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‘It’s a road to destruction’: climate defenders facing surge in reprisals, says UN expert

‘It’s a road to destruction’: climate defenders facing surge in reprisals, says UN expert

Mary Lawlor, UN special rapporteur for human rights defenders, accuses US, UK and other governments of paying lip service to climate goals while criminalizing activists Human rights defenders organizing to prevent climate catastrophe are facing a surge in reprisals, as governments around the world denigrate, delegitimize and criminalize activists in spite of worsening global heating, a top United Nations official has told the Guardian. Mary Lawlor, the UN special rapporteur for human rights defenders since 2020, has documented hundreds of cases where states have sought to smear and silence climate defenders engaged in peaceful protest, non-violent civil disobedience and litigation. Continue reading...

Souleymane’s Story review – superb performance ballasts drama of man clinging on in the margins in Paris

Souleymane’s Story review – superb performance ballasts drama of man clinging on in the margins in Paris

Abou Sangaré is magnificent in a story that shines light on the enforced invisibility of economic migrants There’s a turnaround in the climax of this noctambulist Paris immigrant drama that suddenly charges the film’s seemingly neutral title with meaning. Food courier protagonist, Souleymane, is hopefully in the process of altering his destiny, and this key scene is carried by fantastic acting from Abou Sangaré : trembling violently as a lifetime’s tension and struggle, as well as the daily grind of an app wage slave, comes pouring out. Souleymane is a kind of every-immigrant, clinging on at the margins of the French capital. Hailing from Guinea, he sublets the delivery app account of Cameroonian Emmanuel (Emmanuel Yovanie) in order to work. Under constant pressure to meet food delivery targets, he needs money in order to pay fellow Guinean Barry (Alpha Oumar Sow), who is coaching him how to pass his asylum interview the day after next. But the harassed Souleymane struggles to reproduce the details of the political repression story that Barry recommends he tell. Continue reading...

The Antichrist has long haunted American politics. Now it’s rearing its head again | Matthew Avery Sutton

The Antichrist has long haunted American politics. Now it’s rearing its head again | Matthew Avery Sutton

From Silicon Valley to Michigan, the biblical figure is in the headlines. The shift from pulpits to politics is familiar – and dangerous Two scenes from the past two weeks capture something unsettling – and familiar –about American public life. In San Francisco, a tech billionaire delivered a sold‑out, off‑the‑record lecture series on the antichrist. In Michigan, a man rammed his pickup truck into a Latter‑day Saints meetinghouse during Sunday worship, opened fire and set the building ablaze, apparently believing that Mormons are the antichrist. The antichrist is clearly back. But perhaps he has never really left. Matthew Avery Sutton is a Guggenheim Fellow and author of the forthcoming Chosen Land: How Christianity Made America and Americans Remade Christianity (Basic Books), in addition to five prior books on Christianity. He is the Claudius O and Mary Johnson distinguished professor and chair of the department of history at Washington State University. The views expressed here are his own and do reflect those of WSU Continue reading...

Voters' voices are being shut out of British politics. Your Party has a radical plan to change that | Jeremy Corbyn

Voters' voices are being shut out of British politics. Your Party has a radical plan to change that | Jeremy Corbyn

At our conference in November we will use a jury service-type model to allow members to discuss and decide policy, strategy and even the name of our party At Labour’s latest conference, one thing stood out: the party no longer believes in democracy. Members and trade union affiliates voted to back , first the findings of a UN commission of inquiry that Israel is committing genocide , and second that the government must do all it can to prevent it. It is now two weeks since this motion was passed, but still the Labour government refuses to recognise the genocide in Gaza and allows the supply of weapons to Israel. Jeremy Corbyn is the MP for Islington North and co-leader of Your Party. He was leader of the Labour party from 2015 to 2020 Continue reading...

A vampire novel that smells of garlic? Well, if it gets people reading … | Carys Afoko

A vampire novel that smells of garlic? Well, if it gets people reading … | Carys Afoko

The special edition of Jennifer L Armentrout’s new ‘romantasy’ will stand out on any bookshelf, even if you’ve got your eyes closed. I refuse to be sniffy about it Would you like a book that smells like garlic? Didn’t think so. But that didn’t stop author Jennifer L Armentrout from using garlic-infused ink to print 1,000 copies of her new novel The Primal of Blood and Bone. Seem strange? Maybe less so if I explain that the book is the latest instalment in a “romantasy” series that features Vampry (vampires) and Craven (sort of zombie vampires). Even then, this garlic business doesn’t quite add up. In Armentrout’s six-book saga (not including its four-book prequel), there is literally no mention of garlic repelling vampires. It’s only when you open TikTok that the special edition makes sense – it’s a “partnership” with the mayonnaise brand Hellmann’s. A quick search and my screen is full of excited readers opening coffin-shaped packages that contain the special smelly book and a free bottle of Hellmann’s garlic aioli. This is a stunt targeted at the army of romantasy readers on BookTok, the corner of TikTok devoted to books and reading. Continue reading...