"As indispensable to confronting, say, your domineering mother-in-law or your local city council as it is to helping foment an ongoing & ever-escalating insurrection against, say, a sexist, racist, nepotistic power-mad oligarchy threatening to destroy democracy as we know it..."
A guerrilla guide to radical protest and joyful political resistance from artist, activist and Pussy Riot founder Nadya Tolokonnikova, founding member of Pussy Riot, creative activist, professional protestor, brazen feminist, & shocking visual artist.
Nadya's spontaneous, explosive approach to political action has involved jumping over barbed wire, kissing police officers, giving guerilla performances in crowded subway cars, and going on a hunger strike to protest the abuse of prisoners.
She's been horse-whipped by police, temporarily blinded when officers threw paint in her eyes, & monitored by the Russian Govt. But what made Nadya an activist icon happened on February 21, 2012, when she was arrested for performing an anti-Putin protest song in a Moscow church.
Nadya was sent to a Russian prison for 18 months & emerged as an international symbol of radical resistance, as calls to "Free Pussy Riot" resounded around the world.
Nadya has become an emissary of hope & optimism despite overwhelming & ugly political corruption.
Read & Riot is structured around Nadya's ten rules for revolution (eg Make your government shit its pants! Take back the joy!) & illustrated throughout with stunning examples from her extraordinary life & the philosophies of other revolutionary rebels throughout history.
Rooted in action and going beyond the typical "call your senator" guidelines, Read & Riot gives us a refreshing model for civil disobedience, and encourages our right to question every status quo and make political action exciting--even joyful.
If not now, when?
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What are we to make of Boris Johnson's continuing support, both from most Tory MPs & the wider right-wing, given his relentless denial of reality, & almost daily demonstrable lies?
Why are @Conservatives more susceptible to believing lies?
The Left aren't immune to believing lies, but the evidence seems conclusive: people on the Right are more prone to believing lies than people on the Left.
Why?
It may be that conservatives & liberals seem to hold different beliefs about what constitutes “truth.”
Finding facts, pursuing evidence & trusting science is basic liberal ideology. For many (especially US) conservatives, faith & intuition appear as equally valid sources of truth. Fairness & kindness come lower on the list of moral priorities for conservatives than for liberals.
Here's Lucy amplifying the doctored far-right video of Keir Starmer.
Britain First's Paul Golding said to anyone 'harassing' JRM: “We will find out where you live. We will find out where you work. We will find out where you study & we will come down on you like a ton of bricks.”
Allan was one of three Tory MPs who shared the doctored video: Nadine Dorries deleted the Tweet without explanation; Maria Caulfield deleted her entire account; Lucy Allan deleted it but chose not to apologise & to double-down on the general point while not naming Starmer again.
Instead of apologising like any sane person would for sharing a doctored video from a far-right account, she said: "There was a total failure by the authorities to understand #cse#grooming, a dismissive attitude towards victims, & a belief that victims brought it on themselves."
A quick #THREAD on some of the accusations Boris Johnson threw at Jeremy Corbyn, before Johnson recycled the Jimmy Savile smears about Keir Starmer, originally made in a dictored far-right video which was RTd & amplified by Nadine Dorries & other Tory MPs.
In 2011 40,000 English socially rented homes were built. By 2017, just 5,900 social housing homes were completed - the smallest proportion ever. In England in 2019, just 37,825 new homes were built for letting at discounted rents. The waiting list is over 1.1 million households.
The 1980 Housing Act gave five million council house tenants in England & Wales the Right to Buy.
Gerald Kaufman said the Act would "not provide a single new home & [would] deprive many homeless people or families living in tower blocks from getting suitable accommodation".
Hollinrake co-founded estate agents Hunters in 1992. The had over 150 branches by 2015. In January 2016, he was one of 72 MPs who voted down an amendment in Parliament on rental homes being "fit for human habitation" who were themselves landlords who derived income from property.
In 2020 Hollinrake became one of four Vice-Chairs of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Whistleblowing.
This group has been subject to criticism by some campaigners on whistleblowing law reform.