useless indie band called Asylum Hotels they would get bigger crowds than this
Reposted by Iyiola Solanke
The lengths I'd go to make you focus on the front page of the Sunday papers so you didn't notice the football pages.... (now with the link done right. Cos I'm a tech bro) observer.co.uk/news/opinion...
Politically acceptable UK racism is rising, even under La...
As I wrote these words last autumn: “We have made progress... even though that progress remains fragile and insufficient”, little did I realise just how ...
observer.co.uk
August 25, 2025 at 10:51 AM
The lengths I'd go to make you focus on the front page of the Sunday papers so you didn't notice the football pages.... (now with the link done right. Cos I'm a tech bro) observer.co.uk/news/opinion...
Reposted by Iyiola Solanke
African Union joins calls to end use of Mercator map that shrinks continent’s size www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...
African Union joins calls to end use of Mercator map that shrinks continent’s size
Member states back Correct the Map campaign that urges governments and organisations to use more accurate map
www.theguardian.com
August 16, 2025 at 8:13 AM
African Union joins calls to end use of Mercator map that shrinks continent’s size www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...
Reposted by Iyiola Solanke
On this Chairteenth, we celebrate the good folks of Montgomery, especially our guy AquaMayne. Special shout out to the folks who, within 72 hours, recreated this in their apartment complex. A COMMUNITY!! 💀
August 6, 2025 at 12:47 AM
On this Chairteenth, we celebrate the good folks of Montgomery, especially our guy AquaMayne. Special shout out to the folks who, within 72 hours, recreated this in their apartment complex. A COMMUNITY!! 💀
Reposted by Iyiola Solanke
"Most often, black people in the EU are discriminated against when searching for employment or accommodation. Racism was found to be widespread among landlords preventing black people from renting an apartment."
www.brusselstimes.com/765638/being...
www.brusselstimes.com/765638/being...
Being black in Belgium: Over half have experienced racism in last five years
A clear rise in racism has been found against people of African descent in Europe: 47% in the EU, and 58% in Belgium have felt discriminated.
www.brusselstimes.com
August 6, 2025 at 4:42 PM
"Most often, black people in the EU are discriminated against when searching for employment or accommodation. Racism was found to be widespread among landlords preventing black people from renting an apartment."
www.brusselstimes.com/765638/being...
www.brusselstimes.com/765638/being...
Reposted by Iyiola Solanke
I wish more aspiring academics really appreciated this aspect, that academia is dialogical. You have to be able to extemporaneously defend your ideas and discuss them in great detail, orally. You have to know it well enough to have it at your fingertips.
At PhD/post-PhD level, academia is fundamentally dialogical and unless you intend to hide behind a prompt your whole life, you are going to look like a fool when you open your mouth and don't have a working understanding of the things you profess to write about.
July 31, 2025 at 10:13 AM
I wish more aspiring academics really appreciated this aspect, that academia is dialogical. You have to be able to extemporaneously defend your ideas and discuss them in great detail, orally. You have to know it well enough to have it at your fingertips.
Reposted by Iyiola Solanke
"There are Mexicans of African descent and they have lived in Mexico for 500 years! Have you heard of the slave resistance movement led by Afro-Mexican national hero, Gaspar Yanga? Did you know that Afro-Mexicans were instrumental in winning Mexico's independence?"
www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-ly...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-ly...
AFRO MEXICO: Black History In Mexico!
Yes that's right! There are Mexicans of African descent and they have lived in Mexico for 500 years! Have you heard of the slave resistance movement led by Afro-Mexican national hero, Gaspar Yanga?…
www.youtube.com
July 31, 2025 at 4:42 PM
"There are Mexicans of African descent and they have lived in Mexico for 500 years! Have you heard of the slave resistance movement led by Afro-Mexican national hero, Gaspar Yanga? Did you know that Afro-Mexicans were instrumental in winning Mexico's independence?"
www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-ly...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-ly...
Reposted by Iyiola Solanke
"What does it mean to navigate identity as a Ghanaian-Italian in a predominantly white society? Benedicta Djumpah shares her journey as she faces stereotypes and strives to find pride in her heritage."
www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwoQ...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwoQ...
July 19, 2025 at 8:59 AM
"What does it mean to navigate identity as a Ghanaian-Italian in a predominantly white society? Benedicta Djumpah shares her journey as she faces stereotypes and strives to find pride in her heritage."
www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwoQ...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwoQ...
Reposted by Iyiola Solanke
My take for @chathamhouse.org on yesterday's 'Kensington Treaty' signed between Germany and the UK. In my view, it is an important milestone both for the bilateral 🇩🇪-🇬🇧 relationship and for European security, as it is closely linked to a revival of the E3:
Friedrich Merz’s visit to the UK only a week after that of Emmanuel Macron symbolizes a return of the E3 format – France, Germany and the UK – as the driving force of European security, writes @nvondarza.bsky.social.
After Brexit: E3. New treaty puts UK, Germany and France back at the heart of European security
Friedrich Merz’s visit to the UK only a week after that of Emmanuel Macron symbolizes a return of the E3 format – France, Germany and the UK – as the driving force of European security.
www.chathamhouse.org
July 18, 2025 at 9:52 AM
My take for @chathamhouse.org on yesterday's 'Kensington Treaty' signed between Germany and the UK. In my view, it is an important milestone both for the bilateral 🇩🇪-🇬🇧 relationship and for European security, as it is closely linked to a revival of the E3:
Reposted by Iyiola Solanke
"... there is a real struggle between the people-of-color Italians and [white] Italian society. Asian Italians, Black Italians are really struggling to be accepted as Italians."
www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe...
www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe...
They are Black. They are Italians. And they are changing their country.
It’s not easy for Black Italians to grow up feeling Italian when significant portions of Italy treat them as outsiders. But legally, artistically, and socially, Black Italians are staking their claim…
www.csmonitor.com
July 17, 2025 at 4:42 PM
"... there is a real struggle between the people-of-color Italians and [white] Italian society. Asian Italians, Black Italians are really struggling to be accepted as Italians."
www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe...
www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe...
Reposted by Iyiola Solanke
Rümeysa is one of the kindest, most compassionate people I have ever met. Many of you came to know her first and foremost as an ICE abductee, seized by a state that wanted to strip her of her humanity. I would like for you to know her in her own words, which are resoundingly human.
“Even God Cannot Hear Us Here”: What I Witnessed Inside an ICE Women’s Prison
Tufts University doctoral student Rümeysa Öztürk opens up about her 45 days in a South Louisiana processing facility—and the generous and compassionate women she met.
www.vanityfair.com
July 17, 2025 at 1:34 PM
Rümeysa is one of the kindest, most compassionate people I have ever met. Many of you came to know her first and foremost as an ICE abductee, seized by a state that wanted to strip her of her humanity. I would like for you to know her in her own words, which are resoundingly human.