After two weeks of relative silence and a lovely holiday I’m back in the UK. Time to talk about 🚨 REALITIES 🚨
They are realities that I find upsetting. They also make me angry. Alternatively, you could also call this my thread of desperation. 1/
They are realities that I find upsetting. They also make me angry. Alternatively, you could also call this my thread of desperation. 1/
🚨 REALITY 1: Apathy
Many tell me that the majority of British people are not against EU citizens and that we are welcome. I used to believe that. Can I still? It’s simple: if this were true, this majority would be with us. Visibly. Noisily. I don’t see nor hear them. 2/
Many tell me that the majority of British people are not against EU citizens and that we are welcome. I used to believe that. Can I still? It’s simple: if this were true, this majority would be with us. Visibly. Noisily. I don’t see nor hear them. 2/
Of course I know that we have amazing friends and champions. Of course I know many of you are. But this is Twitter and we have to recognise its echo chamber problem. Beyond it the situation is dire. I have heard so many stories about apathy I can no longer remember them all. 3/
And there’s more: even when we expressly ask for help, it often falls on deaf ears. Many simply don’t want to know about citizens’ rights. If I tweet primarily about them for a while, I usually lose followers. That doesn’t happen with other themes—it’s tragically telling. 4/
Let me give you a different example to drive this point home: how is it possible that Darren Grimes’s fundraiser managed to get to its stretch target in two weeks (£60k), when the campaign I launched to ensure no EU citizen is left behind still sits well below £10k? 5/
How can Grimes’s fundraiser get what essentially was a free ad on @BBCNews and support from MPs ... when the lives and futures of 3.7 million people don’t? You tell me. Because I don’t see how that’s possible if the majority really does care as much as I get told all the time. 6/
In light of all the evidence we already have, in light of the real possibility of no-deal, we have a human duty to enable @The3Million to continue their critical work. It’s *unacceptable* to rely primarily on volunteered time to protect the future of millions. Of your doctors, 7/
your builders, your carers etc. So I ask everyone again to please become an #EUcitizensChampion. The easiest way to do that is via this fundraiser — funds go directly to @The3Million and there are details on what they will be used for on the page. gofundme.com/eucitizenscham… 8/
If you’ve already made a donation: I can’t overstate how grateful I am! Thank you so much! ❤️ In any case there are other ways in which you can help if you can’t afford to donate or would like to do more—please check the campaign website for details. eucitizenschampion.co.uk 9/
And if you want to know more about the #EUcitizensChampion campaign and why I set it up, here’s an article I wrote about that: politics.co.uk/comment-analys… 10/
I must also re-iterate something else in this context — I know many people don’t want to hear it, but I’ve seen it far too many times now to not say it: it is clear that one reason why there is so little interest and solidarity with EU citizens is partly because innitiatives 11/
connected to our rights are not perceived as being against Brexit. Well, frankly: if that is your view on what solidarity looks like then I am disgusted. 3.7 million people cannot just sit here and hope for Brexit not to happen. Many have families; children are caught up in 12/
this. We can’t just twiddle our thumbs. And if, at this point, you think: ah well, but there are 65 million EU citizens in the same situation, the very clear answer is: no, there are not. 13/
Of course there are 65 million EU citizens in the UK. I want them all to remain that. I’ve fought for over two years to try achieve that. But the situation is *not* the same. Britons in the UK do not have to *apply* to stay in their own home. See also:
https://twitter.com/cliodiaspora/status/1020790614592507904?s=2114/
Connected to the questions about the rights of EU27 citizens and solidarity with them is the complete failure of the majority of politicians to stand up to anti-immigrant hate. Instead, far too many have pandered to the lies told. 15/
I’ve already explained why that is both dangerous and self-defeating. Boris Johnson’s latest shameful behaviour serves as a tragic illustration of the dangers that lie in this. We have to do all we can to overcome the lies. Here’s more on why:
https://twitter.com/cliodiaspora/status/1022917537724592133?s=2116/
🚨REALITY 2: The price female voices pay
Is a price that is far too high. I’m close to being done paying it. I say I have a Teflon skin and that’s true for the vile stuff I get — from being called an “ungrateful shit” today to “foreign cunt” and vile stories of my rape. 17/
Is a price that is far too high. I’m close to being done paying it. I say I have a Teflon skin and that’s true for the vile stuff I get — from being called an “ungrateful shit” today to “foreign cunt” and vile stories of my rape. 17/
That’s the biggest fucking pile of shit I’ve ever had to deal with. But it’s not what I mean here now. I mean how prominent male Brexiters keep ridiculing female voices. How they seek to destroy our professional credentials. How they set their dogs on us. How they hope to 18/
silence us by doing so. The men who do this are not nobodies. They are an MEP; they are a BBC presenter; they are a businessman ... and more. Would they do this in real life? Would the BBC presenter invite the woman he attacked on Twitter to his show to tell her the same? 19/
I very much doubt it. Yet here we are. This has to stop. And one way you can help make it stop is by helping amplify female voices. RT their tweets without comment (or at least do both) so they don’t end up being the voice at the bottom of a comment chain. Things like that. 20/
Here’s another observation connected to this. Whenever I talk about abuse etc, I get big follower increases. That’s very sweet because many clearly mean it as a solidarity statement. But I also find it frustrating and I know other female voices do too: aren’t our actual 21/
views enough? Why does it take sharing the abuse we get to be heard by more people? Please help change that. 22/
🚨 REALITY 3🚨 Despair
Mine that is. Because I honestly don’t know what else to do anymore. I’ve appealed for help. I’ve taken all the crap there is to take bar the worst. But still, on the whole, nobody cares. As my friend @antoni_UK wrote recently: m.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/eu-citiz… 23/
Mine that is. Because I honestly don’t know what else to do anymore. I’ve appealed for help. I’ve taken all the crap there is to take bar the worst. But still, on the whole, nobody cares. As my friend @antoni_UK wrote recently: m.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/eu-citiz… 23/
Yet while that is the case for us you want me to help with #PeoplesVote — which doesn’t even include EU citizens. Worse: it chose to exclude us, took our voice away, at the recent march. We are the people too! EU citizens have manned stalls and set up anti-Brexit events for 24/
2+ years. We gave you that solidarity. I gave it. But now we need your help. I need your help. As an EU citizen and as a female voice against Brexit. The realities are clear and it’s crunch-time. The ball is in your court, people of the UK. 25/25
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