Everything he writes resonates with the weight of our daily troubles.
Even as @BorisJohnson issues lazy, reckless & empty rhetoric, Hussein’s words remind us not only that Johnson’s like are morally cowardly, but also dangerous. Frothing, but incapable of advancing us. /2
As a Myanmar court sentences 2 @Reuters journalists to prison terms for exposing horrific crimes, as journalism is weighted down again as a crime, Hussain’s words resonate in a world busy with words, not actions.
“What are we saying to the perpetrators? Or to the victims?”
/3
As a new Parliamentary term begins exactly as it left off - vicious, fighting for individual power, all sound & fury - our own fractured society needs reminding of what gets lost in the battles, what the real fight needs to win. #humanrights#equality
With the Trumps, the Orbans, the Salvinis & our very own Brexit bombastic sound & fury, the world around us looks regressive and shrinking.
But Hussein reminds us there is hope. We need to stand up & support those who have the courage & vision to fight for an inclusive future.
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#IBARome @IntlCrimCourt Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda says emphatically that pushback by the American govt, & other states, will not deter the ICC from doing its work without fear or favour. #CrimesAgainstHumanity#genocide
ICC can be faced with total non-cooperation, dwindling resources, hostility etc. Forms part of challenge to conducting investigations. We need to anticipate such challenges. US isn’t 1st state to refuse to cooperate with ICC, eg Sudan, but we still collected evidence: Bensouda.
Since I announced investigation into Philippines. I’m sure you’ve heard response of leader, including threats against Prosecutor. But, eg, see Burundi where I opened prelim invest. Burundi immediately withdrew, but we ctd investigation & obtained satisfactory evidence- Bensouda.
“The govt insisted on holding a referendum for stupid reasons”: Ken Clarke MP holding forth on Brexit at #IBARome
“Hardly any mainstream politician makes the case for immigration; British society has hugely benefited from it.”
Ken Clarke on the anti-immigration fearmongering & #fakenews in Brexit campaign: Just as Farage campaigned with ‘brown people’ on his posters, so they used Turkey, 70m Turks would come to the UK to take jobs etc.
Mainstream politicians ran the Turkey issue - eg Michael Gove.
“Anybody who tells you they know what will happen in British politics is deceiving themselves. We are in the middle of a mad, anarchic situation as every other western democracy.” Ken Clarke when asked what he thinks will happen on Brexit negs.
“History did not end as Fukuyama predicted some years ago. History is running now & liberal democracies are under threat” - a powerful opening speech from former Italian PM Romano Prodi, on global democratic malaise, populism & the multiple causes of growing inequality. #IBARome
“Migrants are indispensable to our economic lives, here in Italy too.... (yet) the defence for the loss of identity is the nation. This is why all international organisations are under threat.” Prodi on migration #IBARome
“EU is a symbol of shared progress, of the defence against the right. A visible instrument of a new social justice on a continent” (previously riven by wars) - to applause.
Prodi quotes someone as saying “EU is a union of minorities” - but says this is now challenged. #IBARome
Some highlights: "The government will invest £92 million from the Brexit readiness fund on an 18-month programme to design a UK Global Navigation Satellite System. This will inform the decision to create an independent system as an alternative to Galileo." /2
UK-based businesses, academics and researchers will not be eligible to bid for any future work on the EU Global Navigation Satellite System programmes. Onus on them to take steps to avoid penalties. /3 #notonthesideofabus
August is over, but enjoyed some wonderful books in the sunshine. A few of my favourites:-
- A Strangeness in My Mind, by @_orhanpamuk, a beautiful and absorbing love letter to a fast-changing Istanbul. I missed Mevlut for days after I finished it.
/1
Pachinko, by @minjinlee11 - I couldn’t put down this unfolding 20th century saga about Koreans in Japan, seen mostly through the eyes of tough female characters.
Circe, by @MillerMadeline - a feminist re-working of myth and magic.
/2
Re-read the absolutely brilliant Sing, Unburied Sing by @jesmimi, a painfully lyrical exploration of an African American family in America’s Deep South. It’s haunting, beguiling and very powerful.
/3