Thread by @StefSimanowitz

“This is a report produced by a govt that would rather belittle the realities of institutional racism in this country than take steps to address it”

Truth bombs being dropped by @RunnymedeTrust’s
@kapoor_alba to @CliveMyrieBBC @bbc5live re #RacismReport

https://twitter.com/stefsimanowitz/status/1270393412823535616

“The problem has been diagnosed, it has been given a name: it’s called institutional racism.”

More truth bombs on the #RacismReport, this time from
@BellRibeiroAddy

She tells @katierazz on #Newsnight “the denial of its existence is a complete whitewash”

This report into institutional racism - run by Tony Sewell who, 15 years ago, said he doesn't believe in #institutionalracism was designed to demoralise

Don’t be demoralised

These are their tactics

Tactics designed to get you to switch off the news & apply for an allotment.

The #RacismReport & the govt’s wider response to the #BLM movement is part of their wider ‘culture war’

They wrap themselves in flags (metaphorically & literally), pushing populist buttons & dismissing anti-racists, feminists, environmentalists& anti-fascists as “woke” or “SJWs”

https://twitter.com/stefsimanowitz/status/1377574097392132102

A fear is that they’re using micro-targeting to deliberately stir & steer the outrage

The tools developed by #CambridgeAnalytica & #Palantir for their right-wing paymasters, didn’t magically disappear

6 years on, these tools are in the same hands & may be far more sophisticated

https://twitter.com/stefsimanowitz/status/1377175337428078598

In 2019, #CambridgeAnalytica whistleblower, @chrisinsilico described how he built a “psychological warfare tool” for Steve Bannon, designed to use big data & social media to drive open cracks in societies & hollow out democracies

It seems as if it worked

“Britain became afflicted by a fever dream of nationalism: the biggest lie of all

Nationalism says:

We’re better off on our own

We’re better than them

We should be competitors with everyone

Our only motivations are greed & self-interest.” @umairh

But none of that is true👇

https://twitter.com/StefSimanowitz/status/1369905796449001474

#CambridgeAnalytica were rptdly taught about data-scraping by #Palantir, a company set-up with CIA funding by #PeterThiel, the PayPal billionaire with an interest in genomics & rprtd associations with the far-right

Palantir run our #COVID19 Data Store!

#Palantir not only run the NHS COVID digital platform but do the same in the US & dozens of countries around the world

“We could close our eyes & pretend Palantir is a rights-respecting company or we can call this façade what it is: a company placing profit over people.” Amnesty

https://twitter.com/stefsimanowitz/status/1330489040387366914

How Fascism Works:

1. Establish mythic past (a “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

Sound familiar? THREAD👇

https://twitter.com/stefsimanowitz/status/1299717959749902336

“The trouble with culture wars is that the entry requirements are so low but the stakes are so high.

Whether you play with this box of matches because it’s cheaper than real policies, or because it ‘energises your base’, it always ends badly.”@MarinaHyde
theguardian.com/commentisfree/…