Wtaf is this question my university just asked me about my project?
David Jefferess
@djefferess.bsky.social
Parent. University teacher. Gardener. Research and teach on the colonial and racial politics of humanitarianism, and heritage/public memory practices. Live in Syilx Okanagan territory.
It speaks to me to the only coherent plan by the Fed. Govern. being deregulation, privatization, & subsidies for wealthy interests. We saw this at the Canada Investment Summit. That again brings me to the fine print, because that’s where airport privatization was hidden. And it is privatization.
Carney’s airport privatization is a looming disaster: ‘Highway 407 of the skies’
Mark Carney took another giant step in his right-wing crusade Tuesday, announcing a plan to effectively privatize four of Canada’s largest airports. The deal risks becoming “Highway 407 of the skies”:...
canadiandimension.com
As I was saying: www.cbc.ca/news/canada/... Read the fine print. Analyze things that are 'out of place.' From scrapping anti-greenwashing laws, to a terrible approach to Indigenous rights, to NON-BINDING 'regulations' on U.S. AI Data Centres, Carney’s only real plan is selling off Canada. #CDNpoli
One of the most interesting things about this AI stuff is it has helped me learn a lot of people take language other people use much more literally than I realised. Very surprised most people don't immediately think hallucination? I think you mean 'error'.
Lac Simon Chief Lucien Wabanonik says the Novador project was approved without Lac Simon’s consent. Now the community is turning to the courts.
Lac Simon First Nation evicts gold mine from its ancestral territory
Drilling on the project stopped weeks ago when Lac Simon issued an eviction notice to Mexican mining company Fresnillo.
aptnnews.ca
Ed Sheeran will symbolize so well the ideal of "not taking sides" when he is standing all alone on that giant stage. Hopefully the seats will be empty too.
The Irish musicians, Beoga, who play alongside Ed Sheeran, have withdrawn from Sheeran’s tour. This is the statement they published on Instagram:
In world war I, the UK & Russia invaded NEUTRAL Persia and killed more than 2 million people. In world war II, the UK & USSR invaded NEUTRAL lran. The democratically elected government of Iran was overthrown by the US CIA in 1953, who installed a brutal dictatorship www.canada.ca/en/global-af...
Canada condemns Iran’s destabilizing actions in the Middle East
Today, the Honourable Anita Anand, Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Finance and National Revenue, issued this statement:
canada.ca
Dear CBC As Israel has killed tens of thousands of people in Gaza, destroyed all infrastructure, rounded up people in small camps, "removing" Palestinians can never be construed as "voluntary." Lead with the fact that Israel continues to commit war crimes cbc.ca/news/world/d...
Today, CBC is doing nostalgia of imperial wars. According to the synopsis, Canadian troops just "walked into a Taliban killing ground," as if "Operation Medusa" wasn't a an attack by foreign powers (NATO forces including Canada) against the Taliban. cbc.ca/news/politic...
CBC leads with Iran's "attacks," as if Iran is the aggressor, & presents this as fact, while identifying only "reports" of a deadly strike on a wedding, without identifying who bombed the wedding and who was killed: It was the US who attacked civilians in Iran.
there are more than twice as many museum workers in the US than there are coal miners
On my blog, I wrote about how America's museums are falling apart. The US has 20k+ museums, and most have historic buildings with leaky roofs, failing HVAC units, and flooding basements. What they don't have is money for repairs. Please read/share! 🧵 johngmarks.beehiiv.com/p/america-s-...
A 40% discount on the digital version of The Humanitarian Fable is available from Routledge until August 15. Use the discount code: THF50 www.routledge.com/The-Humanita...
The Humanitarian Fable: Saviorism, Race, and Aid
The Humanitarian Fable examines how popular humanitarian communication constructs global poverty as a moral narrative that reinforces unequal power dynamics between the Global North and Global South. ...
routledge.com
Dr. Tiffany Willoughby-Herard put her body on the line to protect students fighting for Gaza & police assaulted her. Instead of protecting her, UC Irvine has stripped her faculty role & her health benefits. Please sign petition, write a letter, signal boost robindgkelley.substack.com/p/in-support...
In Support of Dr. Tiffany Willoughby-Herard
Most academics in the U.S., as well as activists resisting the genocide in Gaza, are familiar with the case of Professor Tiffany Willoughby-Herard, a renowned Global Studies scholar at the University ...
robindgkelley.substack.com
So, a white man (Swiss employee of weapons manufacturer) punches a Palestinian-Canadian woman, yells "I'm a f---ing racist and I'm proud of it", and is given an absolute discharge by the judge, who determines he was not racist but simply "emotional". www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
Swiss man who assaulted protester in Ottawa gets absolute discharge | CBC News
A Swiss man who pleaded guilty to punching a protester in the face outside an Ottawa defence conference in 2024 was given an absolute discharge Wednesday before exiting the courtroom to angry shouts f...
cbc.ca
Routledge is currently offering a 40% discount on the digital version of The Humanitarian Fable. Contact me for the promo code!
Routledge is currently offering a 40% discount on the digital version of The Humanitarian Fable. Contact me for the promo code!
"I have personally witnessed this phenomenon, what I term, “neo-racism” across my career as an international development practitioner, both in domestic and international spaces." www.jmb-consulting.co.uk/uncharitable...
Racism - a Reality and a Scapegoat. By Themrise Khan — JMB Consulting
In the non-profit sector, in which I include foreign aid and philanthropy, race has become a tool to both subjugate and gain power. I say this as a Brown woman from the Global South who has spe...
jmb-consulting.co.uk
📝 "Humanitarianism has become a brand and every brand needs a narrative." Themrise Khan, researcher, writer, and analyst, shares a critical view of the current narrative tropes utilised within the aid sector. 🔗 Read the full piece here: https://bit.ly/4eOPcS4
The curse of the humanitarian narrative
Using narratives to communicate in the humanitarian and development space is particularly problematic. Here’s why.
thenewhumanitarian.org
Chapter 5 - Saviourism, Post-Racialism, Modernity This chapter examines how humanitarianism functions as a signature of modernity. In order to shed the stigma of white saviourism, the aid industry reinforces the idea that humanitarianism models an ethic of colour-blindness.⬇️ bsky.app/profile/djef...
Throughout May & June, I will post short threads sharing some key arguments from The Humanitarian Fable (Routledge 2026). Analyzing popular forms of humanitarian communications, the book critiques humanitarianism as the dominant framework for understanding global poverty. ⬇️⬇️
Chapter 5 - Saviourism, Post-Racialism, Modernity This chapter examines how humanitarianism functions as a signature of modernity. In order to shed the stigma of white saviourism, the aid industry reinforces the idea that humanitarianism models an ethic of colour-blindness.⬇️ bsky.app/profile/djef...
Throughout May & June, I will post short threads sharing some key arguments from The Humanitarian Fable (Routledge 2026). Analyzing popular forms of humanitarian communications, the book critiques humanitarianism as the dominant framework for understanding global poverty. ⬇️⬇️
Queens University hosting, not just guests from a genocidal apartheid state, but guests who are sexual predators too
Much gratitude to Themrise Khan for engaging with my recent book, The Humanitarian Fable, addressing some of my arguments in relation to the current calls for a 'humanitarian reset.' Please check out her article in The New Humanitarian.
Humanitarianism communication fails to identify the source of human suffering and focuses instead on the white benevolent humanitarian saviour. My review of @djefferess.bsky.social new book; The Humanitarian Fable. Saviorism, Race and Aid (Routledge, 2026). www.thenewhumanitarian.org/opinion/2026...
This turned into a magnet for entitled Americans looking to excuse their nationalism. It's really pathetic, their country is the number one exporter of misery around the globe and yet they feel zero responsibility to do anything about it. "What do you want us to do about it?" Anything!
Do Americans not understand that their flag is essentially understood as a hate symbol globally?
Chapter 4 - The Burden of Benevolence By constructing poverty as a moral problem, the humanitarian fable teaches that inequality is not the result of racial capitalism, trade, debt, etc., but the North’s failure to provide sufficient, effective aid. ⬇️ bsky.app/profile/djef...
Throughout May & June, I will post short threads sharing some key arguments from The Humanitarian Fable (Routledge 2026). Analyzing popular forms of humanitarian communications, the book critiques humanitarianism as the dominant framework for understanding global poverty. ⬇️⬇️
For more on Patrice Lumumba, who Mboladinga is honouring, read: If you are intrigued by what Mboladinga is doing, read this brief introduction to Patrice Lumumba. africasacountry.com/2017/01/patr...
Patrice Lumumba (1925–1961)
"Africa will write its own history and in both north and south it will be a history of glory and dignity" (Lumumba, 1960)
africasacountry.com
I love this. Unmute.
Prime Minister Carney says the war in Iran was "worth it". I want to know who he thinks it was worth it for.
"Freddy" is the epitome of how sportswashing is taken up popularly.
There's an organized effort to make a racist movement mainstream in Canadian politics. That's why experts were so concerned to hear the pro-mass deportation group's leader attended one of Canada's largest Conservative conferences. In my latest piece for @thetyee.ca, I dig into this rising problem:
"‘They used dogs’: New Al Jazeera film exposes Israel’s use of rape in jails Former detainees detail systematic torture and sexual violence, including rape, while in Israeli custody." www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/6/...
‘They used dogs’: New Al Jazeera film exposes Israel’s use of rape in jails
Former detainees detail systematic torture and sexual violence, including rape, while in Israeli custody.
aljazeera.com
Chapter 3 - The Humanitarian Informant This chapter argues that humanitarianism asserts the authority not just to speak of/for suffering others, but in place of the sufferer. ⬇️ bsky.app/profile/djef...
Throughout May & June, I will post short threads sharing some key arguments from The Humanitarian Fable (Routledge 2026). Analyzing popular forms of humanitarian communications, the book critiques humanitarianism as the dominant framework for understanding global poverty. ⬇️⬇️