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Sean Phelan

@sean-phelan.bsky.social
213 followers 232 following 506 posts

Teaches media and communication studies at Massey University. New book: Wild Antagonism: How the Far Right Claimed Critique - coming out with Edinburgh University Press in May 2027. .

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Sean Phelan @sean-phelan.bsky.social · 25m
"It was once common to describe a ‘pipeline’ pulling users toward extremism & carrying extremist content into mainstream culture. But the pipeline was always part of our digital infrastructure, & if a pipeline is left open long enough, it leads to flooding. The result is ambient extremism" #NZpol
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Sean Phelan @sean-phelan.bsky.social · 3h
"On one side of Rue d'Arlo last week, digital industry figures gathered for drinks at a Google reception to mark Ireland's presidency of the EU Council On the other, protesters held up placards reading “Big Tech Kills”, “Break up Google” & “Shame on Ireland”' www.brusselstimes.com/eu-affairs/2...
brusselstimes.com
Leaked AI proposal, open letter, Google drinks: Can Ireland be an 'honest broker' on Big Tech?
Some experts believe that the Irish Presidency of the Council of the EU cannot be trusted to be an honest broker. "There is just too much overlap between Big Tech interests and the Irish government."
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Sean Phelan @sean-phelan.bsky.social · 3h
It's a good interview. It covers angles that have gone unarticulated in other conversations about the book
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Max Soar @maxsoar.bsky.social · 4h
With VFF being increasingly explicit about their fascist politics, here is @calliev.bsky.social and I on their connections to crafting communities and how those spaces can be a site for the radicalization of women to the far-right. journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
journals.sagepub.com
Fibercrafts and fascism: Unpicking the role of women in white heritage production and far-right politicization in Aotearoa New Zealand - Callie Vandewiele, Max Soar, 2026
The link between online “tradwives” and far-right politics is well established, but there is little material exploring the overlap between online crafting space...
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Sean Phelan @sean-phelan.bsky.social · 8h
the joys of #academiclife in LLMland
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Sean Phelan @sean-phelan.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
McAnulty really hammers Brown here. Brown so robotically on-message that he doesn't bother even feigning outrage when McAnulty keeps characterising him as a "liar" – as if to implicitly signal to the audience that he's selling us bullshit #nzpol www.1news.co.nz/2026/10/07/s...
1news.co.nz
'Stop telling lies': Brown and McAnulty clash in post-debate panel
Both Simeon Brown and Kieran McAnulty claimed their boss had won last night's leaders debate.
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Sean Phelan @sean-phelan.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
@murdochstephens.bsky.social is always-already sharp and on form...worth reading for the photo caption alone.
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Russel Norman @russelnorman.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
State of the Climate Report released today by NZ Govt. To accompany it, I published updated War on the Climate Report, documenting climate policies of NZ Govt over 3 years. One documents the harm, the other the cause. www.greenpeace.org/aotearoa/sto... environment.govt.nz/assets/publi...
greenpeace.org
Luxon ’s Three Years of War on the Climate 2023-2026 - updated timeline - Greenpeace Aotearoa
When the Luxon-led coalition took office nearly three years ago, its war on climate policy started within days. In the next three years the government made a bewildering number of…
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Murdoch Stephens @murdochstephens.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
In which I dig a hole, leap in and then dig my way out: newsroom.co.nz/2026/10/07/n...
newsroom.co.nz
No more Pākehā memoirs
An author on attempting something new: a book on the metaphysics of the Pākehā people.
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Sean Phelan @sean-phelan.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Hipkins must have forgotten that he is the leader of a party called “Labour”…they should have brought Chloë on to give a sharp answer to that one #nzpol #leadersdebate
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Sean Phelan @sean-phelan.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
We now get polls giving us real time focus group feedback on the debate we are watching. Credit to NZ‘s capitalist media: they are world leaders in absurd post-democratic election spectacle #nzpol
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Sean Phelan @sean-phelan.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
"Around 9,500 Tertiary Education Union (TEU) members currently in collective agreement bargaining have voted to take strike action in October. Members are seeking better pay offers and improvements to their terms and conditions". #nzpol teu.ac.nz/news/media-r...
teu.ac.nz
Tertiary Education Union – Te Hautū Kahurangi o Aotearoa | Media release: University and polytechnic staff to go on strike
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Laura McAtackney @lauramca.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Eamonn McCann is always razor sharp in his analysis of the North. Garvagh road is not a difference between ‘two communities’ that needs ‘both sides’ understood. It only benefits the DUP and hardline loyalists to force us to revisit a terrible time in the North. rebelnews.ie/2026/10/02/g...
rebelnews.ie
Garvaghy Road: There Are Not Two Sides - REBEL
The clashes in Portadown between Orange marchers and nationalist residents have widely…
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Sean Phelan @sean-phelan.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
there is a thoughtfulness to Chlöe Swarbrick's answers in this interview that is refreshing. And credit 2 Public Interest for creating a media space that enables them. A vivid contrast with the "sensationalised watchdogism" of much legacy media coverage #nzpol www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwrC...
youtube.com
Can the Greens overtake Labour? | In Brief
YouTube video by Public Interest NZ
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Te Ara Paerangi Com - Research Advocacy Capability @te-ara-paerangi.community · 04/10/2026
I've gotten grumpy thinking about people in the academy whose heads are too far up their own research to notice what's happening around them that threaten their place. Not to mention oblivious to the people and movements working for nothing to keep them doing their thing. Then remembering Siouxsie.
thepost.co.nz
Siouxsie Wiles vs Auckland Uni - paying the price of litigation
OPINION: The long-running, high-profile employment dispute has laid bare the harsh economics of litigation.
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Jolisa Gracewood @nzdodo.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
“LANDLORD IS NOT A JOB” Auckland, New Zealand, 2026 @radicalgraffiti.bsky.social
“LANDLORD IS NOT A JOB”, graffitied in white pen on the railing of a footbridge over Auckland’s Northwestern Motorway, between Arch Hill and Eden Terrace.
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Sean Phelan @sean-phelan.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Another great policy announcement from Greens. Tapping into desires for a vibrant left politics. The sensible centrists in the elite ranks of Labour must be feeling seriously outflanked. Keep generating this kind of energy & perhaps they can get over 20% #nzpol www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/3610...
stuff.co.nz
Greens promise $2 capped fares and free travel for millions
The Greens are promising free travel for children, students and several other groups, with bus and train fares capped at $2 for everyone else.
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Sean Phelan @sean-phelan.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Well said Amanda. We need to reinvigorate the best internationalist impulses of the trade union movement in Aotearoa and elsewhere
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Andrew @openpolicy.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
A Hikoi For Palestine. 10 October 2026, beginning at 11am on Parliament Lawn, Wellington before marching to Te Ngākau Civic Square. #nzpol
Photo of a poster advertising the Hikoi For Palestine. International Day of Action
10 October beginning at 11am on Parliament Lawn, Wellington before marching to Te Ngākau Civic Square for speakers, stalls and action
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Sean Phelan @sean-phelan.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
this is a very good (and hopeful) answer to the fascism question
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Sean Phelan @sean-phelan.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Giovanni is spot on. I was discussing this in class with students yesterday. The report that RNZ produced about the first 9 months of post-Oct 7 coverage was impossibly shoddy. But ignored by other legacy media. And the 2 RNZ articles on it (including 1 by C. Peacock) were basically press releases
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Stephen Baker @stephenbaker.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
I signed this. “This is a time when all of us committed to a better future have a responsibility to raise our voices to protect peace, progress and a shared society free from sectarianism.”
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Sean Phelan @sean-phelan.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
really good to see an open letter like this...most people in the north have had enough of all the sectarian bullshit @altnamackin.bsky.social
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Sean Phelan @sean-phelan.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Funded PhD position with a good crew at Uppsala
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Sean Phelan @sean-phelan.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Seymour & Peters had a bonding moment in communicating their shared antipathy to "the media", because of the inanity of some of the questions. And in the specific instance, they were not wrong. The left block should not leave all the media critique to these guys for the rest of the campaign #nzpol
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Sean Phelan @sean-phelan.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
TEU whānau....we need to keep our 'UniSaver divest from genocide' bargaining demand vivid in the consciousness of our colleagues at the different universities @islates.bsky.social @mohanjdutt.bsky.social @amandathomas.bsky.social @rosieoverell.bsky.social @ojutel.bsky.social
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Kevin Hague @kevinhague.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Really worth making time for : youtube.com/watch?v=dwrC...
youtube.com
Can the Greens overtake Labour? | In Brief
YouTube video by Public Interest NZ
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Will Davies @will-davies.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Dada perfection
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Sean Phelan @sean-phelan.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
@altnamackin.bsky.social just to note the point - think of how the red scare "anti-woke-on-speed" economy could potentially be ramped up even if the left block win the election. As if to parallel the trajectory of US politics after Biden's 2020 election win
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Sean Phelan @sean-phelan.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
The future of our public service media outlet seems bleak, based on the calibre of the listener feedback to the panel
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Sean Phelan @sean-phelan.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
the arrogance and entitlement of the NZ Labour Party is quite something. If I was working for the Greens, I'd go for them hard. Take the piss out of the hubris....make it clear that you are done with being infantilised by sensible Daddy #nzpol www.stuff.co.nz/politics/361...
stuff.co.nz
Hipkins slams Swarbrick for lining up jobs ‘before anyone has even voted’
Later today, the Treasury will reveal how the Government’s books are looking ahead of the election with the Pre-election Economic and Fiscal Update (PREFU).
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Laura McAtackney @lauramca.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
For people of my age (old) and my background (CNR) who grew up in NI during the 90s, Drumcree was the nadir of community relation & differences in our perceptions of ‘rights’. We just could not conceive how a group of snarling, angry men thought their ‘right to march’ surpassed our ‘right to exist’.
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Sean Phelan @sean-phelan.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Hard to fathom that we are all talking about "Garvaghy Road" again after a bizarre decision by the Parade Commission, supported by braindead advice from the PSNI. www.thejournal.ie/drumcree-ora...
thejournal.ie
Why has the Parades Commission given permission to the Drumcree march after almost 30 years?
A procedural error by the Parades Commission reopened a dispute that had effectively been settled for almost three decades.
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Leon Salter @islates.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Myself and @sean-phelan.bsky.social wrote back in 2017 about how Campbell Brown played a similar role of the "concerned mum" in the US. Its a very well-worn playbook. ijoc.org/index.php/ij...
ijoc.org
View of The Morality and Political Antagonisms of Neoliberal Discourse: Campbell Brown and the Corporatization of Educational Justice
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Leon Salter @islates.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Utterly clueless and sycophantic interview by Mulligan. How can he not be aware of the long history in the US of "parent-led" astroturf groups who campaign for "choice" and "standards" (e.g. neoliberal policies)?
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Sean Phelan @sean-phelan.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
@islates.bsky.social sound familiar? www.rnz.co.nz/national/pro...
rnz.co.nz
The new education group that wants to represent parents' voices
A new advocacy group has launched with the aim of giving parents a more organised voice in New Zealand's ongoing debates around education. The Parents' Alliance says it wants to be evidence-based and ...
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Sean Phelan @sean-phelan.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
interesting to hear well-known "sensible centrist" Peter Thiel affirm his commitment to "democracy" now that the thing that scares him and his far-right buddies the most is the prospect of a viable democratic socialist politics in the US www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7yl...
youtube.com
Peter Thiel: The AI Crisis, Europe’s Decline & the Battle for America
YouTube video by MDMEETS - Essential Talks with Mathias Döpfner
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Sean Phelan @sean-phelan.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Heard Brannavan read this at the book launch in Wellington last night. Powerful, resonant essay.
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Sean Phelan @sean-phelan.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Book manuscript finally in production – coming out May next year with Edinburgh University Press
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Will Davies @will-davies.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
I discussed what has happened to ‘intellectuals’ with @piercepenniless.bsky.social for @lrb.co.uk podcast podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...
podcasts.apple.com
On Politics: What happened to the intellectual?
Podcast Episode · The LRB Podcast · 23 September · 1hr 7min
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Des Fitzgerald @desfitzgerald.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Anyway, as much as we may mock, this is the wholly forseeable end-point of a system where universities are (a) deliberately starved of resources; (b) deliberately bereft of public mission and vocation; (c) deliberately placed in the hands of an intellecually/morally bankrupt management class.
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Sean Phelan @sean-phelan.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Jason Hannan's Trolling Ourselves to Death is a good book - my review in the Quarterly Journal of Speech #academicsky www.tandfonline.com/eprint/GBUGK...
tandfonline.com
Trolling Ourselves to Death: Democracy in the Age of Social Media
Published in Quarterly Journal of Speech (Ahead of Print, 2026)
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Sean Phelan @sean-phelan.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
the university "ethics committee" under Trump 2.0
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Sean Phelan @sean-phelan.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Our universities and polytechnics need this kind of union militancy everywhere "A window is opening for a major national industrial confrontation over the state of education, the likes of which was never experienced by Keir Starmer, but could seriously test Andy Burnham’s government".
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Paula Penfold @paulapenfold.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
DMs open
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Sean Phelan @sean-phelan.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
#NZpol has a badly needed 'event' on the horizon. Bring on the dislocations and ruptures I say
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Sean Phelan @sean-phelan.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
@drtomboland.bsky.social I might need to add a new chapter to my book after discovering the "USA, USA" medley version of The Fields of Athenry... 😬 youtube.com/shorts/eF0EB...
youtube.com
Trump greeted with cheers in bar of his Doonbeg hotel | #RTÉNews #trump #doonbeg #ireland #news
YouTube video by RTÉ News
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Sean Phelan @sean-phelan.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Fuck me...RNZ panel crew realising in 2026 that "the free market does not have all the answers" 😅 😅
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Sean Phelan @sean-phelan.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Murdoch Stephens' new book...the book on Pākehā Metaphysics that we have all been waiting for @islates.bsky.social @mohanjdutt.bsky.social lawrenceandgibson.bigcartel.com/product/pake...
lawrenceandgibson.bigcartel.com
Pākehā Metaphysics by Murdoch Stephens (presale)
PRESALES WILL BE SENT OUT MID-SEPTEMBER Perhaps best known for his work on refugee protection, Murdoch Stephens turns his mind inwards with a new book Pākehā Metaphysics. In this new book, he employs ...
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Sean Phelan @sean-phelan.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
apparently Benny from Abba has won the Swedish election for the Social Democrats, by outflanking the nostalgia politics of the far right. I am nearly teary myself #affectivepolitics www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2A2...
youtube.com
Benny Andersson från ABBA – Mamma Mia (Magdalena Andersson version)
YouTube video by Socialdemokraterna
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