Thanks for the positive feedback and for linking to your work - keen to take a look at it!

Great to see The Conversation pitching in for autism acceptance month by platforming work suggesting that autism diagnosis rates have been artificially inflated by NDIS, at the same time as the government is trying to cut the NDIS to buy drones. This makes me, an autistic person, feel accepted.

I've studied so many concentration camps through history that held vulnerable people in just this kind of crowded squalor. You demonize people, you demand more arrests, this is what you get. It already has its own budget and its own momentum, and is on track to go much further, unless we stop it.

Mirror and mismatch: China and the global politics of the far-right Chenchen Zhang — The far-right label is not easily applied in China, but there is a rising tide of xenophobia, militaristic nationalism, racism, anti-feminism, and social conservatism in online discourse and within the state.

If you are concerned about the catastrophic global rise of the far right, then you need to read Chenchen Zhang's new piece on how China fits into this picture.

links.org.au/mirror-and-m...

Autism tests | Embrace Autism Do you think you might be autistic? Have a look at the various autism tests and other psychometric tests (empathy, alexithymia, stimming, camouflaging, etc.) we compiled for you!

It's autism awareness month, which means it's time for you to be aware of your autism by taking an online autism test.
embrace-autism.com/autism-tests/

small mercies

surprisingly, he is on the internet. a lot.

I wrote an article called "Conquered Primitives Have No Written Language" which shows how this kind of backlash against Indigenous languages is part of genocidal ideologies and practices. The appeal to 'common sense' here is simply a fig-leaf for a pro-genocide stance.

But if there's anything specific you have in mind that Hickel has written recently, please do let me know.

now this guy, on the other hand...

I haven't kept up with his commentary for a while because I'm spending less time on X, but at least when I wrote this piece he had a fairly good, consistent track record. I developed some litmus tests and Hickel did fine...

Nominations are currently open for the Linguapax Award, which recognizes work contributing to language revitalization, language maintenance, language rights, and linguistic justice. Applications close May 21st - please see below for more.
linguapax.org/en/candidanc...

Nominations are currently open for the Linguapax Award, which recognizes work contributing to language revitalization, language maintenance, language rights, and linguistic justice. Applications close May 21st - please see below for more.
linguapax.org/en/candidanc...

Anthropologist Gerald Roche on China’s New Ethic Unity Law (Q&A) - Domino Theory “The state is just a snowplow, pushing ahead. There might be pebbles that get in its way, but they’re not going to slow it down.”

Regarding China's new ethnic unity law, in this interview I explain that we need to be concerned by the law's implementation by a government that was already willing to "deploy its military, send you to prison & torture you to death for language activism"
dominotheory.com/anthropologi...

Anthropologist Gerald Roche on China’s New Ethic Unity Law (Q&A) - Domino Theory “The state is just a snowplow, pushing ahead. There might be pebbles that get in its way, but they’re not going to slow it down.”

Regarding China's new ethnic unity law, in this interview I explain that we need to be concerned by the law's implementation by a government that was already willing to "deploy its military, send you to prison & torture you to death for language activism"
dominotheory.com/anthropologi...

Opinion: Closing the Alaska Native Language Center ends more than a program — it weakens language revitalization The planned closure of the language center threatens decades of work preserving one of the world’s most diverse linguistic landscapes.

Closing the Alaska Native Language Center ends more than a program — it weakens language revitalization

By Gary Holton

www.adn.com/opinions/202...

On the ephemeral ‘digital public sphere’ and the contentification of everything When I try to think through why Xiaohongshu as a platform has always felt weird to me, I realize that it might just be a reflection of what the internet would look like if the logic of contentifica…

ok I'd say Habermas outlived not only public sphere but also digital public sphere🕯️
chenchenzhang.net/2025/06/30/o...

Black Creator On TikTok With Tourette's Gives Her Take On BAFTAS Controversy The world is learning a lot about Tourette's syndrome today. It's just a shame it took two black dudes being called the N-word on stage at the BAFTAS to

Black Creator On TikTok With Tourette’s Gives Her Take On BAFTAS Controversy
www.sickchirpse.com/black-creato...

After I heard about the incident a few hours ago, I spent some time reading about N-word tics and intrusive thoughts and what I came away with was a feeling of deepened anger about the way white supremacist society has associated “Black person” with this word so it’s there, in people’s brains

you think China is into the idea of "civilizational state" because of some pre-existing tradition? everyone learnt from Huntington. Zhao Tingyang the guy who invented tianxia theory said in interview himself that he was originally a Kantian guy. Then he read Huntington and he thought oh no

New video with @themiskaraminis.bsky.social talking about the recently published paper on the relationship between newspaper reading preference and attitudes toward autism.

Watch the full video on our YouTube: youtu.be/tYaqUW7UhL0?...

Read the paper here: journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

Journal of Linguistic Anthropology | AAA Journal | Wiley Online Library Click on the article title to read more.

"Despite the grim realities of language oppression... this book is hopeful—hopeful of better language policies, better anthropology & ultimately, a better world." Many thanks to Charisma K Lepcha from Sikkim University for this review of my book.
anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Journal of Linguistic Anthropology | AAA Journal | Wiley Online Library Click on the article title to read more.

"Despite the grim realities of language oppression... this book is hopeful—hopeful of better language policies, better anthropology & ultimately, a better world." Many thanks to Charisma K Lepcha from Sikkim University for this review of my book.
anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

yes, that includes my employer: www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

JCU statement on institutional name Recent media reporting has mischaracterised the status and nature of James Cook University’s governance arrangements in relation to its institutional name.

We will eventually get rid of all the Australian university names that celebrate colonizers and racists - it's really just a matter of which university gets the public recognition by acting first.
www.jcu.edu.au/news/release...

"The fact that every other social media post by a leftist supporting the protests is met by the usual brain-dead comments painting absolutely everything as part of a global conspiracy is in itself a profound failure of internationalism."

‘Anti-imperialism’ is today rarely anything more than an excuse for authoritarians with left-wing aesthetics to reaffirm their demand that Iranians shut the fuck up about their own dreams and aspirations.

think it’s essential to build global alliances that better integrate Chinese perspectives. The starting point would be listening to and building alliances with grassroots organisations from within China and in the diaspora. As I have said, there are many creative forms of resistance to authoritarian and conservative nationalism within China and among the diaspora. The Western left space is not particularly used to hearing voices that are critical of both Western imperialism and non-Western authoritarianism, as well as drawing linkages between them. Sometimes, the concern about racism and not wanting to encourage imperialist foreign policies leads to an unwillingness to engage with criticisms of the Chinese state, including those from Chinese nationals and from minoritised groups in China. Yao Lin conceptualises this as what he calls ‘interregimatic missolidarisation’. By this he means an ostensibly supportive relationship that does not really correspond to struggles against injustice or oppression within a different regime. This is not only due to cultural or linguistic distance, but also because of the ways in which different structures give rise to different forms of injustice, creating both experiential and discursive barriers to transnational solidarity.38 Our conversations with diaspora Chinese organisers engaged in anti-racist, queer, feminist, and decolonial work reflect this. Their lived experiences are often exoticised or dismissed by ‘mainstream’ civil society, and they find it easier to connect with or be understood by other immigrant groups. This also brings to mind Shadi Mokhatari’s critique of the ‘uncritical anti-imperialist solidarities’ and the victimhood politics of the ‘anti-imperialist-branding states’. Here again, allegedly anti-imperialist actors mis-solidarise with the oppressor, conflate the state with citizens at large, as well as essentialist notions of culture, and disregard the agency of the oppressed.39

This vision of the so-called ‘multipolar civilizational order’ bears a disturbing resemblance to that of the European far right, where racial-civilisational categories are defined in terms of ontological and epistemological difference and ‘indigenous’ civilisational identity is placed in opposition to the ‘globalist’ order.41 For me, then, solidarity requires calling out this misplaced equation of geopolitical opposition with decolonisation or emancipation. It requires listening to and understanding the lived experiences of activists from across the Global South who are organising against authoritarianism and imperialism. Historically speaking, and in the aftermath of 1989, overseas Chinese pro-democracy politics tended to be aligned with the right in Europe and the US. But this is changing. Younger diaspora groups are now looking for new languages and imaginaries, creating decentralised spaces of resistance and solidarity. They are already building transnational alliances against the far right in many ways. What remains is for established left-wing movements to recognise, engage with, and support these emergent transnational practices.

solidarity means not mistaking geopolitical opposition for decolonization

inspired by the works of @linsantu.bsky.social @shadimokhtari.bsky.social and others

read the full interview here on China and the global politics of the far right www.tni.org/en/article/m...

Iranian protesters don't owe us an explanation Without anti-authoritarianism, 'anti-imperialism' is just conservatism with left-wing aesthetics

My latest: Without anti-authoritarianism, 'anti-imperialism' is just conservatism with left-wing aesthetics

www.hauntologies.net/p/iranian-pr...

Between Recursive Monolingualism and a Thousand Multilingual Plateaus: Thinking With Tibetan Sociolinguistics Click on the article title to read more.

After publishing my book in 2024, I was dreading the possibility that someone might write something even vaguely negative about it. Now that a critical review has been published, I find that I kind of appreciate their thoughtful engagement with the work?
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...