Oscar Talbot
@talboto.bsky.social
PhD at Uni of Amsterdam Abolition Ecology and all things to do with power, ecology, and climate collapse
I see Ann Widdecombe has died. When she was Home Secretary I showed her round Drake Hall womens’s prison. There was a pregnant woman on a bed in the early stages of Labour and she asked the prison officers why she wasn’t handcuffed to the bed. That’s the kind of woman she was.
"Is it not that the prison, since its inception, has been in a constant state of crisis? Or, rather, it is not simply that the prison is in crisis, but that the prison is always in crisis." www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
The Guardian view on prisons: the public deserves better than this litany of failure | Editorial
Editorial: Drugs and violence continue at disturbing levels. But a minority of jails show that progress is possible
theguardian.com
Every lifelong football fan I've ever met is like "I think players are supposed to serve their suspension" and every adult convert is like "the Archon of Constantinople's epistle on the Pentacostine rites of the eucharist clearly states handballs are mandatory."
Anna Bower@annabower.bsky.social · last mo.“Automatic” in the FIFA regs/code just means that there’s no need for additional process—i.e., an investigation or disciplinary proceeding—to determine the applicable sanction. It does not mean the sanction is unreviewable. It does not mean that Article 27 cannot be invoked to suspend the sanction.
‘If there is two-tier policing in the UK, it’s the opposite of the situation the far right imagines: Baroness Casey’s review of the Met found that “Black Londoners are underprotected ... and overpoliced.”’ Nic Murray on the far right and the police, from the blog. www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/ju...
Nic Murray | ‘Release the tapes’
The Met Police chief, Mark Rowley, recently announced that his force would be releasing more bodycam footage as standard...
lrb.co.uk
that's yer Tom Tugendhat on there, one of the credulous @iandunt.bsky.social's endless parade of 'good tories'
maia arson crimew 🏴@crimew.gay · 2mo agoHere are all 113 alleged members we were able to successfully extract. This data can also be verified via versions of the site captured by the Wayback Machine, even if it doesn't properly render the website.
Again, “Marxist Bolshevik intellectuals are conspiring with the lesser races to undermine the Reich and abuse Our White Women” has been the narrative *for fifteen years* on TV, radio and news stands. The difference now is it’s a) undisguised, and b) targeted at Sensible Moderates, not the pig people
This is not "legitimate grievances", this is not about "anti-white racism" or "two-tier policing", this is not about "protesting" This is fascists having been emboldened by decades of mainstreaming We can keep pretending it's not and encourage them or we can do something about it
Searchlight magazine@searchlightmag.bsky.social · 2mo agoNazis were in the forefront of yesterday evening's protests in Southampton where anger over the murder of Henry Nowak was inflamed by Nigel Farage and others, and turned into an anti-police riot. Read more here: searchlightmagazine.com/2026/06/nazi...
The only data centre I will ever respect is the damn library
🔥Disarm fossil Capitalism! ✊ Aktuell blockiert Regenbogen den Schichtwechsel des Stahlwerkes! Das große deutsch-französische Rüstungsunternehmen KNDS produziert dort den Panzerstahl für zahlreiche Panzer wie den Leopard 2 und den Puma! Ationsticker: eg.aktionsticker.org
A moment that really radicalized me was going to the Aljube Museum of Resistance in Lisbon which documents the Salazar dictatorship and reading about how the CIA trained PIDE torturers, as well as learning about the Portuguese colonialism in Angola and Mozambique
100 years ago news@100yearsagonews.bsky.social · 2mo agoMay 28, 1926: A military cabal carries out a bloodless coup in Portugal. The revolution puts an end to a 16-year period of parliamentary government and creates what will prove to be Western Europe’s longest-lasting dictatorship, enduring into the 1970s. 1/6
An agent at Delaney Hall attempted to kick a demonstrator into the tires of a moving semi. This cannot be reformed. Video via @statuscoupnews.bsky.social
This is confirming what I think has been clear. Neoliberal governments are using police power to combat protest, rather than addressing societal problems. The question is why and what can we do about it Climate justice means abolition
New breed of political prisoner arises in Britain as anti-protest sentences rise
More people are being jailed in England and Wales as a result of acting to prevent climate breakdown and the war in Gaza, research reveals
theguardian.com
A statement on the current developments at Istanbul Bilgi University by the Historical Materialism Istanbul organisers.
Statement Regarding Current Developments at Bilgi University
The operation license of Istanbul Bilgi University was revoked by a presidential decree issued on early hours of May 20. This is where we held our last Istanbul HM meeting last April thanks to the …
hmistanbul.org
Diplomatieke crisis, maar niet met Nederland hoor!!
The Guardian@theguardian.com · 3mo agoIsraeli security minister stirs diplomatic outrage with flotilla activist abuse video
Waarom nemen ze dan geen contact met ons op 🤡 Wél al het gore lef gehad te informeren of familie het vliegticket gaat betalen want ho maar dat Tom dat gaat doen
Yeah just imagine being subjected to intrusive checks every time you want to do something
Wera Hobhouse MP@werahobhouse.org.uk · 3mo agoAffordability checks on horse racing betting would put the industry at serious risk. Many will refuse to supply personal financial information for these intrusive checks - they’ll instead turn to the unregulated illegal market. I’ve signed a letter urging the Government to rethink this proposal.👇
Ik blijf erbij: dit is geen polarisatie, dit is radicalisering van één kant.
De Groene Amsterdammer@groene.nl · 3mo agoOver asiel bestaat al decennia polarisatie. Maar de mate waarin radicaal-rechtse partijen in Den Haag het land nu ophitsen is ongekend. De landelijke VVD doet daaraan mee, tot afgrijzen van lokale VVD-bestuurders.
200 years ago the handloom weavers of Lancashire and the West Riding of Yorkshire engaged in a 10-day rising, destroying over 1,100 power looms. To learn more check out our interactive StoryMap: storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/9a84... #19thCentury #skystorians @sslh.bsky.social @esriuk.bsky.social
Witnessing the Weavers’ Rising of 1826
A digital mapping project created by The National Archives and The Open University
storymaps.arcgis.com
The emboldening of the extreme right is terrifying The fact it is happening as the left is demonised, vilified and criminalised is not coincidental and it should terrify us even more as it is where resistance only exists The liberal bulwark was always a fantasy
Josiah Mortimer@josiahmortimer.bsky.social · 3mo agoThese are the kinds of groups getting behind Tommy Robinson's Unite the Kingdom march today. They are showing their true colours. We cannot allow this to be normalised.
Dit is gewoon fascisme. Er is geen enkele juridische grond om bijvoorbeeld de 250.000 rode lijn demonstranten op te pakken. Dat hij dit duidt als “Hamasdemonstratie” is regelrechte Israël propaganda. Zorgwekkend dat zo iemand in ons parlement zit en zo weinig tegengas krijgt.
dr. Marina@drmarina.bsky.social · 3mo agoMarkuszower: "De politie moet de mensen die zich misdragen oppaken, vastzetten. Ik hoop dat ze dat ze dat met de XR mensen eerst doen, dan met de mensen die mee hebben gelopen met de Hamasdemonstratie van de Rodelijn, dan is de Tweede Kamer ook wat leger."
This is absolutely part of the wider intensification of protest that has also been targeting eco-protesters as part of a moral panic following years long economic decline. Criminalisation over resolution is the order of the day in late neoliberalism
Bela Lugosi's Dad 🏳️⚧️ 🇵🇸@belalugosisdad.bsky.social · 3mo agoThis is fucking mental. Protesters in the UK can now be convicted of criminal damage but be sentenced as terrorists despite never having been convicted of a terror offence and without the jury knowing anything about it. Just a un unbelievable abuse of power by Justice Johnson.
If you're a juror on a trial where you even *suspect* the defendants are guilty of an offence carried out as an act of protest (because they've also been banning recent defendants from talking about Palestine), you absolutely *have* to acquit them, because you now don't know what the Judge will do.
Bela Lugosi's Dad 🏳️⚧️ 🇵🇸@belalugosisdad.bsky.social · 3mo agoThis is fucking mental. Protesters in the UK can now be convicted of criminal damage but be sentenced as terrorists despite never having been convicted of a terror offence and without the jury knowing anything about it. Just a un unbelievable abuse of power by Justice Johnson.
Abolish Europe! A plea, a provocation, a demand, an inquiry See you at SPUI25 June 4th
daniel loick @danielloick.bsky.social · 3mo agoABOLISH EUROPE! This fabulous event feat. Deanna Dardusc, Akwugo Emejulu, Simin Jawabreh, Safae el Khannoussi and @talboto.bsky.social concludes our research project Abolition Democracies. If you are in Amsterdam on June 4, come by at Spui25. spui25.nl/programma/ab...
Really telling that London Labour have gone for a retro "Special Branch" style for these smear "dossiers" they are putting out - like they saw the Spycops inquiry revealing Special Branch spying on the left for decades and thought 'that looks fun'.
Im giving a talk on Friday at one of my favourite book shops about policing, climate crisis and fascism 1700-1900 fort van sjakoo See you there!
May 4, 1926: The business life of Britain comes to a standstill on the first full day of a general strike. More than 3 million workers in the country’s most vital industries stay home, but much-feared civil unrest fails to develop as many Britons take the disruption phlegmatically. 1/8
