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Apr 2 • 8 tweets • 6 min read
1/. Tomorrow, voters in #Hungary will go to the polls

#Orban, who installed what he calls “illiberal democracy” is running for his fifth term

He controls public television

His allies dominate private media

Voters are inundated with pro-Orban coverage
google.co.uk/amp/s/www.nyti…
2/. Ahead of the European elections, virtually all Hungary's newspapers ran the same front page Orban interview

Research found that 77% of political & public affairs media is financed by sources decided by ruling Fidesz party

These tactics are part of the authoritarian playbook Image
3/. Fascism experts like @TimothyDSnyder, believe politicians around the world are reviving century-old fascist tactics

They use populist rhetoric to stir-up divisions & harness the power of tech, big data & social media to win power & reshape narratives.
4/. Many far-right nationalists are actually trans-nationalists

Here @PeterKGeoghegan explains how the far right are connected globally & how huge sums of dark money, advanced tech & a network of demagogues, are shaping the world in truly terrifying ways
5/. In 2015, Bannon asked #CambridgeAnalytica’s @chrisinsilico to build a “psychological warfare tool” to hollow out democracies & rive open divisions

We’re seeing this happening globally, with culture wars & hatreds stirred-up, sometimes by a hidden hand
6/. “It’s as if the Age of Reason - the era of evidential argument - is ending & knowledge is delegitimized & scientific consensus is dismissed.

Democracy, which depends on shared truths, is in retreat, & autocracy, which depends on shared lies, is on the march.”@SachaBaronCohen
7/. Fascists today don’t need jackboots

Fascism isn’t a form of govt

It’s a collection of tactics used to convince people to surrender their freedom by handing over power

Freedom is fascism’s victim

Freedom to question
Freedom to choose
8/. In 1996 Carl Sagan warned:

“We’ve arranged a society based on science & technology, in which nobody understands anything about science & technology. This combustible mixture of ignorance & power, sooner or later, is going to blow up in our faces”

I’m afraid that time is now

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More from @StefSimanowitz

Stefan Simanowitz Profile picture
Apr 3
#Hungary’s Orban - with his anti-Western, ultra-conservative, anti-LGBTQ worldview - made no secret of his closeness to Putin

Indeed, Russia is one of his role models

But following the #Ukraine️ invasion, will this be his undoing in today’s elections?
cnn.com/2022/04/02/eur… Image
“We don't want #Hungary to be a diverse country. We want to be how we were 1,100 years ago”

#Orban said this in 2019, harking back with nostalgia to that golden era...known as the Dark Ages!

Like other populists, stoking culture war has been a key tactic
In 2017, Bannon invited Farage to help to create a global network of ‘populist nationalists’

He mentions Modi, Orban, Sisi, & Duterte but Trump, Bolsanaro, & @BorisJohnson were no doubt in his mind

Could an #Orban defeat mark the start of the fight back?
Read 6 tweets
Stefan Simanowitz Profile picture
Mar 23
Incredible optical illusion!

When you zoom in, you realise that these black horses are actually the shadows of Zebras

The photo by Beverly Joubert - taken above the shallow waters of the Makgadikgadi Pan, a salt pan Botswana - won @NatGeo’s Wildlife Photo of the Year in 2018.
This photo of camels in the deserts of Oman creates a similar optical illusion

Taken from a motorized paraglider by photographer George Steinmetz in 2005, the illusion works because the sun in very low, casting a long shadow.
And here👇a family of elephants cast long shadows across a dry floodplain as they head towards the waters of a nearby river in Zambia

Their shadows are clearer than the animals themselves, who seem to blend into the sand below them

(Pic by wildlife photographer, Marc Mol, 2014)
Read 5 tweets
Stefan Simanowitz Profile picture
Feb 18
1/. In the face of authoritarian rule, what can you to do?

Some will join the oppressors

Others will keep their heads down, hoping the horrors will pass

A brave few will choose the path of resistance

Libertas Haas-Heye & Harro Schulze-Boysen count amongst those courageous few Image
2/. There are a handful of well-known Germans who tried to stop Hitler

Claus von Stauffenberg’s attempt to blow up Hitler

Georg Elser, the lone wolf who tried to assassinate the führer

Sophie Scholl, executed for handing out leaflets

But Harro & Libertas are less well known ImageImageImageImage
3/. Harro & Libertas were a young couple at the heart of the largest German resistance group ever to oppose Hitler

He worked in the intelligence service of the Reich Air Ministry

She was a family friend of Hermann Göring

They risked everything...but they were doomed to fail Image
Read 11 tweets
Stefan Simanowitz Profile picture
Feb 14
1/. Do you remember what you did #ValentinesDay 2020?

Prof Ferguson was warning that 400,000 Briton’s could die

Minutes from NERVTAG’s 21 Feb meeting, reveal govt scientific advisors estimated that, without action, deaths could top 1.3 million

No action was taken for a month
2/. Meanwhile, @BorisJohnson & @carriesymonds, went to stay in Chevening country house...for 12 days!

The govt claim this was a ‘working holiday’ but @JCalvertST reported that “aides were told to cut down documents or the PM just wouldn't read them”. #ValentinesDay #valentines
3/. During these 12 days in the countryside, the PM - who admitted he doesn’t read the scientific papers - missed two COBRA meetings

Instead of planning for the impact of #COVID19 he was trying to finalise his divorce

When he came back to London, the PM was winging it as usual
Read 6 tweets
Stefan Simanowitz Profile picture
Feb 12
“If you’re cold, take one
If you can help, leave one.”

Brighton’s #TakeOneLeaveOne rail is on the corner of Ship St & North Rd

If you’re in need of warm clothes, come down & help yourself

If you can help, drop off some warm clothes

They also need volunteers

See #TOLOBrighton
“This is a brilliant thing!”

Music legend @guypratt who had played with the likes of @pinkfloyd @davidgilmour @Madonna @IggyPop @bryanferry @Icehouseband @nickmasondrums etc, came down to the Brighton #TakeOneLeaveOne rail today to drop off some warm clothes for those in need.
To set up a #TakeOneLeaveOne rail where you are:

1. Get a rail

2. Find good location (ideally covered)

3. Get permission of locals/shopkeepers

4. Make a sign, ask us for a free one or order one 4 £30

5. Hang up warm clothes @BoyGeorge @MassiveAttackUK
Read 4 tweets
Stefan Simanowitz Profile picture
Feb 10
1/. The biggest story I ever “broke” (coverage-wise) was a piece about Malawi’s plan to ban farting in public

I was researching an article about homophobia in Africa & stumbled on the story in the @NyasaTimess

I wrote it up for a tabloid & it went global
2/. The story I wrote for the @DailyMailUK - I was a freelancer...don’t judge me - was packed with fart gags: “The winds of change blowing through Africa” etc

The next day @DailyMirror picked it up

By the end of the week, it was the top story on the BBC website & was EVERYWHERE ImageImageImageImage
3/. A week after the story ‘broke’ I was guest on Bluff The Listener - a radio show on @NPR

Broadcast to 30 million listeners, it’s a bit like BBC’s ‘Would I Lie To You’ (@WILTY_TV) where guests have to work out the fake story

None of them got it right👇
npr.org/2011/02/05/133… Image
Read 7 tweets

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