Politics
displaced Palestinians have nowhere to turn
The people of Jenin Refugee Camp, in the occupied West Bank, have experienced many difficulties and much suffering over the years.The camp was established in 1953, after the Nakba, to house Palestinians expelled from over 50 villages in the Haifa and Nazareth areas by the Israeli occupation.
Jenin Refugee Camp residents endure
Until last year, 17,000 Palestinians lived in the 1 km2 Jenin Camp. They endured decades of displacement and military incursions, and one of the highest levels of poverty and unemployment of all those living in the West Bank refugee camps.
Farha Abu AlhaijaI was born and brought up in the camp. She says the situation is now the most difficult it has ever been for the people who lived there. In January 2025, the largest forced displacement in the West Bank since 1967 took place. The criminal ‘Israeli’ regime launched Operation Iron Wall, forcibly displacing 40,000 Palestinians living in Jenin, Tulkarm, and Nur Shams refugee camps.
She tells the Canary:
All 17,000 people from Jenin camp have been displaced, along with about 1800 houses completely destroyed. That is around half of the houses that were in Jenin Camp. The other houses are burnt or partially destroyed. The Palestinian Authority (PA) and UNRWA paid six months of their rent for the people, but now it has finished, and the PA cannot pay. So the people have to pay from their own money, but they cannot pay, as they don’t have enough money. No one is helping them, and it is a big problem. Some go out of their houses to stay with. their family, while others have moved into metal or plastic shelters.
82 percent of displaced families in the Northern West Bank are currently living in rented accommodation. This causes a huge financial burden on Palestinians. While living in Jenin Refugee Camp, residents needs were met, and accommodation was free. But those forcibly displaced must now pay rent. In addition, there is an unemployment crisis in the occupied West Bank. The Israeli occupation has not only driven the Palestinian economy to “near total collapse”. It has also, since October 2023, taken away permits allowing work in ‘Israel’ from more than 100,000 Palestinians.
Huge psychological toll on women and children from
According to Abu Alhaijal, these hardships also take a psychological toll on the population, including herself:
It’s very very difficult. All my history, my friends, my family were in this camp. Many people have been killed, many from my family. I wonder what we can do. We want peace for our children, to continue their lives, but there is no hope for people here. We feel we have lost all things.
Abu Alhaijal is also chairperson of Not to Forget Association, an organisation working with women and children of Jenin refugee camp. It was established in the aftermath of the 2002 massacre. 150 Israeli occupation force (IOF) tanks and armoured personnel carriers, along with F16 fighter jets, shelled the camp. No food, water or medical supplies were allowed in, while the dead and injured residents were prevented from leaving the camp or receiving treatment for their injuries. According to Human Rights Watch, 400 people were made homeless, their houses demolished and destroyed by the IOF.
She told me:
After the incursion in Jenin Camp in 2002, it was really the women and children who were most in need, because their psychology was very destroyed. We cared for those who had lost members of their family – at this time the occupation damaged the houses, so many people left the camp. More than 70 were killed, including many children and those with disabilities. Immediately, Not to Forget set up a psycho-social support project, with mothers and their children from Jenin camp.
Although this project was the association’s first programme, it was not the last. Then came the distribution of much needed relief – food, blankets, medicine, and even school materials. But according to Abu Alhaijar the most recent incursion, which displaced the entire population of Jenin Refugee Camp, has been the hardest for those affected.
Not to Forget providing “an emergency response to the tragic situation”
She says:
We are providing an emergency response to the tragic situation the people of Jenin camp have found themselves facing. Some families are unable to pay for rent, electric, water, or medicine. Not To Forget tries to help them, but we cannot do this all the time, as we are also struggling with funding. This is an especially big problem for the people now. We are in Ramadan now, a special time for the Islamic people. They must prepare food, sit the family at the same table, but there’s nothing for the people now.
Snipers prevent anyone accessing Jenin Refugee Camp to see what, if anything, remains of their homes. Those who have entered the camp have been shot and killed, including children. From their office, the Not to Forget team often see burning homes and explosions from the camp area, and hear shooting throughout the day. But they have no idea what is happening there, or what the Israeli occupation is shooting at. And while the association knows that its centres in the camp were destroyed, there have no further details.
Abu Alhaijal says:
It’s a really tragic situation. The children pay the highest price, and the impact of displacement on them is great. They don’t accept the situation they find themselves in. Many times we have gone outside to make a trip. But the children ask if they can go back to the camp instead.
The association’s staff members are now scattered throughout various villages in the area, so travelling to the newly rented centre in Jenin is often difficult. But these psychologists, educators, and teachers continue their essential work with women and children.
All that is needed is for powerful countries to stop supporting the terrorist state of ‘Israel’
Not to Forget projects are numerous and varied. Teenagers benefit from vocational training, such as car maintenance courses. The association has also joined forces with Medical Aid for Palestine, to help Palestinians come to terms with their grief and trauma. Women are taught new skills, not only to give them self confidence but to provide them with a livelihood. Economic empowerment is extremely important, especially during this period of high unemployment. Children also benefit from after school teaching that is currently taking place.
Conditions across the occupied West Bank are dire. Not only has the economy collapsed, and public services become non-functional. Settlers and the IOF also terrorise, displace, and kill Palestinians on a daily basis. Vast amounts of Palestinian land are stolen for the ‘Jewish state’, while more than 10,000 Palestinians are held as political prisoners in Israeli occupation prisons. Silence from the international community gives these Israeli terrorists confidence. They make no attempt to conceal their crimes, which occur in broad daylight, and are carefully planned out to inflict maximum suffering on the Palestinian population.
International support for the people of Palestine is now more important than ever and, according to Abu Alhaijal, change is not as difficult as people imagine.
She told me:
Change would be easy if there was international pressure on Israel. Israel doesn’t work alone. It has the support of the powerful – the US, the Arabic countries and the rest of the world. This world support allows Israel to continue doing whatever it wants. Without this, Israel would be nothing.
Featured images via author
War criminal Benjamin Netanyahu has fled and flown to Greece – like he did in last year’s ’12-day war’ – as retaliatory Iranian missiles batter Israel.
What else would the butcher of Gaza, Netanyahu, do but display his wide yellow streak, turn tail and run – leaving ‘his’ country and its occupying population to burn behind him.
Genocidal Netanyahu is a coward
And how it showed. While Netanyahu ran away, Iran’s missiles skipped past Israel’s defences as easily as they did in June 2025 and wrought havoc. There were scenes of utter panic at Israeli ports and shelters:
This is not even Iran’s full response yet. Whereas last year it used swarms of drones and missiles to overwhelm Israel’s defences, now it apparently needed just thirty:
🇮🇷🇮🇱Israel Army Radio: Nearly 30 missiles were used in the latest attack; this is the largest and most organized attack by Iran since this morning‼️ pic.twitter.com/RIrApw9rpl
— Dr.Sam Youssef Ph.D.,M.Sc.,DPT. (@drhossamsamy65) February 28, 2026
US news station NBC broadcast one major strike:
A Mossad-run call centre was hit, according to not yet confirmed reports:
🚨🇮🇷 BREAKING
Iranian missiles have struck Israel’s Mossad-run call centers employing Indian workers near the Al Jumeirah Hotel in Dubai.
These call centers were reportedly responsible for large-scale scams targeting Americans and Europeans. pic.twitter.com/LvBITWKK2C
— Zard si Gana (@ZardSi) February 28, 2026
Israeli TV was broadcasting live as a missile struck:
Footage showed other missiles breaching Israel’s ‘dome’:
Iranian missiles hitting central Israel just now. pic.twitter.com/Q1VU2khQQT
— Irves (@Irves_Watch) February 28, 2026
Some of the missiles, though not all, were ballistic – though not yet apparently Iran’s most effective hypersonic types:
🚨⚡️BREAKING: Missile alerts are sounding across Israel as footage emerges appearing to show multiple ballistic missiles launched earlier from inside Iran pic.twitter.com/uWRCk7aS4Z
— Segun (@segungideon10) February 28, 2026
Israeli propaganda account ‘Stand With Us’ has just reported ‘red’ warnings across Israel, showing the scale of danger and panic:
And new footage posted by an ABN News producer shows that the attack continues to intensify:
Another footage of interceptors launched from Patriot air defence batteries defending Qatar’s Al Udeid Air Base against Iranian missiles.
One interceptor missile appears to have failed.#Qatar #Iran #Israel
pic.twitter.com/dmawZ4fDfh— Syed Askar Ali Shah (@syedaskar451) February 28, 2026
Locally-shot footage showed devastation where the missiles struck:
The coward Netanyahu and his colony love to bomb and murder children and the defenceless. They run away when a victim can strike back.
Featured image via the Canary
The biggest night in British music was an especially big one this year.
On Saturday night, the 2026 Brit Awards took place in Manchester for the first time, in a night that delivered glittering performance, a few surprise wins and plenty of moments that kept ITV’s censors busy.
If you missed this year’s broadcast and want to catch up (or, indeed, if you were only half-watching, and you’re wondering if there were any bits that completely passed you by), then you’re in luck, because we’ve rounded up X of the top must-see moments from the 2026 Brit Awards…
Before the ceremony was even underway, Harry Styles made us smile on the red carpet with this business suit/ballet pumps combo
Anthony Harvey/Shutterstock
Rosalía got her night off to a suitably dramatic start with this complete serve
Anthony Harvey/Shutterstock
And it was a strong showing all-round from some of our fave celeb couples, including Jade and Jordan Stephens…
Anthony Harvey/Shutterstock
…and darts icon Luke Littler and his long-term girlfriend Faith Millar
Comedian Jack Whitehall kicked off his sixth time hosting the Brits with a skit paying homage to his love of Harry Styles
The man himself then opened the show properly with a performance of Aperture, complete with a lot of hand-ography and bum-wiggling
Jack Whitehall pulled absolutely no punches with his introductory Brits monologue, coming for everyone from Alex Warren (‘what you get if you order Ed Sheeran on Temu’), Lily Allen (‘her album was launched into the charts like a torpedo – only this torpedo didn’t sink a ship, it destroyed a Harbour’), Robbie Williams (‘he’s had more comebacks than his hairline’) and Noel Gallagher (‘Songwriter Of The Year… 1996’)
Oh, and he also delivered this jibe at the expense of the BBC
The voices of Huntr/x brought the joy with a performance – a pre-recorded one, we should add – of their hit Golden
And Olivia Dean’s rendition of Man I Need was similarly just… absolutely lovely, to be honest
Raye’s vocals on her renditions of Where Is My Husband! and Nightingale Lane were truly jaw-dropping
…and they were similarly quick to censor an introduction by Angry Ginge, to (he was jokingly calling London a ‘shithole’ if you’re interested)
Jack Whitehall then told us we were about to have ‘our minds blown by the incomparable Rosalía’ and he was absolutely not wrong
Oh and yes, Rosalía actually managed to get Björk back performing at the Brits for the first time in more than 30 years
The sound was pulled once again after Geese musician Max Bassin declared ‘free Palestine, fuck ICE’ during his International Group Of The Year speech
Jack Whitehall’s exchange with Shaun Ryder and Bez started off chaotic and only ventured into increasingly surreal territory
Alex Warren’s performance included a surprise guest spot from James Blunt because hey why not?
Noel Gallagher kicked off his Songwriter Of The Year speech by thanking his brother and Oasis bandmate Liam
Mark Ronson’s Outstanding Contribution performance featured some lovely tributes to Amy Winehouse…
…as well as a surprise(-ish) appearance from Dua Lipa
Rosalía’s special night just kept getting better as she was crowned International Artist Of The Year, beating some seriously stiff competition including Taylor Swift, Chappell Roan, Bad Bunny, Bruno Mars, Sabrina Carpenter and Lady Gaga
And CMAT had some fun with the cameras at losing out in this category for the second time
The night’s top winner Olivia Dean was visibly elated to pick up the Brits’ top honour, Album Of The Year
And finally, following a speech by Sharon Osbourne and her daughter Kelly, Robbie Williams was absolutely spot-on with his musical tribute to Ozzy Osbourne, which closed the show
In maybe the only good news of the year so far, Iranian ballistic missiles have struck both Tel Aviv – including Mossad HQ – causing major damage.
JUST IN: 🇮🇱🇮🇷 Major damage in Tel Aviv, Israel following Iranian ballistic missile strike.
— BRICS News (@BRICSinfo) February 28, 2026
Mossad HQ and Israeli military intelligence HQ in Tel Aviv hit by Iran.
— Richard Medhurst (@richimedhurst) February 28, 2026
Of course, white Jewish Israelis will be running to their cosy little bomb shelters. Meanwhile, as we have seen previously, the illegal settlers exclude minorities.
Nothing to see here.
Just Israelis hiding in bunkers. Dancing and cheering as bombs rain on schoolgirls in Iran.
And as American soldiers are sent to die for Israel’s war.
CNN and BBC won’t show you this.pic.twitter.com/ZpXv2ImU3T
— sarah (@sahouraxo) February 28, 2026
And Netanyahu? The dickhead responsible for the chaos across the entirety of the Middle East flew out of Tel Aviv quicker than Donald Trump can post to Truth Social when new Epstein files drop.
🇮🇱✈️ Netanyahu’s plane just left Israel. Circled for hours. Now over Greece.
The man who started the war. Who promised victory. Who declared Khamenei dead.
Now flying away while his country burns.
They’ll call it a trip. They’ll call it strategy. They’ll call it anything… pic.twitter.com/89OtANR4qF
— New Direction AFRICA (@Its_ereko) February 28, 2026
IsNOTrael is getting a taste of its own medicine.
BOOM BOOM #Telaviv, please #Iran make them feel what they have done to #Gaza https://t.co/8HXtdxInnV
— kandang puyang (@KandangPuyang) February 28, 2026
If you play with fire you can get burned. God save the Middle East. https://t.co/UX9uspqsyr
— Neil Nevim (@NeilNevim) February 28, 2026
And I’m guessing all media broadcasts will be banned from Israel in 3, 2, 1…
Tel Aviv is in tatters right now. Israelis are banned by military order from filming the damage (one of their many democratic values).
— Richard Medhurst (@richimedhurst) February 28, 2026
Israel is finally getting an iota of what it deserves for murdering thousands of Palestinians.
Netanyahu and Trump bomb civilian areas, killing children in the process, and then run, hide or party. They give zero fucks about the lives they are taking.
Anyone who has chosen to stay in Israel after watching Netanyahu and his terrorist government wage war on Palestinians for the last two and a half years needs to give their head a shake. And quite frankly, I have zero sympathy that they now have bombs falling on them.
Featured image via the Canary
The man on trial for the murder of 27-year-old Zahwa Mukhtar expressed his remorse that none of the six occupants of the car adequately checked she was conscious.
“She was still breathing”
During his final day giving evidence, Duane Owusu was quizzed on his defence statement, probed on how the car they’d been travelling in circled back twice towards Zahwa. The first time was within minutes of her receiving an “open-handed shove” by Owusu.
Another witness in the car said she was still breathing, but he didn’t look for himself. On Friday, the 36-year-old defendant said:
I didn’t even believe she was seriously injured, that’s honestly the truth. I didn’t think I caused a serious injury […] Nobody got out the car to check, that’s what I regret.
The defence statement continued:
The group then drove off unaware that [Zahwa] had sustained a life-threatening injury but shortly afterwards decided to return. Before they could do so the vehicle was stopped by police.
The stop, which was on suspicion of drugs, lasted about 50 minutes, during which time Owusu told jurors he thought Zahwa might appear and tell them herself what had happened.
Steering clear
He didn’t want to drive back to Zahwa, who was outside a care home in Chadwell Heath Lane, due to repeated altercations between her and two other women in the car, Paige Allen and Abigail Winter. Owusu believed returning would have risked reigniting those arguments if she re-entered the car, he told the court.
When Owusu learned Zahwa still hadn’t moved, he agreed with others to return to check on her. On route, he asked to be let out of the car, but the driver refused.
The defendant said:
I agreed, let’s go back, but as he’s done the u-turn, I just didn’t want to be involved with the fighting so I was going to remove myself from the whole group.
Henrietta Paget KC, prosecuting, suggested Owusu wanted to put as much distance as possible between himself and “the scene”.
“No,” he began.
The whole night I was preventing them from fighting, stopping the fights..I was just tired…I was basically being a peacemaker. I felt like the whole night I was just being a babysitter for people, which I don’t mind doing, but I’d just had enough of the fighting.
Defendant maintains his innocence
Evidence of altercations between all three women was mentioned in court, including one of Owusu’s conversations and reference to a cut on Paige’s nose from 16 August, before Zahwa’s death.
Before being struck in the neck, the prosecution’s case is that two kicks were aimed towards the finance assistant’s face.
Referring again to Owusu’s defence statement, Ms Paget read:
The kicking motions were not intended as strikes but were made to create distance and to move the deceased away from the vehicle as he was concerned that she would attempt to re-enter the car or place herself at risk.
He did not intend to, and did not, make contact with her and disengaged once she was clear and another female intervened.
She ask asked:
What does it mean, you didn’t mean to make contact with her?
Owusu replied that he didn’t mean to harm or hurt Zahwa.
On the advice of his legal team, Owusu answered ‘no comment’ to questions during his police interview and was arrested before he’d had a chance to hand himself in, he said.
Everything that happened was a total accident. I’m traumatised talking about that and I’m deeply sorry. That wasn’t how the night was supposed to go.
Owusu, of Althorne Way, Dagenham, denies murder and manslaughter.
The verdict is expected next week at the Old Bailey.
Featured image via the Canary
UK PM Keir Starmer has done his usual ‘mendacious limp dishrag’ performance in response to the new US/Israel attacks on Iran. Iran has hit US bases and Israeli facilities in retaliation.
Starmer has announced that Iran should “return to the negotiating table”. As political commentator Philip Proudfoot pointed out, that’s exactly where it was when the US and Israel attacked its people:
Iran was at the negotiating table when Israel bombed them, you absolute ghoul. pic.twitter.com/gnAt3PVTDh
— Philip Proudfoot (@PhilipProudfoot) June 22, 2025
Number 10 has denied that the UK participated in the attack on Iran. This is a lie. Flight tracking in recent weeks has shown a string of US military aircraft leaving the US en route to the area around Iran or using UK airspace to get there:
The US-Israel attacks on Iran are unprovoked and criminal — and carried out while Iran was negotiating against US-Israel demands that both coloniser powers knew were impossible. This mirrors Israel’s murder of Qatari bystanders while trying to assassinate Hamas’s ceasefire negotiating team — likewise assisted by the UK.
In November 2025, Sky News reported:
A small number of British military personnel – single digits – are understood to be deployed on USS Gerald R Ford, a giant US aircraft carrier, and other warships that form part of the carrier strike group that has been sent towards Venezuela.
Our own Joe Glenton pointed out:
Either UK personnel are aboard the US warships being positioned to threaten – and possibly attack – Iran or they are not. Self-evidently, there is a public interest in knowing if this is the case.
Now, Netanyahu claims the attack is for the good of the Iranian people. This is what he said of the Syrian people when Israel, after assisting terrorists take over that country, turned and mass-bombed them and stole Syrian territory as soon as the government had fallen.
War criminals in Tel Aviv and the White House and a snivelling little Renfield in Number 10 assisting and enabling them in return for scraps and beetles.
Featured image via the Canary
Iran has struck the US Navy’s 5th Fleet HQ in Bahrain and other US bases in the region this morning, 28 February 2026, in retaliation for unprovoked US and Israeli attacks on the country. US bombs struck a girls’ school in southern Iran, murdering at least 40 children and teachers:
Bahrain confirmed the strikes:
Heavy smoke rising from the targeted base in Bahrain:
Israel claims the attacks are for the sake of the people of Iran. We’ve heard that before.
Yemen has also attacked US vessels in the region in solidarity with Tehran:
Featured image via the Canary
Israel has bombed a girls’ elementary school in Iran, murdering at least 40 children.
An Israeli air strike hit Shajareh Tayyebeh school in Minab city in the Hormozgan province of southern Iran.
The victims were between seven and 12 years old.
Israel is taking out its primary enemy: children. https://t.co/rZNZ6S01t5
— Philip Proudfoot (@PhilipProudfoot) February 28, 2026
Middle East Eye has reported that there were at least 170 female students in the school at the time of the attack. Reports suggest that at least 45 people have also been wounded.
US-Israeli Airstrikes On Iran Targeted A Girls School
At least 40 Iranian schoolgirls massacred.
This is what they meant by “liberating Iranian women”.
This is what those warmongerers calling for regime change asked for. Are you happy now? pic.twitter.com/qxMCLBrviY
— Robert Inlakesh (@falasteen47) February 28, 2026
Of course, Israel was not content with the thousands of children it has murdered in Palestine.
Not content with killing tens of thousands of children in Gaza, Israel now kills children in Iran https://t.co/Lslzxet1BM
— Tenzing Lamsang (@TenzingLamsang) February 28, 2026
What do you get when you mix American weapons and Israelis?
Murdered children.
The telltale sign of American and Israeli violence: targeting schools and killing children. https://t.co/o2gpzcUMZB
— Sana Saeed (@SanaSaeed) February 28, 2026
Israel loves bombing schools and murdering kids. No surprise. https://t.co/lANablR1dd
— Abubaker Abed (@AbubakerAbedW) February 28, 2026
Israel — deliberate attacks
Israel has not even attempted to hide the fact that it is targeting civilian areas. Are they going to claim there was a Hamas compound in an Iranian elementary school full of little girls?
They’re hitting civilian areas https://t.co/F9SzPnPoQI
— Amar Mustafa | امار مصطفى (@_Amarmustafa) February 28, 2026
Why should innocent children die for the sake of Donald Trump and Netanyahu’s regime change bullshit?
Disgusting when young students at an elementary girl’s school are killed by the Israeli regime’s strikes
Praying for the victims of this illegal war
I wonder how UK media will cover these attacks:
Will they parrot Israeli (& US) propaganda or report what is actually happening? https://t.co/QQtdI0VsTB
— Miqdaad Versi (@miqdaad) February 28, 2026
Let’s not forget that Israel has extremely high-tech weaponry. When it wants to, it can target exact apartments or bedrooms with precision.
So make no mistakes, this attack on an elementary school was deliberate.
Remember, that Israel has top notch precision tech. They are able to strike missiles into the exact bedroom of the exact flat of the apartment where their target would be. They have done it before.
This is deliberate murder of school children. https://t.co/AdLZN6hKCl
— Sreekara Adwaith (@Adwaith_WS) February 28, 2026
They have done it before, and there is, unfortunately, no doubt they will do it again.
So much for the US wanting to ‘liberate‘ Iran.
Trump tells Iran ‘help is on the way’ and then bombs a school. Trump’s ‘major combat operations‘ are literally just an extension of Israel’s murderous rampage in the Middle East.
From Palestine to Iran to Lebanon and to Syria, Israel has shown time and time again that it will not stop. It literally gets off on murdering brown children. But why would it stop when it has the backing of the US and so many other Western countries? Until the West grows a pair and takes a stand, nothing will change, and thousands more innocent children will end up dead because of Israel’s terrorism.
Feature image via FRANCE 24 English/ YouTube
The European Green Party has welcomed Hannah Spencer’s victory in the Gorton and Denton by-election. Spencer’s dominant win came against a backdrop of ludicrous smears from Labour and led to racist dogwhistles from Reform.
Reacting to the victory, European Green Party co-chair Vula Tsetsi said:
Voters in the Manchester constituency of Gorton and Denton have heard Zack Polanski and the Green Party’s call to ‘make hope normal again’ and they have made it reality.
This victory brings the number of Green Members of Parliament in the UK to five, up from the historic high of four after the last general election. Together with their skyrocketing membership this confirms the Greens as a solid and growing progressive force in the UK.
We warmly congratulate Hannah Spencer and the Green Party of England and Wales for their enthusiastic, hopeful and locally rooted campaign. People are looking for affordable housing, clean air, and properly funded public services to improve their everyday lives.
Co-chair Ciarán Cuffe added:
Greens are demonstrating that the green transition can lower energy bills, create quality jobs and strengthen local communities.
While right-wing and far-right parties, including Reform UK, continue to try to divide communities across Europe, this result proves that fear is not the only force shaping politics.
The Green Party of England and Wales, a full member of the European Green Party, has beaten Reform and Labour by offering credible solutions on affordability, housing and investment in public services. This makes us very hopeful for the upcoming UK local elections in May.
The Greens have seen significant local wins across Europe, that gave the Greens the mayoral leadership in five capitals. These include Amsterdam (the Netherlands), Copenhagen (Denmark), Budapest (Hungary), Riga (Latvia) and Zagreb (Croatia).
Featured image via the Canary
Inequality economist Faiza Shaheen has summed up why people chose hope in the Gorton and Denton by-election. The Green’s Hannah Spencer won by a mile in the Manchester constituency by-election.
“Represent” the people
On social media, Shaheen said:
Greens came from nowhere to win in one of the safest Labour seats in the country. This is evidence that people want politicians that represent them, not the billionaires and city lobbyists
As part of a wide-reaching purge of progressives (that may have now backfired given the rise of the Greens), Keir Starmer arbitrarily blocked Shaheen from standing as a Labour candidate in the 2024 election. That’s despite her performance against Conservative Iain Duncan Smith in the Chingford and Woodford Green constituency in 2019. She came within around 1,000 votes from unseating him.
The Autonomy Institute made the corruption around corporate influence clear with its research last year. 373 companies have made over £60 billion from public contracts following their political donations in “recent years”.
As Shaheen points out, the public are sick of it and the result in Gorton and Denton reflects that. The Greens won a landslide victory in what appeared to be a close race. The party received 14,980 votes to Reform’s 10,578.
‘Muslims would forget’
Economist and politician Shaheen continued with her reasons for the Green win:
Labour’s complicity in a genocide has hurt them (David Lammy once told me that Muslims would forget!); and that people can and will defeat the divisive politics of Reform. Thank you Hannah Spencer, Zack Polanski and the Green Party
Despite the ceasefire, people aren’t forgetting the indiscriminate bombardment of Palestinian people. Labour was in a position to help stop the onslaught and instead has done the opposite.
As Shaheen says, the Greens are showing that a re-balancing of the economy away from billionaires and elites.
Featured image via the Canary
New York mayor Zohran Mamdani apparently helped to encourage US president Donald Trump and his paramilitary militia, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) unit, to release a Columbia student with over 100,000 Instagram followers. Tens of thousands more people whom immigration authorities have unfairly mistreated, however, haven’t had such luck.
Just got off the phone with President Trump.
In our meeting earlier, I shared my concerns about Columbia student Elmina Aghayeva, who was detained by ICE this morning.
He has just informed me that she will be released imminently. https://t.co/rvmTWpq83r
— Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@NYCMayor) February 26, 2026
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had accused Elmina Aghayeva of having a student visa termination due to a ‘failure to attend class’ back in 2016. ICE agents reportedly impersonated police officers to gain access to the Columbia University dorm where they detained Aghayeva.
Many politicians chimed in to criticise her dodgy detention. And it seems Mamdani’s plea to Trump may have made an impact.
However, few of the people ICE has detained during Trump’s second term in office have the same kind of profile Aghayeva does.
What about justice for everyone else?
The Trump regime regularly refers to the people ICE detains as dangerous or violent criminals – supposedly the “worst of the worst“. But as CBS News has reported, a DHS document shows less than 14% of around 400,000 people whom ICE arrested in the last year actually had “charges or convictions for violent criminal offenses”.
ICE’s unaccountable, aggressive behaviour has resulted in numerous deaths. And about 40% of all the people it has arrested “did not have any criminal record at all“, apart from questions relating to their permission to stay in the US. Civil proceedings have usually addressed such violations historically.
This means that ICE is mistreating tens of thousands of people who are definitely not ‘the worst of the worst’, and getting away with it.
Everyone deserves fair treatment from authorities – whether they’re influencers or not. But that doesn’t seem to be the system that currently reigns in the US under Donald Trump. And even politicians don’t seem to make as much noise when ICE detains people who don’t have such a prominent profile.
Featured image via the Canary
Netanyahu reportedly abandons Israelis
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