Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Alex Heffron

@alexheffron.bsky.social

1.3K followers 430 following 690 posts

Father. Farmer's husband. Full time PhD researching the political economy of farming and farmland. ND. he/him. Writing: https://linktr.ee/AlexHeffron

linktr.ee

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Alex Heffron @alexheffron.bsky.social · Jun 24

I wrote this piece for Vittles exploring Jeremy Clarkson, Reform, farmers' protests, the far right, conspiracy theory and the agrarian left. I argue that it's impossible to separate Clarkson the entertainer with Clarkson the (far right) political agitator.

www.vittlesmagazine.com/p/blood-soil...

2 8 12

Reposted by Alex Heffron

samuel @quilombo.bsky.social · 2d

This is what is left of Khan Younis, southern Gaza.

6 96 130

Reposted by Alex Heffron

Politics Theory Other @poltheoryother.bsky.social · 4d

"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

5 9

Reposted by Alex Heffron

Dave Vetter @davidrvetter.bsky.social · 1d

Every day is a good day to point out that 92% of Reform's donations were found to come from figures and groups linked to the fossil fuel industry. @desmog.com

Nigel Farage’s Reform Party Has Accepted £2.3 Million from Fossil Fuel Interests, Climate Deniers, and Polluters Since 2019 Election

Reform UK has received more than £2.3 million from oil and gas interests, highly polluting industries, and climate science deniers since December 2019, amounting to 92 percent of the party’s donations...

www.desmog.com

23 500 880

Alex Heffron @alexheffron.bsky.social · 1d

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.

Alex Heffron @alexheffron.bsky.social · 1d

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.

1 1

Alex Heffron @alexheffron.bsky.social · 1d

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.

1 1

Alex Heffron @alexheffron.bsky.social · 1d

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.

Alex Heffron @alexheffron.bsky.social · 1d

I've been on the fence with the new left party and greens - going back and forth variously. The whole debacle of YP is off-putting and @zackpolanski.bsky.social is winning me over through his efforts in the media. The idea of a reheated Corbynism doesn't appeal to me.

1 5

Reposted by Alex Heffron

David Wearing @davidwearing.bsky.social · 1d

Good man. Dont back down. Don't let these thugs intimidate you.

Bold Politics with Zack Polanski @boldpolitics.bsky.social · 2d

Solidarity with all trans and intersex people having their existence debated every time a tv host hasn't done their prep and can't think of any more questions

2 59 270

Reposted by Alex Heffron

Charlotte Weatherill @ckweatherill.bsky.social · 4d

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.

1 9 10

Alex Heffron @alexheffron.bsky.social · 2d

will bump this up for coming writing in the new year for sure, thanks!

Alex Heffron @alexheffron.bsky.social · 2d

cheers mate!

Alex Heffron @alexheffron.bsky.social · 2d

I'm not sure I've ever read it - will have to now though!

Alex Heffron @alexheffron.bsky.social · 2d

"of the immobility of the working peoples of the South, coupled with the generalized impunity of Northern forces, all under veneers of liberal legality."

Alex Heffron @alexheffron.bsky.social · 2d

"The Tarajal massacre is the paradigm of Europe’s southern borders: bullets fired at people for simply trying to move. The Tarajal paradigm can be summarized as follows: the intentional, calculated, and murderous enforcement...

mronline.org/2025/06/18/t...

The Migrant Genocide: Toward a Third World Analysis of European Class Struggle | MR Online

Over 10,000 people died in transit to Spain in 2024 alone.[1] On June 2022, the border fence of Melilla, one of two Spanish enclaves in Morocco, was witness to a massacre that killed or disappeared ov...

mronline.org

1 1

Alex Heffron @alexheffron.bsky.social · 2d

Sophia Doyle and I made a contribution to Seeding Reparations new booklet.

We take a loot at the current conjuncture of rising fascism, through the lens of food and farming in the UK, and think with Aimé Cesaire’s concept of the ‘imperial boomerang’.

Free pdf here: seeding.org.uk/wp-content/u...

seeding.org.uk

2 1 2

Alex Heffron @alexheffron.bsky.social · 10d

And what we need to make clear and struggle against is that this will break down along imperialist, colonial, racial lines. This is why Fortress Europe is being constructed. It's why we must fight like hell against militarisation, bordering and the demonisation of immigrants and Muslims.

Climate Dad @climatedad.bsky.social · 10d

The UK’s top actuaries - i.e. professional risk assessors - predict that 3C will kill around half the world’s people.

How old will your kids be by 2060?

2 7

Alex Heffron @alexheffron.bsky.social · 11d

Can we not just reject this racist framing outright and reject anti-immigration? This argument cedes ground to the far right at a time when it's becoming very clear what they are intent on doing to immigrants. I'd much rather defend freedom of movement.

2 4 6

Alex Heffron @alexheffron.bsky.social · 12d

Fun reading for the afternoon

Screenshot: house of commons library. Biodiversity loss.

Debate Pack 14 May 2024 Number CDP 2024/0101 By Elena Ares, Sarah Coe, Paul Bolton, Nikki Sutherland

Alex Heffron @alexheffron.bsky.social · 22d

The left currently rewards the sharks, snakes and charlatans and until this is confronted the left will get nowhere. The imperative we face is to ingrain a new ethic and new structures and new ways of working together. For as long as we're dominated by privatised egos we'll get nowhere.

Reposted by Alex Heffron

Chenchen Zhang 🤦🏻‍♀️ @chenchenzhang.net · 23d

22yo student Zhang Yadi, an activist with 华语青年挺藏会 ChineseYouthStand4Tibet who's supposed to begin her MA study at SOAS, has been detained while visiting family in China & charged with "inciting separation" www.instagram.com/p/DOy4rwViEk...

ENG: Tara Zhang Yadi is a 22 year old student from China, who had lived in France for the past few years. She was taken from her family home by the Chinese Government on July 30th 2025 during her summer holidays, ahead of moving to London to start her masters degree at SOAS (the School of Oriental and African Studies) in London, with a scholarship.
FR: Tara Zhang Yadi, étudiante chinoise de 22 ans ayant vécu ces dernières années en France, a été arrêtée par les autorités chinoises le 30 juillet 2025, alors qu'elle se trouvait dans la maison familiale pour les vacances d'été. Elle devait prochainement s'installer à Londres pour commencer un master à la SOAS (the School of Oriental and African Studies) grâce à une bourse.

ENG: Today, it has been announced that she is being held at Changsha National Detention Centre for “inciting separation” because of her human rights work, including editing for ChineseYouthStand4Tibet.
FR: Il a été annoncé aujourd'hui qu'elle est détenue au centre de détention national de Changsha pour “incitation à la séparation”, en raison de son engagement en faveur des droits humains, et notamment pour son rôle d’éditrice à ChineseYouthStand4Tibet.

ENG: Her family and family-appointed lawyer is unable to contact or meet her, with the National Security Bureau citing “state secrets.”
She is now facing over 5 years in prison
FR: Ni sa famille ni l'avocat choisi par ses proches n'ont pu la voir et la sécurité nationale bloque tout contact sous prétexte de "secrets d'Etat."
Elle fait face maintenant à plus de 5 ans de prison

1 25 48

Alex Heffron @alexheffron.bsky.social · 22d

And the more we stress collapse soon, and then collapse doesn't happen, the more that tactic wears off as a motivational ploy. In practice this ends up turning people away from the growing likelihood and dangers of climate breakdown, and fuelling the forms of disavowal and denial that we see.

Alex Heffron @alexheffron.bsky.social · 22d

I am easily persuaded that uninsurability is going to be a growing concern in banking and markets (and will impoverish loads of people, partic in certain higher risk locations) – but we should also be alert to how the banking system and capitalist markets find ways of adapting and continuing.

1 2

Alex Heffron @alexheffron.bsky.social · 22d

I agree we need "public banking for public need not profit" - 100% that's the aim. I'm a bit nervous of these big claims being made of a banking collapse as being something imminent, due to climate change, without sufficient evidence to back that up. Climate politics has overused this tactic.

Richard Murphy @richardjmurphy.bsky.social · 22d

Is a global bank collapse coming soon? youtu.be/DaM3c5ybj-w?...

A banking collapse is coming, and the cause isn’t speculation. It’s climate change.

Uninsurable homes mean worthless mortgages, and worthless mortgages mean broken banks. Unless governments act now society itself is at risk.

Is a global bank collapse coming soon?

YouTube video by Richard J Murphy

youtu.be

1 4

Reposted by Alex Heffron

Alex Heffron @alexheffron.bsky.social · 29d

New post: On the need to create state-owned/supported alternatives to supermarkets, as is becoming a typical popular demand across the world in response to price gouging and rising food insecurity. It could also help fix farming systems.

thestruggleforland.substack.com/p/democratic...

Democratic Supermarketism

Food processors and retailers hoard profits and power in the food and farming system. Across the world a challenge to this supermarket dominance is growing in the form of state-owned alternatives.

thestruggleforland.substack.com

1 5 9