Professor of Politics and International Studies at Murdoch University. Posts are my personal views. https://bsky.app/profile/fafner100.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/fafner100.bsky.social/post/3lln6cfthi22cThe Met live stream of Fidelio was excellent (esp Davidsen as Lenore. Peter Gelb intro focused on Ukraine, but the striking example is right in NY, is Mahmoud Khalil and his imprisonment for political speech. @metopera.bsky.social31 Mar 2025 01:09 +0000at://did:plc:kkn3asnecn37rgolopgeo7xj/app.bsky.feed.post/3lln6cfthi22chttps://bsky.app/profile/fafner100.bsky.social/post/3lksuzlghuk2bIn this article we place the growth of tech in China and the reshaping of class forces and the state. We move away from a focus on tech policy or elites to place developments in the US and China in the broader context of capitalist crisis. https://madeinchinajournal.com/2025/03/20/engineering-chinas-militarised-neoliberalism-class-state-and-technology/20 Mar 2025 14:13 +0000at://did:plc:kkn3asnecn37rgolopgeo7xj/app.bsky.feed.post/3lksuzlghuk2bhttps://bsky.app/profile/fafner100.bsky.social/post/3lksuzlghuk2bIn this article we place the growth of tech in China and the reshaping of class forces and the state. We move away from a focus on tech policy or elites to place developments in the US and China in the broader context of capitalist crisis. https://madeinchinajournal.com/2025/03/20/engineering-chinas-militarised-neoliberalism-class-state-and-technology/20 Mar 2025 14:13 +0000at://did:plc:kkn3asnecn37rgolopgeo7xj/app.bsky.feed.post/3lksuzlghuk2bhttps://bsky.app/profile/fafner100.bsky.social/post/3liiwtfpqf22pI would substitute 'totality' instead 😘 [contains quote post or other embedded content]19 Feb 2025 04:29 +0000at://did:plc:kkn3asnecn37rgolopgeo7xj/app.bsky.feed.post/3liiwtfpqf22phttps://bsky.app/profile/fafner100.bsky.social/post/3lgnios3qns2hAcademic freedom is further curtailed in Singapore and at the National University of Singapore. On this US Ivy League universities and NUS seem to be converging https://www.academia.sg/editorials/on-nus-vetting-controversial-talks/26 Jan 2025 13:08 +0000at://did:plc:kkn3asnecn37rgolopgeo7xj/app.bsky.feed.post/3lgnios3qns2hhttps://bsky.app/profile/fafner100.bsky.social/post/3lfvix3dqpc2uMark Beeson in good form here : https://johnmenadue.com/with-friends-like-these/17 Jan 2025 00:09 +0000at://did:plc:kkn3asnecn37rgolopgeo7xj/app.bsky.feed.post/3lfvix3dqpc2uhttps://bsky.app/profile/fafner100.bsky.social/post/3lfbn4ofhe22wFForget about Greenland or Canada—the defining feature of the Trump administration is the crisis of social reproduction—as the LA fires vividly demonstrate—alongside the ongoing political crisis.09 Jan 2025 02:31 +0000at://did:plc:kkn3asnecn37rgolopgeo7xj/app.bsky.feed.post/3lfbn4ofhe22whttps://bsky.app/profile/fafner100.bsky.social/post/3lekvnmryfs2eThis is sharp on identity politics particularly on the politics of identity by the right. But we should be asking: why now ? how this shift relates to the hollowing out of mass politics and the intensification of crises of social reproduction. https://novaramedia.com/2024/12/30/identity-politics-is-dead-and-the-far-right-knows-it/31 Dec 2024 01:32 +0000at://did:plc:kkn3asnecn37rgolopgeo7xj/app.bsky.feed.post/3lekvnmryfs2ehttps://bsky.app/profile/fafner100.bsky.social/post/3ldvnwwmlac2zhttps://www.nybooks.com/online/2024/12/21/a-microcosm-of-the-world-clr-james-stuart-hall/22 Dec 2024 14:48 +0000at://did:plc:kkn3asnecn37rgolopgeo7xj/app.bsky.feed.post/3ldvnwwmlac2zhttps://bsky.app/profile/fafner100.bsky.social/post/3ldmtgjfy322fThis will be the story of the next decade: increased fiscal pressure alongside a growing crisis of social reproduction, including ecological disasters and militarised neoliberalism. And in both the global North and South. https://www.ft.com/content/1c67dc52-4791-4c33-9412-6462b81b8078?xnpe_tifc=4De_bI18OIHDxFVZbdHJxjpJVdUZMds_O.VDxd4N4FU_tI1D4fYA4FzD4Cl7bIsstI1J4.zdb.zj4Iod49pLhknjxuh.4fb8hueNOIxd19 Dec 2024 02:32 +0000at://did:plc:kkn3asnecn37rgolopgeo7xj/app.bsky.feed.post/3ldmtgjfy322fhttps://bsky.app/profile/fafner100.bsky.social/post/3ldhwiugzgs2zCrypto and its political imaginaries of the authoritarian neoliberalism of the far right. https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/donald-trump-crypto-capital-planet17 Dec 2024 03:44 +0000at://did:plc:kkn3asnecn37rgolopgeo7xj/app.bsky.feed.post/3ldhwiugzgs2zhttps://bsky.app/profile/fafner100.bsky.social/post/3ldewd34xt22qA lot of the problem is that these accounts valorise institutional failure without addressing the social forces that shape these failures. This might seem obvious, but the failure has to do with the marginalisation of structural theories and debates ( Weber and Marx ) in comparative politics. [contains quote post or other embedded content]15 Dec 2024 23:03 +0000at://did:plc:kkn3asnecn37rgolopgeo7xj/app.bsky.feed.post/3ldewd34xt22qhttps://bsky.app/profile/fafner100.bsky.social/post/3ld3yq6rwzs2tIt is emblematic of deeper issue: the way liberal professional and academic institutions seem to articulate an explicit set of different standards for such issues as scholasticide or the media in Gaza. [contains quote post or other embedded content]12 Dec 2024 09:52 +0000at://did:plc:kkn3asnecn37rgolopgeo7xj/app.bsky.feed.post/3ld3yq6rwzs2thttps://bsky.app/profile/fafner100.bsky.social/post/3lcujakwii22sWhat's with all the spy shows on streaming servics?09 Dec 2024 10:26 +0000at://did:plc:kkn3asnecn37rgolopgeo7xj/app.bsky.feed.post/3lcujakwii22shttps://bsky.app/profile/fafner100.bsky.social/post/3lcrkdrlwk22xThis is an interesting article on the rise of HR department. Still, it has broader relevance to Universities where HR has been at the centre of neoliberalisation of the University and increasing crucial site of power within the University. https://www.newstatesman.com/business/2024/11/hr-britain-how-human-resources-captured-the-nation08 Dec 2024 06:08 +0000at://did:plc:kkn3asnecn37rgolopgeo7xj/app.bsky.feed.post/3lcrkdrlwk22xhttps://bsky.app/profile/fafner100.bsky.social/post/3lcr65rbmwk2cIt is good to see this in the Guardian - showing the complexities of class, caste and minority status within the Indian Diaspora and the surveillance of the diaspora. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/dec/08/beyond-bollywood-and-butter-chicken-rethinking-australias-deeply-misunderstood-indian-diaspora08 Dec 2024 02:30 +0000at://did:plc:kkn3asnecn37rgolopgeo7xj/app.bsky.feed.post/3lcr65rbmwk2c