UBI vs. JG: Communist Revolution Editiion

I like to talk a lot of shit. I've been talking a lot of shit lately on the Job Guarantee (JG) proposals relative to Universal Basic Income (UBI) in tweets and comments here and there. Since I generally grow bored of conversations on the internet fairly quickly, relatively few people have actually heard anything resembling my full argument in favor of UBI over a JG. So here I am, finding new ways to procrastinate my dissertation work.

The discussion here, I hope, will equip supporters of UBI and the JG with a more holistic understanding of both from the perspective of long-term revolutionary goals. As an anarcho-communist, I view both proposals (technically three proposals, more on that later) through the lens of which can best situate the working class to seize the means of production to establish a decentralized communist production and distribution network.

PE of Fash Week III: Eugenics and the Alt-Right (Reading List)

This class is intended to address what I consider to be the closest historical precedent to the alt-right: the eugenics movement. I say this not only by manner of ideological comparison, nor only manner of social insertion. I say this because the core organizations the bred the original alt-right - VDare, New Century Foundation (American Renaissance), and the National Policy Institute - are part of a non-profit financial network that has preserved eugenics since its decline following the discovery of DNA and the sequencing of the human genome.

The "required" readings cover the history and present of the eugenics movement. The Belkhir & Duyme piece explores the core assertions and fallacies of the eugenics movement both in its historical manifestation, but also in the present day. The Smedley & Smedley piece adds color to the Belkhir & Duyme piece, going beyond the mere refutation of biological, especially genetic, origins of social identity and aptitude constructs to give an accounting of the historical and social origins of these constructs using race as its case study.

The piece by Baker is presented as a means of focusing on how eugenics functioned logistically to popularize their approach. Baker's piece, which highlights the attempts by the organized eugenics movement to appeal to Christianity, is especially illustrative given that the movement ultimately wasn't able to get enthusiastic support on the basis of tying eugenic beliefs to Christianity. However, in the process the movement underwent numerous, ultimately cosmetic changes, hiding and repackaging core principles to appeal to an audience averse to themes of biological evolution, birth control, and selective breeding.

How To Get Your Professor To Accept a Late Assignment

Shit happens. You misread the syllabus. You had a (real actual) death in the family. Your boss tells you she needs you to work on your day off. Your kid is sick with the flu and now so are you. There are a litany of legitimate reasons why you would miss a deadline. Personally, I am extremely lenient with deadlines, going so far as to explain to my students that, apart from the end of the semester, I effectively don't enforce them. Obviously, not every professor is this way.

Regardless, your professor is a person capable of empathy and leniency to varying degrees. Your professor may have specific reasons why they have the policies they do, but often with the right approach they are willing to make exceptions. I have written this guide to help students feel confident in approaching their professor for an extension. This method is by no means fool-proof, but following these tips will make your professor more likely to grant you a reasonable extension.

Universities Are Protecting Free Speech for Bigots at the Expense of Student Safety

"When I see these people on the roofs," said University of Florida (UF) student Ebony Love, gesturing to the groups of snipers on nearby campus buildings, "I understand the reason why they're up there, but at the same time, you have to take my money and pay for that, but I couldn't get an escort to walk me to my classes, and you said you were going to post security outside these classes and you didn't."

When I talked to her, Love was leaning on a police barricade set up outside of the auditorium on campus where prominent white supremacist Richard Spencer was due to speak on October 19. The night before, however, Love was escorting a student to an 8 pm exam. She and another student sat watch outside for two hours in lieu of the campus security she said the university had promised but failed to provide.

Continue reading at Truthout

Introduction to Economics and Global Capitalism Syllabus

I finally did it! I have taken the plunge, and ditched textbooks altogether for my intro class. The course, which serves as one of the two introductory courses at this department, is an intro to mathematical theory in general, rather than an intro to either micro or macro.

It's all in the syllabus

Workers, Women, and Revolution: From Inequality to Solidarity

Today, I published a recap of Julie Matthaei's excellent talk at the New School for Social Research last Tuesday. You can read the whole thing at the New School Economic Review. Here's a sample:

In 1973, the URPE women founded a Marxist-feminist reading group which due to growing interest over the years blossomed into multiple reading groups. Some of the early selections were Women and Revolution by Lydia Sargent and Capitalist Patriarchy and the Case for Socialist Feminism edited by Zillah R. Eisenstein. The groups investigated complex questions such as "What is the relationship between capitalism and patriarchy?" since on the one hand capitalism appeared to break down certain "traditional" gender roles but on the other hand led to the increasing proletarianization of women without providing much accommodation for their needs as women. Additionally, these reading groups discussed whether women's liberation could be left until after the revolution and whether a concern for women's liberation could stand to divide the working class as so many male socialists at the time asserted. The answer was a resounding no.

Simmering below the surface was the question of "womanhood" itself. It soon became clear that an approach that considered only capitalism and patriarchy was insufficient to explain the experience of women of color and queer women (much less queer women of color). After some internal struggle, complemented by changes in the wider feminist movement, URPE embraced an approach that analyzed the intersections of all sorts of oppression and exploitation. As Matthaei said, they concluded, "There is no universal experience of womanhood."

Read the full article at the New School Economic Review

Scholars Against Scholarship

There have been a lot of professors railing over trigger warnings, and I honestly don't see what the big deal is. Being careful in what you say and embracing a diversity of perspectives are each fundamental to any sort of scholarly endeavor. Introducing trigger warnings and doing other things to increase the accessibility of your classroom is not only good pedagogy, it's not difficult.

As far as I am concerned, this pursuit of classroom accessibility is not a threat to academic freedom, but rather, it is crucial to it. What follows is a rough outline of the topics I intend to talk about on my panel at Left Forum. The arguments for trigger warnings, though disturbingly short in supply, have been made in plenty of places, and I am not interested in scolding academics by reproducing them. Instead, what I hope to lay out here are some best practices that I have used to grant my students the autonomy over their own education that adults deserve.

Any Questions?

As you might imagine, I go to a lot of academicky sorts of panels and lectures. Last Monday, I attended a panel at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture entitled From Binaries to Bridges: Black Liberation and Model Minority Mutiny. It was moderated by Soya Jung and featured UConn professor William Jelani Cobb, Indiana University professor Ellen Wu, and Deepa Iyer from the Center for Social Inclusion. Overall, the event was incredible (except for Twitter). You can watch the full recording of the talk here.

Like most of these things, the Q&A session was mostly a chance for people to hear themselves be deep on the microphone than actually ask a question. And so a stunned silence filled the room followed by a chorus of whispers when someone actually did. The first question of the night was from a young Black woman who asked, "I would like to know what we have discussed during this event."