I’m an anthropologist, sometimes I occupy things & such.

I see anarchism as something you do not an identity...

...so don’t call me the anarchist anthropologist

Twitter was David’s public platform and tools for practicing a new language – clear and understandable for everyone, it was a space where he made friends and enemies.

Tweets 7,501 Replies 51,144 Retweets 24,559 Everything 83,204
Sat 16 Nov 2019 02:44

of course, you can’t really expect economists not to throw a hissy fit if you suggest their discipline be thrown on the scrap heap, and thats the form that economists’ hissy fits ordinarily take. But still. Is that really the best you can do?

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Sat 16 Nov 2019 02:37

waiting for an intelligent response to my NYRB piece. So far it’s just the utterly predictable “he emphasized something in a way I wouldn’t, I’ll call that an error & dismiss everything else he says in a loud mocking tone” approach. Which is just so boring.

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Fri 15 Nov 2019 10:39

this is actually true – despite the media insistence to the contrary, all the most brilliant economic thinkers in the UK today are advising Labour; the Tories have fallen back increasingly on a bunch of ideologues and clowns https://t.co/lrnAqOTlw1

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Thu 14 Nov 2019 13:05

“Against Economics” – a review of Robert Skidelsky’s “Money and Government” at NY Review of Books https://t.co/MWlJEgLYtj

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Wed 13 Nov 2019 21:37

so the calculation has to be: just how miserable do their own individual life situation or prospects, or those of their children, have to be before they’d be willing to throw the dice like that

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Wed 13 Nov 2019 21:35

this is not entirely unrealistic: for 50 years, at least, the US (i.e.) has taken the policy that it’s acceptable (but not desirable) for formal democracies to vote in the left, but under no conditions can doing so be seen to appreciably improve the lives of the electorate

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Wed 13 Nov 2019 21:33

you really wonder why voters say they “trust” Tories on the economy. My theory: they simply accept the blackmail of the powerful. They know the Tories are buffoons, but they also assume if a left gov’t gets in, global capital will try to punish the electorate who voted for them. https://t.co/ZECzF1hKi6

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Tue 12 Nov 2019 10:16

therefore they’ll instantly insist any suggestion there are non- or anti-rapists involved in the conflict is false (usually on tacitly racist grounds) or that it’s irrelevant to the real game (one where they can place themselves imaginatively on the same stage as the big boys) 8/

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Tue 12 Nov 2019 10:09

they are saying “no this is a boys game of tanks & jets & oil & that’s all it could ever be, so what’s really important is to back the RIGHT rapists (maybe Erdogan, maybe Assad…) so as not to allow the WRONG rapists (Trump, etc…) to win a trick in the game.” 7/

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Tue 12 Nov 2019 10:04

when someone who claims to be a leftist says “it doesn’t matter if ultra-right rapists are massacring & enslaving women trying to rebel against patriarchy, that’s not what’s important, what’s really important is (insert geopolitical analysis)” they are reasserting THE GAME 6/

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Tue 12 Nov 2019 10:01

so when you read some dude insisting, bizarrely, “oh it’s just window-dressing” or “PR” – like Middle Easterners are creating thousands of new institutions just to impress some leftists in a pub in Manchester – what they are really saying is “No, it’s all about ME!” 5/

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Tue 12 Nov 2019 09:58

for instance, all assemblies, on whatever level, including all working groups of each assembly (educational, security, medical, etc) not only need to have full women’s participation, but are balanced by an all-woman assembly that can veto any of its decisions. 4/

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Tue 12 Nov 2019 09:56

the shift of focus from traditional Marxist categories to feminism, ecology & direct democracy within PKK was just a first salvo; the creation of the actual institutions of the women’s revolution (women’s assemblies, academies, women’s centres, YPJ…) was much more important 3/

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Tue 12 Nov 2019 09:52

that game is premised (as everywhere but especially here) by the violent subordination of women. What really struck me in my travels in the region & talking to women active in the Kurdish & broader democratic confederalist movement is they explicitly wanted to change the game 2/

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Tue 12 Nov 2019 09:49

this may sound unduly angry but I think it’s justified. For generations, “the game” in the Middle East has been one of deploying forces of violence and terror, using it to secure resources (mainly oil), and establish patronage systems by patriarchal clan or sectarian leaders 1/

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Mon 11 Nov 2019 10:41

old Latin American joke: “why do they never have any coups in the United States?” “Because there’s no American Embassy there to organise them.” https://t.co/0KMxUCuXPq

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Mon 11 Nov 2019 10:16

US Nat’l Security Advisor “There is no place for genocide, for ethnic cleansing, for war crimes in the 21st C. The U.S. won’t stand by for it, & we’ve made that position very clear.” Really? Happening in the eyes of the world under US air cover https://t.co/SszUtIin20 https://t.co/fTCrxxK1sp

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Mon 11 Nov 2019 01:44

Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) abandons their efforts to investigate Turkish/NATO use of white phosphorus against children in Serekaniye after Turkish gov’t offers them 30k euro contribution https://t.co/hzw0K4GTgL

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Sun 10 Nov 2019 11:25

sure the German gov’t & US congress make superficial noises, they kind of have to, & the US army is furious because no one will want to ally w them, but they’re still providing the air cover & weapons for the forces of patriarchy who’re saying “let us kill these uppity women” 8/

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Sun 10 Nov 2019 11:22

I want to emphasise this is explicit. It’s not some conspiracy theory. Erdogan says “I want to ethnically cleanse this territory.” Then he meets w the UN sec’y general who says “I’ll help”. Erdogan says “I want to put women back in their place.” Merkel gives him weapons. 7/

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Sun 10 Nov 2019 11:19

(all the actual acts of terror, from the bombing of hospitals to the use of white phosphorus & napalm on children in an explicit attempt to terrorise the civilian population to flee & be ethnically cleansed, are being done by the Turkish/NATO side.) 6/

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Sun 10 Nov 2019 11:17

in other words, Erdogan & by extension now all NATO powers want us to accept that the women’s revolution in Rojava is a form of terrorism not despite but BECAUSE of its commitment to women’s emancipation & empowerment. (Not because of any acts of terror, as these don’t exist.) 5/

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Sun 10 Nov 2019 11:15

he claims Rojava are “terrorists” because they support the philosophy of Abdullah Ocalan, but in fact, that philosophy largely consists of a commitment to prioritise women’s liberation since patriarchy is the foundation for all other forms of injustice 4/

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Sun 10 Nov 2019 11:12

all of this is explicit. Erdogan did not just declare in advance he intends to commit war crimes – to be greeted with the support, passive or active, of the world community – he declared he was acting to put women who rose up against patriarchy back in their place 3/

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