Nat Muller

Curator, writer, researcher of politics & contemporary art from the Middle East, science fiction, Anthropocene. Has a PhD in Lost Futurities. Halloumista.

[Nat Muller @nat_muller]

Erasing a Word Erases a People: Reinstate Palestine in the British Museum - Sign the Petition! https://t.co/fUT8LDlYI8 via @Change

[Tilo Jung @TiloJung]

Don't ask about Palestine at the Berlinale!

Here's my question to the jury about selective solidarity of the film festival with the people of Iran and Ukraine vs. Palestinians. Wim Wenders (jury president) actually said: "We have to stay out of politics" #Berlinale2026

[Middle East Eye @MiddleEastEye]

Arundhati Roy has pulled out of the Berlinale over the festival's "jaw-dropping" stance on Gaza.

Roy's decision came after German filmmaker Wim Wenders, who is also this year's jury head, suggested that filmmaking should not be directly political
https://t.co/oJh3Q1ybLh

[Joseph Fahim @joseph_fahim]

This has officially escalated.

#Berlinale2026

https://t.co/QbZ6lPws7f

[Nat Muller @nat_muller]

I have signed this initiative https://t.co/3RslDC8Kdq . Sign it and share it! https://t.co/NSFWzc5slm

[Sam Greene @samagreene]

So, no, authoritarianism isn't on the brink of winning in America. It won yesterday. It won today. Unless something changes, it will win tomorrow.

But it doesn't have to.

/END

[Sam Greene @samagreene]

Once authoritarianism takes root, it is extraordinarily hard to dislodge -- not because it corrodes institutions, but because it corrodes imaginations. People forget with remarkable speed that another kind of life was possible. And they cease to seek it.

/13

[Sam Greene @samagreene]

When an authoritarian excoriates his opponents as radicals and extremists, those are not his targets. He's excoriating our imaginations.

He's teaching us that we are alone.

/10

[Sam Greene @samagreene]

When an authoritarian runs roughshod over Congress or the Courts, those are not his targets. He's running roughshod over our imaginations.

He's teaching us that we cannot withstand.

/9

[Sam Greene @samagreene]

When an authoritarian lays siege to institutions or universities or the streets of our cities, those are not his targets. He's laying siege to our imaginations.

He's teaching us that no place is safe.

/8

[Sam Greene @samagreene]

Authoritarians don't win because they control the guns or the media or the courts or the streets.

Authoritarians win because they control imaginations. Because they make it impossible for citizens to imagine solidarity. To imagine justice. To imagine victory.

/7

[Sam Greene @samagreene]

Authoritarianism wins every day decide to wait until the moment is right -- and so authoritarians hedge and feint.

Authoritarianism wins every day citizens take a day off -- and so authoritarians never rest.

/6

[Sam Greene @samagreene]

Authoritarianism wins every day citizens believe that they don't need to fight, because things aren't that bad -- and so authoritarians lie.

That they don't need to fight, because the fight doesn't concern them -- ad so authoritarians divide.

/5

[Sam Greene @samagreene]

Authoritarianism wins every day citizens believe that they can't win, because the deck is stacked against them -- and so authoritarians bluster.

That they can't win, because they don't have enough allies -- and so authoritarians atomize.

/4

[Sam Greene @samagreene]

Power is a process, not a thing someone holds. Authoritarian power is thus a process in which we decide not to defend ourselves -- because it's risky, uncertain, or just inconvenient.

Authoritarianism wins every day citizens decide not to fight. To wait. To watch.

/3

[Sam Greene @samagreene]

Hollywood would have us believe that authoritarianism wins when Voldemort takes over Hogwarts or Sauron conquers Gondor. But that's wrong. There are no pitched battles between good and evil. Democracy dies in banality and plain daylight, not glory and darkness.

/2

[Sam Greene @samagreene]

I study authoritarianism for a living, so I do not say this lightly: America isn't facing an authoritarian future. America is living an authoritarian present.

(A long 🧵)

/1

[Nat Muller @nat_muller]

Thrilled to have my first piece published on @TheMarkazReview. A review of the 18th @istanbulbienali.
https://t.co/rPJz1d0Dll

[Al Jazeera English @AJEnglish]

Huge explosions were seen in southern and eastern Lebanon as Israeli war planes targeted the area, killing at least one person.

Israel said it attacked Hezbollah infrastructure, despite a ceasefire deal in place since November last year.

[Nat Muller @nat_muller]

It is the West, not Gaza, that needs to be deradicalised https://t.co/2APV0fOr1X