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Els Torreele

Els Torreele

@elstorreele.bsky.social

580 followers 620 following 110 posts

Interested in Shifting Powers towards Health Equity, Economic Justice, post-Finance Capitalism, Climate Justice, Equitable Access to Medicines and Vaccines, and a better future for all of us. Founding Director of æqua.

Environmental science 28%

Economics 20%

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Els Torreele @elstorreele.bsky.social · 8d

As feared, the UK government remained blind and deaf to warnings from health advocates and scientific community to not give into US and Pharma demands for higher drug prices. @martinmckee.bsky.social and I explain how bad this surrender is for public health @bmj.com
www.bmj.com/content/391/...

Who are the winners and losers of the UK-US pharma deal—it depends which side you believe

Behind the UK’s “landmark” pharma deal with the US lies a costly surrender, with higher drug prices, weaker safeguards, and vague promises of investment, write Els Torreele and Martin McKee When the...

Reposted by Els Torreele

Richard Murphy @richardjmurphy.bsky.social · 4h

Chief executives are now paid hundreds of times more than the people who actually create value in their companies. This is not innovation or entrepreneurship – it is extraction.

In this video, I explain how fair pay ratios could be enforced through the tax system.

youtu.be/X5jvx5ytcuE?...

Why Are CEOs Paid So Much More Than You?

YouTube video by Richard J Murphy

Reposted by Diane Ravitch, Els Torreele

The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 5h

Fact-check: true

Reposted by Els Torreele

New Economics Foundation @neweconomics.bsky.social · 1d

💸 Soaring bills for us, but huge payouts to shareholders.

💩 Sewage in our waterways, but bailouts for water companies.

🛤️ Delayed trains, but ticket hikes every year.

What if it didn’t have to be like this?

🎧 Listen now to learn more.
neweconomics.org/2025/10/radi...

w/@abundance-org.bsky.social

Els Torreele @elstorreele.bsky.social · 1d

More craziness that went largely unnoticed: #Trump punishes individual #ICC judges and cripples the Court they work for with economic sanctions, including cutting off personal credit cards, access to emails and other tech platforms - with help from Big Tech www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/12...

ICC judges stoic in face of US sanctions over Israeli war crimes cases

Staff at the International Criminal Court have described the sweeping effect of US sanctions on their daily lives.

www.aljazeera.com

Reposted by Els Torreele

Charles Keener @charleskeener.bsky.social · 2d

www.counterpunch.org/2025/12/11/t...

Tech Titans Investing Millions to Create Genetically Engineered Babies

Silicon Valley and other high tech billionaires are investing millions in start-ups dedicated to creating genetically engineered (GE) babies, according to a recent Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report. AI...

www.counterpunch.org

Reposted by Els Torreele

Al Jazeera English @aljazeera.com · 2d

For 1.5 million Palestinians living under plastic sheets, Storm Byron means more than bad weather.

Gaza's displaced face storm disaster with almost nothing

For 1.5 million Palestinians living under plastic sheets, Storm Byron means more than bad weather.

www.aljazeera.com

Reposted by Els Torreele, Henry Jones

Gil Durán @gilduran.com · 2d

Tech Billionaires Are Starting Private Cities to Escape the United States

“In October, former Coinbase chief technology officer Balaji Srinivasan shared his vision for the ‘ultimate exit’ by tech industry elites from the ‘failing’ United States.”

futurism.com/future-socie...

Tech Billionaires Are Starting Private Cities to Escape the United States

As economic discontent grows, tech billionaires are pouring money into some 120 "startup societies" where they can reign supreme.

Reposted by Els Torreele

Jan Willem Goudriaan @jwgoudriaan.bsky.social · 2d

Article @elmarsmid.bsky.social Dutch union @fnv.bsky.social on deregulation agenda @vonderleyen.ec.europa.eu / EPP demolishing protections for workers, working families, our communities and environment, all to allow corporations to exploit us more

@epsu.bsky.social
@olivierhoedeman.bsky.social 1/

De grootste dereguleringsoperatie sinds Thatcher

Simpelere regels, wie wil dat niet? In Europa is een enorme dereguleringsoperatie bezig. Onder het mom van vereenvoudiging wordt de vermeende regeldruk voor het bedrijfsleven verminderd. Dat lijkt nie...

Reposted by Els Torreele

alexvonwitzleben.bsky.social @alexvonwitzleben.bsky.social · 2d

In 2008, #Uruguay was heavily reliant on #fossilfuel imports and struggling to meet the energy demands of its burgeoning middle class. Today, it’s a global leader in #renewables, meeting 98% of its electricity needs from #renewables www.weforum.org/publications... #ClimateActionNow #ActOnClimate

Latin American Energy Transition

Policy reform, private investment, energy infrastructure and regional interconnections.

www.weforum.org

Reposted by Els Torreele

Democracy Now! @democracynow.org · 2d

As a winter storm batters Gaza, "people's tents are either being washed away or flooded entirely," says Moureen Kaki with the medical aid group Glia, speaking from Khan Younis. She says the current situation is "not really a ceasefire" but merely "a slower form of death."

Reposted by Els Torreele

Jewish Voice for Peace @jvp.bsky.social · 2d

The Trump Ceasefire Plan is paving the way for mass population transfer of Palestinians in Gaza and massive land theft by the Israeli government.

Reposted by Els Torreele

Chad Loder @chadloder.bsky.social · 3d

How do VC's make money from failed bullshit? Fee structure. Say you're a VC with a 20% carry if the venture succeeds.

You ALSO have a guaranteed management fee of 2% of AUM per year. So you create a $1B "Deep Tech" fund, that's $20M a year. These sci-fi projects take 10 years to fail. That's $200M.

Els Torreele @elstorreele.bsky.social · 3d

The @nytimes.com Editorial Board names it: the US is fast becoming an autocracy. And they didn’t yet highlight the broligarchy with big Tech, Military and other businesses that are part of it.
www.nytimes.com/video/opinio...

Video: Opinion | Are We Losing Our Democracy?

While the United States is not yet close to a full-on autocracy, the New York Times editorial board outlines some of the warning signs of democratic erosion already taking place, thanks to the efforts...

www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Els Torreele

Jaime Manzano @jaimemanzano.bsky.social · 3d

🚨8 yrs data + 1 yr market protection for new drugs (extendable for innovation +1 ) Originally, the Commission proposed 6 years, so a major win for Big Pharma, delaying affordable alternatives even longer.

Reposted by Els Torreele

Global Abortion Rights News @globalabortionnews.bsky.social · 3d

Despite activist legal wins on abortion rights in Argentina, the right-wing gov't has undermined reproductive health and rights by throttling finances. The federal health budget has been slashed by 48%, and the provision of contraceptives and pregnancy tests to provinces was cut by 81%.

Rollback And Resistance: The Erosion Of Abortion Access In Argentina - Health Policy Watch

The movie “Belén”, Argentina’s submission for the 2026 Oscars, tells the story of a 26-year-old woman who suffered a miscarriage in a hospital in Tucuman

healthpolicy-watch.news

Reposted by Charles W. Smith, W. Andy Knight, E. Wayne Ross , and 2 more Charles W. Smith, W. Andy Knight, E. Wayne Ross, Bessma Momani, Els Torreele

Mrs. Betty Bowers @mrsbettybowers.bsky.social · 3d

“We are targeting Venezuela because of DRUGS, not OIL, which is why we are blowing up boats without any drugs and stealing a tanker full of oil.”

Reposted by David M. Farrell, Els Torreele

Alice Stollmeyer @stollmeyer.bsky.social · 4d

The US is not just Europe’s unwilling ally, but an adversary steeped in far-right ideology, writes prof Cas Mudde.

Trump regime "believes that its national security is best served by destruction of liberal democracy in Europe."

#DefendDemocracy #HandsOffOurEU

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The US is not just Europe’s unwilling ally, but an adversary steeped in far-right ideology | Cas Mudde

Don’t say you weren’t warned: Trump’s new national security strategy seeks to destroy liberal democracy as we know it, says academic and author Cas Mudde

www.theguardian.com

Els Torreele @elstorreele.bsky.social · 4d

👇In response to US gov and its broligarchy’s bullying « Radical economic change is the only real alternative if Europe wants to avoid hostile takeover that would see it become a wholly-owned subsidiary of USA Inc. » @audreygaughran.bsky.social
@somoamsterdam.bsky.social
www.somo.nl/hostile-take...

Hostile takeover: US foreign investment in Europe - SOMO

US companies close allies of president Trump openly leverage their influence with him to bend EU policy to their interests. Read more.

Reposted by Gavin L. Foster, Patrick A. Jansen, Juliet Lodge , and 7 more Gavin L. Foster, Patrick A. Jansen, Juliet Lodge, Alison Phipps, Mary Corcoran, Els Torreele, Mark Priestley, Patrick Meier, James Connelly, Ricardo Rocha

George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 4d

There is one overriding political problem, from which all others follow. Until it is addressed, every policy advanced by governments is window dressing.
www.theguardian.com/inequality/2...

Just 0.001% hold three times the wealth of poorest half of humanity, report finds

Data from World Inequality Report also showed top 10% of income-earners earn more than the other 90%

www.theguardian.com

Reposted by Els Torreele

Brian Merchant @bcmerchant.bsky.social · 4d

It's just two parallel realities: one for an executive class so enraptured by the promise of labor savings that creative departments are pushed into creating AI slop, and one for everyone else, who view the slop with their own eyes and are repulsed by the rank aesthetics of automation

Reposted by Els Torreele

Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 4d

Remember this as Trump and Big Tech lobbyists try to block AI regulation at both the state and federal level.

More Perfect Union @moreperfectunion.bsky.social · 4d

EXCLUSIVE: We found that Instacart is using AI algorithms to charge customers different prices for the same items.

It's not just online. It's in physical grocery stores too.

Our months-long investigation with @consumerreports.org and @groundwork.bsky.social found it could cost families $1200/year.

We Had 400 People Shop For Groceries. What We Found Will Shock You.

YouTube video by More Perfect Union

www.youtube.com

Reposted by Els Torreele

David Wearing @davidwearing.bsky.social · 4d

Israel is still throttling the aid supply to Gaza. And Britain is still supplying Israel with arms and maintaining normal diplomatic relations. The genocide continues, as does British complicity. 26 months and counting.

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/d...

More than 9,000 children in Gaza hospitalised for acute malnutrition in October, UN says

Aid agencies say Israel is still restricting their aid shipments despite ceasefire announced two months ago

www.theguardian.com

Els Torreele @elstorreele.bsky.social · 5d

Indeed, one of the most subsidized and profitable industries bullying governments for more incentives and more profits is grotesque. Higher drug prices is bad for our health, and does not deliver more innovation www.bmj.com/content/391/...

Reposted by Joe R. Feagin, Els Torreele, Brooke Harrington , and 1 more Joe R. Feagin, Els Torreele, Brooke Harrington, Élisabeth Vallet

Global Abortion Rights News @globalabortionnews.bsky.social · 5d

The U.S. is mirroring a pattern that has happened in authoritarian regimes around the world. When a government erects barriers to reproductive care, it doesn’t just cause death and suffering for women and their families. Such policies are often a first step in the gradual decline of democracies.

Opinion | Banning Abortion a Hallmark of Authoritarian Regimes

Seda Saluk writes about how U.S. policy on abortion rights has started to mirror patterns seen in authoritarian regimes around the world.

www.mississippifreepress.org

Spencer Ackerman @attackerman.bsky.social · 5d

They're using the confinement box, one of the most horrific methods of CIA torture in the post-9/11 black sites, against migrants now. This is the direct result of the lack of consequences for the architects of the torture program. Either there will be criminal penalties for this or it will expand.

Torture Techniques from CIA Black Sites Were Used at Alligator Alcatraz

Amnesty International, interviewing migrant detainees, identifies use of the confinement box. There can be no denying it is a torture prison

www.forever-wars.com

Reposted by Christopher Wright, Els Torreele

Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 5d

“I’ve been amazed by the groundswell of grassroots, bipartisan opposition to this....everyone is affected by this, the opposition has been across the political spectrum. A lot of people don’t see the benefits coming from AI and feel they will be paying for it"

More than 200 environmental groups demand halt to new US datacenters

Exclusive: Congress urged to act against energy-hungry facilities blamed for increasing bills and worsening climate crisis

www.theguardian.com

Adrian Monck @amonck.bsky.social · 7d

From the @wsj.com chief foreign correspondent

Reposted by Els Torreele

Richard Murphy @richardjmurphy.bsky.social · 7d

Modern Monetary Theory describes how money works in the real economy.

In this video, I share 12 essential questions to challenge politicians when they deny economic reality — and ensure the power of money is used for people, not for the wealthy few.

youtu.be/S3RGCq5KnTU?...

12 questions that expose the truth about money

YouTube video by Richard J Murphy

Reposted by Els Torreele

Ben Phillips @benphillips76.bsky.social · 7d

Making a killing.

Reposted by Els Torreele

Al Jazeera English @aljazeera.com · 8d

Ministers slam Israeli breach of truce plan, which ultimately aims to 'displace Palestinian people from their land'.

Arab, Muslim nations reject Israeli exit-only plan for Gaza Rafah crossing

Ministers slam Israeli breach of truce plan, which ultimately aims to 'displace Palestinian people from their land'.