John Barry

@profjohnbarry.bsky.social

2.5K followers 1.5K following 210 posts

Ideas merchant, activist-academic, worried parent and angry citizen, hypocrite on a burning planet trying to replace passive and dangerous tech-optimism about the future with active and collective hope.. Democratise. Decolonise. Decarbonise. Decommodify.. .. more

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John Joseph Barry is an Irish academic, green political economist and former Green Party politician. He was a councillor on Ards and North Down Borough Council from May 2014 to March 2018. .. more

Political science 27%

Environmental science 27%

Posts Replies Media Videos

Reposted by Iain Davidson, John Barry, James O’Sullivan , and 3 more Iain Davidson, John Barry, James O’Sullivan, Anne Norton, Johannes Breuer, Henry Jones

Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 4d

Casual reminder that the myth of “pulling yourself up by your bootstraps” is a cruel hoax designed to convince poor people from all walks of life that the injustices they face are a result of their own actions, rather than an oppressive system rigged against them.

Reposted by John Barry

Patrick Bresnihan @pbresnihan.bsky.social · 4d

Beggars belief that a senior officer in the Irish Military Intelligence Service said this in an interview.

“It can be hugely detrimental to the West if you empower them [China] by educating them simply because they come to a university with funds."

www.thetimes.com/world/irelan...

Spy agency tells universities to beware China

The Irish Military Intelligence Service highlights sensitive research areas

www.thetimes.com

Reposted by John Barry

💢Marx Was Right.🕊 @paulwalker44.bsky.social · 5d

🌲 Merry #Capitalism.

I WANT YOU TO SPEND A LOT
TO PROVE YOU LOVE YOUR FAMILY

Reposted by John Barry

💢Marx Was Right.🕊 @paulwalker44.bsky.social · 5d

The Zionist lobby is trying to convince us pro-Palestine protests caused the Bondi shootings.

They did not, but it still won’t stop Israel lying about it and weaponizing hate to create to more hate and killing.

www.threads.com/@kristenzeta...

kristenzeta • 1h
The Zionist lobby is trying to convince us pro-Palestine protests caused the Bondi shootings.
On 7 September 2025, two months before the shootings, a Jewish-led protest against the Palestinian genocide was held at Bondi Beach.
Watch this to see how white nationalist, ethnosupremacist local Zionists turned out to greet them.
It's not the anti-genocide protestors preaching hate and violence.
• sleekit.scotsman
"this our land"
&SLEEKIT.SCOTSMAN
THIS IS OUR LAND,
teachers4palestine_nsw
llow
+
racism on full display in the wiled above. The.
Liked by tipsunbird and 1,295 others
950
+

Reposted by John Barry

Jennie C Stephens @jenniecstephens.bsky.social · 8d

The fossil fuel industry’s “energy security” argument is dangerous, misleading and fundamentally flawed. Ireland should not be building new fossil fuel infrastructure. My piece in today’s Irish Times. #climate #climateobstruction #climatejustice #fossilfuels

www.irishtimes.com/environment/...

Ireland is falling for the American fossil fuel industry’s ‘energy security’ con

One of the reasons this argument has been so effective is because, like all good propaganda, there is an element of truth to it

www.irishtimes.com

John Barry @profjohnbarry.bsky.social · 11d

The EU could adopt Trump-style rules that would allow home raids and deporting people to countries they’ve never set foot in. If we don’t speak up now, this could become the new normal. Sign the petition! action.wemove.eu/sign/2025-12...

Say No to Mass Deportations in Europe

action.wemove.eu

Reposted by John Barry, Paddy Hillyard

Patrick Bresnihan @pbresnihan.bsky.social · 11d

I had to re-read this a few times because it is hard to believe.

Demand from proposed new data centres might be as high as 5.8GW, equivalent to *peak electricity demand for the entire country*.

www.irishtimes.com/politics/202...

New data centres may need additional electricity supply close to Ireland’s peak demand

Expected new demand for data centres of 5.8GW would exceed Ireland’s 2030 offshore wind target of 5GW

www.irishtimes.com

John Barry @profjohnbarry.bsky.social · 14d

'Settler Violence as Settler-Colonialism in Palestine'

Dr Mais Qandeel
Wednesday 28th January
@qubelfastofficial.bsky.social
7pm, Peter Froggatt Centre, room 02/017

Free and all welcome but registration required:
www.ticketsource.co.uk/qubseca/t-jx...

John Barry @profjohnbarry.bsky.social · 14d

Hope is definitely not the same thing as optimism. It is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out.
Václav Havel

John Barry @profjohnbarry.bsky.social · 14d

The EU is preparing a gift for pesticide giants: toxic pesticides could stay on the market forever, with no safety tests at all. Yes, forever approvals. Yes, this is real. Sign now to stop it. action.wemove.eu/sign/2025-12...

Protect Our Food From Toxic Pesticides

The EU is preparing a gift for pesticide giants, and a nightmare for the rest of us. A new proposal could let toxic pesticides, including glyphosate, stay on the market forever.Yes, forever approvals....

action.wemove.eu

John Barry @profjohnbarry.bsky.social · 16d

From darkness to light: Wintersong
Saturday 13th December
7pm, Quaker Meeting House
South Belfast

Reposted by John Barry

ray 鄺羡華 @raykwong.bsky.social · 16d

PSA

Reposted by John Barry

Dr. Aaron Thierry @thierryaaron.bsky.social · 17d

"Further attention must be given to this #climate tragedy, not only to apply pressure to speed up rescue & recovery...[&] to recognize the planetaryscale crisis that humanity is currently facing. A new future awaits us- we need to recognize its patterns now, before more lives are lost"

#Indonesia 🇮🇩

The Indian Ocean disaster is a climate tragedy — and needs more attention

A region unused to tropical cyclones has had three in a week. The world needs to ask why this happened, not look away.

www.nature.com

Reposted by John Barry, Julian R. Betts, Anne Norton

Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 18d

What I always hear: “We can’t afford to pay our workers more than $15 an hour.”

What I never hear: “We can’t afford to pay our CEO millions of dollars a year.”

Funny how that works.

Reposted by Shannon Vallor, Rebecca Solnit, Will Jennings , and 24 more Shannon Vallor, Rebecca Solnit, Will Jennings, Brendan Nyhan, Thomas Backhaus, Christopher Wright, Robert W. Wallace, John Barry, Alex Callinicos, Fabián Muniesa, Sanford F. Schram, Göran Bolin, Janet Murray, Alan Richardson, Aaron Sojourner, W. Andy Knight, Margot C. Finn, Bessma Momani, Stephen Ryan, David Murakami Wood, Aleksandra Urman, Prokla Redaktion, Karen O’Leary, Césari Laurent, Tobias Singelnstein, Nathan P. Kalmoe, David Darmofal

Gil Durán @gilduran.com · 19d

A Palantir billionaire just called for public hangings.

“It's time to bring back masculine leadership to protect our most vulnerable,” writes Joe Lonsdale.

This is where Silicon Valley authoritarianism is heading:

www.thenerdreich.com/joe-lonsdale...

Joe Lonsdale Calls For Public Hangings

Silicon Valley radicalization escalates

www.thenerdreich.com

John Barry @profjohnbarry.bsky.social · 22d

Gaza mourns latest victims of Israeli genocide that ‘never really ended

aje.io/jh8ojc

Gaza mourns latest victims of Israeli genocide that ‘never really ended’

Gaza residents fear the return of full-scale war as Israel receives second-last captive's body.

aje.io

John Barry @profjohnbarry.bsky.social · 24d

Open Letter: A Call to End University War Complicity

Please sign and pass on....

ded1.co/how-we-do-it...

Demilitarise Education | dED

ded1.co

John Barry @profjohnbarry.bsky.social · 24d

'Science in Resistance: Scientist Rebellion for Climate Justice'
Fernando Racimo
9th Dec 7pm
@qubelfastofficial.bsky.social
Peter Froggatt Centre 02/018

Free and all welcome but registration required: www.ticketsource.co.uk/qubseca/t-ej...
Any questions or queries, please email j.barry@qub.ac.uk

Reposted by John Barry

Patrick Bresnihan @pbresnihan.bsky.social · 24d

RTÉ news referring to planning law as 'red tape' is not good.

The Government is weaponising the housing crisis to weaken existing legal protections and democratic process (not the other way around as Minster Chambers tried to claim).

www.rte.ie/news/2025/12...

Govt to introduce legislation to fast-track key projects

The Government is set to introduce emergency legislation to fast-track key projects through the planning process under a plan Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers will outline to the Cabinet.

www.rte.ie

John Barry @profjohnbarry.bsky.social · Nov 26

All welcome !

Reposted by John Barry

Patrick Bresnihan @pbresnihan.bsky.social · Nov 25

Predictable Irish war hawks falling over themselves today because the FT wrote an article about Ireland's 'defencelessness'.

Rory Rowan, Pat Brodie and I have an article coming out that hopefully provides some critical analysis on what we call the 'militarisation of FDI'.

Reposted by John Barry, Johan P. Olsen, Aaron Sojourner , and 1 more John Barry, Johan P. Olsen, Aaron Sojourner, Colin Woodard

Eoghan Daltun 🌍 @irishrainforest.bsky.social · Nov 25

Iceland has designated the potential collapse of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) a national security concern and an existential threat.

Yet still fossil fuel usage continues to grow, and they barely agreed to *name* the problem at #COP30.
www.reuters.com/sustainabili...

Iceland deems possible Atlantic current collapse a security risk

Iceland has designated the potential collapse of a major Atlantic Ocean current system a national security concern and an existential threat, enabling its government to strategize for worst-case scenarios, the country's climate minister told Reuters.

www.reuters.com

John Barry @profjohnbarry.bsky.social · Nov 20

Lovely to see this… well done and congratulations!

Reposted by John Barry

Jennie C Stephens @jenniecstephens.bsky.social · Nov 19

Honoured to meet President Catherine Connolly at a climate event today at An Taisce in Dublin & present on transformative climate justice. Inspired that she referred to my recent article on #climatejustice in the Irish Examiner.
lnkd.in/eTnmvg5m

@climatejusticeuni.bsky.social

Reposted by John Barry, Paddy Hillyard

Eoghan Daltun 🌍 @irishrainforest.bsky.social · Nov 19

The Irish State is dumping €450 million of wind energy a year, despite 29% of households suffering fuel poverty, because 'there's no market'.

If you're struggling to get your head around that, it's called capitalism.
share.google/k9gHug8xaazA...

Up to €2.7m worth of energy ‘wasted’ every day by State, committee told

Wind farms wound down or shut down at night while households are in fuel poverty, says energy charity chief

share.google

Reposted by John Barry

John Gibbons 🇵🇸 🇺🇦 🇪🇺 @thinkorswim.bsky.social · Nov 19

Mass murder is an interesting way of “testing a fragile ceasefire”.
Incredible how international media continues to provide cover for Israel’s ongoing genocide, despite all the evidence.

Reposted by John Barry

Roderic O’Gorman TD @rodericogorman.bsky.social · Nov 19

I spoke at the Occupied Territories Bill protest this evening outside Leinster House.

Tomorrow we will vote on the joint motion calling for it to be progressed - with services.

We expect the motion to pass, but we need the Government to actually act on this vote and enact the Bill without delay.

Reposted by John Barry

Patrick Bresnihan @pbresnihan.bsky.social · Nov 17

Apparently what is behind 'anti-Americanism' in Ireland is not the US-backed genocide in Gaza but 'Third World Maoism'.

Maybe the most ridiculous take yet.

www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2025...

David McWilliams: The US is Ireland’s best friend, so why are so many of us anti-American?

The Irish-American bond, our enduring and rewarding friendship, is bigger than any politician

www.irishtimes.com

Reposted by John Barry

The Climate Alarm Clock @climatealarmclock.bsky.social · Nov 17

#COP30 - This will be our fourth year covering COP and seeing as there's not really that much new we can say, in order to avoid sounding like a broken record let's hear from YOU!

Drop your questions, queries, concerns, criticisms, etc in the comments below! #SpeirGorm

John Barry @profjohnbarry.bsky.social · Nov 15

Fascism is a response to the decline and crisis of capitalism

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