My name is Michael Sappir, and this website is where I collect my writing.
I write in my native languages of English and Hebrew, as well as in German. In addition to texts in English, the English version of this also gives summaries of selected texts in Hebrew and German. To see only texts available in English in full, see Full Texts.
My main areas of interest are Jewish politics, (anti-)colonialism, political economy, climate change, and modern revolutionary movements. I also love science fiction, history, the free Internet, and dogs.
About me
I grew up in West Jerusalem and moved to Leipzig, Germany as a young adult. I am currently based in Berlin, working as a freelance researcher and writer.
From 2019 until 2022 I wrote regularly for the Israeli alternative media outlet Local Call [Hebrew], primarily about the politics and economics of the climate crisis. I was lead editor of the German-language student newspaper critica 2022-3 and a founding co-host of Parallelwelt Palästina, the first German-language political podcast about Palestine.
In my youth I was active in the movement for democratic schools, co-founding a school in Jerusalem as a teen and then co-founding the European Democratic Education Community. You can read stuff I wrote around that time on my old blog (though I don’t necessarily agree with everything I wrote there anymore.)
When I first moved to Leipzig I earned a BA in linguistics, before chosing to shift my focus to social and political issues. I then spent a few years back in Israel-Palestine, organizing against the occupation and for social justice and actively deepening my political education. I returned to Leipzig in 2019 where I earned an MA in philosophy and co-founded Jewish-Israeli Dissent (JID) Leipzig, work about which I have been interviewed for Jewish Currents and for +972 Magazine.