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Reposted by Josh Budlender

SALDRU @saldru.bsky.social · 27d

Last day to submit! Get your papers in!

SALDRU @saldru.bsky.social · Sep 2

[DEADLINE EXTENSION]: SALDRU-ERSA DECEMBER WORKSHOP

We're excited to announce that you still have time to submit your papers to our December Workshop, hosted with Economic Research South Africa! We've extended the submission deadline to 12 September!

For more info: econrsa.org/events/the-e...

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Josh Budlender @joshbudlender.bsky.social · May 16

Really excellent short interview on ABC about the SA Expropriation Act and claims of "white genocide" with Prof. Ruth Hall (@ruthhallplaas.bsky.social), acting director of South Africa's leading agrarian studies research unit, @plaasuwc.bsky.social.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=6__b...

Trump administration faces criticism for prioritizing white South African refugees

YouTube video by ABC News

www.youtube.com

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Josh Budlender @joshbudlender.bsky.social · May 13

I genuinely feel sorry for government officials and politicians who have to engage with the Americans on the "merits" of the issue. How do you refute someone's deliberate fantasy where facts don't matter at all? It's like the Haitian cats and dogs thing all over again.

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Josh Budlender @joshbudlender.bsky.social · May 13

Mostly I think it's great that SA is, to substantial extent, avoiding getting sucked into this quagmire of nonsense. Perhaps a sign we're maturing. But does mean most of the "discussion" is led by grifters, morons and white nationalists (these categories not mutually exclusive)

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Josh Budlender @joshbudlender.bsky.social · May 13

Notable how vast majority of SA knows this Afrikaner ethnic persecution/refugee thing is such obvious bullshit--literally made-up--that it's not even worth engaging with. You can't refute baldfaced fantasy with facts etc. But wonder if it makes reality less clear to rest of world

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Josh Budlender @joshbudlender.bsky.social · Apr 11

www.newyorker.com/culture/cult...

The Curse of the Diaeresis

www.newyorker.com

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Josh Budlender @joshbudlender.bsky.social · Apr 11

Coördinates 😎

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Josh Budlender @joshbudlender.bsky.social · Mar 31

Of course there were both pros and cons to doing my PhD in the US, but until recently I almost always strongly recommended it to people. Incredible to me that in the space of a few months I now have real reservations about it and just don't know what to think.

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Josh Budlender @joshbudlender.bsky.social · Mar 31

Spoke with first prospective South African PhD student today who was planning on doing his PhD in the US, but now feels he cannot commit to something so long in such an unpredictable & potentially oppressive environment. There will be more.

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Jolyon Maugham KC @goodlawproject.org · Mar 30

I know the right wing media finds it all very difficult so, in an attempt to be helpful, this is what an actual interference with free speech looks like.

More than 20 Metropolitan Police officers broke down the front door of a Quaker meeting house to arrest six women who had met to discuss climate change and Gaza.

It is thought to be the first time in the history of the famously pacifist Quakers that police have forced their way into one of their places of worship.

The women, aged between 18 and 38, were sitting in a circle eating hummus and bread sticks on Thursday evening as part of a “welcome meeting” for Youth Demand, which calls itself a non-violent protest group.

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Chris Hayes @chrislhayes.bsky.social · Mar 26

Unidentified men grabbing someone off the street and putting her in a car because she wrote an op-Ed. This as flatly authoritarian as anything we’ve seen in this country in a very long time.

Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · Mar 26

Video of the international student at Tufts being arrested by "federal authorities" in Massachusetts has been released and it's terrifying.

They're not even uniformed officers. Just secret police thugs in hoodies and masks.

From WCVB: youtu.be/PuFIs7OkzYY

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Josh Budlender @joshbudlender.bsky.social · Mar 25

Speaking truth to power.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Does Columbia still merit the name of a university? | Rashid Khalidi

Columbia has long been run more as a business empire than as an educational institution. Now it’s acting like Vichy on the Hudson

www.theguardian.com

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Filipe Campante @filipecampante.bsky.social · Mar 24

Like, seriously???

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Filipe Campante @filipecampante.bsky.social · Mar 24

Reading this appalling story, I don't see how anyone can in good conscience send their kids to Columbia -- not even as a political statement, but from a basic "will they take care of my kid?" standpoint...

Joshua J. Friedman @joshuajfriedman.com · Mar 24

A 21-year-old Columbia University student who has lived in the United States since she was a child sued President Trump and other high-ranking administration officials on Monday after immigration officials tried to arrest and deport her.

Yunseo Chung participated in a Barnard sit-in this month.

Columbia Student Hunted by ICE Sues to Prevent Deportation (Gift Article)

Yunseo Chung, a legal permanent resident who has lived in the U.S. since she was 7, participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations. Immigration agents visited residences looking for her.

www.nytimes.com

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SALDRU @saldru.bsky.social · Mar 20

📢 SALDRU is proud to host the "South Africa at 30 Years of Democracy" conference at UCT! 🇿🇦🎉 A deep dive into our progress since 1994 & pathways for the future.

📅 Funded by AFD and the EU Commission, supported by the Presidency, Treasury ZA & NPC.

#SA30 #Democracy #Research

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Josh Budlender @joshbudlender.bsky.social · Mar 18

Tbh setting up institutional social media accounts is not my favourite use of my time... if we have to start over again (and then risk being flagged again!) maybe we just forgo @bsky.app as a social media channel...

(yes we will verify via our own webpage, but university IT stuff to navigate first)

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SALDRU @saldru.bsky.social · Mar 18

Hello, Bluesky #EconSky! We're the Southern Africa Labour & Development Research Unit (SALDRU) at UCT, dedicated to challenging inequalities through policy-relevant academic research. We are one of the leading Labour & Development #Economics units on the continent. Explore our work: saldru.uct.ac.za

A picture of the University of Cape Town, where SALDRU is based.

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zeynep tufekci @zey.bsky.social · Mar 16

The Wuhan lab is STILL doing unsafe research that could trigger a pandemic AND getting prestigious pubs as incentive.😫

To fix this for the future, we have to admit we were deliberately misled on the possibility of a lab leak in the past. Horrid but true.

Gift link
www.nytimes.com/2025/03/16/o...

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Zoomer Antimillenarian ♨️ @surcomplicated.bsky.social · Mar 10

"Aligned to" is a way of saying that they have no proof that he provided anything that could be legally construed as material support to Hamas, or showed allegiance to Hamas in any way, but he said some things they decided are vaguely in alignment with Hamas and they're imprisoning him for it.

Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · Mar 10

DHS cites Trump’s executive orders and then makes the absolutely meaningless statement that “Khalil led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization,” as a justification for the arrest.

Homeland Security v
@DHSgov
Follow
On March 9, 2025, in support of President Trump's executive orders prohibiting anti-Semitism, and in coordination with the Department of State, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbia University graduate student.
Khalil led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization.
ICE and the Department of State are committed to enforcing President Trump's executive orders and to protecting U.S. national security.
9:29 PM • 3/9/25 • 228K Views

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Prem Thakker ツ @premthakker.bsky.social · Mar 9

UPDATE — Secretary of State Marco Rubio has now commented on the Trump admin’s detaining & attempted green card revocation of a Columbia Gaza encampment student negotiator:
“We will be revoking the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported.”

Prem Thakker ツ @premthakker.bsky.social · Mar 9

NEWS: Last night, the Department of Homeland Security detained a Palestinian who helped lead the Columbia encampment.

Agents told him his visa was revoked. He said he had a green card. They were confused—then said that was revoked too.

His attorney demanded a warrant. Agents hung up instead.

BREAKING: DHS Detains Palestinian Student from Columbia Encampment, Says Advocates

Agents told him his student visa was revoked. But he had a green card. Agents then said that was revoked too.

zeteo.com

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Josh Budlender @joshbudlender.bsky.social · Feb 20

Ofc in such a wide ranging piece there are going to be things which I personally am a bit unsure about. Key among them being perhaps overstating the elite-driven aspect of land expropriation politics. But a truly exceptional piece; also something all interested SAns should read.

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Josh Budlender @joshbudlender.bsky.social · Feb 20

If you’re only going to read two things, then also read this, by Will. It’s truly brilliant.

jacobin.com/2025/02/musk...

Elon Musk Is a Mouthpiece for South Africa’s White Far Right

Elon Musk’s claim that South Africa’s land expropriation laws are part of a broader attack on the country’s white minority is divorced from reality. But it represents South African elites’ inability t...

jacobin.com

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Josh Budlender @joshbudlender.bsky.social · Feb 20

Chotiner + Will Shoki combo as excellent as one would expect.

Seriously, if you’re not a South African and only read one article about the Trump/Musk demands vs the reality of SA today, this is the piece. And an excellent discussion for SAns too!

www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a...

Make South Africa Great Again?

How the country’s post-apartheid politics may inform the world view of Elon Musk and Donald Trump.

www.newyorker.com

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Josh Budlender @joshbudlender.bsky.social · Feb 12

A good piece. This the flipside of Trump's maximalism, based on completely fabricated "facts" -- he actually makes it impossible for countries to comply, even if they wanted to.
www.news24.com/fin24/opinio...

Carol Paton | Rush to Washington a fool's errand as Trump sets impossible demands | Business

Trump has set demands that an ANC-led government could not possibly meet. Now is not the time to try to "explain" SA's position, writes Carol Paton.

www.news24.com

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Josh Budlender @joshbudlender.bsky.social · Feb 8

There are a million more things one could show here. The claim is so factually absurd it would be never-ending. South Africa has many serious challenges. But the idea that persecution of whites is one of them is just pure fantasy, laughable if it weren't so grotesque...

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