Politics on Misha Velthuis

Entrada de aterrizaje para gente curiosa sobre el Fediverso

Thu, 15 Oct 2026 12:00:00 +0200

This post is also available in English.

Introducción

Hola! Si estás leyendo esto, lo más probable es que ya te haya hablado hasta el cansancio del Fediverso. Como no puedo callarme al respecto, y como me veo enviando los mismos enlaces a todo el mundo todo el tiempo, pensé que sería bueno tener una “entrada de aterrizaje” a la que poder referir a la gente.

Ante todo, gracias por tomarte el tiempo de leer esto. Mi entusiasmo por el Fediverso nace de la convicción de que nuestro mundo digital puede y debe ser mejor, pero para ello sí que hace falta que todas y todos nos paremos un momento y nos tomemos algo de tiempo para explorar.

Landing post for people curious about the Fediverse

Mon, 12 Oct 2026 12:00:00 +0200

Esta publicación también está disponible en español.

Introduction

Hello! If you read this you have most likely been harassed by me about the Fediverse. Because I can’t shut up about it, and because I find myself sending around the same links to everyone all the time, I thought it would be good to have a “landing post” to refer people to.

First of all, thanks for taking the time to read this. My enthusiasm about the Fediverse is rooted in a conviction that our digital world can and must be better, but it does require all of us to pause and take some time to explore!

Escaping technofeudalism

Thu, 08 Oct 2026 12:00:00 +0200

From capitalism to technofeudalism

A few months ago I wrote a piece about capitalism. The premise was that, to see the distinctiveness of our current capitalist world, it helps to go back in time to see what it looked like before. A bit like traveling helps to see the distinctiveness of your hometown.

What distinguishes our capitalist present from our feudalist past, I wrote, is the separation of labour from the means of production, the ensuing emergence of money relations and markets, and the resulting systematic imperative for capitalists to reduce costs to retain market share.

Some thoughts on feudalism and capitalism

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 12:00:00 +0200

A Dutch version of this post has been published on doorbraak.eu.

Introduction

In this post I put together some ideas on capitalism, what it is, what it is not, and why it makes sense to recognize that we’re in it.

The reason why I am writing this, is because I feel that the term “capitalism” is often thrown around without too much care. As something that has to do with markets and profits. Or as something that is simply “not socialism or communism”.

Tofik Dibi, de FNV en de Februaristaking

Tue, 06 Jan 2026 17:00:00 +0200

Deze post is ook geplaatst op doorbraak.eu.

Met het intrekken van de uitnodiging van Tofik Dibi als spreker bij de herdenking van de Februaristaking begaat het landelijk bestuur van de FNV een grote fout. Het is beschamend om te zien hoe makkelijk ze zich laten misleiden door valse framing.

In het kort: je kan niet op 25 februari Willem Kraan herdenken, en tegelijk de mensen die de overduidelijke lessen trekken uit zijn voorbeeld (en dat van zijn kameraden) wegzetten als “ordeverstoorders”.

Fascism on the university

Tue, 04 Nov 2025 17:00:00 +0200

A Dutch version of this post has been published on doorbraak.eu.

On 4 November 2025, Science Guide reported on the decision by the rector of University Utrecht, Wilco Hazeleger, to allow the founder of the FvD - Thierry Baudet - to speak at a debate night at the university.

This is simultaneously shocking, and completely unsurprising. It is shocking because the academic community has apparently still - after everything that is happening in the world - not built up the necessary immune response to keep these threats out. It is unsurprising because this moral failure of university management has been with us for many years.

The two faces of James Lovelock

Tue, 10 Jun 2025 12:10:00 +0000

Next time you have to explain to someone why it’s better to not eat meat, you can tell them that it is to make sure that the next asteroid impact will not prevent electronic life from knowing the universe.

Let James Lovelock be a vehicle for the universe to say crazy things about itself.

Renegade scientist, deranged technocrat

I have always had a hard time making up my mind about James Lovelock. On the one hand, his Gaia hypothesis has really changed the way I (and many others) think about the remarkable equilibria we are born into. On the other hand, the way his ego and his (largely self-acclaimed?) engineering credentials have consistently manifested in confused appeals to technocracy - “it may be necessary to put democracy on hold for a while” - has been misguided and dangerous.

De verwarring van Ian Buruma

Mon, 05 May 2025 12:10:00 +0000

In het artikel “Heil Israël” in de Groene Amsterdammer van 30 april 2025 spreekt Ian Buruma zich uit tegen de arrestaties en deportaties die plaatsvinden onder de regering Trump.

Demonstranten als Mahmoud Khalil worden beroofd van hun burgerrechten, zo stelt hij, en dat dit gebeurt onder het mom van fascistische strijd tegen Khalil’s vermeende “internationalisme” en “wortelloze kosmopolitisme” maakt het een vorm van antisemitisme.

Het lijkt me nogal een stretch om hier van antisemitisme te spreken¹, maar dat er ijzingwekkende parallellen bestaan tussen het antisemitisme van de jaren 30-40 en het racisme/ de moslimhaat van onze tijd is wat mij betreft overduidelijk.

Accusations of antisemitism

Thu, 10 Apr 2025 12:10:00 +0000

A couple of weeks ago, a few kind students warned me about a post on Instagram: link.¹

I am always open to hear how my ideas and positions are hurtful in ways I do not realize yet. And I believe that when it comes to antisemitism, non-Jewish people like me have a special duty to be extra wary. As I have written here:

In the end, the conflict in Palestine knows many monsters, and they all feed on each other. But many of these monsters came from white, Dutch, German, French etc. non-Jewish people, manifested as the genocidal antisemitic and colonial violence committed abroad and at home. And since we cannot go back to fight these monsters in the past, the second best thing is to fight and resist their manifestations in the present, both at home and abroad.

If we can't get our act together digitally, we won't have our act together anywhere: reason 2

Tue, 11 Feb 2025 09:33:00 +0200

This is the second part of a two-part series. See also this article. Both articles first appeared in a slightly different form on the blog of OpenTech(AUC).

“…if we can’t convince people to take over the means of production when it only requires a USB stick with Linux and a short online course on bash/python, how are we ever going to gain control over (and share the fruits of) other, more material and inert kinds of technology?”

Why we should no longer use Microsoft servers for email

Wed, 05 Feb 2025 12:10:00 +0000

Given the ongoing antidemocratic #coup in the United States and the ensuing increased security and privacy issues, the University of Amsterdam should move away from using Microsoft servers.

In short:

No amount of guarantees from Microsoft that our data remains in the EU can prevent US authorities from accessing our data on its servers.
The government of the United States is being taken over by fascist criminals.

Readings to support point 1

“It is no longer safe to move our governments and societies to US clouds” (Bert Hubert, 23 Feb 2025 link).

The very short version: it is madness to continue transferring the running of European societies and governments to American clouds. Not only is it a terrible idea given the kind of things the “King of America” keeps saying, the legal sophistry used to justify such transfers, like the nonsense letter the Dutch cabinet sent last week, has now been invalidated by Trump himself. And why are we doing this? Convenience. But it is very scary to make yourself 100% dependent on the goodwill of the American government merely because it is convenient. So let’s not.

A ceasefire is not enough: a radical insistence on decolonization

Tue, 21 Jan 2025 09:33:00 +0200

A Dutch version of this article has been published on doorbraak.eu.

Israel and Hamas have signed a ceasefire: “we” finally have what we have been chanting for.

So what now? Business as usual? Move on with our lives?

Many people are eager to do so, and many are already doing so.

But this is unacceptable.

So what do we do?

The miserable truth is that the worst kinds of injustice can often not be undone: we cannot raise 100,000 Palestinians back from the death.

What is capitalism and how to step out of it

Sun, 12 Jan 2025 09:33:00 +0200

This post is part of a series about the alleged return of feudalism with the advent of Big Tech.

What is capitalism? What words, ideas and/or concepts would you generally associate with it?

Some might say it is all about “technological development” driven by the “desire to be rich”. Others might say something like “greed” and the “naked pursuit of power”.

But greed, lust for power and even technological development have been around for much longer than capitalism.

If we can't get our act together digitally, we won't have our act together anywhere: reason 1

Fri, 10 Jan 2025 09:33:00 +0200

This post originally appeared on the website of OpenTech(AUC).

Imagine you’re at a house party, and people are getting drunk. Slowly but steadily, they are raising their voice. And as more and more people do, you are going to have to raise your voice as well. At the end of the night, everyone is screaming in each others’ ears, without being any more audible than when everyone was talking at a normal volume.

Antizionism and antisemitism

Wed, 13 Nov 2024 11:15:00 +0100

When our governments insist with all their propaganda tools that speaking out against Israel is antisemitic - conflating antizionism with antisemitism - we can’t be surprised that some angry teens in Amsterdam - furious about an ongoing genocide - make the same (stupid and dangerous) mistake.

Fighting the latter, implies fighting the former.

Whatsapp is a bad deal

Sun, 06 Oct 2024 18:01:00 +0200

This blog post first appeared in February 2024 on the website of OpenTech(AUC).

Whatsapp is a bad deal

Normally, when you feel you’re getting the short end of a stick, for example when the supermarket sells you expensive mushy cauliflowers, or when the organization you volunteer at treats you disrespectfully, you go and find what you need somewhere else.

This ability to “defect” to an alternative when you feel you’re not getting a good deal, is an important “power” that helps you get reasonable deals.¹

Quantum coherence and Zionism

Fri, 02 Aug 2024 19:56:00 +0200

Meeting yourself

Warning: This post contains some spoilers about the movie “Coherence”.

Imagine that, right now, through the door that is closest to you, someone walks in, and it is… you. A complete, full, physical double of yourself. This other you is as perplexed as you: similarly shocked to find a complete, full, physical double of itself.

If you think this would merely be interesting and cool you probably have not seen the movie “Coherence”.

Sartre: Antisemite and Jew

Wed, 10 Jan 2024 18:50:00 +0100

Intro and disclaimer

I read this book with some friends. Someone had recommended it, and we felt that it was an appropriate time to reflect on what antisemitism has meant in the past, to better understand what it means in the present.

At the start I was a bit sceptical about this contemporary relevance: after all, a lot has happened since Sartre wrote this book (written in 1944, published in 1946). For example, to just mention something, the founding of the state Israel (in 1948). But after reading the book, I was surprised how helpful some of the arguments still are (at least to me).

Masha Gessen, antisemitism and tokenization

Sun, 17 Dec 2023 18:30:00 +0100

Today I was accused of “tokenization” in sharing this powerful essay by Masha Gessen on Mastodon (see the reactions under this post).¹ Because of the character limit of a Mastodon post (at least on my server), I decided to turn my response into a little blog post.

In short, the principle that I was accused of violating looks like this: as an outsider to a community, I should not share/boost the view of a minority of that community, when that view disqualifies the concerns that are held by the majority of that community.

Geert Wilders en klimaatverandering

Thu, 23 Nov 2023 22:12:00 +0100

Laat duidelijk zijn waar 1/4e van de Nederlandse kiezer voor gekozen heeft. Vandaag, in deze korte post, een greep uit de klimaatpunten uit het verkiezingsprogramma 2023 van de PVV (hier te downloaden):

Geen miljardenuitgaven meer aan links-liberaal ideologisch beleid als stikstof en klimaat.

Terugtrekken uit het VN-Klimaatakkoord; Klimaatwet intrekken.

Het klimaat verandert altijd, al eeuwenlang. Bij veranderende omstandigheden passen we ons aan. Dat doen we door verstandig waterbeheer, door het verhogen van de dijken wanneer dat nodig is en door ruimte voor de rivier. Maar we stoppen met de hysterische reductie van CO2, waarmee we als klein landje ten onrechte denken het klimaat te kunnen “redden”.

De Klimaatwet, het Klimaatakkoord en alle andere klimaatmaatregelen gaan direct door de shredder. Geen miljardenverspilling aan zinloze klimaathobby’s, maar meer geld voor onze mensen.

De NPO is van het padje af: NPO66. In plaats van eerlijke informatie en ontspanning is het vooral bezig met propaganda. We worden dagelijks getreiterd met klimaatpaniek en diversiteitspropaganda. De financiering wordt dan ook geheel beëindigd.

Gemeenten werken niet mee aan gender-maatregelen, klimaatwaanzin en diversiteitsgeneuzel

Wij constateren in de scholen een toename van politieke indoctrinatie. Schoolkinderen worden geïndoctrineerd met klimaatactivisme, genderwaanzin en met een gevoel van schaamte over de geschiedenis van ons land. Wij willen onderwijs dat vrij is van politiek activisme. Wij willen politiek neutrale leraren voor de klas en politiek neutrale leerboeken in de klas.

Please help yourself

Wed, 20 Sep 2023 11:04:00 +0200

The current international order is like:

Put your own oxygen mask on first, order a glass of wine, purchase something shiny from the duty free shop, watch your favourite movie, take a little nap, before assisting others.

Mastodon post

Casual UvA re-activates the strike

Tue, 30 May 2023 02:13:00 +0200

In the spring of 2022, more than a hundred lecturers, organized under the banner of Casual UvA, laid down their marking work and joined a strike. Their demands were simple: 1) permanent contracts for structural work, 2) opportunities for professional development and 3) workload transparency.

After several weeks, the University of Amsterdam presented a new teachers policy that was meant to address the core concerns and frustrations of its lecturers. In response, the lecturers agreed to suspend the strike, hoping that the new policy would be as effective and generous as the university’s central management claimed it would be.

University Rebellion kreeg geen kans om de pudding te proeven

Thu, 19 Jan 2023 09:23:00 +0100

Afgelopen maandag 16 januari bezette de UvA-tak van University Rebellion de Amsterdamse Academische Club. Uiteindelijk werd de ME ingezet om het gebouw te ontruimen. Voor sommigen is dat een logische stap: de activisten eigenen zich een plek toe die niet alleen aan hen toebehoort. “Dit is ook mijn gebouw, en zij representeren mij niet” zullen sommigen studenten en medewerkers gedacht hebben.

Ergens begrijp ik dat sentiment: geen enkele subgroep binnen de UvA zou zich zomaar een deel van de universiteit moeten kunnen toe-eigenen. De universiteit is van ons allemaal. Of zou dat in ieder geval moeten zijn. Maar dat was ook de strekking van één van de boodschappen van de activisten: democratisering en meer autonomie voor studenten en medewerkers. De vraag is in hoeverre er nog sprake is van een bezetting als de “bezetters” in feite iedereen oproepen om mee te denken en mee te doen.

Whataboutism

Tue, 26 Jul 2022 16:45:00 +0200

I often hear people reject arguments in discussions as “whataboutisms”. The idea is that whataboutisms - “ok, you’re angry about thing A, but what about thing B and thing C” - effectively undermine any kind of critique.

I understand this wariness. Especially when it is done on purpose and in bad faith, it is a dangerously easy way to kill any political talk.¹

Still, I wonder why pointing out the ubiquity of injustice should necessarily lead to some kind of cynical fatalism. Why - when the whatboutism is done without too much snobbery or moral high grounds - the response cannot be something like “yes, actually you’re right: thing A sucks, but fuck things B and C as well”.