Fred Burrill
@fburrill.bsky.social
Settler historian (@UNB) of working-class formation and disintegration, focusing on deindustrialization, settler colonialism, and white supremacy in Quebec and the Maritimes.
Organizer involved in tenant and migrant justice struggles.
Huge baseball fan.
Organizer involved in tenant and migrant justice struggles.
Huge baseball fan.
Reposted by Fred Burrill
Excellent local media coverage of our recent speaker event featuring the Canada Research Chair in Postindustrial Communities, Lachlan MacKinnon.
Film as historical memory: a coal mining thriller
Lachlan MacKinnon's research views the 1981 slasher film My Bloody Valentine as "Cinematic Ruin," reflecting the industrial crisis and economic transition in Cape Breton's coal communities between 1979-1990.
nbmediacoop.org/2025/11/17/f...
Lachlan MacKinnon's research views the 1981 slasher film My Bloody Valentine as "Cinematic Ruin," reflecting the industrial crisis and economic transition in Cape Breton's coal communities between 1979-1990.
nbmediacoop.org/2025/11/17/f...
Film as historical memory: a coal mining thriller
A gory film made 40 years ago points to characteristics of post-industrial Cape Breton. University of New Brunswick alumnus, Lachlan
nbmediacoop.org
November 18, 2025 at 1:36 PM
Excellent local media coverage of our recent speaker event featuring the Canada Research Chair in Postindustrial Communities, Lachlan MacKinnon.
True. I also hope it'll inspire us to rethink a system in which students have to be overloaded with work (4-6 courses per term, or "full-time) to qualify for loans and bursaries.
I think one happy byproduct of the scourge of AI in pedagogical settings is that educators are increasingly acknowledging that among the very most commendable qualities in students, worthy of recognition and validation, is *effort.*
November 16, 2025 at 1:44 AM
True. I also hope it'll inspire us to rethink a system in which students have to be overloaded with work (4-6 courses per term, or "full-time) to qualify for loans and bursaries.
Reposted by Fred Burrill
Remember our fallen soldiers...
The Everett Massacre - Nov.5, 1916
The hanging of the Haymarket Martyrs - Nov.11, 1887
The Centralia Tragedy - Nov.11, 1919
The hanging of Louis Riel - Nov.16, 1885
The execution by firing squad of Joe Hill - Nov.19, 1915
The Battleford hangings - Nov.27, 1885
The Everett Massacre - Nov.5, 1916
The hanging of the Haymarket Martyrs - Nov.11, 1887
The Centralia Tragedy - Nov.11, 1919
The hanging of Louis Riel - Nov.16, 1885
The execution by firing squad of Joe Hill - Nov.19, 1915
The Battleford hangings - Nov.27, 1885
November 11, 2024 at 4:05 PM
Remember our fallen soldiers...
The Everett Massacre - Nov.5, 1916
The hanging of the Haymarket Martyrs - Nov.11, 1887
The Centralia Tragedy - Nov.11, 1919
The hanging of Louis Riel - Nov.16, 1885
The execution by firing squad of Joe Hill - Nov.19, 1915
The Battleford hangings - Nov.27, 1885
The Everett Massacre - Nov.5, 1916
The hanging of the Haymarket Martyrs - Nov.11, 1887
The Centralia Tragedy - Nov.11, 1919
The hanging of Louis Riel - Nov.16, 1885
The execution by firing squad of Joe Hill - Nov.19, 1915
The Battleford hangings - Nov.27, 1885
Reposted by Fred Burrill
SOLIDARITY! 98% of AUPE nursing care staff vote in favour of strike. Majority of 16,000 members are licensed practical nurses and health care aides. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
98% of AUPE nursing care staff vote in favour of strike | CBC News
Nursing care staff represented by the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees have voted 98 per cent in favour of strike action in a vote this week.
www.cbc.ca
November 5, 2025 at 7:58 PM
SOLIDARITY! 98% of AUPE nursing care staff vote in favour of strike. Majority of 16,000 members are licensed practical nurses and health care aides. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
Reposted by Fred Burrill
Il y a 10 ans, les éditions @remue-menage.bsky.social publiaient "Le sujet du féminisme est-il blanc". Un 2e tome sera bientôt publié. On pourra y lire un texte cosigné par notre collègue Samia Dumais et par Alexandra Pierre. Le livre sera lancé le 5 déc. lors du colloque du @reqef.bsky.social 👇🧵
November 4, 2025 at 10:06 PM
Il y a 10 ans, les éditions @remue-menage.bsky.social publiaient "Le sujet du féminisme est-il blanc". Un 2e tome sera bientôt publié. On pourra y lire un texte cosigné par notre collègue Samia Dumais et par Alexandra Pierre. Le livre sera lancé le 5 déc. lors du colloque du @reqef.bsky.social 👇🧵
I will never be so far from anarchism that I think a mayoral race has revolutionary implications.
November 4, 2025 at 9:28 PM
I will never be so far from anarchism that I think a mayoral race has revolutionary implications.
Reposted by Fred Burrill
on the topic of dick cheney, one thing i’ve always said is that you shouldn’t kill a million people
November 4, 2025 at 12:07 PM
on the topic of dick cheney, one thing i’ve always said is that you shouldn’t kill a million people
Reposted by Fred Burrill
Don't miss the @deindustrialpol.bsky.social virtual roundtable this Friday!
Policies and Programs: Deindustrialization and the Environment
Deindustrialization and the Politics of Our Time
Friday November 7th at 9:30am Eastern Time
niche-canada.org/2025/10/29/v...
#envhist #envstudies
Policies and Programs: Deindustrialization and the Environment
Deindustrialization and the Politics of Our Time
Friday November 7th at 9:30am Eastern Time
niche-canada.org/2025/10/29/v...
#envhist #envstudies
Virtual Event - Policies and Programs: Deindustrialization and the Environment
7 November 2025 - This session brings together eight scholars whose research examines the intersections of industrial decline, environmental activism and remediation, and policy responses by a variety...
niche-canada.org
November 3, 2025 at 7:50 PM
Don't miss the @deindustrialpol.bsky.social virtual roundtable this Friday!
Policies and Programs: Deindustrialization and the Environment
Deindustrialization and the Politics of Our Time
Friday November 7th at 9:30am Eastern Time
niche-canada.org/2025/10/29/v...
#envhist #envstudies
Policies and Programs: Deindustrialization and the Environment
Deindustrialization and the Politics of Our Time
Friday November 7th at 9:30am Eastern Time
niche-canada.org/2025/10/29/v...
#envhist #envstudies
Reposted by Fred Burrill
We spent an excellent weekend with Elders, community members, and scholars thinking about what it means to do engaged research in "Atlantic Canada" from the margins created by settler colonialism and white supremacy.
It was grounding, challenging, exciting, and we can't wait for what comes next.
It was grounding, challenging, exciting, and we can't wait for what comes next.
November 3, 2025 at 5:05 PM
We spent an excellent weekend with Elders, community members, and scholars thinking about what it means to do engaged research in "Atlantic Canada" from the margins created by settler colonialism and white supremacy.
It was grounding, challenging, exciting, and we can't wait for what comes next.
It was grounding, challenging, exciting, and we can't wait for what comes next.
Reposted by Fred Burrill
Satellite images show that most of the 260,000 civilians in Sudan’s el-Fasher are likely still trapped, as mass RSF killings continue
Satellite images show most el-Fasher civilians likely still trapped
Latest images suggest that majority of 260,000 civilians still in captured city, as mass RSF killings continue
www.middleeasteye.net
November 1, 2025 at 10:24 PM
Satellite images show that most of the 260,000 civilians in Sudan’s el-Fasher are likely still trapped, as mass RSF killings continue
This was bad analysis in the 60s and it's worse now. A socialist settler state is not socialist.
"The major threat to Canadian survival today is American control of the Canadian economy. The major issue of our times is not national unity but national survival, and the fundamental threat is external, not internal."
—Waffle Manifesto: For an Independent Socialist Canada, 1969
—Waffle Manifesto: For an Independent Socialist Canada, 1969
The Waffle Manifesto: For an Independent Socialist Canada
In 1969, a caucus of NDP members known as the Waffle organized to promote a socialist and nationalist agenda, which included the replacement of US private ownership of Canadian industry with Canadian ...
canadiandimension.com
November 3, 2025 at 12:30 AM
This was bad analysis in the 60s and it's worse now. A socialist settler state is not socialist.
Happy end-of-election day to Montrealers. A brief respite from the goofy faces on posters, the business darlings, the cynicism of movement profiteers, the cop-loving environmentalists.
November 2, 2025 at 1:44 PM
Happy end-of-election day to Montrealers. A brief respite from the goofy faces on posters, the business darlings, the cynicism of movement profiteers, the cop-loving environmentalists.
Reposted by Fred Burrill
So the #stockmarket may be booming and the #AI hype is still exploding, but the rest of the economy is not so buoyant; and there appear to be cockroaches eating into the clean running of the world of #debt. Watch that space.
thenextrecession.wordpress.com/2025/11/01/d...
thenextrecession.wordpress.com/2025/11/01/d...
Debt and the cockroaches
Let the Financial Times sum it up: “US stocks ride AI hype and trade truce to 6-month winning streak S&P 500 and Nasdaq post longest runs of monthly gains in years.” The FT points out that US s…
thenextrecession.wordpress.com
November 2, 2025 at 10:27 AM
So the #stockmarket may be booming and the #AI hype is still exploding, but the rest of the economy is not so buoyant; and there appear to be cockroaches eating into the clean running of the world of #debt. Watch that space.
thenextrecession.wordpress.com/2025/11/01/d...
thenextrecession.wordpress.com/2025/11/01/d...
Et moi!
Arrêtez de dire que personne au Québec veut une immigration incontrôlée. C’est faux: il y a moi.
October 30, 2025 at 1:36 PM
Et moi!
So, so much cruelty, on an unimaginable scale.
BREAKING: Israeli forces have carried out massive bombing operations southeast of Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic report from the ground.
🔴 LIVE updates: aje.io/oiwpck
🔴 LIVE updates: aje.io/oiwpck
October 23, 2025 at 6:14 PM
So, so much cruelty, on an unimaginable scale.
Torn because some of my best friends are Bluejays fans and I want them to be happy but also I hate Canadian nationalism with a deep abiding passion. Especially when it's sponsored by the cell company with the shittiest, most expensive service in the country.
October 23, 2025 at 4:29 PM
Torn because some of my best friends are Bluejays fans and I want them to be happy but also I hate Canadian nationalism with a deep abiding passion. Especially when it's sponsored by the cell company with the shittiest, most expensive service in the country.
AI stinks for political and ecological reasons and I ask my students not to use it. But I do think the pell-mell rush to in-class assignments, etc., is more about professors' need to see themselves as pristine educators rather than the mid-level intellectual management we all are.
October 21, 2025 at 11:07 PM
AI stinks for political and ecological reasons and I ask my students not to use it. But I do think the pell-mell rush to in-class assignments, etc., is more about professors' need to see themselves as pristine educators rather than the mid-level intellectual management we all are.
Reposted by Fred Burrill
starting to get the sinking feeling that Jon Stewart quips are not slowing down Donald Trump
October 21, 2025 at 3:55 PM
starting to get the sinking feeling that Jon Stewart quips are not slowing down Donald Trump
Reposted by Fred Burrill
Today’s DePOT Deindustrialization Blog comes from Joseph Coates and Emiliano Aguilar.
The case of the Calumet Region of Northwest Indiana and Chicago is a particularly interesting one:
deindustrialization.org/deindustrial...
The case of the Calumet Region of Northwest Indiana and Chicago is a particularly interesting one:
deindustrialization.org/deindustrial...
Deindustrialization and the Calumet Region – Deindustrialization
deindustrialization.org
October 15, 2025 at 6:43 PM
Today’s DePOT Deindustrialization Blog comes from Joseph Coates and Emiliano Aguilar.
The case of the Calumet Region of Northwest Indiana and Chicago is a particularly interesting one:
deindustrialization.org/deindustrial...
The case of the Calumet Region of Northwest Indiana and Chicago is a particularly interesting one:
deindustrialization.org/deindustrial...
Reposted by Fred Burrill
At UNB, professors and students were surveilled for Palestine solidarity because, per campus security, the university is the President’s “house.”
“If I tell my kids my kids you can’t do this, I don’t need to write it down… He’s the President and he can set the rules.”
“If I tell my kids my kids you can’t do this, I don’t need to write it down… He’s the President and he can set the rules.”
October 15, 2025 at 11:24 AM
At UNB, professors and students were surveilled for Palestine solidarity because, per campus security, the university is the President’s “house.”
“If I tell my kids my kids you can’t do this, I don’t need to write it down… He’s the President and he can set the rules.”
“If I tell my kids my kids you can’t do this, I don’t need to write it down… He’s the President and he can set the rules.”
Today at work we were invited to participate in yet another study on AI. Look closely at the human arm in the ridiculous image that came with the invitation.
Did the study's authors do it on purpose? Is it an AI-generated joke? My colleagues and I have been laughing all day.
Did the study's authors do it on purpose? Is it an AI-generated joke? My colleagues and I have been laughing all day.
October 15, 2025 at 8:36 PM
Today at work we were invited to participate in yet another study on AI. Look closely at the human arm in the ridiculous image that came with the invitation.
Did the study's authors do it on purpose? Is it an AI-generated joke? My colleagues and I have been laughing all day.
Did the study's authors do it on purpose? Is it an AI-generated joke? My colleagues and I have been laughing all day.
Reposted by Fred Burrill
We're happy to announce two exciting new MA fellowship opportunities in our department. Please share with all interested students!
October 9, 2025 at 4:07 PM
We're happy to announce two exciting new MA fellowship opportunities in our department. Please share with all interested students!
Reposted by Fred Burrill
En ce 200e du #CanalLachine, Samia Dumais revisite l'histoire ouvirère de la Petite-Bourgogne, à travers les porteurs noirs du CN, images de marque de l'entreprise et nénamoins victimes de racisme par l'employeur. #capitalism #racism #railway #canada ingeniumcanada.org/channel/arti...
Beyond the Uniform: The in/visible lives of Black porters in Canadian Railway Magazines
As one of the inaugural Black and African Canadian Scientific and Technological Innovations fello
ingeniumcanada.org
October 9, 2025 at 2:55 PM
En ce 200e du #CanalLachine, Samia Dumais revisite l'histoire ouvirère de la Petite-Bourgogne, à travers les porteurs noirs du CN, images de marque de l'entreprise et nénamoins victimes de racisme par l'employeur. #capitalism #racism #railway #canada ingeniumcanada.org/channel/arti...
Reposted by Fred Burrill
Mskwaasin Agnew (Dene/Cree, Salt River First Nation) was among the humanitarians on board Conscience that was illegally boarded by Israel in international waters.
We are asking everyone to contact the Canadian Government (email addresses & phone numbers on the poster)
#EyesOnGaza #EndGazaBlockade
We are asking everyone to contact the Canadian Government (email addresses & phone numbers on the poster)
#EyesOnGaza #EndGazaBlockade
October 8, 2025 at 1:01 PM
Mskwaasin Agnew (Dene/Cree, Salt River First Nation) was among the humanitarians on board Conscience that was illegally boarded by Israel in international waters.
We are asking everyone to contact the Canadian Government (email addresses & phone numbers on the poster)
#EyesOnGaza #EndGazaBlockade
We are asking everyone to contact the Canadian Government (email addresses & phone numbers on the poster)
#EyesOnGaza #EndGazaBlockade
Reposted by Fred Burrill
In our October blog, Amber Ward reviews Netflix’s Toxic Town, a depiction of women’s response to the continued exploitation of residents in a deindustrialized English town.
Social Reproduction and Scandal in Netflix’s Toxic Town – Deindustrialization
Jodie Whittaker as Susan and Aimee Lou Wood as Tracey in Toxic Town. Photograph: Ben Blackall/Netflix via The Guardian
deindustrialization.org
October 8, 2025 at 5:25 PM
In our October blog, Amber Ward reviews Netflix’s Toxic Town, a depiction of women’s response to the continued exploitation of residents in a deindustrialized English town.