1/. My friend, #EricLevy - an true activist & tireless campaigner for human rights - died today aged 93

I met Eric 19yrs ago when he signed up to be a human shield to try & stop the illegal invasion of Iraq

One of the most courageous people I know, I asked him about courage👇
2/. “I hate to see the evening sun go down”

While talking about courage, #EricLevy - who was active in the US Civil Rights movement told me how activists had surrounded activist & singer, Paul Robeson, to shield him from possible white supremacist snipers
3/. "We may have failed to stop the invasion, but by putting ourselves in harm’s way, we sent a clear message to the world"

#EricLevy was one of only about 80 human shields who stayed in Baghdad throughout the #IraqWar

10 years later, I interviewed him
vice.com/en/article/kw5…
4/. Over the decades, I’d often bump into #EricLevy in Camden where he lived or at demonstrations for social justice

After #JulianAssange was jailed, Eric was always at protests outside Belmarsh or the Old Bailey or the High Court, demanding his release
5/. “Sooner or later truth will prevail”

Last year, Eric was arrested outside an extradition hearing for #JulianAssange, but #Assange was just one of many injustices he fought against in his long life

I once asked him how it was that he remained so positive

This👇was his reply
6/. “I’ll say it again & keep saying it ‘til I’m dead”

Tarkovsky says: “Hardness & strength are death's companions. Pliancy & weakness are expressions of the freshness of being. Because what has hardened will never win”

Eric never hardened

He never became despondent or cynical
7/. “You call us courageous, but we are only doing what we have to do. We have no more choice in doing what we do than the sun has choice to rise each day...Perhaps that’s what courage is” (Emerson Warner)

I’d like to write an obituary for #EricLevy

If you knew him please DM me

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More from @StefSimanowitz

Jul 19
1/. Around the world - from Russia to Sri Lanka, France to Senegal, Iran to Nicaragua - our right to protest is under attack

In the UK the introduction of the #PolicingBill has shown how swiftly hard fought freedoms can be stripped away
#ProtectTheProtest
2/. Q: How did these unarmed women in Belarus strike fear into a bunch of secret policemen?

A: They pulled off their balaclavas

LESSON: Tyranny thrives in secrecy

By coming together, we can strip off the masks & reveal the truth

It’s what they fear
3/. “Our deepest fear isn’t that we are weak. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure”

I’ve been privileged to be part of movements that have harnessed the power of protest

In South Africa, the protest could made the country ungovernable
Read 4 tweets
Jul 17
The #LebedevScandal “is beginning to seem as if it could – & should – become the defining legacy of @BorisJohnson’s premiership” @carolecadwalla

It is “of another order to Wallpapergate or Partygate or the Chris Pincher scandal” #Lebedev #BorisJohnson theguardian.com/politics/2022/…
In 2019, during the investigation into Russian collusion in the US election/#Trump victory, @DevinNunes told Mueller

“What we’re trying to figure out here is if our Nato allies or @BorisJohnson has been compromised

The photo is of Johnson & Joseph Mifsud
From the start, Russia has always been in the corner of this diagram mapping my investigation of a #DataGrab for population-wide genomic data👇

Russian interference in the 2016 #Trump election & #Brexit vote made perfect sense

The #RussiaReport suggested M16 chose to look away
Read 4 tweets
Jul 13
1/. “No one should be prosecuted for showing compassion. Not me. Not anyone”

Tmw, Justyna Wydrzyńsk will be in court in Poland facing 3 years in jail for providing abortion pills to a victim of domestic violence

@amnestyPL/@amnesty will be at the court
amnesty.org/en/latest/news…
2/. “The trial of Justyna Wydrzyńska comes at a time when the threat to abortion rights has been brought into sharp focus by the #SCOTUS decision to overturn #RoeVsWade. It’s a reminder that our rights can’t be taken for granted” @amnesty’s @AgnesCallamard
3/. The trial of Justyna Wydrzyńska
Is about to resume

“Anything less than all charges against being immediately dropped would set a dangerous precedent in Poland. It will also send a chilling message to other govts seeking to curtail the activities of abortion rights activists”
Read 6 tweets
Jul 12
1/, More than 54 detainees & unarmed men were killed by British troops in Afghanistan by ONE UNIT in ONE SIX MONTH TOUR in 2010, according to newly obtained military reports & an investigation by the BBC.

H/T @BBCPanorama
#Afghanistan #HumanRights
bbc.co.uk/news/uk-620831…
2/. Panorama’s investigation includes eyewitness testimony & documented evidence of claims being kept from military police

The MOD have responded saying that they believe @BBCPanorama “jumps to unjustified conclusions from allegations that have already been fully investigated” ImageImage
3/. “The BBC’s findings are horrifying, and clearly depict an alarming level of impunity and lack of accountability of UK troops who operated in Afghanistan. @amnesty demands an effective & transparent investigation into the allegations” @BBCPanorama
amnesty.org/en/latest/news…
Read 4 tweets
Jul 11
1/. Last month, @amnesty’s Secretary General @AgnesCallamard declared the #Gezi7 “prisoners of conscience”

Today the ECHR condemned #Turkey for failing to implement the Court’s 2019 ruling demanding #OsmanKavala’s release

#Kavala is one of the Gezi 7
2/. “This ruling shames Turkey’s authorities & lays bare yet again the failure of the govt to abide by a binding obligation. If Turkey persists in its stubborn refusal to release #OsmanKavala, it will further debase itself as a founding member of the @COEamnesty.org/en/latest/news…
3/. “Each day the #Gezi7 spend behind bars is an affront to the concept of justice & human rights — principles the Turkish state has committed itself to upholding but repeatedly & relentlessly violates,” @AgnesCallamard
#FreeTheGezi7 #Turkey #OsmanKavala
Read 4 tweets
Jul 7
1/. “I’m not really bumbling. I’m as hard as nails”

In this interview, #BorisJohnson shows that the “bumbling Boris” character is just that: a character

“My approach to politics & human nature is that you can make a good case for anything” #BorisResigns
2/. “#BorisJohnson put on a buffoon mask to become a celebrity, & now he can’t take it off.”
(J Lanchester)

“He seems to know that if we’re chuckling at him, we’re not likely to be thinking hard about his agenda, or doing anything to counter it.”
(J Coe)
3/. In 2020, I dug up #BorisJohnso’s #TakeItOnTheChin

I also found the smoking gun of the #HerdImmunityScandal - the #GreenwichSpeech

“There’s a risk new diseases such as #coronavirus could trigger a panic that goes beyond what is medically rational”
Read 12 tweets

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