Dan Vitkus
@danvitkus.bsky.social
150 followers 110 following 320 posts
Literature Professor, historical materialist, eco-theorist, solarpunk
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Reposted by Dan Vitkus
jameeljaffer.bsky.social
MIT's response to the Trump admin's proposed "compact" is excellent and should be a model for other universities. orgchart.mit.edu/letters/rega...
Reposted by Dan Vitkus
allinwithchris.bsky.social
“Putting your political opponents in jail because they are your opponents—not because of what they did—is the heart of tyranny. It is an obviously impeachable offense,” says @chrislhayes.bsky.social on the indictment of NY AG Tish James on Trump-ordered charges.
Reposted by Dan Vitkus
resistrebelrevolt.net
The smartest response to fear of immigration you'll ever see.

"The elite need to inflame tension on immigration cause they need someone to blame for the problems THEY'RE causing our socities."
Reposted by Dan Vitkus
diplomatofnight.com
Netanyahu's mouthpiece, Amit Segal, casually admits on Twitter that his country has been holding 1,700 people from Gaza hostage, including children.
Among other things, according to the decision:

- 250 security prisoners will be released.  
- 1,700 residents of the Gaza Strip who were not involved in the events of October 7 and were arrested after the massacre will be released.  
- 22 minors under the age of 18, residents of the Gaza Strip who were not involved in the events of October 7 and were arrested after the massacre, will be released.  
- 360 bodies of terrorists will be returned.
Reposted by Dan Vitkus
kevinverhoff.bsky.social
Absolutely wild that the leftist response to people like this woman is: "Your family shouldn't have to live like this. We have a plan to make it better." and the republican response is: "Fuck you. We're never going to raise taxes on the rich" and for some reason the latter is the compelling message
atrupar.com
Republican C-SPAN caller to Mike Johnson: "As a Republican, I'm very disappointed in my party,and I'm very disappointed in you, because you have the power to call the House back. You refuse to do that just for a show."
danvitkus.bsky.social
It’s like the Starmer faction really, really want to bring in a fascist government in the UK
danvitkus.bsky.social
“Money alone talks”? Doesn’t that mirror capitalist ideology? Labor alone talks! Changing consumer behavior alone won’t save the planet or democracy. But yes to a general strike!
danvitkus.bsky.social
Sadly, so far No Kings has organized mass protests and marches without a call to further direct action. Disorganized dissent raises hope and feels good but disperses collective energies without substantive political effect. We need a movement with action to confront and counter authoritarianism!
danvitkus.bsky.social
I never said that every single person in that nebulous category is a political dupe or worse. But sometimes we do need to make relatively broad assertions about labels and categories that have a certain cultural function and status. Cultural Studies 101. I get it: you were hip, you are leftist. Cool
danvitkus.bsky.social
My point is not to challenge the authenticity of your past hipster status. It is to point out that hipster culture became a key ideological site that functions to provide a false sense of resistance. That so many former hipsters sold out to a liberal establishment that is a huge part of the problem.
Reposted by Dan Vitkus
mondoweiss.net
The Trump administration's crackdown on dissent started with its targeting of Palestine protesters. Two years into the Gaza genocide, we are now seeing these attacks expand to all critics, regardless of their connection to Palestine.

mondoweiss.net/2025/10/two-...

#Palestine #Israel
Two Years of Genocide: Trump’s war on free speech began with Gaza
The Trump administration’s crackdown on dissent started with its targeting of Palestine protesters. Two years into the Gaza genocide, we are now seeing these attacks expand to all critics, regardless...
mondoweiss.net
Reposted by Dan Vitkus
zeteo.com
“Netanyahu has carried Israeli society with him on a premeditated spree of killing, destruction, and starvation,”

Former Israeli peace negotiator Daniel Levy writes about how PM Netanyahu was a dead man walking until the Hamas attack of October 7.

Read his story: zeteo.com/p/how-netany...
danvitkus.bsky.social
It's dated because "hipster" has been a label with a mainstream cultural meaning for a long time that links it to the way that capitalist ideology incorporates counter-cultures and pseudo-trangressive poses. Does "artsy" have a more substantial, current meaning?
Reposted by Dan Vitkus
hpsc24.bsky.social
What USA thinks it's #1 in (and its actual rankings):
Life Expectancy: 46th
FreePress: 42nd
Healthcare: 30th
Education: 26th
Happiness: 23rd
Freedom: 17th
What the USA is #1 in:
Military Spending
Number of Billionaires
Incarceration
Bankruptcy filings
Medical debt
Gun deaths
danvitkus.bsky.social
I guess there are "sell-out" hipsters and there are the genuine, leftist "Cobrasnake" hipsters? Because "hipster culture" as a whole has been a part of the neoliberal system for a long time, even before the reign of today's "influencers." www.filmsforaction.org/articles/hip... But vote Mamdani, yes!
www.filmsforaction.org
danvitkus.bsky.social
The Cobrasnake hipsters are part of the problem
danvitkus.bsky.social
We need to defeat both the Liberal-California Cobrasnake hipsters and the evil fascist Miller-Scum. Santa Monica was clearly ground zero of the corrupt duopoly that gave us MAGA. Power to the People!
Reposted by Dan Vitkus
lisadiedrich.bsky.social
Stuart Hall took Thatcherism seriously & tried to understand its affective & aspirational appeal. Trumpism operates differently, as @cnewf.bsky.social notes, but the need to offer a cultural & political counter-strategy is key. I keep thinking about Hall’s adept use of new forms of media.
mattseybold.bsky.social
Great call to arms by @cnewf.bsky.social, following the tactic of Jed Esty's "Future of Decline" by looking to Stuart Hall & the New Left, & urging us to forego "private agency within our universities" in favor of "collective agency by running them."
Academics Must Seize the Means of Knowledge Production - Public Books
Trumpism has canceled the knowledge society.
www.publicbooks.org
Reposted by Dan Vitkus
eve.gd
This is a must read to understand the context of Britain's universities and their finances.
gsoh31.bsky.social
ICYMI on Tuesday, here's my *new* and *free* short-form summary of what's gone wrong in our universities. This is something of a last word really, because unless the Budget and White Paper do something really radical, the fate of much HE is already sealed.
politicalquarterly.org.uk/blog/where-n...
Where now for Britain’s Universities?
UK higher education now faces a very bleak future, retreating in the face of little public sympathy and limited political interest.
politicalquarterly.org.uk
Reposted by Dan Vitkus
resistrebelrevolt.net
Last week, I shared an article about why Military Occupation can't happen in the U.S. - written by former DOD.

But Cy Canterel goes one step further to argue that even TRYING military occupation during a simultaneous economic crisis would expedite regime collapse.

This links to my article below 🧵👇🏼
danvitkus.bsky.social
So were the entire European aristocratic ruling class, no?
Reposted by Dan Vitkus
meemalee.bsky.social
Author and filmmaker Justine Bateman on generative AI
"They're trying to convince people they can't do the things they've been doing easily for years - to write emails, to write a presentation. Your daughter wants you to make up a bedtime story about puppies - to write that for you." We will get to the point, she says with a grim laugh, "that you will essentially become just a skin bag of organs and bones, nothing else. You won't know anything and you will be told repeatedly that you can't do it, which is the opposite of what life has to offer. Capitulating all kinds of decisions like where to go on vacation, what to wear today, who to date, what to eat.
People are already doing this. You won't have to process grief, because you'll have uploaded photos and voice messages from your mother who just died, and then she can talk to you via AI video call every day. One of the ways it's going to destroy humans, long before there's a nuclear disaster, is going to be the emotional hollowing-out of people." - author and filmmaker Justine Bateman from a piece by Emine Saner for the Guardian