William Rees
@yffwl.bsky.social
Sarod, Rubab, and Viola player. Historian of music and Islam in (primarily) early modern South Asia. Interested in labour and the value-form in music, amongst other things. Musicians Union member. Work-related stuff elsewhere.
Reposted by William Rees
last night as i was trying to wind down for bed i had a unified theory of what the fuck just happened, and i wrote it down, and filed it under "well, i can't talk about this on main without sounding insane until and unless the perp gets caught and is provably a groyper"
anyways, great news! (1/X)
anyways, great news! (1/X)
September 12, 2025 at 4:13 PM
last night as i was trying to wind down for bed i had a unified theory of what the fuck just happened, and i wrote it down, and filed it under "well, i can't talk about this on main without sounding insane until and unless the perp gets caught and is provably a groyper"
anyways, great news! (1/X)
anyways, great news! (1/X)
Reposted by William Rees
Sad and surprised to see @plaidcymru.bsky.social taking the cowardly option of abstaining on this authoritarian shite - a party who's founders literally burnt down a military base in protest against British militarism in Wales.
Siom enbyd, ry'n ni gyd dan fygythiad pan y protestiwn ni nawr.
Siom enbyd, ry'n ni gyd dan fygythiad pan y protestiwn ni nawr.
🚨 BREAKING | House of Commons has voted to proscribe Palestine Action, making it an offence to support the group (max sentence: 14 years)
✅ For – 385
❌ Against – 26
Here's how each party voted 👇
✅ For – 385
❌ Against – 26
Here's how each party voted 👇
July 2, 2025 at 5:48 PM
Sad and surprised to see @plaidcymru.bsky.social taking the cowardly option of abstaining on this authoritarian shite - a party who's founders literally burnt down a military base in protest against British militarism in Wales.
Siom enbyd, ry'n ni gyd dan fygythiad pan y protestiwn ni nawr.
Siom enbyd, ry'n ni gyd dan fygythiad pan y protestiwn ni nawr.
Reposted by William Rees
wake me up when the barbarism of civilization has ended
June 22, 2025 at 7:52 AM
wake me up when the barbarism of civilization has ended
Why is this framed in a way that blames cyclists/cycling campaigners? Majority found interactions with cyclists positive, w/ only 28% “perceiving” interactions to be negative, while framing of the entire article based around one respondent, saying campaigns hindered among those already skeptical
New study of council decision-makers shows one barrier to new bike infrastructure can be…. a perception that some cycle campaigners can be both rude and never satisfied*.
www.theguardian.com/news/2025/ma...
www.theguardian.com/news/2025/ma...
Forceful bike campaigners can undermine UK cycle lane planning, report finds
Study interviewing councillors and officials shows transport projects can be hampered by ‘toxic’ online debates
www.theguardian.com
May 31, 2025 at 10:52 AM
Why is this framed in a way that blames cyclists/cycling campaigners? Majority found interactions with cyclists positive, w/ only 28% “perceiving” interactions to be negative, while framing of the entire article based around one respondent, saying campaigns hindered among those already skeptical
Reposted by William Rees
This cannot be allowed and will not be allowed. It is possible to bring this horror to an end. If you have a public voice - use it now.
Haaretz’s Yaniv Kubovich reports that Israel plans to seize 75% of Gaza and relocate more than 1,3 million Palestinians in the upcoming offensive, ultimately forcing the entire population into three military zones with food supplies strictly controlled by GHF/Israel. www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...
May 26, 2025 at 10:29 AM
This cannot be allowed and will not be allowed. It is possible to bring this horror to an end. If you have a public voice - use it now.
Reposted by William Rees
Reposted by William Rees
Imagine the Parliamentary Questions, the Times editorials, if a piece of national scientific infrastructure had been rendered inaccessible. Instead other than an honourable FT weekend piece, no one has paid any attention to the troubles continuing to beset our national library
amazing how the cyber attack on the British Library still means that all recently published work (and that's a definition that stretches back several years) is completely unavailable to researchers, since they only acquired ebooks and that system is still down
April 7, 2025 at 12:02 PM
Imagine the Parliamentary Questions, the Times editorials, if a piece of national scientific infrastructure had been rendered inaccessible. Instead other than an honourable FT weekend piece, no one has paid any attention to the troubles continuing to beset our national library
Reposted by William Rees
Pollock and Appadurai expose the essentially oligarchical composition and function of US university boards (this is especially true of the ivies) www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Who actually runs Columbia University? | Arjun Appadurai and Sheldon Pollock
Trustees aren’t academics – and they’re often political wolves in sheep’s clothing. We need reform to save the American university as we know it
www.theguardian.com
April 1, 2025 at 11:08 AM
Pollock and Appadurai expose the essentially oligarchical composition and function of US university boards (this is especially true of the ivies) www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Reposted by William Rees
And so it begins...
March 24, 2025 at 9:46 AM
And so it begins...
Reposted by William Rees
Tenure didn’t protect anyone at Columbia. Let this be a lesson in the need for labor solidarity across all ranks in higher ed.
March 22, 2025 at 12:57 AM
Tenure didn’t protect anyone at Columbia. Let this be a lesson in the need for labor solidarity across all ranks in higher ed.
Reposted by William Rees
This needs to ring an alarm bell in all our associations.
The list of regime demands issued to Columbia includes placing an entire (very distinguished) department—Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies (MESAAS)—in receivership.
Friends, we are but a half step away from a demand not to teach Course X or even to fire Tenured Professor Y.
Friends, we are but a half step away from a demand not to teach Course X or even to fire Tenured Professor Y.
March 14, 2025 at 4:44 PM
This needs to ring an alarm bell in all our associations.
Reposted by William Rees
I’ve read a lot about fascism, and one thing I think we need, as well, is a dissuasion of fascism in literature from the early 20th century to today. Here is a working syllabus on just that. Please tell me what to add @jeffsharlet.bsky.social
interminablerambling.medium.com/fascism-in-l...
interminablerambling.medium.com/fascism-in-l...
Fascism in Literature Syllabus
Mabel Dwight, Danse Macbre, 1933
interminablerambling.medium.com
February 23, 2025 at 2:07 PM
I’ve read a lot about fascism, and one thing I think we need, as well, is a dissuasion of fascism in literature from the early 20th century to today. Here is a working syllabus on just that. Please tell me what to add @jeffsharlet.bsky.social
interminablerambling.medium.com/fascism-in-l...
interminablerambling.medium.com/fascism-in-l...
Reposted by William Rees
Social murder in a red rosette
C4News, "People are disappointed that Labour are continuing with the £3 billion of cuts that the Conservative government committed to regarding disability benefits. Will some disabled people lose access to those benefits?"
Disability Minister Stephen Timms, "Yes"
Disability Minister Stephen Timms, "Yes"
February 21, 2025 at 9:34 PM
Social murder in a red rosette
Reposted by William Rees
Remembering all the times people criticized communism because the art it produced, socialist realism, was 'bad' and not 'real art'.
Well, here's what capitalism produces: slop. The most horrific, aesthetically empty, soulless, literally inhuman shit imaginable. Every accusation a confession
Well, here's what capitalism produces: slop. The most horrific, aesthetically empty, soulless, literally inhuman shit imaginable. Every accusation a confession
AI: The New Aesthetics of Fascism
It's embarrassing, destructive, and looks like shit: AI-generated art is the perfect aesthetic form for the far right.
newsocialist.org.uk
February 9, 2025 at 9:32 PM
Remembering all the times people criticized communism because the art it produced, socialist realism, was 'bad' and not 'real art'.
Well, here's what capitalism produces: slop. The most horrific, aesthetically empty, soulless, literally inhuman shit imaginable. Every accusation a confession
Well, here's what capitalism produces: slop. The most horrific, aesthetically empty, soulless, literally inhuman shit imaginable. Every accusation a confession
This morning’s reading
January 21, 2025 at 1:05 PM
This morning’s reading
Reposted by William Rees
It feels like the moment everyone agreed to call LLMs "AI"--even critics of it--something important was conceded
January 18, 2025 at 6:43 PM
It feels like the moment everyone agreed to call LLMs "AI"--even critics of it--something important was conceded
Reposted by William Rees
Bryan MacCormack, the executive director of a New York-based immigrant rights group, was pulled over by CBP with two undocumented passengers in the vehicle. He knew his rights, refused to acknowledge their "warrant", and despite CBP threatening him, the agents eventually were forced to let him go.
January 18, 2025 at 2:46 AM
Bryan MacCormack, the executive director of a New York-based immigrant rights group, was pulled over by CBP with two undocumented passengers in the vehicle. He knew his rights, refused to acknowledge their "warrant", and despite CBP threatening him, the agents eventually were forced to let him go.
Reposted by William Rees
From Mazen Kerbaj:
January 16, 2025 at 1:35 PM
From Mazen Kerbaj:
Reposted by William Rees
“In order to shoot off one email per week for a year, ChatGPT would use up 27 liters of water, or about one-and-a-half jugs… that means if one in 10 U.S. residents—16 million people—asked ChatGPT to write an email a week, it’d cost more than 435 million liters of water.”
AI doesn’t just require tons of electric power. It also guzzles enormous sums of water.
It also guzzles enormous sums of water.
fortune.com
January 9, 2025 at 11:20 AM
“In order to shoot off one email per week for a year, ChatGPT would use up 27 liters of water, or about one-and-a-half jugs… that means if one in 10 U.S. residents—16 million people—asked ChatGPT to write an email a week, it’d cost more than 435 million liters of water.”
Reposted by William Rees
Dissolve the government for this alone
The Labour Party, who are currently forming the government of a G8 country, made this:
January 4, 2025 at 9:59 PM
Dissolve the government for this alone
Christmas Eve walk in the Rhondda
December 25, 2024 at 12:01 PM
Christmas Eve walk in the Rhondda
5 authors I’ve read 5+ books by
Laszlo Krasznahorkai
Albert Camus
William Faulkner
Arundhati Roy
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Laszlo Krasznahorkai
Albert Camus
William Faulkner
Arundhati Roy
Fyodor Dostoevsky
5 authors I've read 5+ books by
Jane Austen
Paul Auster
Margaret Atwood
Bret Easton Ellis
Karl Marx ✊
Jane Austen
Paul Auster
Margaret Atwood
Bret Easton Ellis
Karl Marx ✊
5 authors I’ve read 5+ books by
Philip Roth
Ian M Banks
John Le Carre
Neal Stephenson
David Butler
Philip Roth
Ian M Banks
John Le Carre
Neal Stephenson
David Butler
December 21, 2024 at 12:23 AM
5 authors I’ve read 5+ books by
Laszlo Krasznahorkai
Albert Camus
William Faulkner
Arundhati Roy
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Laszlo Krasznahorkai
Albert Camus
William Faulkner
Arundhati Roy
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Reposted by William Rees
The Ghosts in the Machine, by Liz Pelly
Spotify’s plot against musicians
harpers.org
December 19, 2024 at 8:13 PM