Unwritten Lives

"Far above all other hunted whales, his is an unwritten life." Moby Dick

Quit ChatGPT: Right now! Your subscription is bankrolling authoritarianism

March 5, 2026 by Rutger Bregman

Quit ChatGPT: Right now! Your subscription is bankrolling authoritarianism
Image: QuitGPT

The boycott of ChatGPT went viral in the US, now it’s time for the rest of the world to join. Cancel your subscription. Ten seconds. That’s all it takes to send a powerful signal to Silicon Valley.

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Worried about freedom of speech? Then what’s happening at the Open University should terrify you

March 2, 2026 by Owen Jones

Worried about freedom of speech? Then what’s happening at the Open University should terrify you
Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash

The OU has capitulated to a pro-Israel lobby group about the use of the term ‘ancient Palestine’.

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Stop Trump’s Wars: Demonstrate Central London

March 2, 2026 by Stop the War Coalition

Stop Trump’s Wars: Demonstrate Central London
Image: Stop the War Coalition

The Middle East is being set alight by the US-Israeli attacks on Iran. Already hundreds of civilians have been killed. We condemn the bombing and demand the UK government oppose these illegal attacks on a sovereign country. Demonstrations are taking place across the UK. Join the demo in central London on Saturday 7 March at 12:00 noon.

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Emergency protests against war on Iran in cities across U.S.

March 1, 2026 by ANSWER Coalition

Emergency protests against war on Iran in cities across U.S.
Image: ANSWER Coalition

On 28 February, the Trump administration along with Israel launched an unprovoked, illegal war on Iran. Immediately, people across the US hit the streets to express the majority sentiment in the country: rejecting another endless war for regime change! Continue this anti-war outpouring this Monday as part of a coordinated day of action.

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Remembering Imam Muhsin Hendricks (1967-2025)

February 15, 2026 by Unwritten Lives

Remembering Imam Muhsin Hendricks (1967-2025)
Imam Muhsin Hendricks. Photo: Zizo

It has been one year today since the world’s first openly gay imam, Muhsin Hendricks, was murdered in South Africa on 15 February 2025. To date, there have been no arrests, demonstrating once more the impunity with which hatred and violence against members of the LGBTQI+ community in South Africa are met. To mark the first anniversary of Hendricks’ murder, Unwritten Lives is today reposting Muriithi Kariuki's seminal essay on the routine silence and everyday erasure that underpin homophobic violence. "The destruction of queer lives does not begin with a hammer, a bullet, or a judge’s gavel … It begins with silence. With isolation. With erasure."

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If you are reading this it is because I’m dead: here’s what I want to tell you about how to live

February 6, 2026 by Carlos Hernández

If you are reading this it is because I’m dead: here’s what I want to tell you about how to live
Carlos Hernández de Miguel in 2015. Photograph: Chernandezdemiguel

Leaving this world in an age of lies and cruelty, my last message is simple: don’t give up on truth. Carlos Hernández de Miguel was a Spanish journalist and writer. He died on 3 February 2026.

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Delhi: The communal management of Muslim life under the BJP

February 5, 2026 by Iqra Raza

Delhi: The communal management of Muslim life under the BJP
Jama Masjid, Delhi, 2024. Photo:Iqra Raza

Most Muslims in India’s capital city live in areas often called “Muslim ghettos”. Under the right-wing rule of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), as minorities continue to live uncertain lives, more people are pushed into already condensed and crowded neighbourhoods. Here, a former resident of one such “ghetto” takes a deep dive into the history, politics, and ontology of life in these precarious settlements.

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Film | Anniversary: Reflections on my invisible childhood friend

February 3, 2026 by Ishtiyaq Shukri

Film | Anniversary: Reflections on my invisible childhood friend
Anniversary, directed by Jan Komasa. Image: Lionsgate

A nihilistic political thriller about the obliteration of an American family when a new girlfriend’s authoritarian ideas rip them apart

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Same-sex civil partnerships 20 years on: “We don’t just want the cake; we want the recipe, too. Equal slices for everyone, no exceptions.”

January 24, 2026 by Adnan Ali & Eric Stobbaerts

Eric and Adnan in Rio
Celebrating Iemanjá, Goddess of the Sea and Queen of the Ocean, Rio de Janeiro, January 2011. Photo: Courtesy of Eric Stobbaerts (left), and Adnan Ali (right).

It has been 20 years since the UK’s first same-sex civil unions took place on 19 December 2005. Adnan Ali and Eric Stobbaerts were one of the first gay couples in London to form a civil partnership on that historic day. They are both busy men with global lives. Unwritten Lives was glad to catch up with them in London, where the couple spoke with Ishtiyaq Shukri.

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‘I could not stay silent’: Palestinian prisoner tells of sexual abuse in Israeli jail

January 21, 2026 by Emma Graham-Harrison and Quique Kierszenbaum

Graffiti Call for Palestinian Justice
Photo by Ash Hayes on Unsplash

Sami al-Saei has defied social stigma to speak out about what a report calls a ‘grave pattern’ of sexual violence in Israeli prisons

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Featured Author

Iqra Raza

Iqra Raza

Iqra Raza is a PhD candidate in the Department of English at University of Houston. Born in Bihar an …

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