Charles

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

I'm not going to name the school, but the @BBC's coverage of the antisemitism in schools report featured interviews with children from a Jewish school. Here's the rub, though. The school's own published curriculum explicitly teaches Zionism, celebrates the establishment of Israel and describes preparing pupils to become "positive advocates for Israel" at university. It even references bringing in organisations such as StandWithUs to prepare pupils for that advocacy. Now, let me be absolutely clear. There is nothing wrong with teaching Jewish history, culture or identity. And antisemitism must be challenged wherever it exists. But when children are actively encouraged to advocate for a particular state, rather than critically examine its history, policies and actions, surely we have to question whether this is education or ideological conditioning? And here's the staggering hypocrisy. We're being told that schools must exercise political impartiality when discussing Palestine, while a school can openly describe preparing children to advocate for Israel. Political impartiality cannot be a principle applied selectively, depending on which side of a conflict children are encouraged to support. And the BBC has a responsibility to scrutinise that distinction, not simply present children's views without examining the educational environment in which those views have developed. Children deserve an education that teaches them how to think, not what to think. @NEUnion @educationgovuk

What I think really needs to be pointed out is that it's the government and mainstream media themselves who are fuelling antisemitism. If the only response to anyone who dares to challenge the actions of Israel is "you're being antisemitic", as we're seeing on a daily basis, then this is precisely what risks painting a target on the backs of the Jewish community. @AndyBurnham himself said in July that "there is no contradiction between a zero-tolerance approach to antisemitism and holding the Netanyahu government to account." Yet now he's branding @ZackPolanski and @TheGreenParty's position on Zionism, which is a political nationalist ideology rather than a religion, and one invoked by the Israeli government to justify its policies towards Palestinians, as antisemitic. Jewish people are NOT responsible for the actions of Israel. Criticism of Israel is NOT antisemitic on its own. And defending Palestinian rights is NOT an attack on Jewish people. The government and media should be reinforcing these distinctions, not blurring them. Repeatedly associating an entire Jewish community with the actions of the Israeli state, is making innocent Jewish people targets for anger over decisions they neither made nor necessarily support. This should concern anyone who genuinely wants to tackle antisemitism. #GazaGenocide #FreePalestine #Antisemitism

🚨 PLEASE SHARE! I've written to both my children's schools following the Government's antisemitism review. I WILL NOT accept genocide being presented as a two-sided political debate, or Palestinian history and suffering being erased from their education. I've drafted a template which I'm sharing for other parents to use or adapt. Political impartiality must NEVER become historical dishonesty. Please use them. Challenge your schools. Demand answers. #GazaGenocide docs.google.com/document/d/1…