Spencer Beswick
@spencerbeswick.bsky.social
Historian of anarchism, labor, and the left in the Americas / Postdoctoral Associate at Cornell's Humanities Scholars Program / Views my own, not my employer's
Pinned
Empty Hands History – Spencer Beswick
emptyhandshistory.com
I updated my website emptyhandshistory.com after letting it lie fallow for over a year. It's easiest way to find links to all of my publications, including the two peer reviewed journal articles and a book chapter that I published in 2024. As always, DM me for PDFs of anything!
Like I KNOW I shouldn't expect anything from the Dems but I still get so pissed ugh.
November 10, 2025 at 10:54 PM
Like I KNOW I shouldn't expect anything from the Dems but I still get so pissed ugh.
Is it just me or has Instagram's comments algorithm changed to prioritize "controversial" right-wing comments? Seems to be the case very consistently just starting sometime in the past month or two.
November 7, 2025 at 11:02 PM
Is it just me or has Instagram's comments algorithm changed to prioritize "controversial" right-wing comments? Seems to be the case very consistently just starting sometime in the past month or two.
Cornell just announced its agreement with the Trump regime to restore federal research funding. It includes Cornell paying $30 million directly to the government "as a condition for ending pending claims that have been brought against the university." Capitulation to extortion.
November 7, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Cornell just announced its agreement with the Trump regime to restore federal research funding. It includes Cornell paying $30 million directly to the government "as a condition for ending pending claims that have been brought against the university." Capitulation to extortion.
With apologies to the family abolitionists, my experience is that being married fucking rocks.
November 7, 2025 at 4:44 PM
With apologies to the family abolitionists, my experience is that being married fucking rocks.
Reposted by Spencer Beswick
As a bookstore that sells pamphlets and magazines, the criminalization of such materials feels pretty close to home. So let's take a closer look at the materials the federal government is claiming tie readers to "antifa terrorism." We can pick out six titles in these grainy photos. 1/
November 6, 2025 at 4:36 PM
As a bookstore that sells pamphlets and magazines, the criminalization of such materials feels pretty close to home. So let's take a closer look at the materials the federal government is claiming tie readers to "antifa terrorism." We can pick out six titles in these grainy photos. 1/
Reposted by Spencer Beswick
The quintessential aesthetic of fascism
November 5, 2025 at 3:41 PM
The quintessential aesthetic of fascism
The feed today. (Full disclosure: I am enjoying the treat.)
November 5, 2025 at 9:28 PM
The feed today. (Full disclosure: I am enjoying the treat.)
I don't think I can resist including this in a talk on the historical movement from Marxism to anarchism in the late 20th century.
November 4, 2025 at 7:33 PM
I don't think I can resist including this in a talk on the historical movement from Marxism to anarchism in the late 20th century.
Reposted by Spencer Beswick
They just gutted Teen Vogue which had top notch political journalism. The media is continuing to purge any sort of political dissent to Trump and the oligarchs.
www.vogue.com/article/teen...
www.vogue.com/article/teen...
November 3, 2025 at 8:01 PM
They just gutted Teen Vogue which had top notch political journalism. The media is continuing to purge any sort of political dissent to Trump and the oligarchs.
www.vogue.com/article/teen...
www.vogue.com/article/teen...
Don Hamerquist: “The essence of anti-fascist organizing must be the development of a left bloc that can successfully compete with such fascists, presenting a revolutionary option that confronts both fascism and capitalism in the realm of ideas and on the street.”
November 3, 2025 at 9:13 PM
Don Hamerquist: “The essence of anti-fascist organizing must be the development of a left bloc that can successfully compete with such fascists, presenting a revolutionary option that confronts both fascism and capitalism in the realm of ideas and on the street.”
Reposted by Spencer Beswick
"When history is written as it ought to be written, it is the moderation and long patience of the masses at which men will wonder, not their ferocity." - CLR James, "The Black Jacobins"
Rep. Clay Higgins of Louisiana blames SNAP recipients for not stockpiling a month's worth of food.
He ends his tweet with "stop smoking crack."
He ends his tweet with "stop smoking crack."
October 30, 2025 at 11:27 PM
"When history is written as it ought to be written, it is the moderation and long patience of the masses at which men will wonder, not their ferocity." - CLR James, "The Black Jacobins"
Lockjaw from OBAA and obviously channeling the SS. I think there is a MAGA faction that is testing the waters to be open with their Neo-Nazism. Look for trial balloons like "Hitler was misunderstood, just protecting Europe from communists and degenerates," etc. It's already happening on the fringes.
Here is Gregory Bovino, the man in charge of ICE agents in Chicago.
October 30, 2025 at 5:29 PM
Lockjaw from OBAA and obviously channeling the SS. I think there is a MAGA faction that is testing the waters to be open with their Neo-Nazism. Look for trial balloons like "Hitler was misunderstood, just protecting Europe from communists and degenerates," etc. It's already happening on the fringes.
About six months ago, maybe a year, my credit union redesigned its website. To this day the "return to dashboard" button on the new website is totally broken, meaning that once you click into one account you are stuck in it until you log out and log back in. It's beautiful.
October 29, 2025 at 11:30 PM
About six months ago, maybe a year, my credit union redesigned its website. To this day the "return to dashboard" button on the new website is totally broken, meaning that once you click into one account you are stuck in it until you log out and log back in. It's beautiful.
Textbook dystopia. I know it's not the most important thing, but I have to ask: did none of these people read dystopian literature growing up (or hell, watch dystopian movies)? I just have such a visceral revulsion to this that I think was honed by years and years of consuming dystopian media.
New: Videos show ICE/CBP agents are scanning peoples' faces on the street to verify citizenship. ICE has tool to instantly look up unprecedented number of databases with just a photo
“I’m an American citizen so leave me alone”
“Alright, we just got to verify that”
www.404media.co/ice-and-cbp-...
“I’m an American citizen so leave me alone”
“Alright, we just got to verify that”
www.404media.co/ice-and-cbp-...
ICE and CBP Agents Are Scanning Peoples’ Faces on the Street To Verify Citizenship
Videos on social media show officers from ICE and CBP using facial recognition technology on people in the field. One expert described the practice as “pure dystopian creep.”
www.404media.co
October 29, 2025 at 8:27 PM
Textbook dystopia. I know it's not the most important thing, but I have to ask: did none of these people read dystopian literature growing up (or hell, watch dystopian movies)? I just have such a visceral revulsion to this that I think was honed by years and years of consuming dystopian media.
Reposted by Spencer Beswick
This is an especially worrying statement when facial recognition can be inaccurate, biased, and generally make mistakes. Basing whether someone should be in the US or not, and ignoring physical media like a birth certificate, is ripe for disaster bsky.app/profile/jose...
New incredible detail here: ICE says a match in its facial recognition app Mobile Fortify is a "definitive" determination of a person's status, and that this overrides birth certificates. This is an app ICE is using in the field to scan people
www.404media.co/ice-and-cbp-...
www.404media.co/ice-and-cbp-...
October 29, 2025 at 4:18 PM
This is an especially worrying statement when facial recognition can be inaccurate, biased, and generally make mistakes. Basing whether someone should be in the US or not, and ignoring physical media like a birth certificate, is ripe for disaster bsky.app/profile/jose...
Reposted by Spencer Beswick
New: Videos show ICE/CBP agents are scanning peoples' faces on the street to verify citizenship. ICE has tool to instantly look up unprecedented number of databases with just a photo
“I’m an American citizen so leave me alone”
“Alright, we just got to verify that”
www.404media.co/ice-and-cbp-...
“I’m an American citizen so leave me alone”
“Alright, we just got to verify that”
www.404media.co/ice-and-cbp-...
ICE and CBP Agents Are Scanning Peoples’ Faces on the Street To Verify Citizenship
Videos on social media show officers from ICE and CBP using facial recognition technology on people in the field. One expert described the practice as “pure dystopian creep.”
www.404media.co
October 29, 2025 at 2:42 PM
New: Videos show ICE/CBP agents are scanning peoples' faces on the street to verify citizenship. ICE has tool to instantly look up unprecedented number of databases with just a photo
“I’m an American citizen so leave me alone”
“Alright, we just got to verify that”
www.404media.co/ice-and-cbp-...
“I’m an American citizen so leave me alone”
“Alright, we just got to verify that”
www.404media.co/ice-and-cbp-...
Reposted by Spencer Beswick
Today's crisis of academia has been building for decades. Now, we are in a reckoning. I think that higher ed is worth fighting for. But we cannot simply return to the pre-Trump era. This is our chance to fight for a new future of revitalized higher education as a public good. 4/4
July 23, 2025 at 2:07 PM
Today's crisis of academia has been building for decades. Now, we are in a reckoning. I think that higher ed is worth fighting for. But we cannot simply return to the pre-Trump era. This is our chance to fight for a new future of revitalized higher education as a public good. 4/4
Reposted by Spencer Beswick
I don't think most people understand the dire straits of higher ed even before Trump. ~70% of faculty are adjuncts (often w/PhDs!) making poverty wages. "Good" tenure track jobs are all but nonexistent, and the few openings in each field each year get hundreds of applicants. 1/
July 23, 2025 at 2:07 PM
I don't think most people understand the dire straits of higher ed even before Trump. ~70% of faculty are adjuncts (often w/PhDs!) making poverty wages. "Good" tenure track jobs are all but nonexistent, and the few openings in each field each year get hundreds of applicants. 1/
Remember: the $40 billion bailout to Argentina (actually going to US hedge fund managers allied with Trump) would cover about half a year of food stamp funding or a full year of USAID funding. Privatization takes public goods and transfers them to the pockets of the rich.
October 27, 2025 at 5:10 PM
Remember: the $40 billion bailout to Argentina (actually going to US hedge fund managers allied with Trump) would cover about half a year of food stamp funding or a full year of USAID funding. Privatization takes public goods and transfers them to the pockets of the rich.
Lmao they got him now!
October 27, 2025 at 4:05 PM
Lmao they got him now!
Reposted by Spencer Beswick
Mike Davis: "What keeps us going, ultimately, is our love for each other, and our refusal to bow our heads, to accept the verdict, however all-powerful it seems. It’s what ordinary people have to do. You have to love each other. You have to defend each other. You have to fight."
October 27, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Mike Davis: "What keeps us going, ultimately, is our love for each other, and our refusal to bow our heads, to accept the verdict, however all-powerful it seems. It’s what ordinary people have to do. You have to love each other. You have to defend each other. You have to fight."
Call me a liberal, but I sure wish Kamala Harris had won last year. Dems and GOP may have been two sides of the same coin for a long time, but that is clearly no longer the case. At the risk of stretching the metaphor, the GOP is instead on some fascist cryptocurrency scam.
October 27, 2025 at 3:07 PM
Call me a liberal, but I sure wish Kamala Harris had won last year. Dems and GOP may have been two sides of the same coin for a long time, but that is clearly no longer the case. At the risk of stretching the metaphor, the GOP is instead on some fascist cryptocurrency scam.