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Anand

@calmerfuture.bsky.social

590 followers 700 following 2.4K posts

calmerfuture.org dreaming of practical better futures @dosima_org on the other place

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Anand @calmerfuture.bsky.social · May 25

I want to share something I've worked on effectively for most of my life, in different ways.

This vision of a calmer future, and analysis of how we get there, came after working in different sectors, on different continents – and seeing how obvious solutions are not working.

www.calmerfuture.org

Calmer Future

Let's create a better future

www.calmerfuture.org

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Anand @calmerfuture.bsky.social · 8h

feels like relevant territory, as we struggle to move past historic evasion and euphemism

a quote by Orwell from 'Being Jewish After The Destruction Of Gaza' by Peter Beinart

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Reposted by Anand

Mehdi Hasan @mehdirhasan.bsky.social · 9h

“Starving children screaming for food as US aid cuts unleash devastation and death across Myanmar”

Never forget or forgive that Trump, Rubio, & Musk *chose* to inflict this monumental level of death and suffering on the poorest & most vulnerable people.

Starving children screaming for food as US aid cuts unleash devastation and death across Myanmar

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has repeatedly said “no one has died" because of his government’s decision to gut its foreign aid program.

apnews.com

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Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 1d

The Bishop of Birmingham has written to the Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick about his comments about Handsworth

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Anand @calmerfuture.bsky.social · 1d

love how Beth Rigby sounds like a deeply disappointed teacher

Best for Britain @bestforbritain.org · 1d

Among the worse interviews I've seen a politician give. There is no way Badenoch can (or should) survive until May.

- Do you admire Nigel Farage?
- On what basis?
- Do you admire him?
- I don't understand your question.
- What do you think of him?
- Why don't you ask me about Ed Davey?" 😱 ~AA

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Anand @calmerfuture.bsky.social · 1d

to argue that Britishness is a state of exceptional moral superiority over all others was historically a thing, I guess

I mean, all other national cultures are disgustingly inconsiderate, I assume

Annette Dittert @annettedittert.bsky.social · 1d

While I agree that it wd have been a sign of empathy and respect towards the Jewish communities in Britain to pause the protest on this very day, I also do find these attempts to declare who is British and who isn't increasingly worrying.
Who is Starmer to define that ?

Keir Starmer calls student protests on 7 October anniversary ‘un-British’

Prime minister urges students not to protest on the second anniversary of Hamas’s 7 October attacks on Israel

www.theguardian.com

Reposted by Anand

Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 1d

The UAE is an authoritarian autocracy, a petro-state with no income tax for citizens, to bribe them for the lack of democratic voice or free speech

It is 85% migrant, a segregated society with a ban on integration in principle and practice, few rights, equal opportunities, nor voice for incomers

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Anand @calmerfuture.bsky.social · 1d

I think they are arguing that you had to be the 'right sort' of Christian pilgrim, while conveniently forgetting how much those pilgrims were an incredibly fractured judgemental mob, quite aside from those loyal to Britain

and how African American enslaved people outnumbered them all for a while

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Anand @calmerfuture.bsky.social · 1d

I don't want to know if that image is cropped, what the other hands are doing, why he's smiling that weird but knowing smile... 🙈

Anand @calmerfuture.bsky.social · 1d

his message right as the end about unity was really strong, and felt so authentic throughout

Reposted by Anand

Gill Cookson @gillint.bsky.social · 1d

Wonderful! Some people have the power to cut through all the crap, and give faith to the rest of us.

TheBossRoss @thebossross.bsky.social · 1d

Love this man. #Hero

#Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson:

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Anand @calmerfuture.bsky.social · 1d

(I realise that Birmingham in the UK didn't grow rapidly until long after the English Civil War)

Anand @calmerfuture.bsky.social · 1d

heritage Brummies

SansSouci @1hime.bsky.social · 1d

“…because “heritage American is more palatable to the public than ‘white.’” ~Scott Greer

www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...

Are You a ‘Heritage American’?

Why some on the right want to know if your ancestors were here during the Civil War

www.theatlantic.com

Reposted by Anand

Grem, of 𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐌𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐏 🔜 MCAtlanta! @gremlin.world · 3d

I will never not repost this

(Sound on for maximum effect)

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Anand @calmerfuture.bsky.social · 1d

this feels multi-level marketing scheme adjacent, but I just can't figure out how you're all monetizing it 😅

Reposted by Anand

Dr. William Horne @wihorne.bsky.social · 1d

We really need to be thinking abt the current regime through the lens of the Second Klan, which helped to nationalize systems of Jim Crow state & vigilante violence & exploitation while creating an explicitly white nationalist immigration system. They even paraded down Pennsylvania Ave.

A 1926 klan parade marching down Pennsylvania Ave. The front of the column holds banners that read Connecticut & Rhode Island. Original available via the Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2001706338/

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Anand @calmerfuture.bsky.social · 1d

looking at this left me scratching my head, but in this short video he explains how he creates this fluid and woven effect with a stiff and brittle material

(it takes a few steps)

would be mesmerising to see up close, and in person

youtu.be/TZyqyE0lRbE?si

Anand @calmerfuture.bsky.social · 1d

this makes a good point about the actual diversity of Handsworth, if you see non-white people as actual people, undermining Jenrick's slimy backtracking excuses

also, the 1964 Conservative candidate's campaign slogan in nearby Smethwick :

“If you desire a n***r for a neighbour, vote Labour”

😔

Kieran Connell @kieranconnell.bsky.social · 1d

A weird time to be a historian of multiculturalism, who grew up in Birmingham as one of a handful of white kids at school, who has also written a book on Handsworth. My thoughts on Robert Jenrick’s unabashed racism in @thenewworldmag.bsky.social

www.thenewworld.co.uk/kieran-conne...

What Robert Jenrick doesn’t understand about Birmingham

I was one of a handful of white kids at my school in the city. It enriched my life and worldview

www.thenewworld.co.uk

Reposted by Anand

BeijingPalmer @beijingpalmer.bsky.social · 1d

A dynamic often missed in this is that Israel is a far richer, more militarily self-sufficient state than it was in the 20th century. Even if U.S. aid to Israel gets slowly dismantled, it can cope. The rapid disintegration of Israel’s internal social compact is probably a lot worse.

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Anand @calmerfuture.bsky.social · 1d

reminded me of stories like this

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

When I guarded the royal palaces I never realised there’d been a ban on black staff | Richard Stokes

As Britain’s first black guardsman I endured years of abuse. Now it saddens me to learn there was a royal household colour bar, says Richard Stokes

www.theguardian.com

Anand @calmerfuture.bsky.social · 1d

I think Otto is right to leave Twitter/X, and the UK government should do too

at the same time, it's still a key platform outside the US and UK for social issues, as are Instagram and TikTok

a lot of the wider world simply isn't on here, and I don't think there are other good alternatives yet 😔

Reposted by Anand

Corinne Fowler @corinnefowler.bsky.social · 1d

@zackpolanski.bsky.social @ZackPolanski your message of hope is the way to go. Would be amazing if you could now visit #Handsworth
to counter Jenerick's misrepresentation of our global society here in #Birmingham

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Anand @calmerfuture.bsky.social · 1d

the article tries to make a wider point than reducing/decluttering junk possessions, Tony, but I don't think it does it very well

Anand @calmerfuture.bsky.social · 1d

Bezos is a cynical greedy parasite, but to truly fix the underlying problems he's taken advantage of, we need to understand unfamiliar but deeper problems

commodification is an key part of this story, as is the attraction of instant convenience for overstretched lives

we're drowning in abundance

Anand @calmerfuture.bsky.social · 1d

Enshittification is an awful thing, but this is a fittingly terrible online analysis, though Cory Doctorow coined the word

we need a clear understanding then response to enormous economies of scale, network effects

Tim Hwang is good on the advertising bubble

www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Way past its prime: how did Amazon get so rubbish?

Sick of scrolling through junk results, AI-generated ads and links to lookalike products? The author and activist behind the term ‘enshittification’ explains what’s gone wrong with the internet – and ...

www.theguardian.com

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Tim Bale @timbale.bsky.social · 1d

I'm guessing Robert Jenrick might be hard-pressed to see a black face if he walked round his own constituency of Newark for 90 minutes, given the ethnic minority population of its main town looks to be smaller than the white population of Handsworth. (Source: citypopulation.de/en/uk/eastmi...)

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