Be the difference u want to see in the world. Green politics, folk dance music & song, faith hope & love. He/him. Promoted by me at 130 Churchfield Lane Darton
Barnsley
Joined January 2011
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Tom Heyes retweeted
Trump has deployed US nuclear weapons at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk.
There has been no parliamentary scrutiny or debate about this deployment, which would make Britain a target in any nuclear conflict involving the US.
Kick out Trump's nukes! Shut down US bases!
🚨Breaking: Peace protesters have blockaded the main gate to RAF Lakenheath, demanding that the UK government:
- shut down US bases in Britain
- stop its support for illegal wars
- and remove US nuclear weapons from UK soil
Photos via @LakenheathAfP
Tom Heyes retweeted
All across the world Data Centers are being built on so called 'Green Belt' land.
This land is almost worthless (because YOU are not allowed to build on it) and so is bought incredibly cheaply.
Of course 'miraculously' THEY are allowed to build on it.
That is why.
Tom Heyes retweeted
At this very moment, dozens of homes behind the Yellow Line in Gaza City are being demolished. Entire residential areas are being wiped out and turned into empty land.
The Yellow Line continues to expand day after day, while the world knows almost nothing about what is happening here. There is very little media coverage, and news of these demolitions is barely reaching the outside world.
Write, share, and speak about what is happening in Gaza.
Tom Heyes retweeted
This is what happens when historical ignorance is accompanied by an astonishing degree of intellectual arrogance.
First, there were no “West African countries” during the transatlantic slave trade. The region comprised kingdoms, empires, city-states and independent societies. Applying modern national identities to centuries-old history is an extraordinary display of ignorance.
Second, Europeans did not arrive in Africa as benevolent abolitionists. For centuries, they financed, institutionalised and industrialised human trafficking, supplying weapons that fuelled wars and slave raids, creating an enormous market for human captives, and codifying racial slavery into their laws. African collaborators existed, but their complicity does not absolve the European empires that sustained this monstrous commerce.
Entire African communities were devastated, populations displaced, villages destroyed and societies destabilised. Millions were deported across the Atlantic, while countless others suffered captivity, violence and death on African soil. Africa was itself a vast crime scene, not merely the departure point of enslaved people.
And perhaps the most remarkable historical fraud is how European nations have managed to present themselves as the liberators of the very people they spent centuries enslaving.
I grew up in a former French colony in Africa being taught from primary school that slavery was abolished by a Frenchman named Victor Schœlcher. It was only in 2026 ( yes this year ) that I discovered that people in former British colonies had been taught a remarkably similar story, except that their white saviour was an Englishman named William Wilberforce.
Yet long before Britain abolished slavery in its colonies in 1833, enslaved Africans in Haiti had fought a revolution, defeated European armies and proclaimed their independence in 1804. Toussaint Louverture and Jean-Jacques Dessalines were central to that struggle.
In 1816, Haitian President Alexandre Pétion supplied Simón Bolívar with weapons, ammunition and military assistance to support South America’s liberation struggles, on the condition that he advance the emancipation of enslaved people. And he went on to free more than half a dozen Latin American countries.
And what was Haiti’s reward for daring to liberate itself? Diplomatic isolation and, in 1825, a crushing indemnity of 150 million francs imposed by France, effectively forcing formerly enslaved people to compensate the descendants of their enslavers for the loss of their supposed property.
Meanwhile, Britain compensated slave owners with £20 million following abolition, while the enslaved received nothing.
Where are these stories in the European narratives of abolition? Where are Nat Turner, who led an enslaved uprising in Virginia in 1831, Queen Nzinga, who resisted Portuguese expansion and slave raiding in Central Africa, or the countless African rulers, communities and freedom fighters who resisted enslavement?
Black people fought for their freedom. They rebelled, resisted, organised, sacrificed and died for it. Their liberation was never simply a gift bestowed upon them by benevolent Europeans.
There is something profoundly tragic about descendants of enslaved Africans, born and educated in the lands of their ancestors’ enslavers, regurgitating sanitised colonial history, seemingly incapable of distinguishing historical scholarship from imperial propaganda.
The greatest triumph of colonial indoctrination is when the descendants of its victims become the most zealous defenders of its mythology.
What a pity!
Tom Heyes retweeted
Must watch... she's so brave.
“I was one of the child victims of Donald Trump.” Dr. Larissa Portnoff, a clinical psychologist in her 30s, says it began around age 8 and resumed at 16 and 17. She thought she’d escaped “a pedophile ring,” calls Trump “clearly a pedophile and dangerous,” and says someone made an attempt on her life after her report.
Her message: “We need to get the corruption to stop. We need to use our voices. We need to get Donald Trump out of office.” And to Trump: “If you think you’re going to intimidate me, Donald Trump, it’s not going to work. I'm not afraid of you.” Please share. #press #Trump #Corruption #Justice #Accountability #rape
Tom Heyes retweeted
Labour are trying to bully everyone into defending Genocide.
They made a phony apology, continue to sell arms licences to Israel and whip their MPs to defend it at all costs.
We will not cower. We will not be bullied from speaking the truth.
Join.greenparty.org.uk
Tom Heyes retweeted
"Beni hâlâ hatırlayan var mı?"
Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, hiçbir suçlama olmadan İsrail hapishanelerinde esir tutuluyor ve işkenceye maruz kalıyor. Sessiz kalmayın! Onu unutmayın, özgürlüğü için sesinizi yükseltin!
Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya'ya özgürlük!
#FreeDrHussamAbuSafiya #Gaza #FreePalestine
Tom Heyes retweeted
A 4-year old boy killed. Another child murdered.
We should never get used to this. It should never be considered normal.
I pray I am alive to see the day those who are committing this genocide - and those who support it - are held to account and tried for their crimes.
Israeli strikes in Gaza kill eight including child, hospitals say bbc.in/4Abm6Ep
Tom Heyes retweeted
Ahead of what will clearly be a coordinated assault on Zack Polanski - some basic facts.
1 - Yes, Polanski's own net approval ratings have dipped sharply in recent months. This is primarily the result of more people becoming aware of him and forming an opinion. His actual approval ratings have been remarkably steady and, at 19%, he remains considerably more popular than his party.
2 - By comparison Adrian Ramsay's approval rating when he was co-leader in June 2025 was 5%. 81% had either never heard of them or had never bothered to form an opinion. His fellow co-leader Carla Denyer was only marginally better on 9%.
3 - Reportedly 18,000 members have left in recent months. But this is in the context of an unprecedented surge in membership which took the party from 70k to close to quarter of a million members after Polanski became leader.
4 - The party now has more than 1300 local councillors, compared to less than 900 when Polanski became leader.
5 - Yes, the Greens have dipped in the polls recently. But even now they are at the same level they were when he became leader. And they are primarily victims of their own success having obliged the Labour Party to ditch Starmer - a level of influence the Greens could previously only dream of.
6 - The Zionism is racism motion is held up as having done huge damage to the party. An Opinium poll showed 56% of Green Party members supported it - and just 13% opposed it. A clear majority among all voters under 34 who expressed an opinion supported it.
By any logical criteria, if your aim is for the Greens to become Britain's first genuinely radical, mass political party, capable of holding the balance of power in parliament, it makes no sense whatsoever to get rid of Polanski.
It makes sense only if that is precisely what you don't want to happen.
thetimes.com/uk/politics/art…
Tom Heyes retweeted
Who in the name of all things holy decided that it’s imperative that we “get the welfare bill down?
The UK welfare bill is projected at £360+ billion (around 10.7% to 11% of GDP), remaining lower as a proportion of national income than it was 15 years ago or during the 1980s.
Tom Heyes retweeted
Humilde rascunho de MANUAL DE COMBATE ANTIFASCISTAS NAS REDES aos amigos estrangeiros.
Começo a achar que nós, brasileiros do Exército do Lula, podemos ter começado um REVOLUÇÃO GLOBAL.
CENTENAS de perfis estrangeiros começaram a me seguir, em especial japoneses e franceses (🤯)
Como acredito que preciso contribuir de alguma forma, deixarei aqui minha humilde contribuição.
Amigos brasileiros, por favor adicionem nos comentários qualquer dica / tática que eu tenha esquecido.
1️⃣ O mais importante é NÃO ENGAJAR a extrema-direita nas redes! Ainda que eles postem algo absurdo, algo extremamente reprovável, não respondam! O algoritmo das redes não analisa se você está comentando algo positivo ou negativo, mas apenas contabiliza como uma interação a mais no perfil deles. Portanto, ao comentar uma postagem da extrema-direita, ainda que negativamente, você estará fortalecendo a conta deles! Estará aumentando o engajamento deles e fazendo com que aquela postagem que você despreza chegue a mais e mais pessoas. "Não engajar" envolve não responder, não curtir e até mesmo não visualizar! Se você visualiza um conteúdo por mais de 3 segundos, o algoritmo já conta como engajamento! E cada segundo que passa favorece mais e mais a postagem da extrema-direita. O ideal mesmo é bloquear todas as contas da extrema-direita para que você não caia na tentação de interagir com elas.
2️⃣ Procurem se reunir em um espaço digital. No caso do Exército do Lula, tivemos o @AndreJanonesMG organizando toda a militância de esquerda em um canal do Whatsapp. Não sei se todos estão familiarizados com o Whatsapp... Nessa rede, "grupos" e "canais" possuem algumas funcionalidades diferentes. As características do "canal" Exército do Lula são as seguintes: não há limitação de usuários máximos (o "Exército do Lhla" atualmente tem 10.650.107 seguidores); não é possível visualizar quem são as pessoas que estão no canal (nem ao menos contatos de sua agenda); o canal é fechado para apenas 1 pessoa enviar mensagens. Neste canal, o nosso "Comandante", o deputado eleito André Janones, envia o que chama de "missões", ou seja, tarefas para os "soldados" cumprirem (como determinado conteúdo postado nas redes a ser engajado, ou tags do twitter para subirmos no ranking do trending topics). Também são enviadas orientações gerais, como a de não engajar os conteúdos da extrema-direira.
3️⃣ Tenham unidade de comando! A esquerda brasileira, tal como em qualquer lugar do mundo, sempre foi muito intelectualizada. Portanto, é bastante difícil para os militantes cumprirem ordens cegamente, simplesmente acreditando em um resultado. Mas foi o que o "Comandante Janones" pediu aos membros do "Exército do Lula": que deixássemos os livros, os questionamentos e os debates de lado por apenas alguns dias e simplesmente confiassemos nele. O que ele pedia, nós tínhamos que fazer: curtir uma postagem, não falar sobre determinado assunto, falar sobre outro assunto, pesquisar determinado termo (pra manipular o algoritmo de pesquisa do Google). Ele mandava e 10 milhões de pessoas cumpriam.
4️⃣ Engajar conteúdos do político que vocês querem fortalecer é O MÍNIMO. Isso nunca funcionou muito bem no Exército do Lula, mas talvez vocês consigam implementar no de vocês. Se o canal tem X milhões de pessoas, o ideal é que cada publicação do perfil do político que vocês querem eleger tenha esse mesmo X milhões de curtidas e comentários. Toda postagem do político escolhido deve ser curtida, comentada, salva, republicada, compartilhada e enviada para o máximo de pessoas (de preferência, para todos os seus amigos). Os vídeos postados devem ser assistidos até o fim (lembrem-se que cada segundo de visualização conta como engajamento).
5️⃣ Criem conteúdos orgânicos, em especial "memes" (conteúdos engraçados, que pareçam mais entretenimento do que política). Grave vídeos! Poste mensagens você mesmo nas suas redes!
6️⃣ Utilizem linguagem simples! Lembrem-se que vocês estarão falando com todo público!
Acho que é isso.
Tom Heyes retweeted
That story about Google killing hundreds of thousands of trees in Finland for its data center project is such a perfect microcosm of what capitalism is doing to our world.
Recent mass media headlines are saying the tech giant "illegally" cut down "250,000" trees, but both claims paint an inaccurate picture of what actually happened. Google killed 400,000 trees (250,000 near a town called Muhos and another 150,000 near the village of Otanmäki), and unless the company's executives actually wind up going to prison for this, their actions cannot properly be described as "illegal".
I don't know who first coined the saying "If the penalty is a fine, then it's legal for rich people," but it certainly applies here. The Finnish Licensing and Supervision Authority has reportedly ordered Google to suspend all “measures that significantly change the environment," saying it will "consider enforcement proceedings and fines" if the megacorporation does not comply. Google's parent company Alphabet has a net worth of around four trillion dollars. Whatever paltry penalties Finland might impose for these ecocidal actions, it won't have any meaningful effect on Google.
Giant corporations do this shit all the time. They calculate that the fines incurred by their abusive actions will be dwarfed by the massive profits they generate, issue fake apologies as needed, and leave it to their armies of lawyers to minimize the damage. That's why the Sackler family is still worth billions despite all the fines Purdue Pharma was slapped with while creating the US opiate epidemic.
A 2017 Harvard study titled “The Opioid Epidemic: Fixing a Broken Pharmaceutical Market" contains the following paragraph:
"Although civil claims and criminal charges were brought against Purdue and its executives, the resulting penalties paled in comparison to extended-release oxycodone profits. In May 2007, the company and its president, chief counsel, and former chief medical officer pled guilty to falsely marketing extended-release oxycodone as 'less addictive, less subject to abuse and diversion, and less likely to cause tolerance and withdrawal than other pain medications.' As part of the plea bargain, Purdue agreed to pay the federal government $600 million and 27 states $20 million. The three executives agreed to $34.5 million in fines but avoided jailtime. By contrast, Purdue has earned an estimated $31 billion in total revenues from extended-release oxycodone since its launch. Rather than deterring fraudulent marketing, the penalties simply became a cost of doing business."
A cost of doing business.
That's how things work under capitalism. The law primarily exists not to protect people or the environment, but to protect the interests of capital. If you destroyed a Google data center you'd probably be charged as a terrorist and spend decades in prison, but Google can destroy the natural world around you and get off with a finger wag and a symbolic fine. If you stole millions of dollars from your employer you'd go to prison for grand larceny, but if your employer steals millions from its employees you need to win a class action lawsuit to get back what they stole from you.
Proponents of capitalism often pretend they support minimal government intervention in civilian affairs, but their entire model is at all times propped up by state power using force to protect the haves from the have-nots at every level of our society. Corporations are free to destroy the environment, destroy your health, rob you, exploit you, and manipulate your government to their advantage, and if you ever take action to stand up to this world-devouring onslaught, the state will lock you in a cage.
In school we are taught that that the law exists to protect ordinary people from bad people, but that's not true at all. Under capitalism, the law exists to protect the very worst among us from everyone else. That's why we are seeing our planet being turned into dust and ashes for no reason other than shareholder profit.
It's an insane system, and it needs to end. These freaks are feeding our entire biosphere into the woodchipper.
Tom Heyes retweeted
كثيرون يتساءلون كيف يستطيع بعض الفلسطينيين داخل فلسطين المحتلة التصويت في الانتخابات الإسرائيلية، بينما لا يستطيع آخرون ذلك؟
سأشرح لكم المشهد حتى تفهموا طبيعة نظام الفصل العنصري في فلسطين المحتلة.
أولاً، يجب أن تفهموا أن فلسطين كلها، من البحر إلى النهر، تخضع لسيطرة حكومة واحدة، وهي حكومة إسرائيل. ولكن هذه الحكومة تقسم الفلسطينيين إلى فئات مختلفة، وتمنح كل فئة حقوقاً مختلفة بحسب المنطقة الجغرافية التي تعيش فيها وتاريخ احتلال أرضها.
الفلسطينيون الذين يعيشون في فلسطين التاريخية مقسمون إلى أربع فئات رئيسية:
أولاً، عرب الـ48: هؤلاء الفلسطينيون الذين بقوا في مدنهم وقراهم بعد نكبة عام 1948، مثل الناصرة وحيفا وعكا وأم الفحم، وأبناؤهم وأحفادهم. يحملون الجنسية الإسرائيلية، ولذلك يستطيعون التصويت في انتخابات الكنيست والترشح له، رغم التمييز الذي يتعرضون له.
وهنا يجب أن تفهموا أن عرب الـ48 مُنحوا الجنسية الإسرائيلية وحق التصويت لأن ذلك كان أحد الشروط التي فرضتها الأمم المتحدة على إسرائيل عام 1949 مقابل الاعتراف بها وقبولها عضواً فيها. بمعنى آخر، إسرائيل لم تمنح الفلسطينيين الذين بقوا في أرضهم بعد النكبة الجنسية وحقوق المواطنة لأنها تقبّلت وجودهم أو اعترفت بحقوقهم، وإنما لأنها كانت مضطرة إلى ذلك للحصول على الاعتراف الدولي والقبول في الأمم المتحدة.
ثانياً، أهل الضفة الغربية: هؤلاء يعيشون في الأراضي التي احتلتها إسرائيل عام 1967. لا يحملون الجنسية الإسرائيلية، بل هويات فلسطينية، ويخضعون للاحتلال العسكري الإسرائيلي. لا يستطيعون التصويت للكنيست، وحتى دخولهم إلى إسرائيل للعمل يحتاج إلى تصاريح خاصة. والمفارقة أن المستوطن الإسرائيلي الذي يعيش بجانبهم في الضفة يستطيع التصويت، بينما الفلسطيني صاحب الأرض لا يستطيع!
ثالثاً، أهل القدس الشرقية: هؤلاء أيضاً احتُلت أراضيهم عام 1967، لكن إسرائيل منحت معظمهم وضع الإقامة الدائمة بدلاً من الجنسية. ولذلك يستطيعون العيش والعمل داخل إسرائيل، لكنهم لا يستطيعون التصويت للكنيست، وإنما للانتخابات البلدية فقط، باستثناء من حصل منهم على الجنسية الإسرائيلية.
رابعاً، أهل قطاع غزة: هؤلاء أيضاً احتُلت أرضهم عام 1967، ولا يحملون الجنسية الإسرائيلية ولا يستطيعون التصويت للكنيست. ويعيشون تحت قيود شديدة على الحركة والدخول والخروج، فضلاً عن الحروب والقتل والدمار الذي تعرضوا له.
والآن افهموا المفارقة: كل هؤلاء فلسطينيون يعيشون على أرض فلسطين التاريخية، لكن إسرائيل تفرض عليهم أنظمة قانونية مختلفة بحسب مكان وجودهم.
فلسطيني في الناصرة يستطيع التصويت، وفلسطيني في القدس لا يستطيع التصويت للكنيست، وفلسطيني في رام الله يعيش تحت الحكم العسكري، وفلسطيني في غزة محاصر.
ومع أن هناك سلطة فلسطينية تدير شؤوناً محدودة في الضفة، فإن إسرائيل تحتفظ بالسيطرة على الجوانب الأساسية من حياة الفلسطينيين، بدرجات وأشكال مختلفة من منطقة إلى أخرى.
وهذا بالضبط ما أعنيه بنظام الفصل العنصري: شعب واحد، على أرض واحدة، لكن حقوقه تختلف بحسب الحدود الجغرافية التي رسمها الاحتلال وتاريخ خضوع أرضه للسيطرة الإسرائيلية.
Tom Heyes retweeted
I genuinely believe that if humanity is to survive, let alone thrive, our greatest opportunity to reshape the world lies in this very moment.
Someone mentioned the phrase "comfortably numb" the other day, in relation to how we live our lives. It got me thinking about the Pink Floyd song, and how we become so accustomed to things being wrong that we gradually lose the impulse to change them.
And isn't that precisely what we've done collectively?
For decades, we've become comfortably numb to inequality, austerity, environmental destruction and the erosion of our collective power. Wars waged, millions of lives lost, public services stripped back, climate action endlessly delayed or diluted.
And through it all, we've largely carried on. Not because we're happy, but because we've convinced ourselves this is simply how the world works.
But something feels different now.
The veil is coming off.
The political corruption, the extraordinary concentration of wealth and power, the brazen pursuit of private profit at the expense of people and planet. Wars, atrocities and genocide met with political obstruction and totalitarian tactics deployed to evade accountability.
Crisis after crisis, each demanding sacrifice from ordinary people while becoming another opportunity for those at the top to accumulate wealth and power.
And alongside it, the resurgence of fascism and far-right politics, telling us our problems are caused by migrants, minorities and the most vulnerable, rather than questioning those profiting exponentially from the status quo.
But I see hope in this awakening.
In Ukrainians fighting for their future, Palestinians refusing to surrender their humanity, and people across the world enduring unimaginable suffering yet refusing to give up hope.
And in the streets of Paris, Albania, Brazil, and America, where people are standing up, demanding change and refusing to accept the world as it is.
But perhaps most powerfully, in the millions across the world marching, shouting and screaming for the lives of others. People they've never met, in countries they've never visited, whose suffering they refuse to ignore.
People refusing to look away. Refusing to be silent. Refusing to accept that another human life matters any less because it was born on the other side of a border.
Different countries. Different struggles. But something profoundly human connects them all.
And that's what gives me hope.
Beneath the anger, grief and outrage, I see something far more powerful.
People rediscovering their shared humanity, recognising that the suffering of others is not separate from their own, and beginning to understand the extraordinary collective power we hold.
But awakening alone isn't enough.
If humanity is to survive, we can't keep waiting for the very political and economic systems that brought us here to somehow rescue us.
We have to connect across borders, organise, imagine and build. Stop treating politics as the limit of what's possible and start creating the momentum that forces it to respond.
The greatest opportunity in this moment is that we're finally beginning to feel again. Byt the greatest tragedy would be to see the world for what it is, recognise that we have the collective power to change it, and to still do nothing.
We can't afford to be comfortably numb any longer.
It's time to stop simply resisting the world we don't want, and start building the world we know is possible.
✊️🌏🌱✨️
#Groundswell
This is unbearable. Where is justice? How can we live in peace in a world where this happens?
Little Joury Al-Soufi spent her final moments seeking safety in her mother’s arms, repeating softly, "I want to go to my martyred father."
But her quiet wishes were cut short when Israeli forces and militia gunfire struck her as she slept inside her family’s fragile tent near the so-called "Yellow Line" south of Khan Younis, killing her in her while she was asleep.
Tom Heyes retweeted
Little Joury Al-Soufi spent her final moments seeking safety in her mother’s arms, repeating softly, "I want to go to my martyred father."
But her quiet wishes were cut short when Israeli forces and militia gunfire struck her as she slept inside her family’s fragile tent near the so-called "Yellow Line" south of Khan Younis, killing her in her while she was asleep.
Tom Heyes retweeted
The good guy/bad guy routine with @andyburnham seems to be working on an awful lot of people.
Today's freedom of movement with Europe talk has got people boosting their Burnham-hype levels again.
I keep saying it, but it's all political theatre.
Don't forget, just days ago, @UKLabour signed off on Jackdaw, just months after the UK's hottest summer on record.
And they've also backed the antisemitism in schools report, which reads like a comprehensive guide to conditioning our children into thinking it's racist to oppose a genocide.
It's farcical how quickly so many people seem willing to move on.
And notice the timescales.
When will Jackdaw start producing gas? The project is being pushed towards production within just a few months.
When will schools be asked to implement these measures that sanitise Israel's actions under the guise of tackling antisemitism? As soon as possible please, with a wider rollout planned for 2027/28.
But are we setting a date for an EU referendum? Erm, no.
Are we even committing to restoring freedom of movement? Nope.
We're seem perfectly content in praising politicians for things that haven't even happened, while seemingly forgetting the damage they're doing right in front of us.
And that's precisely how this political theatre works.
Keep people invested in the promise of change, while the government carries on protecting the very status quo we're supposedly desperate to change.
Tom Heyes retweeted
Simon Heffer’s final pars in his review of Liz Truss’ new book.
Of all the best examples of the Westminster unreality machine, where parts of the illiberal metropolitan elite and press build someone up clearly beyond their abilities, she was by far the worst. Zero accountability, of course.
