Notices by Pauline von Hellermann (pvonhellermannn@mastodon.green)

“International pressure over starvation and civilian killings in Gaza had apparently dissipated in little more than the time it took for the smoke of the first missile strikes to clear over Tehran.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jun/14/israel-attack-on-iran-slows-diplomatic-momentum-to-halt-gaza-war?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

#Madleen #FreedomFlotilla has been interceoted by Israel. Of course. And:

Israel's defence minister says Madleen passengers will be shown video of 7 October attacks

Katz said he wanted them to “see exactly who the Hamas terrorist organization they came to support and for whom they work is, what atrocities they committed against women, the elderly, and children, and against whom Israel is fighting to defend itself.” 🤬

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2025/jun/09/live-israel-gaza-aid-ship-madleen-freedom-flotilla-coalition-greta-thunberg?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

#Madleen #FreedomFlotilla

Just to make completely clear: Israel has no legal right whatsoever to be doing this. As Francesca Albanese says:

While #Madleen must be released immediately, every Mediterranean port should send boats with aid, solidarity, and humanity to Gaza. They shall sail together—united, they will be unstoppable.

#BreakingTheSiege is a legal duty for states, and a moral imperative for all of us.

#ClimateDiary

More than 17,000 people in Canada’s western Manitoba province were being evacuated on Wednesday as the region experienced its worst start to the wildfire season in years.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/29/canada-wildfires-manitoba-province-fire-evacuation

#ClimateDiary UAE breaks May heat record with scorching 51.6C

“The desert nation, a top global oil exporter, lies in one of the planet's hottest regions and one which is particularly vulnerable to climate change.”

https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20250524-uae-breaks-may-heat-record-with-scorching-51-6c

#ClimateDiary #CollapseDiary

When I set up #ClimateDiary in Jan 23, it still felt like many in privileged Global North thought everything was fine and normal; like only a minority of us saw the #Polycrisis or #Metacrisis .

By now, we all know, and know that everyone knows, that nothing is fine and normal, and that all these different crisis are connected.

We may not know what to do. But perhaps we can at least connect to those around us (IRL) in truer ways. IDK.

https://www.theguardian.com/wellness/ng-interactive/2025/may/22/hypernormalization-dysfunction-status-quo?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

@aral @Noortjevee

Apologies! I always do alt text, but forgot this time. Have added it now

UN warns 14,000 babies could die in Gaza in next 48 hours without aid #Gaza

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2025/may/20/israel-gaza-hamas-aid-middle-east-crisis-live-news-updates?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

#FollowTheMoney 🧵56/n

- nurses, art gallery workers, conservation NGOs, academics, etc - all these jobs that people do out of love for something/one are poorly paid. Love is exploited. More love = less money.

Only love of money itself and nothing else is rewarded with money (high salaries, bonuses, etc). Maybe not surprising - what do you expect in capitalism - but not much honesty about it. All that neoliberal motivational #Passion talk (“my work is my passion”) - exploitative bollocks.

#FollowTheMoney 🧵57/n

This LinkedIn post resonates … wanted to share here just in case there are others who are in this situation too.

Also one reason I hardly ever add to this 🧵any more is that, of course, I am literally trying to #FollowTheMoney, or rather, divert some from somewhere to my bank account😄 #JobSearch #FediHire

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/staggmacey_this-week-a-friend-told-me-theyd-taken-activity-7325917928724336641-LOlX?utm_medium=ios_app&rcm=ACoAAAIt0BkBUaNgLl_2JLMYW8cY32uxAbZO8FY&utm_source=social_share_send&utm_campaign=copy_link

#FollowTheMoney 🧵 58/n

I think so much about middle class-ness at the moment. More research in news this week how it’s the top 10%, those with incomes over £36,000, who are largely responsible for CO2 emissions; but it’s even more than that; middle-class aspirations shape everything. So conscious of this now as I am so driven in finding work so as not to have to sell our (nice, middle class, highly mortgaged house). Then a friend just sent me this - must read. #ClimateDiary

#FollowTheMoney 🧵 44/n but also: #Redundancy has made me think deeply (of course!) about the role of money in personal decision making. I may be wrong but it feels like this is something we don’t talk about much, and yet it is is so central to everything! I DO want to talk about it, even if I have nothing insightful to say actually. Just a few observations.

1. Money was at core of my decisions around redundancy. I have two teenage children and a high mortgage.

#FollowTheMoney 🧵 45/n

I could not go for lovely 0.5 offered, or for tribunal; I had to opt for enhanced redundancy. If had chosen tribunal route i would have probably been able to keep my job as the 12 who did (who were able to do so due to different financial circumstances) were all reinstalled in an even lovelier deal btw management and union. (The 64 of us eho accepted enhanced redundancy by deadline did not know this would happen).

#FollowTheMoney 🧵 46/n

2. Money is now also so core to all my decision-making in how to spend my time, what jobs to go for - and balancing the need for money with wanting to do good, environmental work, and things I enjoy and am good at. It is quite strange, I gave a lecture at SOAS in Feb this year on “Doing Work You Believe in and be paid for it”, on the very day the Goldsmiths mass redundancies were announced (will see if I can upload recording here)

#FollowTheMoney 🧵 47/n

This was a combination of two papers: one on unpaid Eastbourne climate activism, one on sustainability professionals in the palm oil sector. It is very strange that I gave that lecture and wrote that paper - this is me now! I am out here in the wilderness, having to make a living, and yes, doing consultancy work. Which, of course, as I am rapidly learning, does not have to mean “selling out “ - my current work for the RSPB is really rewarding.

https://journals.librarypublishing.arizona.edu/jpe/article/id/4717/

#FollowTheMoney 🧵 48/n here also a link to the other paper on Eastbourne climate activism, i’ve shared it before but doing so again as it has a brief section on what kind of work is rewarded by high salaries, and what isn’t. I still feel this is an incredibly important topic and not really talked about enough in #ClimateAction circles. Maybe we can talk about it more together here?

https://www.mdpi.com/2673-4060/2/4/32

#FollowTheMoney 🧵 49/n Anyway, just to end for today: a huge, HUGE shout out ❤️ to everyone on here who works “freelance”, going from one projec to another (more on “projects” and projectification later - so important in itself). I am now realising the immense privilege of a secure job (not secure in my case, as it turned out), where you don’t have to think about where your money will come from in 6 months or whatever. It is a fundamentally different state of being. Everything now existential.

#FollowTheMoney 🧵 50/n Today adding this excellent video by @RichardJMurphy on how “the City” is not our “Jewel in the Crown”, as Rachel Reeves put it, but a parasite extracting huge amounts of money for self-enrichment. It does not add any value to the economy.

So important to see the City for what it is.

https://youtu.be/yZYXZR4AXSY?si=YTtLWpLD7wzzt5hd

#FollowTheMoney 🧵 51/n Richard’s video has spurred me on to do a few posts now on #PrivateEquity. Long overdue here, because private equity is at the heart of how our world works!

(Just to state again: i am not an expert, just someone who is trying to make sense of our world by #FollowingTheMoney, in an eclectic 🧵)

To start with basics: what is private equity? I like this clear definition by Justin Robertson

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13563460903288270

#FollowTheMoney 🧵 52/n

The amount of wealth and assets held by private equity is vast. The biggest private equity firm of all is of course #BlackRock, founded by Larry Fink in 1988. Here is a lovely Statistica chart showing how its “assets under management” grew from $1.31 trillion (i mean, not bad) to $10.41 trillion in 2024. Bloomberg predicts they will hit $15 trillion in a few years

https://www.statista.com/statistics/891292/assets-under-management-blackrock/