JOHN JEFFERS

Volunteer at Canning Town Caravanserai, A project to create an area for local events and mini-enterprises. A local resident with a global perspective.

[Mal @UtdMaI]

Iran played three matches.
They drew all three.
And in every single one, they fought with heart, pride, and dignity.

But after their final match, the host nation reportedly demanded they leave immediately.
No time to recover. No time to rest. Just pack up and go.

That is not how you treat athletes.
That is not how you treat human beings.

Despite the pressure, the restrictions, and everything stacked against them, Iran kept showing resilience.

This team deserves respect, not mistreatment.

That’s the spirit of the World Cup.

[Michael Rosen 💙💙🎓🎓 NICE 爷爷 @MichaelRosenYes]

In the history of cancelling (cultural banning/blocking/no platforming etc) is there one bigger than the abolition of the Inner London Education Authority (ILEA) ?

[Sovereign Media @sov_media]

"KENYA'S PROBLEM IS THAT IT STILL RELIES ON THE WEST FOR IDEAS"

For Kenyan academic Wandia Njoya (@wmnjoya on X), Kenya's crisis is not a lack of policies, funding, or development plans, it is a crisis of thought.

She argues that too often, Kenyan elites look to West; the World Bank, OECD, UN agencies, and foreign policy papers for answers, treating development as a technical problem of implementation rather than asking deeper questions about power, institutions, and sovereignty.

She questions why Kenyan elites are still searching for solutions in the very systems that helped shape their problems? While public debate focuses on fixing individual problems, Njoya believes Kenya must confront the bigger question: what ideas are shaping the system itself?

Her argument is simple: no nation can build its future by outsourcing its thinking, especially not thinking from collapsing Western hegemons.

Finally, she argues that Kenya's real curse is actually having a mass Western-educated middle class pushing this agenda of dependence on the foreigners vs a Pan-African local model such as that demonstrated by Captain Ibrahim Traore in Burkina Faso.

Do you think Kenya's middle class is the problem? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

[Don Salmon @dijoni]

Remember the revolutionary president of Mozambique.

[Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt @FranceskAlbs]

My family and I are exposed to all sorts of threats, restrictions and hateful rethoric.

Yet we would say and do everything we have said and done against the genocide, its ideologues and profiteers, again and again.

Forever proud to stand on the side of Justice.

[Arnaud Bertrand @RnaudBertrand]

This is genuinely shocking, and says so much about our approach to China.

I decided to check for independent reviews of the English version Xi Jinping's latest book, published a year ago, to see what people had to say about it since I hadn't read it myself.

To my surprise, I couldn't find any: not a single thoughtful review about the book out there! Even on Amazon, check it for yourself (https://t.co/1LVlhACA53): the book has only 3 ratings, that's it.

No matter where you stand on China, you’ve got to admit that’s pretty crazy: the sitting president of the world's rising superpower publishes a 700-page book explaining exactly what he's doing and why, and we don’t even care to look.

If there ever was a fact that illustrates just how willfully ignorant we are about China, this is it.

All the more because we then go spew the usual clichés around how secretive and impenetrable the Chinese system is: the book is on Amazon for $21 for crying out loud!

Anyhow, this felt so wrong that I figured I'd fix it. I bought the book, read it attentively and wrote what I hope you'll agree is a thoughtful review of it.

The book contains genuinely surprising passages, such as Xi writing that oversight of the Communist Party by "the judiciary, the public, and the media" was not just something the Party must “readily accept,” but something that he framed as historically decisive - an essential component to "escaping the historical cycle of rise and fall" that has doomed every dynasty in China's history.

Other passage that I'm sure would surprise many: a common narrative out there is that China blames the West for the century of humiliation and is driven by revenge. Well, Xi explains that's not true at all: the century of humiliation was China's own mistake, originated in the Ming Dynasty's disastrous "policy of national seclusion" that "resulted in China missing out on the opportunities presented by the Industrial Revolution" and "led to China’s decline."

All in all, the book is remarkably self-reflective and thoughtful. For instance Xi recognizes that his drive for “full and rigorous internal governance” - including to rid the Party of corruption - risked "instill[ing] fear and apprehension, or intimidate members into inaction.” He emphasizes the need for pragmatism in this regard, codified in a framework called the “Three Distinctions” that separates honest mistakes - made while experimenting, reforming, or operating without precedent - from deliberate violations committed for personal gain.

And many other surprises still. I found it a genuinely fascinating read for anyone interested in how the Chinese system works and how Xi thinks - or anyone interested in governance, period, as so much of what he writes is pretty universally applicable.

This is the link to my review of the book, an article I titled "The Book the West Refuses to Read": https://t.co/DYowWEESOd

[Alon Mizrahi @alon_mizrahi]

Science shows: a society where women have been documented wielding kalashnikovs has a 92% better chance of maintaining its freedom and dignity in the face of colonialism and oppression

[Tehran Tadhg @TadhgHickey]

Imagine being Palestinian or Lebanese looking at this pure dystopian shit 😳

[Alon Mizrahi @alon_mizrahi]

There never was a Keir Starmer. Such a person hasn't existed in decades. There is no 'Andy Burnham' either. Banks, corporations and special interests rule through manikins: dolls with no human traits or personality. They are elite humanoids, used as props, tasked with overseeing the status quo. Canada's Carny and Australia's rotating idiots, or Greece's: they have absolutely nothing to do with representation or an intelligible set of principles. The West never stopped being feudal

[Marwa Osman || مروة عثمان @Marwa__Osman]

They knew exactly who Mona Khalil was.

They knew the bright orange house in Mansouri, south Lebanon. They knew it was not a military site, not a command center, not a battlefield position. It was one of the most recognizable symbols of environmental conservation on Lebanon's southern coast; a sanctuary dedicated to protecting endangered sea turtles and preserving life.

Mona spent her years defending the most vulnerable creatures of the Mediterranean, teaching generations that every life matters, that nature is not a casualty to be discarded, and that humanity has a duty to protect what cannot protect itself.

Yet the same orange house that stood as a beacon of conservation became a target for terrorist Israel.

This was an assault on a woman whose life's work was devoted to safeguarding life itself. A woman known internationally for her environmental activism, whose name had become synonymous with the protection of Lebanon's coastline and its endangered sea turtles.

The murder of Mona Khalil sends a chilling message: even those whose only weapon is compassion, whose only mission is preservation, are not spared.

[سلمان براك 313 @salmaanbraak]

@menavisualss صورة نادرة للملاكم محمد علي كلاي في #ايران مع الامام الشهيد على الخامنائي وبخضنه الامام مجتبى نجل الامام الخمنائي A rare photo of boxer Muhammad Ali with the martyred Imam Ali Khamenei, and in his lap is Imam Mojtaba, the son of Imam Khamenei.

[Angel @missangeljames]

This might be the best thing I’ve seen at this World Cup 😭🤣

A tiny group of DR Congo fans celebrating the goal in the middle of thousands of Portugal fans in Lisbon is absolute cinema 😂😂😂

[Antifa_Ultras @ultras_antifaa]

Far-right: “Remigration. Defend Europe.”

Meanwhile, European national teams: