Share this page!

Enter URL or ID to Unroll

You can paste full URL like: https://x.com/threadreaderapp/status/1644127596119195649
or just the ID like: 1644127596119195649

How to get URL link on X (Twitter) App

  1. On the Twitter thread, click on or icon on the bottom
  2. Click again on or Share Via icon
  3. Click on Copy Link to Tweet
  4. Paste it above and click "Unroll Thread"!
  5. More info at Twitter Help
George Monbiot Profile picture
@GeorgeMonbiot
Jun 7, 2020 • 6 tweets • 2 min read • Read on X
I support the toppling of #EdwardColston's statue. Slavery should never be celebrated. It was wrong to erect it. The protesters were right to dismantle it.
#BlackLivesMatter
huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/black-li…
These symbols are immensely important. Those who deplore this demolition should ask themselves where they stood on the removal of Saddam Hussein's statues, or Stalin's. We should not allow those who exercised power in the past to govern us beyond the grave.
A lively, democratic nation is one that renews its self-image and changes its symbols to reflect its changing character. This should include some of its statuary.
While we're at it, could we please change the official emblem of Parliament?
A portcullis, symbolically shutting us out
Surrounded by chains, symbolically constraining us
Surmounted by a crown, symbolically concentrating power.
Let's have some democratic imagery. Image
The way we see ourselves helps to shape who we become. Let us see ourselves as a democratic, inclusive, lively nation, and develop public imagery that reflects these values.
If anyone gets fined for toppling this statue, I would be happy to contribute to paying it off. I'm sure many others would too.

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
　

Keep Current with George Monbiot

George Monbiot Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @GeorgeMonbiot

George Monbiot Profile picture
Jul 17
Where in the #KingsSpeech is the promised end to new oil and gas licences?
Instead, there's a bill "to support sustainable aviation fuel". But there is no such thing as sustainable aviation fuel, and no prospect of it materialising, unless you rewrite the laws of physics.🧵
Perhaps, like the last government's Rwanda bill, the sustainable aviation fuel bill will legislate the nature of reality, asserting that such a thing exists when it does not.
What we see here is the government ducking the hard but necessary policy of stopping new oil and gas - despite repeated promises that it would do so - and instead embracing magical thinking to address the climate crisis.
Read 6 tweets
George Monbiot Profile picture
Jul 9
One of the penalties of changing your mind about a topic is that it provokes a certain kind of glitter-eyed fanatic, who will see you thenceforth as the devil incarnate. From that day on, in my experience, they will devote a large part of their lives to hounding you. 🧵
Because I’ve changed my mind quite often, I’m now cyberstalked by a pack of these obsessives, some of whom have been scribbling furiously about me for over 20 years. They lace together every thoughtcrime I’ve committed, to construct a narrative of pure evil.
Responding to them is pointless – it only makes things worse. You just have to let them get on with it, and recognise that it’s the water in which you swim.
Read 6 tweets
George Monbiot Profile picture
Jul 8
1. This is a thread about a new form of political organising, which proved spectacularly successful in this election, and that other constituencies would do well to adopt. It’s a means of navigating our unfair, unrepresentative first-past-the-post electoral system. 🧵
2. It’s the People’s Primary model developed by some very smart folk in my own constituency, South Devon. They set up the @SDevonPrimary. This article explains how it works. theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
@SDevonPrimary 3. There was a great deal of hostility, from the Conservatives, Labour and even the LibDems (the ultimate beneficiaries). Why? Because the model enables voters to take back control of the electoral process from political parties. They hate that.
Read 9 tweets
George Monbiot Profile picture
May 23
#IDthought 6: At every general election, we are faced with a binary choice. With one cross, we are deemed to have signalled our agreement everything in a party’s manifesto and everything else – if it wins – it can ram through Parliament over the next five years. 🧵
It’s not that different from the cross or thumbprint with which indigenous people were asked to sign treaties with European colonists, which in some cases they were unable to read. It arises from the same mode and style of governance.
There is no means of refining our choice, of accepting some items and rejecting others. With one decision, we are presumed to have consented to thousands of further decisions. We do not accept the principle of presumed consent in sex. Why should we accept it in politics?
Read 11 tweets
George Monbiot Profile picture
May 22
#IDthought 5: Until the neoliberal era, inequality declined for some 60 years. From the 1980s onwards, it returned with a vengeance. Since 1989, America’s super-rich have grown about $21 trillion richer. The poorest 50 per cent, by contrast, have become $900 billion poorer.🧵
Why? Because trade unions were crushed. Because tax rates for the very rich were slashed. Because any regulation that big business viewed as constricting was loosened or eliminated. And, perhaps most importantly, because *rents* were allowed to soar.
I don’t just mean housing rents. I mean all *access fees* to essential services that have been captured by private wealth: water, energy, health, railways etc. And the interest payments arising from the financialisation of higher education.
Read 6 tweets
George Monbiot Profile picture
May 17
#IDthought 1: Throughout the media we see an unremitting, visceral defence of capitalism, but seldom an attempt to define it, or to explain how it might differ from other economic systems. We propose a definition that seeks to distinguish it from other forms of economic activity Capitalism is an economic system founded on colonial looting. It operates on a constantly shifting and self-consuming frontier, on which both state and powerful private interests use their laws, backed by the threat of violence, to turn shared resources into exclusive property, and to transform natural wealth, labour and money into commodities that can be accumulated.
If you're thinking, "what the hell?", there's some background here: theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
I did produce a neater definition, which has the virtue of parsimony, but the disadvantage of being incomprehensible to almost everyone.
"Capitalism is an economic system that both creates and destroys its own n-dimensional hypervolume."
Read 5 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

Send Email!

:(