Beth Astridge

Archivist at @UniKentArchives including @UniKentUKPA and @BritishCartoonA. Consultant Archivist.

[Beth Astridge @BethArchives]

I wasn't sure if I would have time to pull this together for #SouthAsianHeritageMonth, but right now it feels vital that I make time. So - do book this behind the scenes tour next week. #AntiRacism #AntiViolence #Archives #Tour #Solidarity

[Uni Kent Special Collections @UniKentArchives]

Archives Show Off! Join us for a behind the scenes tour of Special Collections and Archives with a focus on South Asian Heritage collections - next Thursday 15th August 2024 at 12pm. https://t.co/RFlN2LoRpd #Archives #SouthAsianHeritageMonth #SouthAsianStories #FreeToBeMe

[Together With Refugees 🧡 @RefugeeTogether]

We stand with all those targeted in these hateful attacks, many of whom came to the UK having already fled violence and persecution.

Solidarity with all local communities & their countless acts of resistance, bravery, and support.

Love will always triumph over hate.

[Runnymede Trust @RunnymedeTrust]

We offer our utmost solidarity to Muslim communities and people of colour affected by the racist violence unfolding across the country.

[Cartoon Festival @HBCartoonFest]

The 2024 #HBCartoonFest officially starts tomorrow with this show at the @SeasideMuseum: Golden Years, exhibition marking the 50th anniversary of the British Cartoon Archive at @UniKentArchives. Live event next Sunday (4 August) at @BeachCreative

[Beth Astridge @BethArchives]

🧡 This #RefugeeWeek I'm celebrating #OurHome by expanding my knowledge and perspectives. Listening to podcasts that tell refugee stories, I want to learn and connect with refugees and make the UK, #OurHome, the inclusive and welcoming place it should be. https://t.co/E0kUapWCLn

[Beth Astridge @BethArchives]

Super proud of this new exhibition - Mining in Kent, now open in the Templeman Gallery at the Uni of Kent Templeman Library! If you are visiting them let me know and I'll see if I can give you a tour! #Exhibition #MiningStrikes #Archives

[Uni Kent Special Collections @UniKentArchives]

This week the 'Mining in Kent' exhibition is finally open in the Tenpleman Gallery @UniKentLibIT The exhibition uses archival material from Special Collections and Archives to tell the story of the history of #mining in #Kent, with a focus on the 1984/1985 mining strike.

[Beth Astridge @BethArchives]

Also if you are a new follower! We hold amazing collections and are based on the University of Kent Canterbury Campus. Have a look at our website and follow us for news and events. https://t.co/smrRWsZSou

[Beth Astridge @BethArchives]

📢 @UniKentArchives have had a bit of trouble with their X account - so we have started afresh! Please re-follow us if you were previously a follower, for all our news about #politicalcartoons #comedy #panto #philanthropy #modernpoetry

[Beth Astridge @BethArchives]

This was an amazing set of sessions with @canterburycoll. We LOVED getting the costumes out (and Eddie Reindeers Buttons costume is my new favourite) and hearing the fabulous ideas from the students for their final showcase. So creative! #panto #Dame #cinderella #pantomime

[Beth Astridge @BethArchives]

Three of these fab Fellowships are now available! If you define yourself as D/deaf, disabled or neurodiverse and want a career in Museums then this might be the perfect opportunity! Plus for local people, @DoverMuseum is one of the host institutions! #Dover #Folkestone #Kent

[Curating Visibility @Curating4Change]

Curating Visibility is now live! Applications are open for 3 new Fellowships - check out the Screen South website to learn how to apply - 
https://t.co/TGqSHg5lrV

@ScreenSouth @MuseumsAssoc @Aimuseums @CHWAlliance @DASHARTS @ace__london @DoverMuseum @FoodMuseumUK @IWMDuxford

[Philip Proudfoot @PhilipProudfoot]

This is what ethnic cleansing looks like, and every single leader who defended or enabled it should be in jail.

[Beth Astridge @BethArchives]

Destroying the originals sounds like a very bad idea...

[Ministry of Justice @MoJGovUK]

Are you a history or ancestry enthusiast? We’re proposing to digitise millions of wills dating back to the 1800s, making them easier for the public to access.

Take a fascinating look into our storage archive in Birmingham and have your say: https://t.co/t8X2Ixs1py

[Jonathan Cook @Jonathan_K_Cook]

The genocide in Gaza is the most intense, visible and industrial in living memory. Yet when the West flaunts concern at the UN about an ‘upsurge in atrocity crimes’, it does so only in relation to Ukraine, Syria and Uyghurs in China.

Read my latest here:
https://t.co/ac0vS0oos8

[Beth Astridge @BethArchives]

Volunteer needed for researching student newspapers looking for bands performing @UniKent in the 60s and 70s! Especially early prog rock bands, plus jazz and folk artists. Sound fun? Get in touch! [email protected]

[Kiri Ross-Jones @Kiri_R_J]

I’m very excited about this fully FUNDED PhD, which I’ll be supervising along with @UCL colleagues. Archives, critical history, Kew, environmentalism, communities – I’d be tempted! https://t.co/JTCQDOwlLn

[MSF International @MSF]

The brutal collective punishment in #Gaza must end. For 2 months, we have seen the Israeli forces' indiscriminate attacks on Gaza target Palestinian civilians and healthcare.

We continue to call for an immediate and sustained ceasefire. It all #MustStopNow.

[Middle East Eye @MiddleEastEye]

“I’m running out of ways to describe the horrors hitting children here.”

UNICEF Spokesperson James Elder makes an appeal for the children in Gaza after intense Israeli strikes on the besieged enclave.

[Beth Astridge @BethArchives]

#CeasefireNOW

[World Health Organization (WHO) @WHO]

WHO leads very high-risk joint humanitarian mission to Al-Shifa Hospital in #Gaza

Earlier today, a joint UN humanitarian assessment team, led by WHO, accessed Al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza to assess the situation on the ground, conduct a rapid situational analysis, assess medical priorities, and establish logistics options for further missions. The team included public health experts, logistics officers, and security staff from @UNOCHA, @UNDSS, @UNMAS /@UNOPS, @UNRWA and WHO.

The mission was deconflicted with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to ensure safe passage along the agreed route. However, this was a high-risk operation in an active conflict zone, with heavy fighting ongoing in close proximity to the hospital.

Earlier in the day, the IDF had issued evacuation orders to the remaining 2,500 internally displaced people who had been seeking refuge on the hospital grounds. They, along with a number of mobile patients and hospital staff, had already vacated the facility by the time of the team's arrival.

Due to time limits associated with the security situation, the team was able to spend only one hour inside the hospital, which they described as a “death zone" and the situation as “desperate.” Signs of shelling and gunfire were evident. The team saw a mass grave at the entrance of the hospital and was told more than 80 people were buried there.

Lack of clean water, fuel, medicines, food and other essential aid over the last six weeks have caused Al-Shifa Hospital—once the largest, most advanced, and best equipped referral hospital in Gaza—to essentially stop functioning as a medical facility. The team observed that, due to the security situation, it has been impossible for the staff to carry out effective waste management in the hospital.

Corridors and the hospital grounds were filled with medical and solid waste, increasing the risk of infection. Patients and health staff with whom they spoke were terrified for their safety and health and pleaded for evacuation. Al-Shifa Hospital can no longer admit patients, with the injured and sick now being directed to the seriously overwhelmed and barely functioning Indonesian Hospital.

There are 25 health workers and 291 patients remaining in Al-Shifa, with several patient deaths having occurred over the previous 2 to 3 days due to the shutting down of medical services. Patients include 32 babies in extremely critical condition, two people in intensive care without ventilation, and 22 dialysis patients whose access to life-saving treatment has been severely compromised.

The vast majority of patients are victims of war trauma, including many with complex fractures and amputations, head injuries, burns, chest and abdominal trauma, and 29 patients with serious spinal injuries who are unable to move without medical assistance. Many trauma patients have severely infected wounds due to lack of infection control measures in the hospital and unavailability of antibiotics.

Given the current state of the hospital, which is no longer operational or admitting new patients, the team was requested to evacuate health workers and patients to other facilities. WHO and partners are urgently developing plans for the immediate evacuation of the remaining patients, staff and their families.

Over the next 24–72 hours, pending guarantees of safe passage by parties to the conflict, additional missions are being arranged to urgently transport patients from Al-Shifa to Nasser Medical Complex and European Gaza Hospital in the south of Gaza. However, these hospitals are already working beyond capacity, and new referrals from Al-Shifa Hospital will further strain overburdened health staff and resources.

WHO is deeply concerned about the safety and health needs of patients, health workers and internally displaced people sheltering at the few remaining partially functional hospitals in the north, which are facing the risk of closure due to a lack of fuel, water, medical supplies, food, and the intense hostilities. Immediate efforts must be made to restore the functionality of Al-Shifa and all other hospitals to provide urgently needed health care services in Gaza.

WHO reiterates its plea for collective efforts to bring an end to the hostilities and humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. We call for an immediate ceasefire, the sustained flow of humanitarian assistance at scale, unhindered humanitarian access to all of those in need, the unconditional release of all hostages, and the cessation of attacks on health care and other vital infrastructure.

The extreme suffering of the people of Gaza demands that we respond immediately and concretely with humanity and compassion.

[Beth Astridge @BethArchives]

Do come along and meet Bala for a chat about seeing Commonwealth in cartooning, or view the digital exhibition in our Templeman Gallery space this week. 😀