@davidharvie.bsky.social
deprofessionalised intellectual * co-author of Shaping for Mediocrity: The Cancellation of Critical Thinking at Our Universities (Zer0, 2024) * co-editor of Commoning with George Caffentzis and Silvia Federici (Pluto, 2019) * Omnia Sunt Communia * he/him
"When we ask what is at stake if academic freedom is not
protected, the answer is not only vital knowledge and democracy itself. The untruthful language marking universities as we know them, might be a precursor to the demise of academia itself."
Distressing but important piece by Susanne TaΓΌber.
Glad to see this out, co-authored with @nicholasbeuret.bsky.social and @davidharvie.bsky.social ! Huge thanks to the editors at Race & Class for their support and enthusiasm for the article.
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Yep. Edmund Burke. Deputy vice-chancellor of U. Leicester in 2021 and responsible for overseeing mass redundancies, including my own. Assisted by chief financial officer Martyn "Fiddleston" Riddleston. Both now at Bagnor and doing the same thing there.
04.10.2025 11:53 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0
Shaping for Mediocrity reviewed in the Morning Star.
It's particularly timely since workers at University of Leicester are right now in the midst of yet another struggle against restructuring and redundancies. @ucu.org.uk
morningstaronline.co.uk/article/orga...
"For action and for Palestine."
11.09.2025 11:12 β π 1 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0This is tonight! β¬οΈβ¬οΈβ¬οΈ
24.07.2025 10:58 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0Number of job cuts that have been made in UK higher education could be much higher than previously thought, with more than 20,000 roles potentially affected, say @beccaeharrison.bsky.social @davidharvie.bsky.social www.timeshighereducation.com/news/uk-univ... via @julietterowsell.bsky.social
22.07.2025 10:07 β π 0 π 2 π¬ 0 π 0It hasn't changed at all! Across the UK police are responding with violence to peaceful protestors opposing Israeli genocide in Gaza and the British state's complicity in this genocide. Here's a report from the @defendourjuries.bsky.social action in Manchester on July 12.
22.07.2025 12:29 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0The Oasis reunion wasn't the only newsworthy event happening in Manchester the past two weekends, not that you'd know it from the mainstream media β & even most of the alternatives. Here's a report from the July 12 @defendourjuries.bsky.social action opposing genocide in Gaza.
21.07.2025 17:17 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0
Clapton CFC has donated the full profit of Β£7,944.34 from sales of our limited edition trans solidarity keeper shirt to the Trans Legal Clinic.
Here's the breakdown >> www.claptoncfc.co.uk/2025/07/18/c...
Person sitting on steps and holding a placard saying "I OPPOSE GENOCIDE, I SUPPORT PALESTINE ACTION"
This happened in Leeds earlier. One person was arrested for sitting on some steps holding a placard saying
I OPPOSE GENOCIDE
I SUPPORT PALESTINE ACTION
Police searched his house and, I believe, he's still being held in custody.
@defendourjuries.bsky.social
@palaction.bsky.social
Solidarity with the people from @defendourjuries.bsky.social, risking their liberty in Manchester, Cardiff and London today β in opposition to genocide in Palestine and the UK government's complicity in that and in support of @palaction.bsky.social β taking direct action to stop genocide. π΅πΈ π
12.07.2025 15:10 β π 3 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0And this spirit lives on in the activists and organisers (chapeau Palestine Action) taking direct action to stop genocide and to stop (further) climate breakdown.
06.07.2025 11:33 β π 1 π 0 π¬ 0 π 1*This* was the spirit of Gleneagles β 20 years ago this weekend β embodied in the millions of people across the planet who believed another world was (is) possible. www.theguardian.com/business/202...
06.07.2025 11:33 β π 6 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0
If we're to restore our rights to the land, & to the commons more generally, it's vital we remember the stories of how we lost these rights in the first place β the stories of enclosure.
At the July 24 screening, the amazing @beccaeharrison.bsky.social will discuss the film & its revelance today.
poster for To Kill A War Machine: a screening of a documentary about Palestine Action BLOC Cinema (ArtsOne), Mile End Road, London E1 4PA 1 July, 18:30-21:00 FREE registration: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/to-kill-a-war-machine-tickets-1437236636469?aff=oddtdtcreator
SCREENING: βTo Kill A War Machineβ, a documentary about @palaction.bsky.social by βͺ@rainbow-collective.bsky.socialβ¬
β°2 July, 18;30-21:00,
πBLOC Cinema, ArtsOne
π free, but register for access: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/to-kill-a-...
π€ @cclas1.bsky.social
Really unfair question to ask, tbh.
No reason at all it can't be both.
In case anyone's wondering, the "bullying complaint in previous role" was at U. Leicester, where he was enabled by VC Nishan Canagarajah and deputy VC Edmund Burke, now VC at Bangor.
27.06.2025 08:23 β π 2 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0
If you've been fucked around by one of the malicious, ignorant, corrupt, greedy, vindictive, arrogant, grasping, spiteful, self-important, smug, censorious & deceitful bullies who run UK universities ...
... check out the demolition of ex-Vice Chancellor Gillespie at Holyrood
Enjoy
I'm pleased that even though the 'grown ups' are ignoring the massive ecological and financial scandal that is the ongoing subsidies to Drax, these kids aren't. Good on them.
25.06.2025 14:07 β π 2 π 1 π¬ 0 π 0Organisation scholars call this 'strategy' MIMETIC ISOMORPHISM. We write about it in Shaping for Mediocrity β it's a 'middling' strategy!
25.06.2025 08:53 β π 8 π 2 π¬ 2 π 0Imagine the banality of a university where the only ratified areas of study are βcomplex analysisβ and βcritical thinkingβ. Thinking about what? We have already seen what happens when we unleash a cadre of overrated, narrowly-educated adolescents whose only thought is of their own exceptionalism.
23.06.2025 12:01 β π 10 π 7 π¬ 0 π 1
"Your micro-credentials in βleadershipβ, decision-making and βcommercial awarenessβ are not going to impinge on the threats from climate change or global health hazards."
oh man, this is SO spot on about #UKHE, its value, and and why we have to defend it from blandness.
Now published! Universities Degraded, by @beccaeharrison.bsky.social & me, reveals the scale of job losses in UK universities, exposes employer practices & shares testimonies of those made redundant & their colleagues.
Warning: some of the content is distressing.
zenodo.org/records/1563...
#REF2029
13.06.2025 18:25 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0
If you'd like a preview copy (especially to provide coverage or to help distribute as widely as possible) please get in touch!
Warning: itβs a challenging read β the testimonies stories are frequently harrowing and heartbreaking β but a necessary one.