The EU has adopted a ‘business as usual’ approach to Israel as it perpetrates a genocide in Gaza.

Ahead of the parliamentary elections, our new research argues that by providing political cover and material support to Israel, the EU is complicit in genocide 🧵 For decades, the EU has maintained close ties with Israel, treating it as a de facto member state, even as it expanded its illegal occupation of Palestine and invaded and waged war in neighbouring territory.

This has not changed even with Israel now on trial for genocide.

When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

The world spent 2.4 trillion US$ on the military last year, 6.8% more than in 2022.

Far from making us safer, this spending escalates war and conflicts around the world.

#GDAMS #WarCostsUsTheEarth 13 out of the 15 largest military spenders increased their arms spending in 2023, @SIPRIorg data shows.

This contributes to insecurity and removes funding from healthcare, housing, climate, education, and other crucial areas.

During the 2011 Arab Spring and the Occupy movement, social media was seen as a technology of liberation.

Yet ten years on, social media is more associated with surveillance, repression and misinformation.

What should progressive forces do? 👇🧵 Activists have typically used four tactics to resist digital power:

✨ Abstain and boycott mainstream platforms

✨Attack and confront Big Tech

✨Build Alternative platforms

✨Adapt to corporate platforms to build popular support

The internet age promised a period of access and opportunity for all, but in two decades it has become a world controlled by a tiny oligopoly.

Seven firms in particular - five US and two Chinese - have taken over the Internet. 🧵👇 They have used this dominance to lock out any potential competitors and to secure record profits.

10 years ago the EU won the Nobel Peace Prize.

But a decade on, EU policies are less likely to promote peace and more likely to contribute to instability, violence and war.

With the holidays coming up, let's take a look at the EU’s actual commitment to peace: 🧵👇 🇪🇺Border violence: Thousands of refugees attempting to reach safety inside the EU are facing unprecedented levels of violence including beatings and sexual assault.
theguardian.com/law/2022/dec/0…

We all know that industrial livestock farming is destroying the planet.

But is going vegan the only way to save the planet?

On the occasion of World Food Day, here are some key takeaways about different types of livestock keeping that can contribute to real climate solutions👇 In industrial farming, animals usually spend their short lives confined in small areas where they are fed industrially produced crops like corn and soy.

As we all know, the ecological costs of this system are huge.

Yesterday the Dutch parliament decided they want to exit the climate wrecking Energy Charter Treaty.

Here is why this is a great move for the climate movement 👇🧵 The Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) is a major obstacle to tackling climate change.

Through the Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) clause, the treaty allows energy multinationals to sue governments for adopting climate policies that potentially limit their profits.

Long before the Ukraine war, the EU increased its security, defence and military budgets for 2021-2027 by a staggering 123% compared to the last budget round.

What does this money fund, and why is it so problematic? 🧵👇🏽 EU funding for law enforcement, border control and military research, development, and operations (€43.9bn) is 31 times higher than funding for “rights, values and justice” (€1.4bn).

The EU is increasingly prioritising a militarised approach to security.

For the first time in history, the #IPCCReport has recognized the role of Free Trade Agreements and Bilateral Investment Treaties as mechanisms to delay government action for climate mitigation.

This is a huge milestone.🧵👇🏽 The IPCC WGIII report warns that international investment agreements have tended to protect investor rights when clashing with environmental policies.

This leads to “regulatory chill” that can delay government action, such as phasing out of fossil fuels.

“If you prepare for war you get war, if you prepare for peace you get peace.”
―Ukrainian peace activist Yurii Sheliazhenko

Our new report reveals why the EU should not fund the research and development of new weapons. 🧵👇🏽 The EU began funding the development of military wares in 2017.

It then increased its military budget by 1250% from one budgetary cycle to another.

It is increasingly intent on investing in militarism and preparing for war rather than prioritising peace.

Transnational corporations (TNCs) systematically violate human rights, without facing any consequences.

National regulations to hold them accountable are not enough.

We need an international treaty to ensure that communities affected by TNC crimes have access to justice. A global movement is pressuring the UN, bringing first hand experiences of transnational corporations' crimes, and writing international law from the grassroots up.

#StopCorporateImpunity

Surrounded by a massive sovereign ocean territory about 1,000 times bigger than its total landmass, Mauritius is at the front lines of the push to expand the ocean/blue economy.

But who stands to benefit from it?

A thread 👇🏽 Blue economy or blue growth refers to a broad framework ostensibly aimed at promoting economic growth and environmental sustainability.

But, at its core, blue economy is about everything in the ocean or inland waters that can be turned into a commodity.

🚨70 years after the UN 1951 Refugee Convention was adopted, Europe now looks to profit from the displaced. Our new research reveals how the highly lucrative arms trade is fuelling displacement and migration.
👉Read the full report: tni.org/smokingguns While the 1951 Convention set out to protect refugees, 70 years later they are being left to drown at sea. Using #OSINT we joined the dots between arms exports and displacement in five case studies, showing how #EUarms were instrumental in provoking forced displacement.

In the midst of the #COVID19 crisis, lawyers urge corporations to defend their profits & challenge governments’ emergency measures in #ISDS corporate courts. Our new report with @corporateeurope reveals their shocking million $ litigation scenarios. Here are 6 of them👇🏻
#stopISDS 🚰 Bolivia & El Salvador took steps to ensure poor and #COVID19 sick households have access to clean water for handwashing. But #ISDS lawyers argue that foreign utility investors could challenge such measures because they ‘eliminated their revenue streams’.

#GlobalCall4Water