About

Ian Rutledge is an economist and historian. He earned his PhD in Economic History from the University of Cambridge and has taught at the Universities of London and Sheffield, and for the Workers’ Educational Association (WEA). An Arabist who has studied the language for over two decades, Rutledge has devoted the past fifteen years to researching the economic and political history of the Middle East and North Africa. His publications include Enemy on the Euphrates: The Battle for Iraq, 1914–1921, Addicted to Oil: America’s Relentless Drive for Energy Security, and Sea of Troubles: The European Conquest of the Islamic Mediterranean ​and the origins of the First World War 

Ian Rutledge is a member of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and Medical Aid for Palestinians.

Empire & Exceptionalism

The impact of British colonialism continues to blight. . .

Demonstrators gathered outside a pre-trial court hearing on 30 June in support of those accused of taking part in a protest at an Elbit Systems factory in the UK (Credit: Getty Images).
Palestine Action — a UK-based awareness raising group — were ‘banned’ in July 2025 after a judge denied the group a temporary block (Credit: PA Media).
Demonstration on the eve of the UK’s parliament voting to proscribe Palestine Action (credit: Getty).
August, 2025 “I’m not up for the kind of argument that things must really be bad if old white women are coming out to protest in force” (Credit: Alishia Abodunde/Getty Images).
Demonstrators hold up a banner during a protest by Palestine Action group in London, Monday, June 23, 2025 (Credit: Frank Augstein/AP).
Protesters outside of Woolwich Crown Court protesting against the UK government proscribing Palestine Action as a terrorist group (Credit: Alex Day/Alamy).
A good person questions the case for banning Palestine Action at a protest in London on 23 June 2025 (Credit: Ron Fassbender/Alamy).
The UK Home Office submitted the request to divert a High Court decision from July that approved group leader Huda Ammori’s request for judicial review before the court (Credit: indigonolan, CC BY 4.0).
Good people take part in a demonstration in central in London in support of Palestine Action(Credit: Lucy North/PA Wire)
Good people take part in a protest in support of Palestine Action in July of 2025, organised by the Defend Our Juries group, in front of the Mahatma Gandhi statue in Parliament Square (Credit: PA).
Máire Mhic an Fhailí and Tommy Holland at Sunday’s demonstration (Credit: Conor McParland).
A Palestine Action protester calls for the release of Fatema Rajwani during a demonstration outside HMP Brixton (Credit: Lab Ky Mo/SLightRocket).