“Alone in his decaying pleasure palace, Charles Foster Kane continued to direct his falling empire…vainly attempting to sway, as he once did, the destinies of a nation that has ceased to listen to him." (Citizen Kane) #Trump
2/. Citizen Kane should be viewed as it was intended: as a warning from history
In 1933 Herman Mankiewicz, who co-wrote the screenplay for Citizen Kane, wrote a screenplay about Hitler
The Mad Dog of Europe predicted a future genocide, but was never made
3/. “Farewell to the arts, to eloquence.” (Mary Shelley)
We naturally turn to science for solutions to #COVID19, but the arts shouldn't be ignored
Art & literature not only help us make sense of the world & our responses to it, but can also help uncover truths & offer warnings.
4/. In his 1722 “A Journal of the Plague Year” about the bubonic plague, Daniel Defoe writes how the govt tried “to suppress the printing of such books as terrify’d the people."
Beyond familiar literary dystopias (Oceania, World State, Gilead etc), lessons are buried everywhere.
5/ “Our civilization has chosen machinery, medicine & happiness. That's why I have to keep these books locked up in the safe"
In Brave New World, literature/Shakespeare is locked away
Huxley was using an imagined future to write about the present & was also sending us a message
6/. Camus, writes allegorically in 1947:
“The plague bacillus never dies or disappears for good: it can lie dormant for years…& perhaps the day will come when, for the bane and the enlightening of men, it will rouse up its rats again & send them forth to die in a happy city.”
7/. When the Nazi’s came to power in 1933, John Heartfield was 5th on their most wanted list
He escaped & continued to use political photomontage as a weapon to expose propaganda, make lies obvious & strip fascists of their masks
He is as relevant today.
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There were a number of highlights, but this version of Sweet Thing by @davidmcalmont, accompanied by @cliffordslapper on the piano, was a spine-tingling.
The scenes on Capitol Hill are the latest - most shocking -proof of what will happen when anger & division are deliberately & incessantly stoked for years on end
Step 2: Sow division
With Trump in US & Brexit in UK, a genie has been let out of the bottle
1/. At 10am, a London court will assess #JulianAssange’s bail application days after they blocked his extradition to US
Whilst the charges that he still faces cast a dark shadow over journalism, his release on bail would be a ray of hope for #Assange.
2/. “The threat to press freedom is maintained.”
Chomsky speaking ystdy, points out that the decision to refuse #JuliaAssange’s extradition on medical grounds whilst accepting the frivolous charges against him, is a “perfect outcome” for US govt. #Assange
3/. Amnesty Intn’l supports #JulianAssange's bail application based on his right not to be arbitrarily detained, his right to health & his right to private & family life.
JOURNALIST: Why, after 10 months, are there still no checks at airports?
@BorisJohnson: Um...er...We will be bringing in measures to...um...er...to ensure that we...err...test people coming into this country & prevent the virus...er...being re-admitted.
#BorisJohnson makes clear his strategy is sometimes to PRETEND not to know what's going on so that when he ACTUALLY doesn’t know, people won’t be able to tell the difference
“The activities that #JulianAssange engaged in are activities that journalists engage in all the time. We wouldn’t have information without them” @JuliaHall18@amnesty
#Assange will hear the verdict on his extradition to the US today
3/. 8HRS - It's staggering little most people know about the #Assange case & it's importance for the protection of those who publish leaked/classified information that is in the public interest