Warren Chambers

Lifelong Learner - Learning on the job - all views my own

[Daniel Kebede @DanielKebedeNEU]

An unfunded pay award will mean 99% of secondary schools will have to make cuts.

To be clear, the last labour PM to get schools to make cuts was Callaghan.

If we want economic growth we need to invest in "education, education, education".

[Led By Donkeys @ByDonkeys]

“My name is Amos Goldberg. I am an Israeli Professor of Holocaust Studies. For nearly 30 years I have researched and taught the Holocaust, genocide and state violence.

And I want to tell whoever is willing to listen that what’s happening now in Gaza is a genocide.

A year ago when October 7th happened, like all Israelis I was in shock. It was a war crime and a crime against humanity. 1200 people - more than 800 of them civilians - were killed in one day. Children and the elderly were among those taken hostage. Communities were destroyed. It was outrageous, traumatizing, personal. Like most Israelis, I know people who were killed, who lost loved ones or whose loved ones were taken hostage.

But immediately afterwards came Israel’s response and within weeks thousands of civilians were killed in Gaza. It took me some time to digest what was unfolding before my eyes. It was agonizing to confront that reality. I was reluctant to call it a genocide.

But if you read Raphael Lemkin – the Jewish-Polish legal scholar who coined the term ‘genocide’ and was the major driving force behind the 1948 United Nations Genocide Convention – what is happening in Gaza now is exactly what he had in mind when he spoke about genocide.

It does not need to look like the Holocaust to be a genocide. Each genocide looks different and not all involve killing of millions or the entire group. The United Nations Genocide Convention explicitly asserts that genocide is the act of deliberately destroying a group in whole or in part. Those are the words.

But there does need to be a clear intent.

And indeed, there are clear indications of intent to destroy Gaza: Israel’s leaders - including the prime minister and the minister of defence - and many high-ranking military officers, media personalities, rabbis, as well as ordinary soldiers were very open about what they wanted to achieve. There were countless documented incitements to turn the whole of Gaza into rubble and claims that there are no innocent people living there.

A radical atmosphere of dehumanization of the Palestinians prevails in Israeli society to an extent that I can’t remember in my 58 years of living here.

Now that vision has been enacted. Tens of thousands of innocent children, women and men have been killed. Over a hundred thousand were wounded. There is a near total destruction of infrastructure, intentional starvation and blocking of humanitarian aid. There are mass graves and reliable testimony of summary executions. Children that were shot by snipers. All the universities and almost all hospitals are gone. Almost all the population is displaced. There have been numerous bombings of civilians in so-called ‘safe zones’. Gaza does not exist anymore. It is completely destroyed. Thus, the outcome fits perfectly with the stated intentions of Israel’s leadership.

Lemkin - that scholar who coined the term ‘genocide’ - described two phases of a genocide. The first is the destruction of the annihilated group and the second is what he called ‘imposition of the national pattern’ of the perpetrator. We are now witnessing the second phase as Israel prepares ethnically cleansed areas for Israeli settlements.

And therefore, I have come to the conclusion that this is exactly what a genocide looks like. We don’t teach about genocides in order to realize it retrospectively. We teach about it in order to prevent it and to stop it.

But like in every other case of genocide in history right now we have mass denial. Both here in Israel and around the world.

But reality cannot be denied.

So yes, it is a genocide.

And once you come to this conclusion you cannot remain silent.”

- Statement to Led By Donkeys, December 2024
- Photo: Parliament Square, London, 8.40am, 4th December 2024

[Steve Sinnott Foundation @SSFoundation]

In partnership with National Professional Teachers Organisation of South Africa (NAPTOSA) Transforming Perspectives on Gender Based Violence with Boys and Men and fostering open dialogues about these critical issues within educational institutions and community settings. 🇿🇦📚

[TUFAC @TUFAC4]

If #Bournemouth beat #ManCity one lucky person to RT this wins a snood https://t.co/kgwXrk1YgB

[Steve Sinnott Foundation @SSFoundation]

We visited the house in Hastings where the queen of Haiti lived with her 2 daughters. A special thank you to Electric Piers, Tola Dabiri for her drive and inspiration in putting the event together with us. 💚

Thanks to everyone at Sugarpie Honeybuns for hosting us.

[jeanine connor @jeanine_connor]

Spotted this out and about.

Big names and littler names on the @MargateBookie posters!

#margatebookie #therapistswhowrite #YNMFM

[Tim Burgess @Tim_Burgess]

Retweet for a chance to win

My road tested sample of the ace brand new Charlatans bobble hat.

Available to order soon

Winner picked at random at 10pm on Sunday September 1st

[TUFAC @TUFAC4]

If #Sunderland score or more today, one lucky person to RT this will win a baseball cap https://t.co/5TRRAsVOyh

[Warren Chambers @wajc7466]

Support The Oval: Demand Thanet District Council Expedite Planning Approval Now! - Sign the Petition! https://t.co/pvt9wN0c5L via @UKChange

[Kent County Council @Kent_cc]

Only one week to go to give your views on our consultation on a draft policy that aims to support children who are unable to attend school because of medical/health needs for 15 days or more. Find out more by visiting https://t.co/z3JM5b5AJq before the 28 July. #Kent #KCC

[Louise Regan @LouRegan1]

Solidarity ✊🏽 with @NEUnion and @NASUWT members taking strike action at Trinity School in Nottingham today - it was great to join their fantastic picket line before work. Unfortunately I missed the music 🎶
@NEUnottcity @NEUEastMidlands

[National Education Union @NEUnion]

🧵🚨 Joint education unions have written to @BPhillipsonMP expressing deep concern over United Learning Trust’s proposal to encourage teachers to opt out of the Teachers’ Pension Scheme.

[National Education Union @NEUnion]

The Government's intention to address the challenges resulting from 14 years of neglect is very welcome.

However, the scale of the crisis in education means we need far more ambition to achieve the change that is needed.#KingsSpeech #ValueEducation
https://t.co/m2zmyKWgYZ

[National Education Union @NEUnion]

The admission by Bridget Phillipson yesterday that the teacher pay rise announcement will be further delayed is hugely frustrating.

Todays #KingsSpeech left more questions around the Government's long term plan for school funding. #ValueEducation
https://t.co/HQiMhcxRfj

[National Education Union @NEUnion]

The @NEUnion is ready to work with Government on any reforms that benefit our members and the children they teach.

The new Government must act quickly to deliver. After 14 years of chaos our schools and colleges need stability. #ValueEducation.
https://t.co/TAYIQ9YZHN

[National Education Union @NEUnion]

We appreciate that @bphillipsonMP & her colleagues at the Treasury must weigh up all the public sector pay reports.

But we need urgent answers on this year's teacher pay rise.

Heads must be able to plan their budgets for September. #PayUp #ValueEducation
https://t.co/aETl2VM8qU

[TUFAC @TUFAC4]

https://t.co/iqnxyWjuAk

[National Education Union South East @SouthEastNEU]

⚠️📢ATTENTION TEACHERS: Make no mistake. As @cyclingkev makes clear in this thread ⬇️ the proposal by the United Learning MAT is a Trojan horse & an existential threat to the pensions and therefore overall pay & conditions of teachers.

[Kevin Courtney @cyclingkev]

ULT’s attack on the Teachers Pension Scheme - a 🧵

The United Learning Trust says that it will offer starting salaries of £45,000 in London to teachers who leave the teacher pension scheme.

[Kevin Courtney @cyclingkev]

@ASCL_UK @NAHTnews @NASUWT @NEUnion This is the joint letter to @bphillipsonMP
from the General Secretaries of
@ASCL_UK
@NAHTnews
@NASUWT &
@NEUnion