Former journalist, son of ‘queue jumping’ immigrant. Socialist. Green 💚
North East
Joined March 2009
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The most uplifting and inspiring video I’ve seen from Gaza.
You can steal their land, kill their people and destroy their homes.
And they dance on the rubble to show you can’t steal their spirit and culture. #dabke
Follow joy._.team.2024 on Instagram.
Robert Schopen retweeted
"Carpet bomb them all".
Speaking to The Guardian at an event ahead of Israel’s elections, a young Israeli woman called for Palestinians to be forcibly displaced from the Gaza Strip, saying they should be killed if they cannot be removed.
Robert Schopen retweeted
So proud of my brave and brilliant friend Ben Moser
“I think that at a time of genocide, you can either sit on the sidelines and exempt yourself from criticism,” he said, “or you can, as they say in Brazil, give your face to be beaten.”
theguardian.com/world/2026/o…
Robert Schopen retweeted
This is extraordinary detail on how the 250 MP candidates on the Student List were chosen in Serbia. They are now projected to win about 140 of 250 seats. Incredible outbreak of direct, participatory democracy to product a Parliament of doctors, scientists, artists and activists.
Sırbistan'da öğrenciler doğrudan demokrasi yöntemini seçim siyasetine taşıdılar.
Liderlere dayalı, yukarıdan aşağıya bir örgütlenme yerine, herkesin söz alabildiği öğrenci genel kurulları (plenum) oluşturdular. Kararlar tartışılarak, mümkün olduğunca uzlaşmayla alındı.
Bu yöntemi üniversitelerin dışına da taşıdılar. Mahallelerde, kentlerde ve köylerde yurttaş meclisleri (zborovi) kuruldu. İnsanlar kendi sorunlarını tartışmak, çözüm önermek ve birlikte karar almak için toplandı.
250 kişilik milletvekili aday listesini de şöyle oluşturdular:
1- Önce 250 adaylık kontenjanı, öğrenci sayılarına göre altı üniversite kenti arasında paylaştırdılar. Belgrad'ın listeye hâkim olmaması için diğer kentlerin de üst sıralarda temsil edilmesini sağladılar. Ardından her kentin kontenjanını fakülteler arasında dağıttılar.
2- Ülke genelinde 80'den fazla fakültede öğrenci genel kurulları toplandı. Öğrenciler kendileri aday olmadı ama her biri aday önerebildi ve neden o kişiyi önerdiğini açıkladı. İsimler tartışıldı, önce uzlaşma arandı, gerektiğinde oylama yapıldı.
3- Mevcut siyasi kadrolara kapıyı kapattılar. İktidar partilerinin mevcut ve eski üyelerini, iktidar adına görev yapmış siyasetçileri ve bürokratları, muhalefet partilerinin üst düzey yöneticilerini aday göstermediler. Böylece hem iktidardan hem de yerleşik muhalefetten bağımsız bir liste oluşturdular.
4- Fakülteler birbirlerinin adaylarını da denetledi. Önerilen bütün isimler ortak bir listede toplandı ve tüm fakültelerin incelemesine açıldı. İtirazlar öğrenci kurullarında tartışıldı. Adayın elenmesi için kurulların yarısından fazlasının veto etmesi gerekiyordu. Tek bir fakültenin itirazı yeterli değildi.
5- Elenen veya çekilen adayların yerine yedekler getirildi. Böylece profesörlerin, doktorların, bilim insanlarının, işçilerin, sanatçıların ve aktivistlerin yer aldığı 250 kişilik liste ortaya çıktı.
Robert Schopen retweeted
I've been revisiting @UKLabour's 2024 manifesto, and some of the commitments are extraordinary given where we are today...
- Defend the international rule of law.
- Uphold international law in Gaza.
- Recognise Palestinian statehood as an inalienable right.
- Reject new oil and gas exploration because it worsens the climate crisis.
These weren't demands from protesters.
THEY WERE LABOUR'S OWN PROMISES!
The government shouldn't need reminding what the principles are. It already wrote them down and commited to them!
The question is why those principles become negotiable the moment defending them carries a political cost.
@andyburnham @ZackPolanski
Robert Schopen retweeted
This week's Budget must tackle the cost-of-living crisis.
Tax the super-rich. End austerity.
ALT Green Party quote graphic featuring a black-and-white photograph of Zack Polanski, Leader of the Green Party, against the backdrop of 10 Downing Street. The headline reads: “BUDGET NEEDS TO TAX THE SUPER RICH AND END AUSTERITY.” A speech bubble contains the following quote from Zack Polanski: “Andy Burnham has a choice when he delivers his Budget this week. All over Britain, kids are going hungry and public services are on their knees. It doesn’t have to be this way. We need to tax the super rich and end austerity.” The Green Party logo and electoral imprint appear at the bottom of the graphic.
Robert Schopen retweeted
One of the highlights of my time in Jordan was visiting UNWRA archives and examining the index cards and other records of the 750,000 Palestinians kicked off their land at the Nakba in 1948. They used to be kept in Gaza and were airlifted out at the beginning of the genocide- Israel has destroyed all the archives that remained. They form the best evidence for some form of reparations in the future and are now being scanned and digitalised
غزة ومنعطف التاريخ: الشرق الأوسط قبل وبعد النهضة (أرض) تنظّم زيارة للمؤرخ ويليام دالريمبل إلى أرشيف الأونروا وحواراً رفيع المستوى حول فلسطين
Gaza and the Turning of History: The Middle East Before and After ARDD Organizes William Dalrymple’s Visit to UNRWA Archives and High-Level Dialogue on Palestine
نظّمت منظمة النهضة العربية للديمقراطية والتنمية (أرض)، من خلال مركز النهضة الاستراتيجي، وتحت عنوان «غزة ومنعطف التاريخ: الشرق الأوسط قبل وبعد»، زيارة إلى أرشيف الصور والأفلام التابع لوكالة الأمم المتحدة لإغاثة وتشغيل اللاجئين الفلسطينيين (الأونروا)، بمشاركة المؤرخ والكاتب البريطاني البارز ويليام دالريمبل، إلى جانب لقاء عمل حواري رفيع المستوى جمع دبلوماسيين وأكاديميين وصنّاع سياسات وخبراء إقليميين، لمناقشة التطورات في غزة وفلسطين ضمن التحولات التاريخية والسياسية الأوسع التي يشهدها الشرق الأوسط.
وخلال الزيارة إلى أرشيف الأونروا، التي نُظّمت بالتعاون مع الوكالة، اطّلع دالريمبل على سجلات ووثائق تاريخية توثّق تهجير الفلسطينيين وتجارب اللاجئين وذاكرتهم الجماعية منذ عام 1948. ويُعدّ هذا الأرشيف، المدرج ضمن برنامج ذاكرة العالم التابع لليونسكو، مرجعاً تاريخياً مهماً يبرز ضرورة الحفاظ على التاريخ الفلسطيني والهوية الوطنية وتجارب أجيال متعاقبة من اللاجئين. للمزيد: ardd-jo.org/news/%d8%ba%d8%b…
The Arab Renaissance for Democracy and Development (ARDD), through its Renaissance Strategic Center (RSC), organised, under the theme “Gaza and the Turning of History: The Middle East Before and After,” a visit to the UNRWA Photo and Film Archives with renowned British historian and author William Dalrymple, alongside a high-level working lunch bringing together diplomats, academics, policymakers, and regional experts to reflect on Gaza and Palestine within the broader historical and political transformations shaping the Middle East.
During the visit to the UNRWA Archives, facilitated in cooperation with UNRWA, Dalrymple explored historical records documenting Palestinian displacement, refugee experiences, and collective memory since 1948. Recognized by UNESCO’s Memory of the World Programme, the archives underscore the importance of preserving Palestinian history, identity, and the experiences of generations of refugees.
for more: renaissancestrategiccenter.c…
Robert Schopen retweeted
This Israeli military strategy, referred to as the Dahiya doctrine, was developed by Gadi Eisenkot, the ex-general who is seen in Israel as the alternative to Netanyahu. Google it.
It involves using massive, disproportionate force and targeting civilian infrastructure to pressure hostile governments or non-state groups.
This massive, disproportional force against innocent civilians, as in Gaza, Lebanon and elsewhere, will continue as long as the U.S., Germany, UK and other external powers that arm and finance Israel allow it.
@IndJewishVoices @jvplive @NaamodUK
Robert Schopen retweeted
My family are from Jerusalem. They live under Israeli occupation in the West Bank and can’t return to the towns they originate from.
But the political correspondent at The Spectator can enter and travel without restrictions.
Is there a word for this?
Robert Schopen retweeted
We’ve seen this script before.
This Labour government won’t take action for the people who so desperately need change right now.
Robert Schopen retweeted
Mike Tapp: 'Zionism isn't ethnic cleansing!'
Shehab Khan: 'So why can a Jewish guy in London get Israeli citizenship but a displaced Palestinian can't?'
Mike Tapp: '...I didn't know that. That doesn't sound equal to me.'
The absolute intellectual collapse. He spent whole time defending the ideology, only to admit he doesn't know how it actually works on the ground
Robert Schopen retweeted
"‘Gaza’s suffering has become campaign fodder’: Palestinians fear the worst from Israel election. Humanitarian catastrophe largely ignored as rivals Gadi Eisenkot and Benjamin Netanyahu vow to end Hamas rule"
theguardian.com/world/2026/o…
Robert Schopen retweeted
A war is coming to the West Bank
Yesterday Palestinian resistance fighters conducted a surgical strike against Israeli occupation soldiers, fully in accordance with international law.
In response, Israeli government immediately announced that they will do war crimes and started doing war crimes.
All the Palestinian villages in the West Bank are under siege, the city of Hebron is under siege. IDF is demolishing house after house, raiding family after family. They said they want to turn Hebron into Rafah.
More than 250 families were kicked out into the streets with nothing. People slept on the street last night.
The Israeli election is in 3 days, and the Netanyahu-Smotrich government is going to use this to start a war in the West Bank.
The only way to stop this is pressure from all directions. We know it works. International pressure worked for the besieged house in Qusra, which still belongs to the Palestinians because of the all-around attention. It can work for Hebron too.
But it will require EVERYONE reading this doing everything they can to stop this. Call your representative, hold a demonstration, organise direct action against the occupation’s assets abroad. Keep attention on the West Bank.
ACT NOW.
Robert Schopen retweeted
The Bell report on antisemitism in schools "is politically biased, drawing inappropriate conclusions from flawed data. It will stifle debate and foster mistrust."
Important statement from Jewish Voice for Liberation.
jewishvoiceforliberation.org…
Robert Schopen retweeted
This is not Gaza. This is Hebron today.
The Israeli occupation has begun destroying Palestine’s economic capital, a city that accounts for 75% of the country’s production in the stone and marble, leather and footwear, plastics, glass, oils, dairy, and gold industries.
Ethnic cleansing is being inflicted on the Palestinian people everywhere across the land of Palestine.
Robert Schopen retweeted
בצלם קורא בדחיפות לקהילה הבינלאומית, לממשלות ולמוסדות בינלאומיים לפעול מיד, בכל האמצעים העומדים לרשותם לפי המשפט הבינלאומי, כדי לעצור את מסע הטיהור האתני שישראל מנהלת בחברון ולמנוע עקירה בכפייה של אזרחים פלסטינים, ענישה קולקטיבית והרס נרחב ובלתי חוקי. מנהיגי ישראל מכריזים בגלוי על כוונותיהם, והצעדים בשטח כבר החלו.
בעקבות אירוע הירי סמוך לחברון ב־23 באוקטובר, שבו נהרגו שני חיילים ישראלים, הודיעו ראש הממשלה בנימין נתניהו ושר הביטחון ישראל כ״ץ בגלוי על תוכניות לעקור בכפייה תושבים פלסטינים מבתיהם ולבצע הרס נרחב באזור.
בהצהרתו אמר נתניהו: ״ניישם בערים את המודל ההתקפי המוצלח שהפעלנו במחנות הפליטים״.
אותו מודל כבר הוביל לעקירתם של יותר מ־33 אלף פלסטינים במחנות הפליטים בצפון הגדה המערבית. כעת, מנהיגי ישראל מאיימים להחיל את אותה מדיניות של עקירה המונית והרס גם בחברון.
והצעדים בשטח כבר החלו. כוחות הצבא הטילו כתר על חברון וחלחול, בעוד שהמנהל האזרחי החל להרוס מבנים פלסטיניים בשכונת פרש אל-הווא. במקביל, הודיע השר בצלאל סמוטריץ׳ על הקמת ארבעה מאחזי חווה חדשים בדרום הר חברון.
מנהיגי ישראל מכריזים בגלוי על תוכניות לענישה קולקטיבית ולמעשים שעלולים להוות פשעי מלחמה. תוכניות אלה מהדהדות את הפעולות ההרסניות שביצעה ישראל במסגרת הג׳נוסייד בעזה, ומהוות הסלמה נוספת במסע הטיהור האתני ובפרויקט המחיקה שהיא מקדמת בגדה המערבית: פירוק שיטתי של הקיום הפלסטיני הקולקטיבי, תוך הרחבת ההתנחלויות וביסוס שליטה ישראלית קבועה.
העולם אינו יכול לעמוד מנגד בזמן שישראל ממשיכה במתקפתה על הפלסטינים, ולהמתין עד ששכונות נוספות יתרוקנו מתושביהן ויימחקו, למרות מה שכבר ראינו בעזה ובצפון הגדה המערבית. ממשלות ומוסדות בינלאומיים חייבים לפעול עכשיו כדי למנוע את הפשעים האלה ולהגן על האוכלוסייה הפלסטינית.
Robert Schopen retweeted
Read this fantastic post, then think about where you fit in all of this.
As @NaomiAKlein said:
"Fascism is capitalism's most ferocious threat response. A way of making sure that public anger is directed downward at the vulnerable, rather than upward at the system.”
If you still believe that change is coming, from those who employ these tactics, then you are part of the problem.
💙🤍❤️
"Le chef-d'œuvre le plus abouti du capitalisme contemporain n'est ni l'iPhone, ni la start-up licorne, ni même le milliardaire visionnaire.
Non.
Son produit phare, son bijou anthropologique, sa plus belle réussite, c'est le pauvre de droite. Une véritable prouesse sociale, dépouillé matériellement, mais riche en certitudes contre ses propres intérêts.
On l'a façonné avec soin. On lui a expliqué que ses problèmes venaient toujours d'en bas ou d'à côté, l'immigré, l'assisté, le fonctionnaire, le chômeur, jamais du haut. On lui a appris à hair l'impôt tout en survivant grâce aux services publics. À défendre les héritiers tout en n'ayant rien à transmettre. À applaudir ceux qui l'écrasent, pourvu qu'ils parlent fort et promettent l'ordre.
Le pauvre de droite est une créature fascinante, il vote contre lui-même avec ferveur, persuadé qu'un jour, peut-être, il sera du bon côté de la barrière. Il confond la brutalité avec le courage, l'autoritarisme avec la protection, l'injustice avec le mérite. On lui vend la peur en kit, l'identité en solde, la colère en vrac par abonnement mensuel.
À l'aube de ce monde nouveau, les monstres ne surgissent pas des marges : ils montent des urnes, des plateaux télé, des slogans simplistes. Ils prospèrent sur la misère organisée et la lucidité sabotée. Le capitalisme n'a pas seulement produit de la pauvreté ; il a réussi bien pire : la rendre docile, obéissante, hargneuse, et reconnaissante. Un chef-d'œuvre je vous dis !"
Maximino Fernández
Robert Schopen retweeted
💙🤍❤️
"Le chef-d'œuvre le plus abouti du capitalisme contemporain n'est ni l'iPhone, ni la start-up licorne, ni même le milliardaire visionnaire.
Non.
Son produit phare, son bijou anthropologique, sa plus belle réussite, c'est le pauvre de droite. Une véritable prouesse sociale, dépouillé matériellement, mais riche en certitudes contre ses propres intérêts.
On l'a façonné avec soin. On lui a expliqué que ses problèmes venaient toujours d'en bas ou d'à côté, l'immigré, l'assisté, le fonctionnaire, le chômeur, jamais du haut. On lui a appris à hair l'impôt tout en survivant grâce aux services publics. À défendre les héritiers tout en n'ayant rien à transmettre. À applaudir ceux qui l'écrasent, pourvu qu'ils parlent fort et promettent l'ordre.
Le pauvre de droite est une créature fascinante, il vote contre lui-même avec ferveur, persuadé qu'un jour, peut-être, il sera du bon côté de la barrière. Il confond la brutalité avec le courage, l'autoritarisme avec la protection, l'injustice avec le mérite. On lui vend la peur en kit, l'identité en solde, la colère en vrac par abonnement mensuel.
À l'aube de ce monde nouveau, les monstres ne surgissent pas des marges : ils montent des urnes, des plateaux télé, des slogans simplistes. Ils prospèrent sur la misère organisée et la lucidité sabotée. Le capitalisme n'a pas seulement produit de la pauvreté ; il a réussi bien pire : la rendre docile, obéissante, hargneuse, et reconnaissante. Un chef-d'œuvre je vous dis !"
Maximino Fernández
Robert Schopen retweeted
The govt (Lucy Powell) is talking about Holocaust Education in schools. I've written four books for children/young people on this and made a video with photos, maps and documents. I'll be interested to see if the official Holocaust Education bodies carry on ignoring these.
Robert Schopen retweeted
We'll be making wedding frocks out of parachutes next.
Then it's down to the local village green for weapons training with a brush handle.
“Be ready by having some everyday essentials… three litres of water per person per day, tinned goods... to last a few days”
Speaking to @vicderbyshire, Defence Secretary Wes Streeting details advice to households to be prepared for a “dangerous and turbulent world”.
#Newsnight