Alex Heffron
@alexheffron.bsky.social
1.3K followers 430 following 700 posts
Father. Farmer's husband. Full time PhD researching the political economy of farming and farmland. ND. he/him. Writing: https://linktr.ee/AlexHeffron
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alexheffron.bsky.social
Sophia and I wrote this for the new Seeding Reparations booklet – considering anti-fascist food sovereignty by challenging white theories and histories of fascism. Click through to read the second half of the article:

seeding.org.uk/wp-content/u...
HAT DOES AN ANTIFASCIST FARMING MOVEMENT LOOK LIKE? BY SOPHIA DOYLE & ALEX HEFFRON, ROOT AND BRANCH COLLECTIVE The threat of fascism is growing in the UK and food and farming are becoming battlegrounds. What can we do? British land is seen as the natural abode of the white male farmer. 99% of land is owned (or managed) by white people1 and around 85% by men2. It is no surprise that Jeremy Clarkson is able to step in as one of the de-facto leaders of the farmers’ protests. Worryingly, he uses his newspaper columns to show sympathy for the “legitimate concerns” of the racist rioters we’ve seen across Britain in the last 12 months3. He also propagates racist conspiracies about farmers being “ethnically cleansed” and “carpet bombed” by immigrants and wind farms4. Unfortunately, these ideas are catching on. Welsh protestors in Llandudno have yellow and black signs talking about a “government genocide” of farmers and Facebook is awash with racist lies about Muslims stealing sheep. That government policy is undermining farming and that sheep rustling is a growing problem (though often by other white farmers, not Muslims) provides a hook for these racialised conspiracies but does not explain them. To understand them requires a deeper insight into the workings of race and coloniality. Groups like Land In Our Names (LION) have put the coloniality of British land on the table in recent years5. In Britain, we are taught to think about fascism in a particular way. Most schools teach it as something that mostly happened “over there” in Nazi Germany, Mussolini’s Italy, or Franco’s Spain. Perhaps we learn a tiny bit about the British Union of Fascists. We might learn that fascism was defeated and superseded by liberal democracy. A black and white story. So is the ascendancy of the far–right today merely an ugly remnant of the past returning, like the swing of a pendulum, to haunt us once again? Other perspectives on fascism provide a different picture.
Reposted by Alex Heffron
doctorvive.bsky.social
The thing about solar geoengineering is that once you start you cannot stop *ever* unless somehow you have already removed all the multi-billions of tons of carbon emitted since the day you started.

If you stop at the higher CO2 concentration you get virtually instantaneous catastrophic heating.
thierryaaron.bsky.social
"If geoengineering works well initially & you see this temperature drop, the tempempation to keep going & extracting fossil fuels will be greater than ever, because it will seem that you have a technologically that can cut off the link between temperature rises & fossil fuel combustion."
Overshoot & Climate Breakdown - Wim Carton & Andreas Malm | #39
YouTube video by Jesse Damiani
youtu.be
alexheffron.bsky.social
Polanski was excellent here I thought. Angry bigots like Malone want to make out they're the majority – they're not. They're a (often very wealthy) minority.
implausibleblog.bsky.social
Carole Malone, "Youu can't say what women's rights are because you're not a woman"

Zack Polanski, "You're not trans are you. We can all say you're not that thing so you can't have an opinion" 🔥

"You can still have an opinion from listening to people"
alexheffron.bsky.social
haha yeah I managed to forget the hashtag and the link but we'll get there next time lol
alexheffron.bsky.social
Call for papers for POLLEN26: Returning to the Agrarian Question in the North

Any questions get in touch!
P090


Propose
Returning to The Agrarian Question in the North  
Convenors:
Donatella Gasparro (Scuola Normale Superiore)
Alex Heffron (Lancaster University)
Format: Panel
Returning to The Agrarian Question in the North. Panel P090 at conference Pollen2026: Diverse Origins, Multiple Futures: The Stories of Political Ecology.
https://nomadit.co.uk/conference/pollen2026/p/17527
show panel on own page
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Format/structure
Open panel. 10-15 minutes presentations plus ample time for discussion among panelists and with the audience.

Description
The agrarian question, in its plural articulations and reinterpretations, has been central to both critical agrarian studies and political ecology; yet, its contemporary understandings, analytics, and geographies tend to treat it as an almost Global South-exclusive problematique. As Global North scholars, activists and farmers, working on land, peasantries, agrarian economies and rural futures, we aim to contribute to the conversation that seeks to ‘reopen’ the agrarian question in the North, with a focus on European countrysides, but in radical alliance with majority world Indigenous, peasant and land struggles.

The intent is twofold: on the one hand, bringing back into the conversation European ruralities and agrarian economies, their crises, their politics and their potential for socio-ecological transformation; on the other, rethinking agricultural (re)production, dependencies, (agro)ecologies, and labour in the North in radical alliance with delinking, liberation, self- We are interested in proposals that explore the agrarian question in Europe, starting from (yet not limited to) themes such as:

- Northern agrarian metabolisms and their colonial patterns: migrant labour, core-periphery relations (also with internal peripheries); dependencies in the agri-food system; global value, labour and care chains;

- Reclaiming rural Europe from the Right: reactionary politics versus ecosocialist potentials;

- Why are people “still” farming? Desire, affect, and the “peasant principle”;

- (Migrant) worker solidarity in the agri-food system;

- Property and its transformations;

- The “agrarian question of climate change” (as termed by Paprocki & McCarthy); green transitions and their impacts on agrarian communities;

- Political agroecology, socio-ecological reproduction and food sovereignty for the North, beyond localisms.
alexheffron.bsky.social
Looks amazing! See you there for it! And I need to get on with getting our own CfP out there as I keep seeing these posts now 😅
Reposted by Alex Heffron
ckweatherill.bsky.social
Submissions invited for #POLLEN2026 for the panel: Colonial histories and climate futures: critical perspectives on vulnerability.

We are particularly interested in papers that draw together themes of climate-induced im/mobilities & vulnerabilisation.

nomadit.co.uk/conference/p...
Description
This panel brings together theoretical approaches and case studies at the intersection of climate change, human (im)mobility and vulnerability. We aim to critically discuss how colonial and neocolonial systems contribute to geographic, economic, and social inequalities in the context of increasing climate change impacts, thereby making a contribution to both climate justice and political ecology debates. We invite papers which critically examine dominant discourses that ascribe vulnerability to so-called “at-risk” populations and explore alternative epistemologies of survival, resistance and political agency. We are particularly interested in papers that draw together two themes: Climate-induced (im)mobilities, and vulnerabilisation.
Reposted by Alex Heffron
babystar.bsky.social
When I think of A.I. I think of asbestos. To begin with everyone thought Asbestos was amazing, folk used it in everything. Then they started learning it was dangerous, research was done, they stopped using it, thou for some the damage was already done. Stop using A.I and limit the damage it's doing.
alexheffron.bsky.social
I reckon so - algorithm on here is very weird
alexheffron.bsky.social
This will be really good:

"The green digital transition is underway. But what does this transition look like when dictated by the energy and resource demands of monopoly tech? How has this situation come to be? And where is it being resisted?"

www.aaschool.ac.uk/publicprogra...
AA School
Architectural Association School of Architecture's website homepage is the online entrance into the AA; to its courses from Foundation to PhD for undergraduate and postgraduate students; its open publ...
www.aaschool.ac.uk
alexheffron.bsky.social
One of those days where coffee is life
Reposted by Alex Heffron
matpaterson.bsky.social
PhD scholarship opportunity, to work with @sherilynmacgregor.bsky.social and myself on the 'local politics of climate backlash' at @uompols.bsky.social and @justcentre.bsky.social. Please circulate to anyone who might be interested! www.findaphd.com/phds/project....
Reposted by Alex Heffron
tom-cb.bsky.social
Still time to get your abstracts in for this..... hopefully has the makings of a great session
ckweatherill.bsky.social
Another Call for Papers for #BISA2026 (3rd-5th June, Brighton), this time for a panel I'm organising with @tom-cb.bsky.social. Deadline 24th Oct.

Gender and resistance in environmental politics: This panel will explore how gender relates to resistance against env harm AND resistance to transition.
We are putting out this Call for Papers for BISA2026 in search of people who are researching the connection between gender and resistance in the field of environmental politics.  
This call comes at a time of (at least) two forms of gendered resistance:  
1.	Growing resistance to measures that combat climate change and environmental destruction, a form of resistance that is often masculinised 
2.	Ongoing resistance against environmental destruction, a form of resistance that is both discursively constructed as feminine and that manifests as a form of burden that is often borne by women and other marginalised peoples  
Against a backdrop of the target of 1.5 degrees warming looking increasingly unlikely, and a ‘green’ transition currently reliant on new geographies of environmental and human harm and exploitation, any meaningful progress towards global environmental targets is stalling. Resistance to these forms of harm and efforts to transition away from fossil fuels are at a critical juncture. At the same time, there is a surging right-wing politics globally, part of which acts as a defence of industry and environmental harm. This form of resistance is directed at transition itself.   
We invite papers which explore the intersections of gender and resistance in relation to environment or climate politics. Approaches might include ecofeminism, political ecology, and feminist political economy.  
Some papers which participants might engage with: 
•	Petro-masculinity: Fossil fuels and authoritarian desire (Daggett, 2018)  
•	Feminist approaches to environmental politics (Lawrence et al, 2025) 
•	‘Gender and climate change’: from impacts to discourses (MacGregor, 2010) 
•	Colonial erasures in gender and climate change solutions (Resurrección, 2024) 
 Please send your 200 word abstracts to t.n.brookes@keele.ac.uk and weatherillck@outlook.com by 24th October along with your name, affiliation, career stage and geographical location.
alexheffron.bsky.social
Sophia and I wrote this for the new Seeding Reparations booklet – considering anti-fascist food sovereignty by challenging white theories and histories of fascism. Click through to read the second half of the article:

seeding.org.uk/wp-content/u...
HAT DOES AN ANTIFASCIST FARMING MOVEMENT LOOK LIKE? BY SOPHIA DOYLE & ALEX HEFFRON, ROOT AND BRANCH COLLECTIVE The threat of fascism is growing in the UK and food and farming are becoming battlegrounds. What can we do? British land is seen as the natural abode of the white male farmer. 99% of land is owned (or managed) by white people1 and around 85% by men2. It is no surprise that Jeremy Clarkson is able to step in as one of the de-facto leaders of the farmers’ protests. Worryingly, he uses his newspaper columns to show sympathy for the “legitimate concerns” of the racist rioters we’ve seen across Britain in the last 12 months3. He also propagates racist conspiracies about farmers being “ethnically cleansed” and “carpet bombed” by immigrants and wind farms4. Unfortunately, these ideas are catching on. Welsh protestors in Llandudno have yellow and black signs talking about a “government genocide” of farmers and Facebook is awash with racist lies about Muslims stealing sheep. That government policy is undermining farming and that sheep rustling is a growing problem (though often by other white farmers, not Muslims) provides a hook for these racialised conspiracies but does not explain them. To understand them requires a deeper insight into the workings of race and coloniality. Groups like Land In Our Names (LION) have put the coloniality of British land on the table in recent years5. In Britain, we are taught to think about fascism in a particular way. Most schools teach it as something that mostly happened “over there” in Nazi Germany, Mussolini’s Italy, or Franco’s Spain. Perhaps we learn a tiny bit about the British Union of Fascists. We might learn that fascism was defeated and superseded by liberal democracy. A black and white story. So is the ascendancy of the far–right today merely an ugly remnant of the past returning, like the swing of a pendulum, to haunt us once again? Other perspectives on fascism provide a different picture.
Reposted by Alex Heffron
arbeitology.bsky.social
we got jumped last night (me and wife) by a group of lads calling us “lefties“ - it didn’t come to punches but got quite close - so I guess we are approaching the “having to fight on your way home from the pub” level of fascism
Reposted by Alex Heffron
quilombo.bsky.social
This is what is left of Khan Younis, southern Gaza.
Reposted by Alex Heffron
poltheoryother.bsky.social
"There is a quote often attributed to Chico Mendes... “ecology without class struggle is gardening.” In the case of the current Brazilian government, it is not only the class struggle that is absent, but also the gardening." - @sabrinafernandes.bsky.social

www.break-down.org/lulas-dilemma/
Lula’s Dilemma
In Brazil, big agribusiness holds the reins of political power. Without confronting this head-on, Lula’s ecological promises will remain just that—promises.
www.break-down.org
alexheffron.bsky.social
Now where I live there is really no green presence but I'd rather support either of these parties than Plaid tbth – Plaid are better than Labour for sure but I don't see them offering anything other than a pretty lukewarm, very mildly left centrism. Abstaining on Pal Action vote was very poor.
alexheffron.bsky.social
So that latter position has to be defeated within the Greens or we just end up in another iteration of European imperialist social democracy that is reliant upon mass murder at the European border – a border that exists well beyond geographical Europe.
alexheffron.bsky.social
I like Polanski for what he's doing – putting himself out there in the media and doing a brilliant job of it. My main concern here is the "our heart is in Europe" and slight back tracking on NATO. A European military alliance is still imperialism and still supports Fortress Europe.
alexheffron.bsky.social
Ultimately, I support both. There are pros and cons to both. The clique around Corbyn, along with Corbyn's own lack of political astuteness, troubles me a lot. If there is any hope for YP it has to come from grassroots organising and it needs a new leader to take over from JC.