The Snowflakes were contrasted with he 'Claybanks' (based on the color of the local clay) who wanted a gradual transition out of slavery for slaves, & the 'Charcoals'/'Brown Radicals', who wanted immediate emancipation for black people.
And did you know that #woke became a byword for social awareness in 2008, with Erykah Badu’s song “Master Teacher”?
'Stay woke' became used in parts of the black community for those who were self-aware, who questioned the dominant paradigm, & who strived for something better.
#Woke was popularised in 2014, following the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, when it became entwined with #BlackLivesMatter movement; instead of just suggesting awareness of injustice or racial tension, it became a word signalling action.
Free speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions & ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction.
The term "freedom of expression" is often used synonymously.
Freedom of expression includes any act of seeking, receiving, & imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used.
Freedom of expression is recognized in international human rights law in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). However...
Article 19 states the exercise of these rights carry "special duties & responsibilities" & may "be subject to certain restrictions" eg "respect of the rights or reputation of others" or "the protection of national security or of public order, or of public health or morals".
Free speech is NOT absolute: limitations relate to libel, slander, obscenity, pornography, sedition, incitement, fighting words, classified info, copyright, trade secrets, food labeling, NDAs, the right to privacy & dignity, the right to be forgotten, public security, & perjury.
It's my contention that - contrary to what many on the Right keep misleadingly claiming about both younger people & especially people on the Left - absolutely NOBODY is "anti-free speech".
Free speech has ALWAYS existed on a continuum, & always will.
Challenging the “free speech” of pathological liars, racists, paedophiles, anti-Semites, neo-Nazis, homophobes, transphobes, Islamophobes, people who glorify terrorism & those who deliberately spread dangerously misleading disinformation, is always the correct thing to do.
Another constant refrain from those on the Right determined to fuel a divisive 'culture war' concerns "cancel culture" & "no-platforming".
'No platforming' in particular actually has a noble history, & CAN BE an ethical, legitimate, appropriate & very effective tool.
Brave & heroic individuals “no-platformed” Oswald Mosley in the 1930s, the National Front in the 1970s, the BNP in the 1980s & 1990s & Islamic extremists in the noughties.
Allow me to briefly discuss the case of Oswald Mosley, Leader of the British Union of Fascists.
While Mosley's anti-Semitic & racist politics found some success in some pockets of London, they failed spectacularly in trying to establish a foothold among the vast majority of northern working class voters.
In 1937, his followers were growing & he decided to visit parts of the country where he didn't have as much support, with the aim of converting the working classes to a new, fascist ideology.
Of course people tried to 'no platform' him, but the authorities allowed him to tour.
On October 10, Mosley arrived in the Liverpool. His plan was to stand on top of a loud speaker van & tour the city.
He got up on the van, gave the crowd a fascist salute but before he could even speak a single word, stones were thrown from the crowd & hit Mosley in the head.
In the 1930s, Mosley’s fascists were also attacked by workers, anti-fascists, socialists & communists in Devon, Manchester, Newcastle, London and Stockton.
I do not support violence, but imho, there are times when 'no-platforming' IS entirely appropriate.
"Cancel Culture" is not new either: boycotts & call-outs leading to job losses have forced positive social change across the world. Think of the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa, & few would think neo-Nazi groups being subject to “cancel culture” has been bad for Britain.
Finally, a brief word about 'Identity Politics': the suffragette, the abolitionist, civil & gay rights movements were ALL primarily 'identity politics' - as is challenging the exploitation of the working class by the powerful.
We need nuance, not reductionism & absolutism.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
Tory donor Bassim Haidar is the latest multimillionaire to say he'll leave the UK to avoid paying £millions in tax following plans to scrap the “non-dom” regime, which has allowed him & 68,800 other non-doms to avoid paying UK tax on overseas income for 225 years.
Haidar, who owns “more than 10 properties” in central London, including a £20 MILLION flat near Sloane Square, "gave" the @Conservatives £450,000 last year - including £10,000 worth of advertising to Lee Anderson in November, who promptly joined Reform UK. search.electoralcommission.org.uk/?currentPage=2…
For decades the UK news media, owned by fellow non-dom billionaires, regularly run stories warning how 'superrich wealth creators' will leave Britain.
It's a bold & often-made claim, but is there any truth in it? Will many - or indeed any - of our 68,800 non-doms leave Britain?
The #Rwanda Plan, based on deterrence, is ineffective, expensive, & thoroughly neoliberal: based on rational choice theory, it assumes people act based on the costs & benefits of different actions. But the Plan ignores the evidence & the complex reality of the situation.
Tensions are rising between the UK and Ireland, as asylum seekers cross into Ireland from Northern Ireland, reportedly fearing that if they remain in the UK, they will be sent to Rwanda. But all is not as it seems, as Matilde Rosina demonstrates...
Rishi Sunak has claimed that this shows the Rwanda plan is working as a deterrent. For over two years, the government has insisted that the policy to remove asylum seekers to Rwanda would deter potential asylum seekers from making dangerous journeys across the English Channel.
Batshit Truss was stopped, “ambushed” & held “at gunpoint” by the “Deep State”, the “anti-growth coalition” & “declinists” - defeated by a progressive & Marxist alliance which includes Joe Biden &, er, Michel Foucault!
For all this, however, Truss’s book offers some important lessons for future PMs, albeit more in terms of what NOT to do than how to do the job well.
Prime ministers, for a start, need to listen. All PMs stop listening eventually - but it seems Truss never even started.
Even before becoming prime minister, her own husband warned it would “all end in tears”. Truss reveals that even her agent said “I should run – but he thought it would be best if I came second”!
The Queen warned Truss to “pace yourself”. As we also know, she didn’t.
In 2022, the Home Office considered giving Gideon Falter a role advising the Commission for Countering Extremism, but antisemitism tsar John Mann told Braverman he'd quit if Falter was appointed.
However, the MUCH BIGGER story concerns CCE Commissioner, Robin Simcox...
This is a thread about how the UK Govt appoints extremists to influential positions in order to manufacture a perception of impartiality, while in reality helping to push through harmful ideologically extreme free-market policies which serve the interests of the rich & powerful.
Robin Simcox, who has worked for the Henry Jackson Society AND the Heritage Foundation - two of the most ideologically extreme 'think tanks' in the western world - downplays the threat of far-right terrorism while talking-up the threats from Islamism AND environmental protestors.
The government claims to have secured the airfield and charter flights necessary for removing people to Rwanda. However, campaigners who oppose the scheme are targeting these elements of the policy in an attempt to make flights logistically impossible. bbc.co.uk/news/uk-688718…
In October 2022, the charity Freedom from Torture successfully convinced the airline Privilege Style to withdraw from the government’s Rwanda scheme.
In 'free-market' societies like ours, consumer pressure in the form of protests & boycotts often work.
Today is one of Britain’s most shameful days ever: a stain on Britain’s reputation as a tolerant, fair-minded, lawful, democratic and welcoming country.
The barbaric #RwandaPlan was dreamed up following the #PartyGate scandal, as part of ‘Operation Save Big Dog’.
The #RwandaPlan was announced on 14th April 2022 by disgraced lawbreaking liar & former PM Boris Johnson, who in a speech at Dover falsely claimed it could potentially see Rwanda “resettle tens of thousands of people in the years ahead”, & claimed it would cost £120 million.
In reality, the capacity of the proposed facility in #Rwanda is 200 people/year, representing 0.7% of 2023 small boat arrivals.
The ACTUAL cost will be £1.8 MILLION for EACH of the first 300 deportees. There is ZERO evidence it will have a deterrent effect or be value for money.