At
@TheKingCenter
Global Summit.
Kingian nonviolence:
1) is not soft, it confronts power.
2) is not a history that is past, it is an approach for today.
3) learns from Dr King, but is about what *you* do.
4) is the most effective way of bringing about social change.
We used to “correct” kids who were left-handed - through violence, shame or “guidance” on how to be right handed. And so there seemed to be very few left handers. Then we stopped, & with no shaming there was a seemingly rapid rise. Then a plateau. This is a tweet about trans kids
Ukrainian refugee kids arrive in Italy, and start at local schools. On their first day they enter nervously. You won’t believe what the Italian kids did next …
I don’t know who needs to hear this but Neil Diamond, who retired from performing five years ago because of Parkinsons, just had a Broadway show of him open and it at the opening night he did this
Sometimes a crisis hits so hard that a country needs help from others to overcome it. That’s not one-way humanitarian saviourism, it’s international solidarity. 200 South African firefighters land in Edmonton, Canada to help fight the wildfire. Sound up 🔊
Graphs are useful but to really get what that rising curve is, have a look at the obituaries page of this Bergamo daily newspaper, comparing one from February with one from now
Once again Barbados PM Mia Mottley has been the one who has delivered the speech the world needed. May she be heard, may we rise. Take 8 minutes to listen to the whole thing. Share the lines that grabbed you most.
#COP26
One of the most heartbreaking sentences ever written:
“The child was pretending to eat out of an empty lunchbox because they did not qualify for free school meals and did not want their friends to know there was no food at home.”
This is a desperately low point for any politician to get to. A mother died of starvation; her baby, who she was holding when she died, was mercifully found. The minister in charge of welfare is invited repeatedly merely to express sympathy. And cannot ...
I love this clip of Mike Gravel recounting reading the Pentagon Papers into the Senate record, because of what it teaches about courage. He was not excited, not confident; he was “frightened to death”, scared of going to prison; he was overcome with emotion. And *that* is bravery
Truly extraordinary times indeed. Question Time has just allowed on a person who knew what they were talking about. Kudos to Richard Horton here, the editor of the world’s leading medical journal, The Lancet, speaking facts to power.
I don’t know who needs to hear this but when Paul Robeson, the great American movie star, singer, and activist, met with British miners, and he sang Joe Hill, it went like this ...
In 1919, seeing children from the defeated Austrian empire starve, Eglantyne Jebb established Save the Children. Many asked "How can you help enemy children?" One of Jebb's supporters, the great George Bernard Shaw, replied, "I have no enemies under six."
So there are western politicians who didn’t want to sanction Apartheid South Africa for defying international law, but do want to sanction democratic South Africa for upholding international law. 😐
This new anti-protest law is being proposed in Britain this Tuesday. This bill is so draconian it says that if your action *or inaction* means *anyone* is *at risk of serious annoyance* (yes, that’s the bar!) you can be jailed *for a decade*. Crushing the vigil was just the start
Two of the three people below are famous, well paid, right wing intellectuals, who get to work from the safety and comfort of home. The third is a nurse.
This is Prof. Madhukar Pai, MD, PhD, FCAHS is a Canada Research Chair in Epidemiology & Global Health at McGill University, Montreal.
He is global health eminence par excellence.
And he just eviscerated global health.
🧵🪡
Statue of slaver Robert Milligan in London taken down: agreed by owner, announced by Mayor, done by authorities. And all the people who’d shouted the toppling of the Bristol slaver’s statue was bad because it was *not* done this way were ... still angry. Maybe they like slavers?
For May Day, would you like to hear how it went when Paul Robeson, the great American movie star, singer, and activist, met with British miners, and he sang Joe Hill?
Well, it went like this ...
To understand inequality, economists & political scientists only take us so far. We need artists & musicians. Nina Simone’s Mississippi Goddam is a blunt lesson told to the privileged about their myths & lies. <thread> First, that the radicalism of the oppressed is the problem:
I didn’t think we’d see anything more moving than the videos of people on their porches and balconies clapping for the heroic doctors and nurses. Then I saw this video of the doctors and nurses applauding the cleaning staff. My heart. 🙏❤️✊
Ali Hasan is a 15 year old refugee from Syria, living in Portugal. Bureaucracy delayed his registration to his football club for 3 years, but this week he finally received it and, well, just watch what that means to him - and what it means for the Portuguese boys in the team.
Watch to the end, comedy gold. Lord Ashcroft, asked about tax dodging, walking around in circles for two minutes until he finds a toilet a hide in. Delightful metaphor.
#paradisepapers
In Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, a brilliant, beautiful and brave protest.
This woman holds up a *completely blank* sign, and is still taken away by police.
Shero.