Migration Studies professor Agata Lisiak speaks at SOAS and LSE in London

Migration Studies professor Agata Lisiak presented a paper at the “War, Empire, and Sabotage in an Age of Genocide” conference organized by the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies at SOAS, London, June 23-25, 2026. In her presentation titled “Life Affirmation as/in Solidarity with Palestine: Transnational Feminist Teachings Assembled from Berlin’s Courtrooms,” Lisiak analyzed the speeches Berlin students delivered at the Criminal Court in Tiergarten in 2024-25 and which were later published by Cutt Press.

In Lisiak's reading, the students' statements reveal that the affirmation of life is central to solidarity with Palestine, as it recognizes and builds on Palestinians' own contributions to imagining liberation from the necropolitical violence they face. Lisiak also argues that the speeches make a significant intervention into higher education: like student activists before them, the Berlin students reimagine and redefine what a university is and what and who it is for. As one student writes: "defending academic principles and political freedom in times of rising fascism concerns us all." In Lisiak's analysis, the student protest movement for Palestine thus constitutes an important force within the urgent global struggle against fascism, one shaped by transnational feminist ethics.

Following the conference, in close collaboration with feminist scholars from Goldsmiths, King’s College London, and the London School of Economics, Lisiak convened a workshop on feminist solidarity. The participants gathered at LSE‘s Gender Studies Department to discuss their work in progress and to address shared questions about feminist solidarity in times of polycrises.

Post Date: 07-02-2026