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Barry Stephenson

@bstepmun.bsky.social
148 followers 139 following 647 posts

Professor, Memorial University - I'm not here representing my employer, so my views may or may not reflect my employer's views. “I count false words the foulest plague of all.” - Prometheus Bound

PostsRepliesMedia
Barry Stephenson @bstepmun.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
University of Exeter cuts an ‘existential threat to humanities’ www.timeshighereducation.com/news/univers...
timeshighereducation.com
University of Exeter cuts an ‘existential threat to humanities’
Russell Group institution cites changing student demand as it puts 500 staff at risk of redundancy, with 150 jobs set to go
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Wajahat Ali @wajali.bsky.social · 23/05/2026
The Billionaire Derangement Syndrome That is Destroying the World Journalist Gil Duran joins The Left Hook to break down the growing influence of billionaires, tech oligarchs, and corporate power in reshaping American democracy, media, and public life. www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnZ2...
youtube.com
The Billionaire Derangement Syndrome That is Destroying the World
YouTube video by Wajahat Ali
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Barry Stephenson @bstepmun.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
Happy Birthday, Karl.
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Barry Stephenson @bstepmun.bsky.social · 03/05/2026
theindependent.ca
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Barry Stephenson @bstepmun.bsky.social · 03/05/2026
Oxfam Canada reports that wealth inequality in Canada has reached "crisis levels". In 2025, the top 1% of Canadians held nearly $1.25 trillion in wealth—almost as much as the bottom 80% combined. Canada’s 40 richest billionaires saw their wealth grow by over 20% in 2025. It is time to properly tax
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Barry Stephenson @bstepmun.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
Maybe Magyar is a sign that a decent form of conservatism is a possibility. Among the things he said the other night on M1: Hungary will renationalize those public assets that the Orban years handed over to private interests.
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Marc Spooner @drmarcspooner.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
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Barry Stephenson @bstepmun.bsky.social · 25/03/2026
I there may be a problem down south, with ripple effects here, as we, as PM said, set aside the rules based irder and ride the ‘great’ hegemon’s wave.
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Marc Spooner @drmarcspooner.bsky.social · 14/03/2026
The first published review to my knowledge: “The academics in Knowledge Under Siege have made a powerful case for universities in the service of an egalitarian and inclusive state. It will be up to Canadians…” www.thetyee.ca/Culture/2026...
thetyee.ca
What Are Universities For? | The Tyee
They’ve reached a breaking point. Meet the educators charting their future.
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Barry Stephenson @bstepmun.bsky.social · 15/03/2026
For some reason, my mind this morning drifted to the act that led to Gandhi’s murder: he opened his prayer services in Hindu temples with a verse from The Koran.
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Barry Stephenson @bstepmun.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
The (New Deal) Revenue Act of 1935 raised the top rate to 79% on incomes over $5 million (roughly $100 million+ in today's dollars). A lot of problems solved right there.
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Barry Stephenson @bstepmun.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
We need tools like this. The university is indeed under siege. Without action, soon, we’ll have no public institutions and goods left.
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Anjali Dayal @anjalikdayal.bsky.social · 16/02/2026
“These crimes were committed against a backdrop of supremacist beliefs, racism, corruption, extreme misogyny, and the commodification and dehumanisation of women and girls from different parts of the world,” the experts said." www.ohchr.org/en/press-rel...
ohchr.org
Flawed ‘Epstein Files’ disclosures undermine accountability for grave crimes against women and girls: UN experts
GENEVA – The so-called ‘Epstein Files’ contain disturbing and credible evidence of systematic and large-scale sexual abuse, trafficking and exploitation of women and girls, UN experts* said today.Acco...
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The Tyee @thetyee.ca · 13/02/2026
Country music artist Corb Lund is preparing to launch a provincewide signature campaign aimed at halting new coal mining along Alberta’s eastern #RockyMountain slopes. Somia Lohia reports. #abpoli
thetyee.ca
Corb Lund’s Drive to Block Coal Mines Gets the Green Light | The Tyee
Elections Alberta approves a citizen initiative petition drive.
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NFL Daily News @insidenflnews.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
Bad Bunny “together we are America”
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Amarnath Amarasingam @amaramarasingam.bsky.social · 08/02/2026
Got a chapter with @philofwrite.bsky.social and @aysed.bsky.social on the media and Jan 6 coverage in @imogenrichards.bsky.social’s new book. www.routledge.com/The-Far-Righ...
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Barry Stephenson @bstepmun.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
@mark-carney.bsky.social advice: call the Gaza genocide a genocide. It is the right thing to do, and, if you’re Davis speech is to mean anything, the moral and reasoned thing to do. Then, van weapons sales. You might also expel the Israeli ambassador. The people will support you.
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Barry Stephenson @bstepmun.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
Q. How do we end oligarchic control of our political economy? They are kinda ruining everything for everyone all the time, at a quickening pace. Of all the bad ideas we’ve come up with, handing the reigns to the 0.1% is right up there.
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Barry Stephenson @bstepmun.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
When i was young, Alberta (like every other prairie provinces) had a public telecom. We could have that again. Privatization of everything these past 40-50 years has not made life better. This includes the privatization of education, which is continuing at an accelerated pace.
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Barry Stephenson @bstepmun.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
Necropolis.
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Mark Nichols @justmarknichols.bsky.social · 08/10/2025
According to the flotilla tracker & Al Jazeera, the Conscience (along with other flotilla ships) has been intercepted. Time to get on the phones and call our MPs to demand Canada ensure the safe return of the Canadians on board including NL activists Devoney Ellis, Nikita Stapleton, & Sadie Mees.
A photo of (left to right) Sadie, Nikita, and Devoney standing together wearing Kaffiyehs
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Barry Stephenson @bstepmun.bsky.social · 08/10/2025
Watching the sham replies of America’s chief law enforcement officer in Senate yesterday, it really did hit home that the institutions people can appeal to to take action - generally named ‘the government’ - are useless because they’ve really been taken over. How this ends won’t be pretty.
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Seth Klein @sethdklein.bsky.social · 07/10/2025
The federal government’s full-throated endorsement of LNG Canada Phase 2 is bad news for anyone who cares about Canada’s carbon emissions, or Canadians’ tax dollars, writes Janetta McKenzie www.nationalobserver.com/2025/10/07/o...
nationalobserver.com
A strange start for “climate competitiveness”
The federal government’s full-throated endorsement of LNG Canada Phase 2 is bad news for anyone who cares about Canada’s carbon emissions — or Canadians’ tax dollars.
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Barry Stephenson @bstepmun.bsky.social · 05/10/2025
Italy is, I believe, 3rd on list of countries that sell arms to Israel. The people recognize that’s a problem. Most people, in most countries recognize it too. Among UN’s recent recommendations:
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Barry Stephenson @bstepmun.bsky.social · 05/10/2025
I guess the @mark-carney.bsky.social government can’t be bothered to mention Israel’s violations of law in the action against the flotilla. Or offer support for those Canadians on board-you know, the best of us. www.cbc.ca/news/politic...
cbc.ca
2 Canadians detained in Israel after forces intercept Gaza flotilla: Global Affairs Canada | CBC News
Global Affairs Canada says it's aware of two Canadian citizens who have been detained in Israel after forces intercepted a flotilla headed to Gaza in an attempt to break Israel's blockade of the encla...
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Barry Stephenson @bstepmun.bsky.social · 04/10/2025
www.tandfonline.com/eprint/HREHI...
tandfonline.com
The Relevance of the Beautiful to Our Ecological Crisis
This essay examines the impact of “aesthetic marginalization” on environmental degradation by leveraging Hans-Georg Gadamer’s hermeneutics to explore the Anthropocene. It argues that modernity’s de...
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Barry Stephenson @bstepmun.bsky.social · 04/10/2025
youtu.be/GOQKoCf27HM?...
youtu.be
F THE CC - Steve Earle
YouTube video by paulderoma1
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Amarnath Amarasingam @amaramarasingam.bsky.social · 02/10/2025
It's like the Stanford Prison experiment is going on again, except it's the whole country.
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Barry Stephenson @bstepmun.bsky.social · 30/09/2025
Ugly it is down south. It is going to get worse. The only avenue left is impeachment.
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Barry Stephenson @bstepmun.bsky.social · 26/09/2025
More than 100 members of the Memorial University community have signed a letter to @mark-carney.bsky.social and other elected officials, calling for the Canadian gov to ensure the safety of students & others in the Freedom Flotilla who are delivering aid to Gaza. docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
docs.google.com
An Open Letter from the Memorial University Community Concerning University Students Aboard the Freedom Flotilla
To: The Prime Minister of Canada, The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Canada's Ambassador to Israel, The Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, and Canadian Elected Officials We, the undersigned from the...
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Barry Stephenson @bstepmun.bsky.social · 24/09/2025
@mark-carney.bsky.social Italy and Spain are sending naval vessels to protect and support the humanitarian flotillas to Gaza. PM Carney: you should too.
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Barry Stephenson @bstepmun.bsky.social · 24/09/2025
www.doctorswithoutborders.ca/palestine-do... @mark-carney.bsky.social
doctorswithoutborders.ca
Palestine: Doctors Can’t Stop Genocide, World Leaders Can | Doctors Without Borders / Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF ...
MSF condemns Israel’s siege and forced displacement in Gaza. Over one million civilians face starvation, bombardment and systematic destruction with global complicity.
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Barry Stephenson @bstepmun.bsky.social · 24/09/2025
Boycotting and divesting works. Case in point? Disney sidelined Kimmel, people cancelled subscriptions, Kimmel reinstated.
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Amarnath Amarasingam @amaramarasingam.bsky.social · 22/09/2025
If anyone ever wants to close a religion department at your university, just email them the Charlie Kirk memorial.
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Barry Stephenson @bstepmun.bsky.social · 23/09/2025
Latest in the State of the University series: Memorial’s Geography of Neglect: From Decay to Transformation theindependent.ca/commentary/c...
theindependent.ca
Memorial’s Geography of Neglect: From Decay to Transformation – The Independent
Decades of austerity have left Memorial’s buildings crumbling and its people sick, but beneath the mould and rats is a deeper story of land and labour — and a chance to transform the university from a...
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Climate Emergency Unit @climateunit.bsky.social · 22/09/2025
✊📢 Tens of thousands joined #DrawTheLine actions on Sept 20, demanding PM @mark-carney.bsky.social act for people, peace & planet. Collective power was on full display across Canada. 📺 Watch the CTV coverage: youtu.be/a2YbV-Ss9fk?... 📷 See @350.org’s photo gallery: www.flickr.com/photos/350or...
youtu.be
Thousands rally in cities across Canada | CTV National News for Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025
YouTube video by CTV News
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Oliver Darcy @oliverdarcy.bsky.social · 22/09/2025
Breaking: Jimmy Kimmel to return Tuesday.
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Zeteo @zeteo.com · 22/09/2025
"It's the banality of evil. It happens around essentially a watercooler." From the new 'We're Not Kidding', 'Andor' star Denise Gough and @mehdirhasan.bsky.social talk about the depiction of fascism in 'Star Wars' and its similarities to real world politics.
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Barry Stephenson @bstepmun.bsky.social · 22/09/2025
You may have heard on The Independent that 3 MUN students are part of the current Freedom Flotilla, delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza. Please read the linked petition and consider signing. Sincerely, Barry docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
docs.google.com
An Open Letter from the Memorial University Community Concerning University Students Aboard the Freedom Flotilla
To: The Prime Minister of Canada, The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Canada's Ambassador to Israel, The Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, and Canadian Elected Officials We, the undersigned from the...
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Justin Brake @justinbrake.bsky.social · 12/09/2025
"While other governments sue oil companies for climate damages, the NL government brings along an oil lobbyist like a Negotiator-in-Chief. This is inviting the fox into the henhouse." Read the op-ed from @acantle.bsky.social & Angela Carter 👇 #nlpoli www.saltwire.com/newfoundland...
saltwire.com
OPINION: Oil blocks our fire exit
When it comes to NL’s economic/climate emergency, our collective road to safety is blocked by oil lobbyists and their government support.
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Barry Stephenson @bstepmun.bsky.social · 12/09/2025
Let’s hear from Mike Wilson. I am so sick if the backroom deals, the cronyism, the lack of transparency among the elites of this Province. Let’s clear the air. Let’s put the facts out there. All this hiding behind NDAs is sickening. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
cbc.ca
Man who quit Churchill Falls panel wants them to release his resignation letter — in full | CBC News
Accountant Mike Wilson, who recently resigned from the Churchill Falls panel, wants the public to be able to read his full resignation letter but says he can’t share it because of a non-disclosure agr...
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Barry Stephenson @bstepmun.bsky.social · 10/09/2025
In 2011 Benjamin Ginsberg published The Fall of the Faculty, The Rise of the Administrative University and Why it Matters. If you've time & can can find it, you should read it. Then, you should read the Auditor General's 2023 performance audit of the university. These past years, students & programs
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Barry Stephenson @bstepmun.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
A most arresting sentence: “The movement of energy between enslaved bodies in plantations, plants, long-dead fossilized plants, and industrialized labor is a geochemical equation of extraction in the conversion of surplus.” - Kathryn Yusoff, A Billion Black Anthropocenes or None
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Barry Stephenson @bstepmun.bsky.social · 05/09/2025
More great work from @rachelgilmore.bsky.social thetyee.ca/Opinion/2025...
thetyee.ca
Liberal Backlash to Carney’s Invite to an Architect of Project 2025 | The Tyee
‘Mind-boggling,’ says a former top Trudeau adviser, echoing outrage from two unnamed, sitting Liberal MPs.
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Barry Stephenson @bstepmun.bsky.social · 05/09/2025
Truer than ever. The place is seriously messed up. www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/49305/...
poetryfoundation.org
America
America I’ve given you all and now I’m nothing. America two dollars and twentyseven cents January 17, 1956. America when will we end the human war? I don’t feel good don’t bother me. I won’t write my ...
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Barry Stephenson @bstepmun.bsky.social · 21/08/2025
Yikes.
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ruthko @ruthmkb.bsky.social · 16/08/2025
The absolutely gross and obscene inequity. Air Canada, this is disgusting! #AirCanadaStrike #cdnpoli
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Barry Stephenson @bstepmun.bsky.social · 15/08/2025
theindependent.ca/commentary/c...
theindependent.ca
It’s time for a reckoning on public university education in our province – The Independent
Successive Liberal governments have presided over the destruction of Memorial University
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Wajahat Ali @wajali.bsky.social · 08/08/2025
My late-night thoughts on Israel's Plan to Occupy Gaza Israel's security cabinet has approved a campaign of ethnic cleansing and conquest in Gaza. The United States has a responsibility to use its leverage to finally end the genocide. open.substack.com/pub/thelefth...
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Barry Stephenson @bstepmun.bsky.social · 07/08/2025
Austerity is a lie. They tell us, ‘No money for education, housing, health care, early childcare, transportation…. ‘ It is a lie. Wealth continues to be created by the many and hoarded by the few.
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