NOW ON BLUESKY... please join me
CEO of Health Poverty Action. (Tweets personal views.)
Poverty/health... drugs policy... electoral reform & Labour. (he/him)
1. A few days ago, I wrote a thread about the pros and cons of staying on this platform and asked for your views. They were very helpful. As a result, I’ve decided to stop using X from January 20. Already I’m mostly posting now on BlueSky (@georgemonbiot.bsky.social) instead.🧵
We can now confirm Lineker will no longer host MotD over his ‘political views’.
By political views I mean: speaking up against genocide in times where mainstream media tries to whitewash it.
@GaryLineker thank you for your integrity. You are one I will always look up to.
We’re told there is unlimited money for weapons and warfare, so can’t we find the money to end poverty, build social housing or save the future of our planet?
#Inequality
- a big warning to Labour!
"Trump’s victory is a warning to Britain and Europe – fix inequality or populists will win." Great from Liam Byrne here.
Brilliant piece by @liambyrnemp
I am very sad to hear that Paul Stephenson, who led the Bristol bus boycott, has passed away.
Paul was a hero of the civil rights movement - and his colossal legacy must continue to inspire us to take a stand against racism, injustice and oppression.
The links are clear: without addressing the environmental harms driven by the war on drugs, achieving global sustainability goals is impossible.
It’s time we consider regulation an essential part of achieving meaningful sustainable development. 🌍👇
We’re pleased to have signed this important letter, urging @AngloAmerican to take action now to address the decades of serious health impacts their lead mine in Kabwe caused for children and pregnant women.
A few final thoughts and corrections on this:
1. Dawn Butler, who has been vilified for retweeting the piece below, is a descendant of Africans enslaved by Britain for centuries. And Britain never did anything to help heal the wounds or uplift people they once enslaved. I think it is fair to say that she – and many people like her - may not welcome the ascendancy of an extremely right-wing reactionary Black person who blatantly leverages their ethnicity to get away with making disgusting and racially inflammatory statements like “reparations are a scam”. Because of stuff like this, which is vehement political disagreement, it is both fair and to be expected that many Black people may not view Badenoch as LOTO to be a “proud moment for our nation” in the same way as, say, Keir Starmer does (or is politically mandated to).
2. Nowhere is “diversity of thought” more policed (literally in some situations such as the Coconut Trial) than when it comes to the ascendency of Black and Brown people who seem to harbour racism. Both the state and certain elements posing as “our media” go into overdrive to destroy Black & Brown people who object or just disagree. The right and responsibility of all citizens to object, agree or ignore is a vital component of a free society.
3. I found it interesting that the newspapers that covered my “Seven Rules to Surviving a Kemi Badenoch Victory” (which was clearly satirical and originally intended as a sketch for Monday’s now postponed @UppityHQ) described me as “a Nigerian writer based in London”. A strange tweak to what my widely circulated bio says: “a British-Nigerian (Itsekiri) writer based in London”. For the record: I was born in the same hospital as the next two kings of England, initially raised in the English countryside by working-class white foster parents, I worked in… what more do you want from me?!
I’ll end this with a thought game:
The concept of the Stockholm Syndrome (which was based upon four people held in a bank vault for six days) is widely accepted as fact. So why is it so inconceivably tough to understand that some people from populations who had been colonised and/or enslaved for centuries (and were only very recently liberated) may align (or perform alignment with) the values, politics and various isms of the powerful amongst their former overlords? And what makes you think that given the right political scenario, these sympathies won’t prove themselves immensely valuable?
I recorded this 5 minute rant at the UN #COP16 in Cali, Colombia, about how the drug war is a growing, indeed existential threat to biodiversity and climate mitigation efforts in the Amazon - and thus, the planet
Part 1:
I recorded this 5 minute rant at the UN #COP16 in Cali, Colombia, about how the drug war is a growing, indeed existential threat to biodiversity and climate mitigation efforts in the Amazon - and thus, the planet
Part 1:
I can't get over the fact that a Labour government has done this.
It's one thing to fail to reverse a Tory cut - but totally another level to make it considerably worse!!
I am proud to launch The Stephen Lawrence Day Foundation, the official home of Stephen’s legacy. Follow @sldayfdn to see how we will continue the fight against systemic racism and visit our website to find out more (link in bio).
#StephenLawrence#BlackHistoryMonth
🔴Britain’s Failure to Stand up for International Law in Gaza is ‘Shameful’, Says Tony Blair’s Former International Development Secretary
Clare Short calls on Keir Starmer to end Britain’s role as a “lieutenant” for the United States
https://t.co/KvFo2XNn9h
BREAKING @CNN — Choice for President of people who said they already voted.
If this is the case in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania, Trump is cooked when Democrats show up! Vote, Vote and Vote! 🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊
#HarrisSurge