cat villiers

Filmmaker/activist/sometimes the same thing

[Zack Polanski @ZackPolanski]

If there's one thing that will be guaranteed to cause people who protect the wealth and power of the super rich - it's people having a great time.

I present to you Trafalgar Square today which was beautiful and alive and buzzing with just that.

💚😍

[UNRWA @UNRWA]

“The situation in the #WestBank is absolutely appalling. We have settler violence which is completely unleashed. We have also seen an acceleration of the settlement expansion,” UNRWA Commissioner-General @‌UNLazzarini tells @‌zeteo_news’s @‌mehdirhasan.

While violence is escalating in the region, #Palestine Refugees continue to be exposed to immense hardship across the occupied West Bank and Gaza.

[Nick Dearden @nickdearden75]

Nearly 3 hours since we assembled and we’re only just moving. This is massive. We can beat fascism. We can build a better country, and a fairer world.

[Palestine Solidarity Campaign @PSCupdates]

NOW: Over half a million people marching together for Palestine and against the far right in London . One of the biggest demonstrations in British history 🇵🇸

[Shelly M @ShellyAsquith]

So happy to see it from this perspective - BIG show of unity and opposition to racism.

Well done @UKTogetherAll and all involved in mobilising #Together

[Kegham Balian @kbalian90]

Lebanese cellist Mahdi Saheli playing Armenian composer Aram Khachaturian's Andantino in the ruins of southern Beirut.

[Amnesty UK @AmnestyUK]

The High Court has ruled the proscription of Palestine Action was unlawful. But the proscription is still in place.

The Met Police have said they will focus on ‘gathering evidence’ rather than making arrests. But this means peaceful protesters could still be arrested later - rather than at the protests - and get up to six months in prison for holding a sign.

Amnesty International urges the Home Secretary to reconsider appealing the judgement, respect the court’s decision and accept the proscription was wrong.

[Amnesty UK @AmnestyUK]

The BBC’s decision to cut this section of Akinola Davies Jr’s speech when the #Baftas was broadcast later in the day is shameful.

Thank you Akinola Davies Jr for using your platform to speak out for the rights of migrants and people facing and fleeing from persecution and mass atrocities - from the Congo to Sudan to Palestine.

[cat villiers @autonomouscat]

Erasing a Word Erases a People: Reinstate Palestine in the British Museum - Sign the Petition! https://t.co/MSUzryVjUI via @UKChange

[cat villiers @autonomouscat]

Israeli Police Shut Down Jerusalem Screenings Of Oscar Entry ‘Palestine 36’ https://t.co/U1PTfl2cbc via @Deadline

[🏆 - jason 🦥🪐 @spongebobsloth]

I just watched a film that everyone needs to see its called Palestine 36. it’s directed by a palestinian filmmaker, shot in palestine, its an insanely important film that tells of the oppression of Palestinians by zionists and the british government before israel even existed.

[AL-MONITOR @AlMonitor]

'Palestine 36' director says film is about 'refusal to disappear'
https://t.co/ItHr49ccDP

[Zoe Gardner @ZoeJardiniere]

We need urgent DEYANKIFICATION in the UK to end our dependence on the Fascistic Trump regime!

@UKStopTrump

[The Resonance @Partisan_12]

Oscar Winner Jeremy Iron Praises 'Palestine 36' Film, Calls Out 1$rael's Gen∅cide in Gaza

[Mona Seif @Monasosh]

FYI
I don't know many Egyptian activists from our generation who spoke consistently out loud against violence committed by all entities and groups - friends and foe- across the past 20 years like Alaa did

He spoke out against police violence and torture (even when he was inside their prisons facing threats from the officer who supervised Alaa's torture)

He spoke out against violence targeting Egyptian Christians in Maspero 2011, and faced prison, challenged a military trial to make sure the real victims are exonerated.

At the peak of revolution in 2011, when confrontations between revolutionaries and the state were happening on the ground, Alaa was the only one -not an exageration- to speak out against "revolutionaries" using weapons against civilians, and he used his body to physically prevent them in May 2011 Abbaseya sit in. He was then attacked and called a traitor by fellow revolutionaries, because the majority of people back then thought even if you don't agree don't speak out about it!

He spoke out loud against secterian violence fueled by muslim brotherhood in Egypt- and alot of them hate him till now for it

He spoke out against the massacres committed by Egyptian military against thousands of Egyptian families in 2013 (the majority were Muslim Brotherhood)

He defended LGBTQ right so early on in Egypt (early 2000) at a time when it was not a common position/stance amongst the "progressive" movement there

He defended the Baha'is religious minorities in Egypt, pre revolution, at a time when only a handful of people spoke out about minorities rights and equalities

He taught me early on (as a child) to distinguish between judism and zionism, and not to be swept by people's tendency around us -in Egypt- to attack jews when their issue is Israeli crimes. And he led by example, he is one of the few people I know who has solid friendships with muslims, copts, jews, atheist, very religious people, and others who loath religion
And has real understanding and connection with every one of them and knowledge of their beliefs/cultures regardless of how vastly different.

Alaa never ever withheld a testimony of human rights violations he knew of or was witness to -as a prisoner - even if it compromised his own safety.

And yes he has expressed a lot of anger towards
1- War machines that have been obliterating people and children left and right all around us since we grew up enough to follow news around us!

2- State institutions responsible for massive systemic humanrights violations and crimes (the Egyptian police comes on top of that list and I am not sure why is that surprising when he was unjustly imprisoned for more than a decade, he was tortured, his family was beaten up, and we have a long line of friends and comrades who are currently imprisoned, were tortured and/or were killed by this police state!)

There is something incredibly heartbreaking and infuriating to be witnessing this vile campaign against him -and our family- with people portraying him as something completely opposite to who he really is, and while he paid a steep price for his convictions.

And there is something so sad about how friends and supporters feel they have to declare their religion while supporting him -particularly if jewish- publicly hoping to instil some truth and clarity in the face of this madness.

Never ending nightmare ..

[Ben Jamal @BenJamal48]

This campaign to demonise and cancel Alaa follows a familiar playbook but is nonetheless grotesque. It relies on a systematic unearthing of social media comments from years ago many of which are then twisted out of context.

[Marc Goldberg @MarcGoldberg111]

This is @AndrewMarr9 in 2022 "Alaa is clearly a very very important probably the most important activist and pro democracy campaigner in his region and he's also a very very fine writer." 🧵

#AlaaAbdelFattah

[cat villiers @autonomouscat]

Oscar shortlisted 'Palestine 36' screens in Gaza and gains momentum with upcoming celebrities campaign https://t.co/5w6Y0drEQx

[Palestine Solidarity Campaign @PSCupdates]

🚨 DATE CHANGED - Protest for Palestine - Release the Hunger Strikers
⏰ Wednesday 17, December, 6PM
📍 Downing Street, London

Eight prisoners associated with Palestine Action are currently on hunger strike in protest over the repressive and inhumane conditions of their detention in British prisons. Their health is deteriorating quickly, so they need urgent intervention. Join this protest to demand our government release the hunger strikers.

[cat villiers @autonomouscat]

‘Palestine 36’ Review: Palestine’s Oscar Submission Is a Handsome Historical Drama Charged With Of-the-Moment Resonance https://t.co/NCzDSPKnSY via @thr