1/. "We now have a weapon. It’s called Tahrir Square"

An activist told me this in 2011, after the #ArabSpring had spread there from Tunisia

It was a heady time

It that felt change was possible

10 years on, it's hard not to look back on those times without a painful nostalgia
2/. Over the last decade, I've watched as the #ArabSpring turned quickly into the #ArabWinter & the dreams of so many turned sour or were crushed

The civil war in Syrian for has cost 590,000 lives & displaced millions of people

And yet the hope lives on vice.com/en/article/nn4…
3/. The energy of the #ArabSpring spilled around the world

People were thinking about alternatives

The Occupy Movement attempted to give space to that thinking

Jefferson wrote “A little rebellion is a good thing”

But maybe "a little" isn't quite enough newint.org/features/web-e…
4/. Where did all that energy go?

A poet from #WesternSahara, birthplace of the #ArabSpring(?), writes:

“What have we done with the years, so distant & yet so close?
Did they fall, squandered, between the oblivion of tradition & the thirst of the dunes?”
5/. “In memory of the #ArabSpring, whose energy still fizzes in our hearts”

Bread - Freedom - Social Justice
#Tunisia
#Bahrain
#Egypt
#Libya
#Syria
#Yemen
#ArabSpring10

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More from @StefSimanowitz

18 Dec
In #Turkey, the trial of imprisoned civil society leader Osman Kavala has just started

#Kavala faces absurd & baseless charges

@amnesty calls for his immediate & unconditional release & for all charges against him to be dropped.
#FreeOsmanKavala
amnesty.org/en/latest/news…
#OsmanKavala makes a statement at the opening of his trial in #Turkey.👇

“My ongoing imprisonment based on these strange accusations, so remote from the truth have become a kind of psychological torture. I hope this will be the last indictment of its kind.” #FreeOsmanKavala
“These allegations were made without any concrete evidence that I aimed at overthrowing the government that I knew of these events in advance. Without any material evidence, it was asserted that I had financed Gezi events.”

Summary of #OsmanKavala’s defence to absurd charges.👇 ImageImage
Read 6 tweets
17 Dec
#BREAKING After many years of campaigning, MPs in Denmark have voted to finally recognise that sex without consent is rape

Incredibly, it is only the 12th country in Europe to recognise sex without consent as rape, but the momentum for change is building
amnesty.org/en/latest/news…
This historic day didn't come about by chance

It's the result of years of campaigning by survivors who, by telling their painful stories, helped to ensure that other women don't have to go through what they endured

Kudos to them & my @amnesty colleagues
Sex without consent is rape

It's simple

It’s rape if someone is under the influence of drink or drugs

It's rape if someone has decided to go home with someone or is wearing revealing clothes

It’s rape if someone has not said “no” clearly or fought back amnesty.org/en/latest/camp…
Read 4 tweets
16 Dec
1/. As freezing temperatures hit, we put a clothes rail outside a church with a sign:

IF YOU'RE COLD, TAKE ONE

IF YOU CAN HELP, LEAVE ONE

What happened next was miraculous

The rail filled with warm clothes

Rough sleepers helped themselves

The rail was replenished every day
2/. We'd asked the church & surrounding shops permission to keep the rail there for 2 weeks to see how it went

It ended up staying for 4 months & returned each winter...& the idea spread

#TakeOneLeaveOne rails popped up around the UK, US, Canada & beyond
metro.co.uk/2019/02/07/kin…
3/. The idea came from a Tweet I'd seen in 2017 from a woman who'd set up a rail outside her taco store in Texas

She'd got the idea after seeing a similar concept in Mexico

It shows the power of an idea

A simple idea that is necessary & "sticky" #TOLO
Read 9 tweets
9 Dec
1/. The many emotions of Matt Hancock

REMORSE: @MattHancock realises that the deliberately late lockdown increased the #COVID death toll by at least 20,000 & that the govt’s policy of transferring people from hospitals to care homes without testing also killed tens of thousands
2/. GUILT

Hancock is asked about failures with the contact tracing app, with testing, with providing PPE to frontline NHS staff, with doing checks in airports, with late introduction of masks & why he says he “didn’t know about asymptomatic transmission”!
3/. DISTRESS

@MattHancock is asked why billions of £ of #COVID19 contracts were fast-tracked to unqualified companies (including his neighbour’s) & why companies with links to #CambridgeAnalytica -
#Palantir & #FacultyAI - are running the NHS data store.
Read 6 tweets
7 Dec
“I can see clearly now.” (Johnny Nash, 1972)

A truly great song & stonking video (the best bit comes right at the end) - via @mikewarburton
VIDEO DIRECTOR: I thought we’d shoot in Jamaica. Palm trees, sandy beach, girls in bikinis...

JOHNNY: Let me stop you there. I want horses in stables, ardent forest & a little old lady dressed as a waitress pouring me a cup of tea from a silver tea pot in an English Stately Home
JOHNNY: One other thing. In the middle of the video I want at least 10 seconds of just of the sky

VIDEO DIRECTOR: Just sky?! For 10 seconds?! In the middle of the video

JOHNNY: Yeah. Just blue sky

VD: But Johnny, we're shooting in black & white

JOHNNY: You arguing with me?
Read 4 tweets
5 Dec
1/. Britain prepares to leave the EU on 31 December, with or without a deal. #Brexit #NoDeal #NoDealBrexit #BrexitDeal [Sound on]
2/. Preparations for #Brexit continue at a pace across the country. #Brexit #NoDeal #NoDealBrexit #BrexitDeal
3/. Brexit the Board Game.

Fun for all the family this #Christmas . (video by @ShortList) #Brexit #BestThingsAboutBrexit #BrexitDeal
Read 5 tweets

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