Diana Jeater

Prof of African History, special interest in Zimbabwe. Muses about whether the term 'human rights' translates universally. Tries to live adventurously. She/her

[Feargal Sharkey @Feargal_Sharkey]

Oh look, it rained.

Areas of the country where water companies are currently dumped sh*t into rivers and on to beaches.

Brown, currently dumping sewage.
Red, has been dumping sewage within the last 24 hours.

[Claudia Webbe @ClaudiaWebbe]

Dr Ayo Moiett arrested for revolutionary act of demanding another human being (on hunger strike over Gaza) receive medical attention.

Detained standing outside a prison with a stethoscope, whilst Black.

His offence? Witnessing state cruelty and saying no

[Real Media @RealMediaGB]

Zoe Rogers has been in the witness box this week.

She was asked about a poem she wrote in prison and recited the first line: “When they ask me why I did it, I tell them about the children” and one of the last lines:
“But I never forget to say that it was love, not hate, that called me.”

Finishing her defence evidence, Ms. Rogers was asked whether she had any intention to hurt, threaten, or intimidate anyone at the factory. She said she had no plan to threaten anyone or use a sledgehammer, and that she had gone to the factory in order to save as many lives as she could.

Read this week’s coverage of the Filton Trial: https://t.co/4VKd3ziykI

The trial continues in the New Year, Real Media will continue covering the case.

Pictured are Zoe’s mum and sister, alongside a quote from the poem she wrote in prison.

[Diane Abbott @HackneyAbbott]

There is already a crisis in social care.
These foolish and reactionary visa rules will just make it worse.

[Defend Our Juries @DefendOurJuries]

Adnan Hussain, independent MP for Blackburn, said during Thursday’s Christmas adjournment debate:

“Remand is not punishment. It is not meant to break bodies or silence dissent.

“Yet we are witnessing conditions so severe that these young people feel driven to risk death simply to be heard.”

https://t.co/kjNdvDhGx9

[Bob Vylan @BobbyVylan]

It’s not just what is said, it’s also what’s left out. The mainstream reporting (or lack of) on the hunger strikers has been shocking. This is just one example of an attempt to minimise the struggle and shape the narrative. Follow @Prisoners4Pal

[Defend Our Juries @DefendOurJuries]

These are not people serving sentences. They are people awaiting trial. And yet the conditions they describe – prolonged pre-trial detention, restrictions on communication, isolation – are indistinguishable from punishment.

This is where the danger of elastic language becomes tangible. Because when criminalisation is allowed to operate without precision, the process itself becomes the penalty.

https://t.co/6jMepqYAPE

[Mariella Frostrup @mariellaf1]

Awaiting trial for protesting a cause supported by many? Surely this 20 year old girl has a right to express her outrage. Are we following the US in our crackdown on freedoms? Palestine Action hunger striker in ‘deadly period’ after 47 days

https://t.co/R4jmWWb1sH

[21group @21percentgroup]

University of Birmingham reprimanded over work related stress by @H_S_E

One down, 141 Universities to go

Staff well-being has been sidelined for too long

Those who speak out have been victimized

https://t.co/llBIP0GbVd

[Diana Jeater @RoseofAcademe]

.@AnneRigail, do not be complicit in denying refugees the right to seek sanctuary in the UK. By taking part in this deal you will be trading humans for cash. Be on the right side of history and reject this inhumane deal.

[Hopewell Chin’ono @daddyhope]

This video has gone viral on social media because of what it is communicating.
Zimbabwean businessman Kuda Tagwirei is very intentional.
The video was released to show Chiwenga’s faction—and Zimbabweans at large—just how close Tagwirei is to President Emmerson Mnangagwa, following ZANUPF spokesman Chris Mutsvangwa’s public dressing down of Tagwirei at a press conference this week.

Mnangagwa has three plans in place;
Kuda Tagwirei takes over—not his deputy, General Constantino Chiwenga; or Mnangagwa secures a term extension and dies in office; or a dark horse—the foreign minister—steps in to block Chiwenga.

General Chiwenga is not going to take over as president of Zimbabwe unless he fights back with the help of the army.

After Mutsvangwa’s dismissal of Tagwirei, this was meant to show people in ZANUPF and others that they are trying to stop what, according to Mnangagwa’s camp, is unstoppable.

In Mnangagwa’s Zimbabwe, power is not transferred—it is either inherited (Tagwirei or the foreign minister), extended (for himself, Mnangagwa), or taken by force (the only route for Chiwenga).

Now to the trending issue from this video on social media;
This video lays bare Kuda Tagwirei’s unsettling proximity to the president.
When a notoriously corrupt businessman like Tagwirei is seen playing golf with the president—another man deeply tainted by corruption—it is not just a golf game. It is a brazen public obscene theatre of power.

But when Tagwirei goes on to pet the president in front of the cameras, like a boy showing off his closeness to his uncle, it becomes something more politically disturbing.

This is not the behaviour of a future statesman since Tagwirei wants to be President too.
It is the behaviour of a man drunk on proximity to power; trying to project dominance through forced intimacy.
It is undignified.

It is unpresidential. It reveals not strength, but a desperate need to be seen as powerful by association with Mnangagwa.

When Mnangagwa allows Tagwirei to publicly pet him like a favoured uncle, it reveals a startling lack of boundaries between the head of state and a corrupt businessman. We know they are both corrupt, but Mnangagwa occupies the highest office in the land of Zimbabwe.

This is not mere familiarity; it is symbolic. It shows the world and particularly Zimbabweans that Mnangagwa no longer sees the presidency as an institution that must maintain distance, dignity, and authority.

Instead, he is comfortable being treated casually as in this video, almost submissively, by someone who has gained immense wealth through state-connected tenders and corrupt deals.
It signals that Tagwirei is not just close to Mnangagwa; but that he is thoroughly embedded in the system and powerful enough to blur the lines between private capital and state power.

For Mnangagwa to publicly tolerate such behaviour is to admit, knowingly or not, that the presidency has been personalised and compromised and commands no respect in the eyes of the ordinary citizens.
Chafumuka, or as Temba Mliswa once said; Chaora!!

There are many presidents I talk to and can call at any time of the day and hug them when we meet at public gatherings, but I do not do that because I must respect the office they hold.
We joke about things privately, but publicly I would never display unbridled familiarity. Doing so shows a lack of sophistication and a poor understanding of statecraft.

What we have seen today is not leadership. This is a regime trying to turn cronyism into currency; and hoping the people are too tired or too scared to notice and talk about it. It is embarrassing, and that is why it is the talk of the town in Harare’s diplomatic circles tonight.
They are laughing at us—not just at Mnangagwa and Tagwirei, but at the sheer lack of decorum!

[Paul Powlesland @paulpowlesland]

A reminder that we cannot have this in London, not only because the Thames is too polluted, but also because we have left the tidal Thames in the sole hands of an unaccountable legacy organisation founded in 1908 called the Port of London Authority (@LondonPortAuth) which basically exists to pay its own inflated salaries whilst pretending that London is still the greatest port of the Empire. This organisation is generally useless, but quite effective at blocking both nature restoration on the Thames & the river actually being used by the people of London.

[Roger Waters ✊ @rogerwaters]

It’s today, July 5th 2025.
This is the “I am Spartacus” moment.
Please stand up.

[Diana Jeater @RoseofAcademe]

Long anticipated, and possibly now too late, with Reform having already squatted on some key left policies.
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@zarahsultana
But this still feels hopeful

[Zarah Sultana MP @zarahsultana]

Today, after 14 years, I’m resigning from the Labour Party.

Jeremy Corbyn and I will co-lead the founding of a new party, with other Independent MPs, campaigners and activists across the country.

Join us. The time is now.

Sign up here to stay updated: https://t.co/MAwVBrHOzH

[Dr Julia Grace Patterson💙 @JujuliaGrace]

What's the link between David Lammy and United Health, an enormous American private healthcare company?🚨

Lammy received £67,674 from Labour Together between Jan 2023 + March 2025. Labour Together is a think tank previously run by Keir Starmer’s chief of staff Morgan McSweeney..

[Richard Murphy @RichardJMurphy]

Labour is cutting disability benefits to balance Rachel Reeves’ budget, while handing billions in tax breaks to the rich. In this video I explain why this is morally bankrupt, and why Labour’s 70 MPs who backed down have failed the poorest.

https://t.co/alQRCZexHG

[Andy Burnham @AndyBurnhamGM]

Whatever people’s views about the concessions, surely everyone can see the process here is ALL wrong?

Third Reading in eight days?

A timetable like that diminishes the role of MPs in getting this legislation right, shuts out disabled people and puts too many at risk.

[Kim Johnson @KimJohnsonMP]

"The welfare bill passed, but it was chaos. A party this dysfunctional and divided cannot escape the wrath of voters at the next election"

https://t.co/Om2wzWgFQq

[LOC Book Club @ReadLOC]

Reflecting on legacies & New Direction in Zimbabwe - Past and shaping of its Present and Potential Futures : St Anthony’s College, Oxford, UK with @RoseofAcademe Diana Jeater !

[LOC Book Club @ReadLOC]

DAY 2 - Agenda: Reflecting on Legacies & New Directions in Zimbabwe’s Past & the Shaping of its Present & Potential Futures with Diana Jeater @RoseofAcademe