iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by John Levin

Dr Sarah J Young @sarahjyoung.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

It’s my birthday and I got a really cool set of William Kentridge procession fridge magnets.

A photo of four black silhouetted figures against a white background. The outer two are people carrying large loads on their backs, inner left is a man (Kentridge himself) walking and reading a book, and inner right is Gogol’s Nose riding a horse.

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Joel S. @joelhs.bsky.social · 13h

The "all anti-Zionism is always and forever antisemitism" people and the "all antisemitism becomes fine if we just say it's anti-Zionism, even if we're ranting about the Talmud" people reinforce one another, even if both sides utterly fail to see it.

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POP @populismblog.bsky.social · 21h

New book out 🔥 The Fascist Zeitgeist. Authoritarian Legacies and the Iberian Far Right. (Elements in the History and Politics of Fascism @universitypress.cambridge.org) How is the success of the Iberian far right linked to the memory of Franco and Salazar? doi.org/10.1017/9781009588072

The image shows, on the right half, the book's cover, with fascist architecture from Rome, which is the signature image used by the series on "The History and Politics of Fascism". The left half of the image shows the book's back, that includes the following summary:
The far right is achieving unprecedented electoral success, even in countries once considered immune such as Spain and Portugal. For decades, the stigma surrounding the long dictatorships of António Salazar and Francisco Franco seemed to inoculate the Iberian Peninsula against far-right mobilisation, yet Chega and VOX have shown that collective memory evolves – and stigma fades. This Element argues that understanding the far right's global rise requires attention to authoritarian nostalgia: a longing for an idealised authoritarian past. When activated by credible political actors with sufficient media visibility, this sentiment can generate support for far-right movements even in societies with a collective memory firmly condemning their authoritarian past. Using original survey data, the Element shows how contemporary far-right forces mobilise the ghosts of authoritarianism to erode democratic norms, revealing the enduring power of collective memory in shaping political behaviour.

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The Statutes Project @statutes.bsky.social · 21h

There's an urban (rural?) myth that James I passed a law requiring the planting of Mulberry trees. He did promote them, but there was no statutory requirement. Rabbit hole here: shkspr.mobi/blog/2017/01... #History

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Nick Lloyd @spaincivilwartours.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

For 19 years the village of Llueves, Asturias has been commemorating "the first Spanish Republican": a bear which, so the story goes, killed King Fávila, son of Pelayo, who, "according to the Spanish monarchial tradition" began the so-called Reconquista and set off succession to today's monarchy

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JW Mason @jwmason.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

This is the master key to deciphering contemporary debates about free speech. www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/se...

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Dr Sarah J Young @sarahjyoung.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Realized I’m not posting anywhere near enough cat pictures.

Three ginger cats with white bibs and paws waiting impatiently for their tea. They’re sat on a red rug with a flowered pattern.

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Samantha Asumadu @samanthaasumadu.substack.com · 23/09/2026

So I think maybe I just figured out why @timeshighered.bsky.social has not reported anything negative about James Orr. I could very well be wrong, but here we go: In 2024, THE signed an agreement with Hungary's Culture and Innovation Ministry which oversees Hungarian higher education..

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Archie Hall @archiehall.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

My latest for @economist.com: AI writing is taking over politics. 10% of what was is said in Parliament is now AI-drafted, per Pangram. Yet more in the House of Representatives, or in Australia and Canada. Link: www.economist.com/britain/202... And a 🧵 below, w/ some main offenders

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Dada @dadaists.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Free online until 9th October: The Parisian Musical Avant-Garde during the Great War Jane Bathori’s Concerts in War and Peace by Barbara L. Kelly www.cambridge.org/core/element... #WW1 #MusicHistory

cambridge.org

The Parisian Musical Avant-Garde during the Great War

Cambridge Core - Music: General Interest - The Parisian Musical Avant-Garde during the Great War

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Andrea Reyes E (she/her) @altibel.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Digitised and indexed by a private company that masses data over genealogy. Why does it feel likes this is gonna bite us in the future?

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John Levin @anterotesis.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Free to read and download until 15th October: The Fascist Zeitgeist Authoritarian Legacies and the Iberian Far Right by Luca Manucci #History #SpanishHistory #MemoriaHistorica #HistoricalMemory www.cambridge.org/core/element...

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John Levin @anterotesis.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

17 July 1938. Very striking that they use the word 'Imperialism' rather than 'fascism'. Nehru said something similar at this event: "Fascism is new to you but we have been experiencing it for the last 150 years" nehruarchive.in/documents/gr... #History #RadicalHistory

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John Levin @anterotesis.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

New #OpenAccess #History of #Spain: Iberian Crossroads A Global History of Modern Spain Pol Dalmau and Jorge Luengo global.oup.com/academic/pro... (I have only browsed it, but it looks very good indeed.)

global.oup.com

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Mark Doyle @markdoyle.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Was very happy to beam into QUB today to launch the Africans in Ireland website that I and a number of colleagues have been working on for years. Maps, database, & other resources documenting the African presence in Ireland from the late 16th to early 20th centuries. africansinireland.com

A right-facing silhouette of the Black preacher and seaman John Jea, Methodist preacher and seaman, from his 1816 book The Life, History, and Unparalleled Sufferings of John Jea, the African Preacher

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John Levin @anterotesis.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

There's very little information about the project as a whole, its methodology &c. Sourcing is poor; seemingly no clickable links; wikipedia & wikidata links would be useful. Parts of the site look rushed and incomplete. It's early days. Let's hope there are plans for its long-term continuance.

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charlesmatthews.bsky.social @charlesmatthews.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

So we can compare britishslavetraders.org/individual/p... with en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_...

britishslavetraders.org

Thomas Parke (Sr)

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John Levin @anterotesis.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Launched today: The Register of British Slave-Traders "presents biographical data related to each of the known investors in the transatlantic traffic in enslaved African people from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries." britishslavetraders.org/about-us/ #History #EnslavedHistory

britishslavetraders.org

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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

'Around two-thirds of professional and support staff at UK universities say change and uncertainty over the past five years have had a negative impact on them, the Higher Education Policy Institute has found.'

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John Levin @anterotesis.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Looks interesting, and free to download until the 18th September: The Mathematisation of Economics A Twentieth-Century History by Marcel Boumans www.cambridge.org/core/element... #economica

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Alan Lester @alanlester.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

It took a lot: the threat of an IPSO investigation, insults and rank hypocrisy from Michael Gove, refusal to publish a right to reply & a last minute excision without consultation, but at last I got The Spectator to publish a counter to its propaganda war against Project Spire.

Letter published in The Spectator correcting some of its misinformation about Project Spire’s historical basis.

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Leigh Jones @leighsus.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

A real test now of the media's appetite for Cambridge professors and their ethics.

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John Levin @anterotesis.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Fine article on recipes from Spain's 'Years of Hunger'; a period also known as the 'War Years', although they extended beyond the Civil War. No eggs, no potatoes but ‘a lot of imagination’: how Spain cooked in war’s hunger years www.theguardian.com/world/2026/s... #FoodHistory #HistoricalMemory

theguardian.com

No eggs, no potatoes but ‘a lot of imagination’: how Spain cooked in war’s hunger years

Book recreates recipes from period following end of Spanish civil war when people faced food shortages

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John Levin @anterotesis.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

An "update" to JSTOR’s free reading program: they're downgrading access from 100 free articles/month to just 10. Access to academic writing is being whittled down, bit by bit. about.jstor.org/blog/an-upda...

about.jstor.org

An update to JSTOR’s free reading program

Beginning September 1, 2026, JSTOR’s free reading program will provide registered readers with access to 10 articles every 30 days.

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John Levin @anterotesis.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Imprisonment for debt returning to the USA, and being fought by the SPLC, who are currently under attack by the current fascist US govt. SPLC challenges Winston County’s handling of unpaid garbage bills spectrumlocalnews.com/sc/south-car... #Debt #Prisons

spectrumlocalnews.com

SPLC challenges Winston County’s handling of unpaid garbage bills

The Southern Poverty Law Center is challenging Winston County’s practice of pursuing criminal cases.

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Kim A. Wagner @kimatiwagner.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Jfc, I thought we'd left this historically illiterate crap behind us - the historical balance-sheet was a tired culture-war trope ten years ago and now it's being introduced in British schools...🤦🏼‍♂️

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William Gillis 🏴 @rechelon.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Statement from Collettivo Autistici / Inventati: cavallette.noblogs.org/2026/08/10076

Today we were made aware that the US Government has targeted a small, volunteer-run, technology collective from Italy with disproportionate sanctions as anyone can read in the Treasury Department Statement, the State Department Statement and the related Executive Order.

We deny all allegations included in the statements, while we strongly affirm our dedication to providing a platform of tools for digital self-defense, addressing the need of free communication for activists and other individuals, groups and associations.

We will not back down, we will keep doing what we have been doing all these years and we will do whatever is in our possibility to counter the false allegations made by a politically desperate administration with the sole intention of swaying people and media attention away from their own violence and warmongering.

Antifascism and anticapitalism are not terrorism. Protesting is not terrorism. And everyone has the right to speak out and to struggle for humanity.

Collettivo Autistici / Inventati — “Socializzare saperi senza fondare poteri”

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William Gillis 🏴 @rechelon.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

The US is targeting the anarchist collective that hosts the popular Noblogs wordpress platform as terrorists. This is truly batshit (as are their various obvious lies about Rose City Antifa etc). This is a HUGE attack on basic free speech. www.state.gov/releases/off...

state.gov

Designation of Autistici/Inventati as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist - United States Department of State

Today, the Department of State, in partnership with the Department of the Treasury, is announcing the designation of Autistici/Inventati as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. Autistici/Inventati...

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The Statutes Project @statutes.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

The text of this equivocal act: statutes.org.uk/site/the-sta... #LegalHistory #EnslavedHistory

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John Levin @anterotesis.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Just noticed, that the first authors to be cited in Das Kapital, aside from Marx himself, are Barbon and Locke, writing on (the very clipped and counterfeited) money of the 1690s. Let's leap: monetary crime is the foundation of the critique of political economy! In this Ted Talk I will ....

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Dr Cath Feely @cathfeely.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Resorted to writing 'it's just me doing all of this' in an email. I am one person! Solidarity to anyone else feeling like that this morning.

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Fraser Raeburn @fraserraeburn.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

So, something I talk-about-but-not-really is that I'm one of the people on this moderation team and have been heavily involved in running the project since 2019. I first got into answering stuff about the Spanish Civil War, and then got more and more fascinated about how it all works...

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John Levin @anterotesis.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Antecedents of Milkshaking: Jellifying. #History

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Dr Sarah J Young @sarahjyoung.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Vera is weary of all the houseworks and just wants everything back to normal* * being able to sleep *in* the box instead of on it

A ginger cat asleep on a grey archive box with one leg hanging with a short white sock over the edge.

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Joel @snufkinlib.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Getting clued in the the Ghanaian spaghetti craze

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peterkwells @peterkwells.com · 21/08/2026

Did you know UK govt has published a call for evidence on charging for public sector data, w/examples like bus timetables and environment data? Well, here's a thing on how that will make a lot of things a bit worse and increase costs of providing public services peterkwells.com/2026/08/21/c...

peterkwells.com

Charging for public sector data is likely to cost us more than it raises

The UK government has published a call for evidence called “The marginal cost restriction on public sector data re-use”. It proposes making it easier for the public sector to charge people for public ...

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David Henig @davidheniguk.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Global companies interlinked with particular political factions isn't appearing in any economics textbooks I read.

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Byline Times @bylinetimes.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

🔴 The Peter Thiel-Linked Race Science Network that Penetrated Cambridge University and Targeted Jason Arday The academic's coordinated targeting by an explicitly anti-black race science network did not come out of nowhere, reports @nafeez.bsky.social

bylinetimes.com

The Peter Thiel-Linked Race Science Network that Penetrated Cambridge University and Targeted Jason Arday

The media's coverage of the academic's life was fuelled by the campaign of an established far-right network

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EMILY WILSON @emilyrcwilson.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

I wrote for Vogue about 5 very different books that each in different ways shaped my approach to translating the Odyssey (the first time). www.vogue.com/article/requ...

vogue.com

Required Reading: Five Books That Inspired Emily Wilson’s Translation of ‘The Odyssey’

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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

What you're saying when you say "DEI" when universities say "EDI" (as happens here) and vice versa. And why it actually matters. The great majority of UK (esp. British) universities use "EDI" while US universities use "DEI". Is that "just" semantic, or does it matter? A thread. 🧵1/8

ft.com

How Jason Arday’s appointment became a reckoning for Cambridge

Resignation of Black professor forces university to examine its approach to diversity, equality and inclusion

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Liesbeth Corens @onslies.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Turns out the Royal Maritime Museum isn’t paying its staff London Living Wage? And now also wants to stop paying security during their 15 minute break? So their on strike and one brave striker is even skating the length of the park with a placard reading “even Blackbeard paid fair wages”. 🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️

Picture of a hand holding a leaflet from prospect the union on front of the Royal Maritime Museum with an explanation of Hahn they are on strike

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John Levin @anterotesis.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

"There are no bad questions in Wikidata, only unrealistic ones." Excellent lesson on #Wikidata just published via the Programming Historian ( @proghist.bsky.social ) #DigitalHistory

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John Levin @anterotesis.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

I think William Kentridge, talking of the end of Apartheid, described this as the race between the paper shredder and the photocopier: "Meet the army of amateur archivists racing to save US history in national parks" www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...

theguardian.com

Meet the army of amateur archivists racing to save US history in national parks

Save Our Signs aims to document every sign in the more than 400 national parks and historic sites across the country before the Trump administration removes them

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