Kai Heron
@kaiheron.bsky.social
4.9K followers 410 following 320 posts
Lecturer in Political Ecology at Lancaster University. Co-author of "Radical Abundance: How to Win a Green and Democratic Future" (2025)
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kaiheron.bsky.social
This year's Nobel Peace Prize winner was an apt choice. An islamophobic Zionist who rubs shoulders with Europe's far-right including Geert Wilders and Marie Le Pen and who has expressed support for a renewed Reconquista. Europe's direction of travel encapsulated.
kaiheron.bsky.social
If you're in Manchester for #TheWorldTransformed tonight, consider coming to our panel. We'll be hearing from struggles in the Basque country, Berlin, and London about how to build institutions of popular power.
theworldtransformed.org/twt25/twt25p...
The World Transformed 2025 // What Does Winning Look Like? A Strategy for Radical Abundance
theworldtransformed.org
kaiheron.bsky.social
Over concerns that its findings were 'too negative', Downing Street has censored a government-backed report which found British food prices will increase because of the deforestation of tropical rainforests. A shocking and dangerous will to ignorance. www.thetimes.com/uk/environme...
No 10 blocks report on impact of rainforest collapse on food prices
Downing Street has vetoed release of an assessment that says the loss of the Amazon ecosystem could drive up food inflation as well as lead to mass migration
www.thetimes.com
kaiheron.bsky.social
In just six days Europe’s June 2025 heatwave led to 16,500 excess deaths and caused €43 billion in short-term lost earnings. But the effects of heatwaves linger long after the stifling temperatures have passed. By 2029 the cost of those six days is expected to climb to €126 billion.
kaiheron.bsky.social
Unhappily, I'm reading Dipesh Chakrabarty's The Climate of History in a Planetary Age. The judo moves he makes to let capital off the hook for global heating are something to behold.
kaiheron.bsky.social
Much better under their new leader but they're still a marginal force and face two significant challenges: 1) an electoral system that makes it hard for insurgent parties to win large numbers of seats; 2) the right's successful demonisation of all things green.
kaiheron.bsky.social
Not to mention removing the media passes of critical journalists at this year's party conference, suppressing dissent within the party, and bending to the far-right's agenda on immigration. Starmerism's enduring legacy will have been to open the door to a Reform government in 2029.
kaiheron.bsky.social
Britain's authoritarian Labour government has given the police even more power to suppress protests. But this won't stop them. When your government is participating in genocide the only option is to throw wrenches into the machine.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Police to get broader powers to crack down on repeated protests
The move is not a ban on protests but
www.bbc.co.uk
kaiheron.bsky.social
Degrowth has never been a coherent political perspective, nor has it had an agreed political strategy. This interview with Jason Hickel and reply by Vincent Liegey, Anitra Nelson, and Terry Leahy pair well to highlight the dividing lines. Links below.
kaiheron.bsky.social
The consequences of this erasure are then turned around and used to tarnish pro-Palestinian movements in a desperate effort to crush widespread, popular, opposition in this country to its participation in genocide. It's a shameless, dishonest, and dangerous maneuver. 8/8
kaiheron.bsky.social
We should also keep in mind that Israel and its allies have routinely conflated their actions and beliefs with the actions and beliefs of all Jews, and in so doing have helped foster an environment where misunderstandings or erasures of this essential distinction can spread. 7/8
kaiheron.bsky.social
As for the slogan's alleged anti-Semitism, it can't be stressed enough that globalise the intifada is an anti-Zionist slogan, which is *not the same* as an anti-semitic slogan. 6/8
kaiheron.bsky.social
Protesting, obstructing, and resisting Britain's involvement in the genocide (not merely its complicity as we sometimes hear, but its active participation) is an essential right and duty. This obviously does not extend to actions like those seen in Manchester. 4/8
kaiheron.bsky.social
The slogan makes the simple point that Israel could not sustain its genocide for a week, let alone the nearly two years that it has, without operational, logistical, ideological, and diplomatic support offered to it by imperial powers including Britain. 3/8
kaiheron.bsky.social
The slogan 'globalise the intifada' has come under especially sustained criticism, with some saying its meaning is unclear or intrinsically antisemitic. Neither of these claims are true. 2/8
kaiheron.bsky.social
The attack in Manchester is utterly deplorable. I am also dismayed to see members of Parliament and parts of our media ecology attempting to use this tragedy to suppress protests against Israel's genocide in Palestine. 1/8
kaiheron.bsky.social
"The future is not inscribed in the present even if it is circumscribed by the past" - Wallerstein
kaiheron.bsky.social
“This plan was formulated without the participation of Hamas or any Palestinian party, including the Palestinian Authority. So how can the U.S. administration reach an agreement with one side of the conflict while excluding the Palestinian side?” www.dropsitenews.com/p/gaza-hamas...
How Hamas Is Navigating Trump’s Gaza Ultimatum
In an exclusive interview, veteran Hamas official Mohammad Nazzal discusses strategy, red lines, and Israel’s attempt to assassinate Palestinian negotiators.
www.dropsitenews.com
kaiheron.bsky.social
I’m looking forward to this event. I’ll be riffing off the London-Edinburgh Weekend Return Group’s idea of being ‘in and against the state’ to reflect on what it means to pursue an academic career ‘in, against and beyond’ the university. Which is something I'm still trying to figure out myself...
bisa-ecpwg.bsky.social
It's October, and we have an event coming up!

Pathways for environment research: academia, activism, policy. A conversation for ECRs about post-PhD research between 3 people who have taken different paths.

17th October, online & free, 1pm-2.30pm BST.

Register here

www.bisa.ac.uk/members/work...
Aimed at PhD and ECR researchers who are thinking about their future in environmental research, this roundtable brings together three researchers who have taken different pathways with their PhDs. Professor Rosaleen Duffy, Chair of International Politics at the University of Sheffield, will speak to her academic career as a researcher and teacher of global environmental change and governance. Dr Jane Clarke, Principal Analyst at the Office for Environmental Protection, will discuss her experience working on environmental policy across both non-government and government sectors. And Dr Kai Heron, Lecturer in Political Ecology at Lancaster University and co-director of the progressive policy platform Abundance, will share his experience as an activist researcher and using academia to further social movement goals.

The discussion will shed light on different ways to use your environment PhD, what different career pathways can offer, and opportunities for intersections between them.  We hope you can join us!
kaiheron.bsky.social
Though I do hope it's the only reading list where our book features alongside the eco-fascist Paul Kingsnorth...