Good morning, here's Kropotkin from (well, technically, *on*) the Paris Commune: "As is always the case with great ideas, it was not a product of the conceptions of an individual philosopher. It was born of the collective intelligence; it sprang from the heart of an entire people."

Right, every single headline I see from England makes me never want to cross the Channel again.

Deadline tomorrow! (just to note, the only reason why I am not going for this is because as a former recipient I am ineligible - but it is an absolute recommendation)

🌱 Spain’s community energy revolution is spreading! From Taradell to Galicia, cooperatives are providing cheap, clean electricity to homes, including low-income families, while promoting local ownership and fighting fuel poverty. We love to see a community-led energy transition 🤩

I never thought of UK as 'anti-intellectual', but just being (again) in Paris is a stark reminder of how different it feels to be in a place that actually values thought. Randomly walked into a bookshop yesterday and had to physically tear myself away to not buy the entire feminism/anarchism shelf.

polyamory schmolyamory, the critical test for any academic's capacity to feel joy for others is whether you can be happy for other people's books

WHAT A WIN❗WHAT A WIN‼️✊✊✊ Reminder: you can go to @pennytangey.bsky.social's Chumps List & search 'university' to bring up the long, long list of programs fossil fuel corps sponsor at Australia's higher education institutions Be like @stopwoodsidemonash.bsky.social, start your own campaign‼️

my former employer immediately taking down all the webpages for colleagues they made redundant so all that’s left is this nauseating twee crap

Paris(ien/ne/x/s)! I'll be in town this week & next, digging in the archives of the @college-de-france.fr. Always keen to hear about interesting things happening (both academic and non-academic), but also just good places/reasons for boire un verre! (I haven't been since pre-pandemic 2020 😬😬)

Fun fact: at the end of his career (and life), Malinowski was embarking on the study of the concept of 'Freedom'. He saw nationalism as the chief obstacle to human freedom. This is the tentative argument structure; pay attention to the paragraph at the bottom of the page.

Newcastle! This looks superb, having FOMO for not being in the region - go go go www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/defend-dis...

Worth remembering that both Corbyn elections garnered more votes than the recent Labour landslide

List of good reasons to have fireworks:

My unpopular opinion is that most prepared food in the UK, from greasy spoons to high street independents, is (1) too greasy (2) under-salted (3) does not have enough vegetables (no, potatoes and red onion do not count). Also, humongous portion sizes = automatic food waste while people go hungry.

modern love

I’m expecting them to advertise roles that are the equivalent of Cover Supervisors in schools - cheap and unqualified people who deliver content to cover illness/strike/recruitment issues. Not even PhD students

This was an absolutely mind-blowing conversation, which made me think new connections between research (mine and others') and the way we think about communities, self-organisation, and mobilisation. Thanks so much to my fellow discussants Simina Dragos and Ella McPherson, & @crasshlive.bsky.social

Our story that the Drinking Water Inspectorate has ordered 7 water companies to take action on PFAS in untreated drinking water sources across England featured on the Today Programme, BBC Radio 4, this morning. More via BBC online: www.bbc.com/news/article...

This is today (afternoon): www.crassh.cam.ac.uk/events/47809/

S'ppose I told you I had an essay on history of anthropology, taxation, monogamy, exclusivity, and what that has to do with the way in which perceive the role of social sciences today. Where would you suggest to try to publish it? (note - "try" is not pretending, I don't usually get approached).

Is it worth being on BlueSky? Yes, once again a brilliant response to my question about the use of 'ignorance' as a political strategy from @semacrae.bsky.social and by @unsocialtheory.bsky.social and Goey. Thanks so much for sharing this paper.

In addition to the anniversary of the Novi Sad tragedy, today is the 115th anniversary of the founding of CNT-FAI, which is also a reminder that unions were not established so you could beg your boss for a slightly less horrific teaching schedule

ALL EYES ON SERBIA 👇👇👇 The anniversary of the collapse of the canopy in Novi Sad, which saw 16 people die and ushered in the longest wave of protests and self-organised movement in recent history, is tomorrow, 1/11. Thousands are gathering in Novi Sad. Will the regime finally cede ground?

Apply apply apply! The site (and fellowship) of one of my first archival dives, @archivum.org has a wealth of material and is an absolutely great place to work from. Deadline: 15 November, topic: Living in dystopian times: Lessons from the Cold War (and after), details: archivum.org/academics/vi...

aw the racist neighbourhood I am passing through now has butcher's apron flags with added red snowflakes on white squares. banal nationalism + christmas kitsch, how fitting :)

A good article on what is going on in Serbia, feat. your favourite sociology and philosophy professor explaining why there has, historically, been only one way for a true system change ;) www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...

Conspicuously reading this in public spaces during "half-term" (= exacerbated forced privatization of reproductive care) 🤘

there is also a great collection of videos and links (some talks, mine included, are in English) at this conference convened by @winslowsp.bsky.social last year: winslow.fr/conferences-...

Sat once again in a public talk in which someone discovers the political epistemology of Covid, so just a small reminder that some of us have, in fact, written about this as long ago as 2020 www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Q (data collection): if your UK-based HEI (employer) employs students on student visas, do you know what kind of checks they need to undergo, and how often? Please respond in comment (ideally with links) or DM. Thanks in advance 🙏🙏

I have, in fact, read this initially as "progressive crows", and I must confess it didn't register as odd

In this article (2024), I argue that the conflation of academic freedom and freedom of speech in UK law is important not because of the (usually assumed) effects on student welfare or academics' freedom of expression but because it changes 'university' as a concept link.springer.com/article/10.1...

This pararaph from Kropotkin's "The conquest of bread" never seemed more relevant - in fact, the whole fascinaton with Trump's, Farage's, Starmer's, Putin's, Órban's etc. antics is inversely proportionate to the attention to dying civilians in Gaza and elsewhere

As the White Paper makes the rounds, a short reminder that British higher education remains as incapable of solving its problems as in May (when I wrote this) or the past 80 years (which is roughly how long the problems have been brewing for) janabacevic.net/2025/05/23/t...

Saturday 🤗

If you'd like another paper I wrote on this that you can not cite, here: journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

Enjoying the (perennial return of) "thanks, your work really helped me think through this" combined with "no, of course I did not cite it". Look, citation counts are bollocks, but recognising your sources is important.

this is important - as much as I am against using competitive/punitive approach to funding (i.e. REF) to foster research quality, the concept of 'research culture' has drawn wider attention to the (for most researchers well-known) fact that some institutions are absolutely crap at supporting them

Almost nobody in the Cons Party or beyond it had noticed that the Shadow Home Secretary with two other frontbenchers and 5 backbenchers tabled a bill in May to deport 3 million people - stripping almost every pensioner, parent or nurse who did not take out citizenship of their right to live here

"....but the most important thing in it is not to kill the ablest and most competent young workers. I am so deeply convinced that it is a most serious mistake to overburden young people who are in the middle of their research with administrative work...." (Malinowski to Seligman re: Firth, 1932)

"There is obvious need for some strong institution which would be a centre of research throughout the British Empire and also for the anthropological training of officers of colonial administration. I don't think either Oxford or Cambridge is really the right place" (Radcliffe-Brown to Malinowski)

Eyp! Happy to say I will be returning to Cambridge in a little over a week for a discussion on academic freedom as a collective right, organised by the lovely Academic freedoms network at @crasshlive.bsky.social. Stop by if you're there! www.crassh.cam.ac.uk/events/47809/

To be more precise, the British government is using the traditionally repressed part of the society (the white working class) to further fan the impression that immigrants are a menace, allowing it to effectively wage legal war on migrants while migrants have to fight both the gov't and the fash.

You all do understand the British Government is effectively waging war on migrants, is that clear?

Me, each time before I do archival research: "Nah, probably won't find much, but just to check". Me, each time I do archival research: <finds *exactly* what suspected>

a fox that regularly pops up to follow me part of my way home and reading Kropotkin on the Tube are the two highlights of this iteration of my life, won't be taking any questions

Unfazed (it is *really* pissing down in London)

just out of curiosity, fellow people working in UK universities: imagine, 4 years from now, your uni got offered the kind of "deal" Trump is now offering to US universities (basically, heel, and we will leave you alone). would you want your employer to take it? y/n