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15 Mar, 6 tweets, 5 min read
US Libertarian billionaires pay #Spiked to divide UK society.

The irresponsible cranks at Spiked pretend they're for "greater freedom & democracy", but NOT ONCE have they mentioned the anti-freedom & anti-democracy 'Police, Crime, Sentencing & Courts Bill'.

#PoliceCrackdownBill
Like #Breitbart, EVERY DAY they puke out divisive 'culture war' stories about 'dangerous cultural Marxists', 'the death of free speech', or how 'anti-racists are the REAL racists'.

It's pathetic & relentless. & it is paid simply to #divide voters, & thus help their rich funders.
A 2018 investigation revealed #Spiked received at least $300,000 between 2015 & 2018 from the Koch brothers — the right-wing libertarian US oil billionaires who have been at the heart of climate change denial in the USA.

#Spiked ARE 'the thought police'.

desmog.co.uk/2018/12/04/spi…
Dark money is among the greatest current threats to #democracy. Billionaires' dark money is spent below the public radar, & seeks to change political outcomes.

It enables very rich people & corporations to influence politics without showing their hands.

theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
The Kochs have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into a network of academic departments, thinktanks, journals & movements. They have been remarkably successful.

The influence of US Libertarian billionaires gave us Trump & Brexit, & since Biden won, their focus is Britain.
A handful of grotesquely wealthy sociopathic bastards hoard at least $30 TRILLION offshore, untaxed, funding nefarious media influence & driving climate change, while workers everywhere are ruthlessly exploited & forced to work in low-paid insecure jobs.

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More from @docrussjackson

GET A GRIP 💙 Profile picture
15 Mar
THREAD

Hitler won mass support because a major economic crisis had driven Germany into a deep depression: Banks crashed, businesses folded, & millions lost their jobs.

Hitler offered voters a vision of a better future - 'sunlit uplands', you might say.

thenation.com/article/archiv…
The poorest people in Germany voted for Hitler's opponents, notably the Communists & the moderate left-wing Social Democrats, but the lower-middle classes, the bourgeoisie, the unorganized workers, the rural masses, and the older traditionalists all gave their votes to Hitler.
Whereas other politicians seemed to dither or act as mere administrators, Hitler projected purpose & dynamism.

He proved a master at denouncing conventions & manipulating the media. He issued an endless stream of #slogans, & hammered them home to win potential supporters over.
Read 28 tweets
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14 Mar
The 1833 #Slavery Abolition Act outlawed slavery in most of the British empire & included 'slave compensation'. The Govt loaned the equivalent of £300bn, which went exclusively to slave-owners.

Not one penny has ever gone to slaves or their descendants.

theguardian.com/news/2018/mar/…
To compensate the slave owners, the British Govt loaned from Nathan Mayer Rothschild - said to be the richest man on earth - £15 million (£1.43 billion today) with interest, which was finally paid off by British taxpayers in 2015.

Rothschild was a claimant under the scheme.
Eventually, in 2006, The Church of England voted to apologise to descendants of victims of the slave trade.

At the time, Rev Simon Bessant, described the Church's involvement in the trade, saying: "We were at the heart of it."

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/469489…
Read 21 tweets
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13 Mar
Priti Patel is responsible for this.

She's also pushing through the 'Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill', which will allow the police to arrest people for peaceful protest.

The @Conservatives' anti-democratic, outdated & brutal authoritarianism continues apace.

#Resign
Tonight's events at the vigil remind me of the time the @Conservatives' Mark field took the law into his own hands & manhandled a @Greenpeace protester. The City of London Police reviewed the events & declared that it would be taking no further action.

And shortly before that, in 2019, Mark Field - who had an affair with Liz Truss - grabbed Jeremy Hunt’s wife by the head and according to the Daily Mail, "kissed her like a vampire".

dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7…
Read 15 tweets
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13 Mar
Another ESSENTIAL listen from @gaslitnation.

The parallels with the UK - also reeling from forty years of #neoliberalism - are uncanny, & very concerning.

A Govt of corrupt millionaire bankers & lobbyists dividing voters & representing the interests of the grotesquely wealthy.
'We shouldn't have an economy & a democracy dependent on oligarchs being benevolent... countries that have strong social safety nets also have high levels of happiness, they have high levels of education (because university & HE are free), & they have low levels of corruption.'
'We need to push for greater equality & fairness in our economy, because it translates to greater equality & fairness in our democracy. America is a far-right country - we have our systems so skewed towards benefiting a minority slave-owning, property-owning class'.
Read 7 tweets
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13 Mar
Labour voters tend to feel more strongly about fairness, public services, & the need for collective action to tackle Britain’s problems.

They tend to be more liberal on gender & race equality & gay rights, are less hostile to Europe & to immigrants, & want a more equal society.
Tory voters tend to feel more strongly about the private sector, entrepreneurialism, crime & punishment, and taking individual rather than collective responsibility.

They tend to be less liberal on gender & race equality & gay rights & are more hostile to Europe & to immigrants.
In 2011, asked to pick the proudest year in Britain’s history, most @UKLabour voters’ chose 1948, the year the #NHS was founded; among @Conservatives it was 1940, the year when Britain stood alone against Hitler.

Voting intention is now much more to do with values than class.
Read 4 tweets
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12 Mar
THREAD on Cory Wimberly's book, 'How #Propaganda Became Public Relations'.

Imho, his book contains new & useful insights into why progressives have failed to progress democracy in meaningful ways, & reconceptualizes 'corporate propaganda' to help us forge new approaches.
To start, a few quotes from two of the 'founding fathers' of public relations:

“The significant revolution of modern times is not industrial or economic or political, but the revolution which is taking place in the art of creating consent among the governed".

- Walter Lippmann
“The basic elements of human nature are fixed as to desires and instincts and innate tendencies. The directions, however, in which these basic elements may be turned by skillful handling are infinite.”

- Edward Bernays
Read 33 tweets

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