On some things, it's like Brexit never happened…

Johnson & von der Leyen have the same policy of blocking wider vaccine production globally to boost pharma monopoly profits, prolonging the pandemic.

☠️ more death

☠️ more suffering

☠️ more time for new variants to emerge
I think the fact that they both have the same deadly policy has made the push to end this madness more difficult.
People in the UK & EU got so entrenched in positions of "hoorah for brexit Britain" or "the EU is the sane one here" that neither side would ever want to admit that both the UK & the EU can be wrong - that they can both have the same deadly policy.
And, simply, people are more reluctant to criticise their "team".
The vaccine nationalism we've seen in pandemic response often played on these themes & entrenched them… "Look at how much better we're doing than them!"

Meanwhile, both sides forgot we're dealing with a global pandemic & a virus that doesn't care if you're pro- or anti-brexit.
Over 320 experts have called on the UK government to stop blocking the #TRIPSwaiver on intellectual property rules on vaccines & other meds, so that developing countries can manufacture their own.

Also applies to EU, which is also blocking it.

bbc.com/news/health-60…

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More from @astroehlein

Jan 28
The @EU_Commission has been keeping its dealings with pharma monopolies secret to try to hide the fact that they are prioritising pharma profits over the needs of humanity: literally blocking wider vaccine production globally to restrict supply during a global pandemic.
The arrogance of the @EU_commission in trying to hide what it's doing is bad.

What it's trying to hide is even worse...
For nearly 16 months, the EU has been blocking & delaying wider vaccine production globally by obstructing the #TRIPSwaiver, a proposal to temporarily lift some intellectual property rules on vaccines & other health products.
Read 17 tweets
Jan 27
The EU’s landmark anti-deforestation draft law will be working its way through the EU Parliament & member states in the coming months, but the proposal contains a crucial flaw: it doesn’t compel businesses to uphold international standards in regard to land rights.

🧵
The EU's draft regulation on deforestation-free products proposes to restrict imports of key agricultural commodities – cattle, cocoa, coffee, oil palm, soy, and wood – grown on land that was deforested after 2020.

Sounds good, but...
The EU draft does not place restrictions on commodities linked to rights violations as defined by international standards.
Read 11 tweets
Jan 27
Today is #HolocaustRemembranceDay - held on the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Take time to reflect & learn from experts like @AuschwitzMuseum & @holocaustmuseum.

#NeverForget is not a passive idea; it is an active call to defend our rights every day.
Genocides do not begin with mass murder. That's where they end up.

Genocides & other mass atrocity crimes begin with words - specifically, with powerful people dehumanizing a powerless minority.

Once they are seen as less than human, anything is possible, even mass murder.
Today, we see political leaders do this in many countries, telling crowds that their problems are the fault of some minority group - migrants, LGBT people, an ethnic group...

We have to call out this dangerous scapegoating for what it is, to stop things at their very first step
Read 5 tweets
Jan 26
#Poland's year of fear: Who will die next in abortion crackdown?

Urszula Grycuk of @federapl in @euobs today.

euobserver.com/opinion/154191
One year after the ruling by #Poland’s discredited Constitutional Tribunal banning access to abortion in almost all circumstances took effect, it has had a devastating impact on the lives of women.

Read more: hrw.org/news/2022/01/2…
Since the ruling took effect on 27 January 2021, more than 1,000 women have turned to the European Court of Human Rights in an effort to vindicate their rights, challenging #Poland’s highly restrictive abortion law and seeking justice.
Read 8 tweets
Jan 26
Twitter Poll:

WHY is the EU blocking wider vaccine production of vaccines globally & thus prolonging the pandemic for everyone?

WHY are they subjecting the world to more death & suffering and giving the virus more time to create new variants?
Background reading threads on all three:

Profits over humanity:

Millions will die for a few new football pitches in Mainz, Germany:

Neocolonialism:
Welcome to our future, thanks to the EU, UK and Switzerland, which continue to throttle vaccine production globally by obstructing the #TRIPSwaiver at the WTO.
Read 9 tweets
Jan 25
If you still think that vaccine donations are going to reach in time the billions of people in poorer countries who haven't had one dose yet, and thus end the global pandemic for all of us, you are either living on another planet, or you're hoodwinked by the EU Commission's lies.
The most powerful line from this report may be this:

"We were misled – down the garden path – we got to December believing the world was coming together around vaccines, not knowing that we got corralled into a little corner while others run off and secure the supplies."
Report: "...there is a more insidious consequence of the overreliance on donations: it reinforces neo-colonial power dynamics & an outdated charity model, leaving low-income countries’ ability to vaccinate their populations dependent on the 'generosity' of wealthy countries."
Read 5 tweets

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