From Predatory Publishing to the Book Club Scam — G. Geltner In neo-liberal academia, when authors are also expected to be impresarios, marketers, distributors and agents, book club scams will proliferate, alongside predatory publishing.

new to me: AI-faked book clubs that offer to discuss your academic book ... "It is a small step from what we used to call vanity publishing to DIY, web-based marketing. And the bots approaching us make a dangerously compelling case; we feel seen, but we are scanned and then scammed."

Close Attention - Dissent Magazine An interview with Frederick Wiseman.

Documentarian Frederick Wiseman died today at age 96. "At a moment when many of the institutions he documented are being decimated and our attention is divided," Natasha Lewis wrote last year, "Wiseman’s films are out of time and completely timely." dissentmagazine.org/online_artic...

Stop supporting ed tech or predatory platforms like academia dot edu. Start supporting community-led initiatives like Knowledge Commons (Humanities Commons), built by academics *for* academics.

A case of “operational maps” maybe?

New Special Issue! Krisis Vol 45 No. 1: Radical Aesthetics

We are delighted to present the latest edition of Krisis. This special issue, which focuses on the theme of Radical Aesthetics, has been edited by our guest editors @viktoriahue.bsky.social and Tanay Gandhi.

>>> krisis.eu

(1/10)

The Authoritarian Stack How Tech Billionaires Are Building a Post-Democratic America — And Why Europe Is Next

The Authoritarian Stack: how tech billionaires are building a post-democratic America and why Europe is next.

My new project is an interactive investigation and open data platform to expose tech authoritarianism and mobilize collective power for democratic alternatives.
www.authoritarian-stack.info

I'm so happy this paper is out, and feel humbled to publish with Hypatia. Thank you so much @aidanmcglynn.bsky.social for the superb editorial guidance!

The Dutch Left Had Its Worst Performance Ever The Dutch elections were a victory for liberal centrists and a defeat for the anti-immigration Geert Wilders. Yet with the overall right-wing vote stronger than ever, there’s little reason for celebra...

In case Zohran's just too exciting for you, here's our room-temperature take on last week's Dutch election: jacobin.com/2025/11/neth...

Wenn schon nicht Trump direkt den #Friedensnobelpreis erhält, dann offenbar wenigstens eine Verbündete im Kampf für Autoritarismus mit losen Übergängen zum Faschismus...

Alles over de hypotheekrenteaftrek: Nederland is een walhalla voor huizenbezitters Opeens was-ie daar weer, die aloude politieke splijtzwam: de hypotheekrenteaftrek. Vandaag bespreken Maarten en Marike wat er gebeurt als je dit belastingvoordeel weghaalt. Is het een quickfix voor de...

Podcast over hypotheekrenteaftrek. Linkse partijen zijn voor de afschaffing zodat de woningmarkt afkoelt, mensen toegang tot huizen krijgen en er meer gebouwd kan worden. Meeste rechtse partijen natuurlijk tegen want de rijken moeten rijker worden over de rug van huurders.
www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2025/...

In het nos journaal net gaat het alleen over het geweld. Geen woord over het uitgedragen gedachtegoed, de vlaggen, de leuzen die ermee gepaard gingen en die dat geweld zoveel zorgelijker maken. Dat weglaten is echt kwalijk.

I think framings of the issue along lines of hype/snake oil/con/etc were always inviting this kind of bullshit pushback, because they're operating under the question raised by the PR machine (something like "how powerful are the models?" etc). We're letting them set the question. And then "hype" 1/n

Sally Rooney: I support Palestine Action. If this makes me a ‘supporter of terror’ under UK law, so be it I would happily publish this statement in a UK newspaper – but that would now be illegal

Sally Rooney: I support Palestine Action. If this makes me a ‘supporter of terror’ under UK law, so be it

What would be earlier examples of top down, epistemically motivated Luddites?

Mont Vully, now.

An important (German language) take on Adolescence: a complex and productively ambivalent story is very much reduced to one simplified message … not least to trigger social media buzz (about the dangers of social media, of course)

All of that 👇 … very helpful. Especially the critique of ‘humanist‘ AI criticism

Side note: media “ecosystem” now fully naturalized (!) as PR term

zeithistorische-forschungen.de/1-2024-2025/...

D66 verandert migratiekoers: asielaanvragen alleen nog buiten de EU "Van migratie die ons overkomt, zullen we naar migratie moeten die we zelf in de hand hebben", zegt partijleider Jetten.

Ik ben eigenlijk wel blij met deze nieuwe duidelijkheid.

Traditioneel slachtoffert D66 migranten pas na de verkiezingen, om zo haar neoliberale beleid door te kunnen voeren met de VVD. Nu is het dus vooraf al bekend.

Geen excuses meer voor de "sociaal-liberale" kiezers.

Unusual Business: A University Press Goes Private, And No One is the Wiser — G. Geltner What we know and what we don't know about the privatization of a university press.

2019, G Geltner wrote this helpful blog post on the developments back then: guygeltner.squarespace.com/blog/2582019... it was also published (in Dutch) by @foliacivitatis.bsky.social www.folia.nl/opinie/13133... I hope Folia will pick it up again

Six years ago, 2019, AUP was privatized; the name ‘AUP’ remained property of the University of Amsterdam and had been licensed out to AUP for, we were told back then "a fixed period of time with the possibility to renew". Would be nice to hear more about the new deal.

Greta Thunberg is one of the most coherent and courageous Western activists these days. I wish she and her comrades from @freedomflotilla.bsky.social succeed and live to tell the tale.

Opinie: Opmars van AI doet energievraag exploderen, dat mogen we niet negeren De groei van datacenters, nodig voor AI, leidt tot een sterke toename in de vraag naar elektriciteit en brengt klimaatdoelstellingen in gevaaar. Daarom is het hoog tijd voor een debat over welke plaat...

www.volkskrant.nl/columns-opin...

Linken-Parteitag und Streit um Antisemitismus: Bodo Ramelow kritisiert Beschluss Die Linke wollte beim Parteitag in Chemnitz Harmonie demonstrieren, jetzt gibt es Streit. In einer Antisemitismus-Definition sieht der Zentralrat der Juden den Keim für »Israelhass«. Auch Linken-Bunde...

Die @die-linke.de wird jetzt heftig dafür kritisiert, an ihrem Parteitag mit knapper Mehrheit die Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism angenommen zu haben. Dazu hier Gedanken eines Nichtmitglieds. 1/ www.spiegel.de/politik/deut...

This was sich an inspiring conference!!! Thank you to all the speakers for your awesome presentations!!!!

“Meiner Ansicht nach sollte niemand mit dieser Universität als Institution kooperieren, zumindest nicht, bis diese Personen, also der Präsident der Hebräischen Universität Asher Cohen und ihr Rektor Tamir Shaefer, abgesetzt worden sind. Dasselbe gilt für die Ben-Gurion-Universität.”

Today we are launching the Genocide and Holocaust Studies Crisis Network: an alliance of scholars who have come together because our field & institutions are in crisis.

To find out more about our group, to read our inaugural collective statements, & to join us, visit: www.ghscn.org/home.

It's been four years since @juergenzimmerer.bsky.social & I called for pluralizing memory culture in Germany & lifting the taboo on comparison. As this week's cancellation of Omri Boehm's speech at Buchenwald for allegedly "comparing" the Holocaust & Nakba shows, our call remains crucial.