Benjamin Kunkel

Benjamin Kunkel

@kunktation.bsky.social

892 followers103 following67 posts

Benjamin Kunkel
@kunktation.bsky.social

"Pain may be difficult to put into words; illness can be harder still to put into plot. The chronic kind, especially, may offer neither the clean resolution of recovery nor the finality of death. It threatens us with plotlessness." From Hermione Hoby's great piece www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

newyorker.comWhy Is Illness So Hard to Write About?A century after Virginia Woolf asked why sickness had failed to become one of literature’s great subjects, writers are still struggling to put physical suffering into words.
Benjamin Kunkel
@kunktation.bsky.social

Only about 20 spots left for the next of our (free) Magic Mountain Talks: Fred Moten on "the undercommons," in conversation with Umniya Najaer, on Thursday October 22nd at 6pm at the Trident Bookstore in Boulder CO. You can register via the link below

Benjamin Kunkel reposted

Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò
@olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social

"However, the transition to clean power is being impeded by slow planning and grid expansion...and a severe lack of investment elsewhere. Africa receives less than 2% of global clean energy investment despite possessing 60% of the world’s best solar resources..." www.theguardian.com/environment/...

theguardian.comClimate solutions most likely to reach ‘positive tipping points’ revealed by scientistsGlobal shift towards clean electricity could trigger ‘cascade’ of progress, helping reduce air pollution, cut waste and revive oceans
Benjamin Kunkel
@kunktation.bsky.social

'HOMELAND is distinguished by graceful, incisive prose & its totalizing ambitions, with the same mastery of cultural criticism, political economy, history & polemic as in Beck's journalism' A critical but very admiring review of Rich Beck's HOMELAND from Tom Mertes newleftreview.org/issues/ii159...

newleftreview.orgTom Mertes, Manufacturing Impunity, NLR 159, May–June 2026Tom Mertes on Richard Beck, Homeland. Origins and afterlives of America’s long War on Terror.
Benjamin Kunkel
@kunktation.bsky.social

Some things aren't as bad in the US 25 years after 9/11 as you might have imagined they'd be, but the Islamophobia of the GOP & many centrist Dems is probably worse, as is the state's reliance on a secret legal memo to blow up anyone in hemispheric waters it deems a narcoterrorist

Benjamin Kunkel
@kunktation.bsky.social

'Conflict, migration & economic upheaval will accompany the global move away from oil unless govmts act urgently to help the worst afflicted countries. Income from oil makes up more than 40% of govmt revenue in 17 countries & in some cases 70% to 90%' www.theguardian.com/environment/...

theguardian.comGlobal move away from oil could lead to conflict and migration, experts sayResearchers urge governments to help worst afflicted countries, such as Nigeria and Algeria, which rely on oil revenues for public services
Benjamin Kunkel
@kunktation.bsky.social

Journalists & politicians should make clear that this is a false distinction: runaway climate change obviously does & will make groceries, home insurance & electricity, among other things, more expensive, never mind the cost—ultimately reflected in higher taxes—of disaster relief

Benjamin Kunkel reposted

New Left Review
@newleftreview.bsky.social

NLR 160 is out now. Featuring Benjamin Kunkel on the ‘new national question’; Carlo Ginzburg's correspondence with Perry Anderson; Mao Jian on new cultural forms in China; Donald Sassoon on the British Labour Party, plus book reviews... newleftreview.org/issues/ii160/

newleftreview.orgNLR 160, July–August 2026NLR 160, July–August 2026. Includes articles by Perry Anderson, Julian Stallabrass, Donald Sassoon, Benjamin Kunkel, Mao Jian, Ilya Budraitskis, Carlo Ginzburg, Perry Anderson and Mario del Pero

Benjamin Kunkel reposted

Mike Konczal
@mtkonczal.bsky.social

BLS this morning, with revised 2Q data: "The labor share, which is the percentage of output that accrues to workers in the form of compensation, was 52.8 percent in the second quarter of 2026, the lowest level in the series, which begins in the first quarter of 1947."

Benjamin Kunkel
@kunktation.bsky.social

Haven't been on here in a while, but if you want to read a very long essay about economic nationalism in @newleftreview.bsky.social you're in luck: newleftreview.org/issues/ii160...

newleftreview.orgBenjamin Kunkel, The New National Question, NLR 160, July–August 2026As globalization stalls, what possibilities might national-economic policy open up for the left? Benjamin Kunkel weighs the claims of its Marxist, Polanyian and psychoanalytic interpreters, asking whe...

Benjamin Kunkel reposted

Kate Mackenzie
@katemac.bsky.social

Over a week ago, in the FT, the *shipping* guys were saying "it's not just insurance. We just don't actually want our ships blown up."

Brian Finucane@bcfinucane.bsky.social

"U.S. officials called London insurers and brokers, trying to figure out how the market operates, industry insiders said." When applied to the current administration, I urge caution in using terms like "plans," "strategy," "policy," or "doctrine." www.wsj.com/finance/u-s-...

wsj.comU.S. Plan to Unblock Strait of Hormuz Collides With Realities of Global InsuranceThe U.S.-centric insurance idea runs counter to the realities of an international market, according to industry executives.

Benjamin Kunkel reposted

Perry Bacon
@perrybaconjr.bsky.social

"From city councils to Congress, homeowners have always dominated elected office. But after Mamdani’s victory, a slew of renter candidates want to follow in his footsteps." Excellent @monicapotts.bsky.social piece. newrepublic.com/article/2076...

newrepublic.comZohran Mamdani and the Rise of the Renter PoliticiansFrom city councils to Congress, homeowners have always dominated elected office. But after Mamdani’s victory, a slew of candidates want to follow in his footsteps.
Benjamin Kunkel
@kunktation.bsky.social

'The attack on Iran was preceded by a # of unusually large & well-timed bets that made a combined $330k & were placed by 12 suspicious accounts in the days before Saturday’s air strikes. The FT found a similar pattern related to the US capture of Nicolás Maduro in January' www.ft.com/content/2883...

ft.comPolymarket users won big with unusual bets on US attack on IranFT analysis identifies 12 accounts on platform that made large well-timed wagers just ahead of start of conflict

Benjamin Kunkel reposted

Catherine Rampell
@crampell.bsky.social

A new national survey finds 70% of Americans think the Trump administration is too focused on deportations. Immigration enforcement ranks as a top driver of defection among Trump's own 2024 voters. austinkocher.substack.com/p/new-pollin...

austinkocher.substack.comNew Polling Data Shows Immigration Enforcement Is Costing Republicans Their Own VotersA new national survey finds 70% of Americans think the Trump administration is too focused on deportations. Immigration enforcement ranks as a top driver of defection among Trump's own 2024 voters.

Benjamin Kunkel reposted

Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò
@olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social

love to see it

Prem Thakker ツ@premthakker.bsky.social

BREAKING: An immigration judge has *terminated* the Trump-Vance administration's efforts to deport Columbia pro-Palestine student protestor Mohsen Mahdawi. Mohsen was first detained 10 months ago, when agents ambushed him at a citizenship interview.