1/ #LiveFromTheWhiteHouse

“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. Image
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 ImageImageImageImage
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.” ImageImageImageImage
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. Image

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More from @StefSimanowitz

8 Jan
David Bowie was born 74yrs ago today & died almost exactly 5yrs ago

Six days after his death, we organised an unofficial wake fror #Bowie.

900 people filled the Union Chapel for a 5 hour gig

More than 100 musicians & bands performed 33 #DavidBowie songs
Each performer or band played one #Bowie song

There were a number of highlights, but this version of Sweet Thing by @davidmcalmont, accompanied by @cliffordslapper on the piano, was a spine-tingling.

Watch the full version on @YouTube
I booked the venue on Monday

The press release went out Tuesday

On Wednesday, we sold out tickets (£3 each) in 35 minutes!

The gig was in four days & we had NO acts. NO team

But they’d come

For the love of #Bowie, they’d come

See @guypratt & The Egg
Read 23 tweets
6 Jan
The Capitol Building has been stormed by an angry crowd, some armed with automatic weapons

Trump protestors are inside the building

Everyone is being evacuated, including @Mike_Pence

There have been pipe bomb threats & gunshots

What have those behind #Trump done to America? ImageImageImageImage
How Fascism Works:
1. Establish mythic past (“Return to greatness”);

2. Sow division (fear/envy/mistrust/use minorities as scapegoats);

3. Attack the truth (lie, distort, deny, & create “alt” reality);

4. Dismantle democracy...in the name of democracy
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
Read 5 tweets
6 Jan
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.

@amnesty’s message to #UK regarding bail hearing is clear “#FreeAssange”.
#Assange amnesty.org/en/latest/news…
Read 10 tweets
5 Jan
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.

@piersmorgan last July👇
The PM, #BorisJohnson, also says at the start of his answer👆
“Just to repeat, schools are safe” on the same day he just introduced a new #lockdown & shut down schools because they’re not safe.
#Lockdown3 #schoolclosures #COVID19 #coronavirus #HerdImmunityScandal #covidbriefing
#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 trouble is that we can ALL tell

Is the #BumblingStrategy really govt policy?
Read 8 tweets
4 Jan
1/. COUNTDOWN TO JUSTICE/INJUSTICE - 10HRS

“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 Image
2/. 9HRS - "#Assange, is at glaring risk that he would be put into a maximum-security prison & subjected to Special Administrative Measures"

"If the decision comes to extradite him, we'll come out very strongly against it" @JuliaHall18 @amnesty @AJEnglish
aljazeera.com/news/2021/1/3/…
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

But before people can care, they need to know what's at stake
nytimes.com/2021/01/03/wor…
Read 20 tweets
3 Jan
1/. “The more you refuse to hear my voice
The louder I will sing
You hide behind walls of Jericho
Your lies will come tumbling”

Two things human rights abusers around the world should know:

1. We’re onto you

2. “That which has hardened will never win”.
2/. The thing is, as they sit in their mansions surrounded by fences & flunkies, they already know - deep in their souls - that they have already lost

The “that which has hardened will never win” line is from Andrei Tarkovsky👇& it is a good one to remember in darker times.
3/. “Because what has hardened will never win” is the last line.

Note, it is “will never win” not “can never win” or “may never win”

It is especially important if you are:

1. one of the good people filled with despair

2. one of the bad people filled with arrogance & fear.
Read 4 tweets

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