2/. #WorldPressFreedomDay is a day to remember journalists who've been harassed, intimidated, jailed or even killed
32 were killed in 2020
But it’s also a day to take strength
The truth is powerful
It’s why they fear it
It’s why they try to silence it
3/. “The moment we no longer have a free press, anything can happen. What makes it possible for a totalitarian or any other dictatorship to rule is that people are not informed.” (Hannah Arendt)
5/. “We have a free press! The press are free to die”
Whilst countries where journalists are killed or jailed & may top the #WorldPressFreedomDay charts, more sophisticated govts use subtle ways to intimidate
9/. Whilst there's nothing new about a govt trying to control the media, @BorisJohnson's govt has taken it to a new level
They starting as soon as the came to office, but since #COVID19 they have been blatant: boycotting news outlets, failing to provide info or answer questions.
13/. In 2015, Bannon asked #CambridgeAnalytica’s @chrisinsilico to “create a psychological warfare tool that would create division & hollow out democracies”...which is what he did
He also set about creating a network of populist govts, sharing tactics, technology & a wider goal.
16/. In Sept 2020, the UK launched a ten-year strategy, #GenomeUK, which will transform the NHS & put genomics at the heart of the PM’s programme for govt
Incredibly it was launched quietly (on a Saturday!) & received no media coverage
1/. “It is the greatest mass-killing in recorded history; & it goes on daily, hourly, as regularly as the ticking of your watch”
Arthur Koestler’s 1944 essay expressing frustration at the failure of the world to acknowledge Nazi atrocities resonates today wethescreamers.com
2/ “There are a few of us…yelling at you in newspapers…Now & then we reach your ear…But it only lasts a minute. You shake yourself like puppies who’ve got their fur wet; then the screen again descends & you walk on, protected by the dream-barrier which stifles all sound”
#Gaza
3/ Koestler notes maniacs lose contact with reality so “perhaps it’s we, the screamers, who react in a sound & healthy way to the reality which surrounds us, whereas you are the neurotics who totter about in a screened fantasy world because you lack the faculty to face the facts”
“They got me!” Liz Truss tells far-right kingpin, Steve Bannon, before going on to explain that, to have effectively tackled “the deep state” that runs Britain & its institutions, she would have “needed a bigger bazooka”! #LizTruss #BritanniaUnchained
"I was just saying it like it is & that’s what people respect me for"(!)
Liz Truss’ compares her premiership to a one night stand & says she was just “fattening the pig” for slaughter & that she should have gaslit the public like Rishi Sunak is doing (!)
"I faced the most almighty backlash...from the usual suspects in the media” Liz Truss
“Truss's decline is simultaneously tragic & horrifying but the claim that the media conspired against her can't go unchallenged. There are front pages praising her to the rafters” @mrjamesob
As the 2nd module of the #CovidInquiry begins covering “core UK decision-making & political governance”, comes news that Rishi Sunak - like Boris Johnson - has also fail to fully comply with the order to hand his WhatsApp messages
“The govt needs get professional IT experts to recover these messages”
Charles Persinger who lost his wife & mother to #COVID, echoes the call of @CovidJusticeUK’s lawyers calling on the @covidinquiryuk to commission experts to retrieve Sunak & Johnson’s ‘lost’ WhatsApp messages
Twitter's new privacy policy takes effect on 29 September
It gives X the right to use your posts - including DMs - & all your data - including phone, email, biometrics (e.g. face scans & eye scans) to train their AI & to share with any partner X wants👇 twitter.com/en/privacy
“I do not accept that Twitter has deteriorated in any way since Elon Musk took over”
A week before Twitter’s change in privacy policy, some questions for @elonmusk
1. What biometric information will be collected & what are the intended uses?
How will X ensure that that the data of X’s 530 million users isn’t used for unlawful purposes? mashable.com/article/x-twit…
1/. “I am often asked why the UK doesn’t have a successful far-right populist party. My answer is: because it doesn’t need to” @julie_renbe
Far-right politics are becoming mainstreamed in:
Italy
Finland
Sweden
Greece
France
Hungary
Poland
Germany
Spain
UK theguardian.com/books/2023/jul…
2/. The far right is being increasingly mainstreamed in both European & US politics
Last October, Giorgia Meloni - head of the Brothers of Italy party, which has historical roots in the post-war neo-fascist Italian Social Movement - won Italy’s election nytimes.com/2023/07/31/pod…