Mathew Abbott
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mathewabbott.bsky.social
Mathew Abbott
@mathewabbott.bsky.social
190 followers 230 following 42 posts
Humanities lecturer & NTEU President, FedUni.

Book in progress on human distinctiveness and ecological crisis. Latest publication: https://doi.org/10.1177/07255136241256980
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mathewabbott.bsky.social
Mathew Abbott @mathewabbott.bsky.social · Sep 30
I’ve an article out in Angelaki this week. It reconstructs Marx’s notion of species-being in light of contemporary naturalism. It argues his thought differs from McDowell et al as he thinks achieving naturalism is a practical task requiring social revolution. It’s open access - link below!
Reposted by Mathew Abbott
futurehistories.bsky.social
Following up on the two recent #FutureHistories episodes with Aaron Benanav (@abenanav.bsky.social), here you'll find the full versions of his new papers #BeyondCapitalism 1 & 2 -> buff.ly/k23voql

Must read!

Find the two episodes here:
Ep1 -> buff.ly/MkPKGXT
Ep2 -> buff.ly/dqWZ5Q3
November 11, 2025 at 2:45 PM
Reposted by Mathew Abbott
wimcarton.bsky.social
Here's an excerpt from The Long Heat on how the promise of carbon removal is being swept away in the logic of carbon offsetting. Thanks @lithub.com.web.brid.gy for publishing it 🙏

lithub.com/carbon-offse...
Carbon Offsetting is Not Going to Save the Planet
There is not enough planet Earth to first turn it inside out and then turn it outside in again. Available resources do not allow for removal of the total aggregate of CO2 from the fossil fuels in s…
lithub.com
November 11, 2025 at 12:12 PM
Reposted by Mathew Abbott
histmat.bsky.social
A huge thanks to all the participants in the 2025 Historical Materialism London conference. The conference was a huge success with over 900 presentations and 1400 participants. The biggest Historical Materialism London Conference ever!
November 11, 2025 at 11:45 AM
Reposted by Mathew Abbott
davidho.bsky.social
Since 1990, the emissions share of the richest 1% has increased by 13%, and the richest 0.1% has grown by 32%, while the poorest 50% has decreased by 3%.

policy-practice.oxfam.org/resources/cl...
A graphic poster with a green, textured background. At the center is a black-and-white image of Earth. Above the planet, a small private jet flies around the Earth, leaving a dark, tangled trail. Across the middle of the image, bold white text on black rectangles reads “CLIMATE PLUNDER.” Below, smaller white text states, “How a powerful few are locking the world into disaster.” In the bottom-right corner, the Oxfam logo and the word “OXFAM” appear in white.
November 10, 2025 at 9:01 AM
Reposted by Mathew Abbott
jonpiccini.bsky.social
A labour history that explores an ‘untraditional’ working class may be helpful to contemporary organizing efforts among migrant workers, service workers and precarious workers in a ‘gig economy’ which, it turns out, is not so novel after all. academic.oup.com/hwj/advance-...
November 11, 2025 at 10:19 AM
Reposted by Mathew Abbott
brettchristophers.bsky.social
I know a book about this
jasonhickel.bsky.social Jason Hickel @jasonhickel.bsky.social · 1d
Yes, this is correct. And the reason is because our capitalist classes have decided that it is not sufficiently profitable, so they're not going to do it.

We must understand this reality. Capital *cannot* be relied upon to address the climate crisis.
November 10, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Reposted by Mathew Abbott
jewishcouncilau.bsky.social
MEDIA RELEASE: The Jewish Council of Australia condemns the antisemitic Nazi stunt held yesterday outside NSW Parliament.

W refuse to be intimidated by these pathetic media stunts.

We stand with all Jewish people impacted by today’s racism and with all those experiencing bigotry and hatred. 1/5
November 8, 2025 at 11:22 PM
Reposted by Mathew Abbott
plashingvole.bsky.social
Someone at a Russell Group university was moved to almost-poetry by their Faculty Meeting… Can anyone do better?
A satirical poem about universities. All Staff Assembly Unlike other universities We do not have an emergency However, we must continue To take action with urgency Don't let there be rupture In trust over the new role families This is not a restructure There are always some redundancies We do not work with arms companies We work with engineering firm subsidiaries Who produce dual use technologies That kill people Some of us are paid very differently But this is very good for the university You see, the disparities in our salaries Are contributions to Diversity
November 7, 2025 at 12:52 PM
Reposted by Mathew Abbott
attackerman.bsky.social
All day, many of you have been asking for a Cheney obituary from me. Get ready:
His Works Completed, Dick Cheney, Mass Murderer of Iraqis and American Democracy, Dies
As much as the Trumpists claim to disavow the War on Terror, they walk a path paved by the most powerful vice president in U.S. history.
www.thenation.com
November 4, 2025 at 5:55 PM
Reposted by Mathew Abbott
ktbberlin.bsky.social
Save the Date: In a two-day workshop on December 4th & 5th we will bring together scholars working at the intersection of philosophy, political economy, and critical theory to reflect on the contested rationality of economic planning.
More information: criticaltheoryinberlin.de/event/the-gr...
November 3, 2025 at 12:59 PM
Reposted by Mathew Abbott
timhowles.bsky.social
New book:
“Absolute Ethical Life: Aristotle, Hegel & Marx”
Michael Lazarus. Stanford: UP, 2025.

www.sup.org/books/politi...
October 28, 2025 at 9:52 PM
Reposted by Mathew Abbott
thebaffler.com
Writing about the climate crisis can tend toward abstraction or comforting techno-optimism. “Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism” does anything but. @materialistjew.bsky.social talks with @triofrancos.bsky.social about the knotty problem of the energy transition.
Schrodinger’s Element | Ajay Singh Chaudhary
In her new book, Thea Riofrancos homes in on the extraction of lithium—and the thorny problem of an ecologically sound energy transition
thebaffler.com
October 2, 2025 at 3:52 PM
Reposted by Mathew Abbott
eric-reinhart.com
Trump’s corruption is not a deviation from US history but its fulfillment, not aberration but revelation.

To beat the fascism he represents, we'll need something new––not a return to the corrupt liberal order of the time before.

My new piece for Al Jazeera:
www.aljazeera.com/opinions/202...
The first honest American president
Trump's shameless corruption is not a deviation from American history but its fulfilment.
www.aljazeera.com
October 30, 2025 at 2:34 PM
Reposted by Mathew Abbott
heavyredaction.bsky.social
New preprint alert! 🚨

“Let Them Eat Large Language Models: Artificial Intelligence and Austerity in the Neoliberal University”
Let Them Eat Large Language Models: Artificial Intelligence and Austerity in the Neoliberal University Martha Kenney and Martha Lincoln Abstract This article examines the expansion of generative artificial intelligence (genAI) into higher education. We argue that genAI’s incursion into university systems represents an effort by Silicon Valley to capture lucrative new markets for their products, as well as enhanced credibility by association. Drawing on our experience as faculty in the California State University (CSU) system—the first university system to contract with OpenAI to provide ChatGPT Edu system-wide—we assess the rhetoric that justifies and legitimizes genAI contracts in higher education. We suggest that the uncritical adoption of genAI in higher education poses problems for labor conditions, the integrity of intellectual property, and student learning on campuses, particularly under the conditions of austerity that are commonly found in public universities.
October 25, 2025 at 5:05 PM
Reposted by Mathew Abbott
jamescrane.bsky.social
ICYMI: In 1946, during the last stages of drafting Dialectic of Enlightenment, Horkheimer & Adorno co-authored political fragments on the tasks for post-war Marxist theory & the prospects of revolutionary socialist internationalism. Never before published, translated here for the first time
jamescrane.bsky.social James Crane @jamescrane.bsky.social · Sep 30
NEW: Two Unpublished Fragments (On The Tasks of Post-War Marxism) by Horkheimer & Adorno (1946)

- On The Relation Between Critical Intellectuals, the Proletariat, and the Communist Party
- The Curse of Writing Today

ctwgwebsite.github.io/blog/2025/HA...
October 28, 2025 at 3:21 PM
Reposted by Mathew Abbott
jamesgdyke.info
Carbon offsetting does not work. Not because of implementation details but because there are fundamental issues with the very idea of 'offsetting'. www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Carbon credits are failing to help with climate change — here’s why | Nature
The idea that emissions can be offset through projects that claim to avoid releases or to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is fatally flawed. The idea that emissions can be offset through projects that claim to avoid releases or to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is fatally flawed.
www.nature.com
October 27, 2025 at 8:20 AM
Reposted by Mathew Abbott
anothergreen.bsky.social
This is a really great piece of writing on ecology and socialism from Raymond Williams newsocialist.org.uk/socialism-an...
Socialism and Ecology
by Raymond Williams // Only a particular sort of socialism can make the necessary junction between ecology and the satisfaction of needs.
newsocialist.org.uk
October 26, 2025 at 8:11 PM
Reposted by Mathew Abbott
futurehistories.bsky.social
A new episode of Future Histories!

This time I talk to Aaron Benanav (@abenanav.bsky.social) about the first part of his ‘Beyond Capitalism’ essay series in New Left Review (@newleftreview.bsky.social).

Full episode here:
www.futurehistories.today/episoden-blo...

#FutureHistories #Podcast
October 26, 2025 at 10:15 AM
Reposted by Mathew Abbott
ceebarnacles.bsky.social
The risible wages are well-known in the wider field of the library, museum, gallery and archive world. I’d like to think public opinion is with the people who make the place click day-in-day-out; they deserve better.
Knowledge may be free but labour isn’t: spread the wealth and pay the workers!
PCS union poster showing the calendar for the pickets and rallies at the upcoming strike for decent wages by library workers at the British Library.
October 26, 2025 at 8:00 AM
Reposted by Mathew Abbott
davelevitan.bsky.social
"There isn't a reasonable scenario where we grant some rich people control over the planet's thermostat and everything turns out fine."

My latest:
Letting Silicon Valley Geoengineer the Atmosphere Will End Badly
We already have plenty of evidence of what happens when things better left to governments — which in this case might decide to never flip the switch at all — are ceded to private industry.
www.gravityisgone.com
October 24, 2025 at 6:41 PM
Reposted by Mathew Abbott
goymenyalcin.bsky.social
We’re excited to announce the launch of our new website and the opening of the Call for Papers for Historical Materialism Istanbul 2026! Please visit our website here: www.hmistanbul.org
Historical Materialism Istanbul 2026
From Catastrophe to Struggle: Rethinking Capitalism amid Wars and Disasters
hmistanbul.org
October 25, 2025 at 2:11 PM
mathewabbott.bsky.social
HM program out! I feel exhausted just looking at it 😱

I’m up in the first session in a panel on eco-Marxism and the planetary
October 25, 2025 at 8:24 AM
Reposted by Mathew Abbott
noahjgordon.bsky.social
The oceans and land mop up about half of the carbon that humans emit. Until they don't.

My new piece on the weakening of natural carbon sinks, and the fallacy that we humans have our hands on a global thermostat, is out now for
@carnegieendowment.org

carnegieendowment.org/emissary/202...
October 23, 2025 at 7:49 PM
Reposted by Mathew Abbott
annakornbluh.bsky.social
"EdTech has been leading this charge since long before the AI craze...clawing shared governance back can help ensure that universities aren’t converted into profit centers for private equity firms."

every day is a good day to be burstingly proud of @jraden.bsky.social

defector.com/higher-eds-r...
Higher Ed’s Rush To Adopt AI Is About So Much More Than AI | Defector
If you don’t work at a university or have college-age kids, you may have missed the flurry of news stories and social media banter about AI adoption in higher ed, stories which have snowballed into th...
defector.com
October 23, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Reposted by Mathew Abbott
fahad-s-ali.bsky.social
With the International Court of Justice now ruling that there is no credible evidence that UNRWA is a Hamas front, Penny Wong must be prosecuted under the law, along with other Australian officials responsible for freezing UNRWA funding between for nearly half a year in 2024.
October 22, 2025 at 7:23 PM