Alex Shams

Iran Palestine

A Persian Christmas Story: How A Jewish Shrine in Qazvin Connects Palestine and Iran

December 24, 2024 by Alex Shams

Originally published on Ajam Media Collective on Dec. 24, 2024. In Qazvin, a few hours west of Tehran, there is a turquoise-blue shrine locals know as Peyghambarieh, “the place of

Iran Opinion

Iran Braces for Uncertainty After President Raisi’s Death

July 16, 2024 by Alex Shams

Published on June 9, 2024 on Truthout. Besides crushing dissent, the former leader did little of note. Could a new president be different? When Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi’s helicopter went

Opinion Palestine USA

Universities should defend students’ right to free speech, not aid their repression

May 1, 2024 by Alex Shams

Originally published in the Chicago Tribune on May 1, 2024. In mid-April, the University of Southern California banned the school valedictorian from giving a commencement address for the first time in its

Palestine Reporting

How Jesus’s Hometown Is Coping With War at Christmas

December 24, 2023 by Alex Shams

Originally published on The New Republic on Dec. 24, 2023. Bethlehem is usually brimming with cheer—and tourists—this time of year. But the war in Gaza has turned it into a

Israel Opinion Palestine

Israel Needs a Plan in Gaza. Don’t Look to the West Bank for Ideas

November 22, 2023 by Alex Shams

Originally published in Newsweek on Nov. 20, 2023. One of Elias Deis’ first childhood memories is running from soldiers opening fire on his neighbors. It was 1989. The First Intifada

Arab World Palestine Reporting

‘They Don’t Want People to Know We Exist’: Palestinians across the West Bank describe what life has been like since October 7

November 10, 2023 by Alex Shams

Originally published in New York Magazine on Nov. 10, 2023. Over the last month, Israel launched an assault across the Gaza Strip in response to Hamas’s October 7 attack, in

Iran Reporting

How Bazaar: The surprising way a Japanese soap opera shaped the Iranian secondhand economy

September 1, 2023 by Alex Shams

Originally published in Mildew Magazine, Sep 2023, based on an article in Ajam Media Collective.

Iran

Persianate Futurism: First Time on the Overnight Train from Tehran to Samarqand

June 21, 2023 by Alex Shams

Originally published on Ajam Media Collective on May 28, 2023. This post is part of the Persianate Futurism series, a collection of works which asks: What will the Persianate world

Iran Reporting

‘We Have Broken the Wall of Fear’: Iranian protesters on what brings them back to the streets four weeks in

October 13, 2022 by Alex Shams

Originally published in New York Magazine on Oct. 13, 2022. Written by Alex Shams. Since mid-September, Iranians have taken to the streets to protest the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini

Iran Opinion

Iran has a long history of protests. This time it’s different

October 8, 2022 by Alex Shams

Originally published in the Los Angeles Times on Oct. 8, 2022. Three weeks in, Iran’s protests show no signs of stopping. Sparked by the death of a young Kurdish Iranian