There's rightly a lot of focus on the pro-Israel wing of German politics. But given that the German state is making itself complicit in serious crimes against humanity it's also worth offering a critical point about those who stay silent: As I've written about at length, there is a lot of fear of professional and personal consequences. And before that, there's a reluctance to inform oneself. Many intuitively sense, I think, that becoming more aware will alienated you from your peers and society.

This is despite a massive effort to shore up support for Israel on the side of the media and political class.
Support for the pro-Israel staatsräson was shallow already before the war (see next tweet); the space for a counter hegemonic project is certainly there.

https://twitter.com/derJamesJackson/status/1798277031869960322

This figures give you a sense of the shallowness of the pro-Israel consensus in Germany, and explains why so much coercion is needed to defend it:

France's Loire river, source of cooling water for 12 nuclear power plants

https://twitter.com/MickaCorreia/status/1557478699292844033

H/t @MHGottlieb

How to cope with climate anxiety?

The advice from psychologists: Get angry Personally I am angry at corporations profiting from planetary destruction and at politicians delaying action. I'm angry at the aggressive selfishness of SUV drivers and at elites that prioritize luxury over the habitability of out planet.

What are you angry about?

This piece by @MuellerTadzio is worth a read. In it, Tadzio connects the imperial and fossilist violence necessary to maintain living standards in certain parts of the world (one could also say certain classes wherever) with repressed guilt.

steadyhq.com/de/friedliches… @MuellerTadzio This repression isn't just internalized - it requires the repression and pushback of any reminder of the violence: from "economic migrants" to the climate movement itself. >

Massive victory for the Austrian climate movement:
The 1,3bn euro Lobau highway project has been cancelled!

1/

derstandard.at/story/20001315… The cancellation comes of the highway comes after 3 months of blocades at 3 construction sites, by a coalition of Fridays for Future, Extinction Rebellion, System Change not Climate Change, the FFF-related Youth council and many independent activists. /2

https://twitter.com/BueRubner/status/1440611252183601156?s=20

Texan mayor saying the quiet bit out loud. Apparently, the spot price of electricity went through the roof for providers. So they shut down the net until they were allowed to pass the costs on to consumers.

This is the result for many: 1,000$ in electric bills. Daily.

https://twitter.com/UrOrientalist/status/1362832575392321538?s=20

How much of this is really about the freedom of expression, if you factor in that freedom of expression doesn't mean freedom from critique, nor not suffering social consequences from violent and dehumanising speech? Over the last decade freedom of expression has frequently been hijacked by the right to demand bigoted speech be unopposed.

Jumping that bandwagon helps pervert the meaning of free speech, defending people w mass media platforms against those who have only social media

The Danish government, unions and employers' associations have agreed to avoid job losses during the quarantine:
- the state will cover 75% of wages of threatened workers
- employers 25%
- workers will give up 5 days of paid holiday time/work 5 days free

dr.dk/nyheder/indlan… The deal covers companies who'd have to lay off at least 30% of staff, or 50 staff or more.

In return, companies commit to not lay off any staff for economic reason while they're receiving state compensation.

The Coronavirus is becoming pandemic, and many have pointed out how the right is already trying to leverage it for xenophobia and tighter borders.

But what is the left saying?

In this thread I'll collect left takes and proposals. Feel fee to add more 1. "Arguments will need to be made" (and few have been so far)

https://twitter.com/nikhil_palsingh/status/1231971300161343488?s=20

Nothing whitewashes neoliberalism as much as saying people vote for the populist far right to protest neoliberalism.

Here’s why. > Saying far-right voters are ”protesting neoliberalism” presents neoliberalism as cosmopolitan, border-less, and invested in progressive social values. But these values are merely ideological coating for actually existing neoliberalism. >