Ben Sellers
@mrbensellers.bsky.social
“It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees.”
… Our government, the establishment media & the far right reinforce these narratives with different games in mind, but the results are the same. To all those actors, asylum seekers are just pawns.
November 19, 2025 at 11:44 PM
… Our government, the establishment media & the far right reinforce these narratives with different games in mind, but the results are the same. To all those actors, asylum seekers are just pawns.
🫵🏻 The pernicious policies on asylum we are seeing today both depend on & feed this whole process - of misrepresentation and slippage …
November 19, 2025 at 11:44 PM
🫵🏻 The pernicious policies on asylum we are seeing today both depend on & feed this whole process - of misrepresentation and slippage …
… No one questions where all this came from & whether the initial focus on those small numbers of cases was fair or proportionate.
November 19, 2025 at 11:44 PM
… No one questions where all this came from & whether the initial focus on those small numbers of cases was fair or proportionate.
🫵🏻 The government is urged to act on this moral panic & cannot contemplate resisting or challenging this ‘common sense’. Asylum seekers are now a political issue & must be dealt with, through tougher legislation …
November 19, 2025 at 11:44 PM
🫵🏻 The government is urged to act on this moral panic & cannot contemplate resisting or challenging this ‘common sense’. Asylum seekers are now a political issue & must be dealt with, through tougher legislation …
… They become established as folklore, beyond facts or reason. A moral panic sets in. This reaches a far bigger audience than the far right, and becomes a kind of ‘common sense’.
November 19, 2025 at 11:44 PM
… They become established as folklore, beyond facts or reason. A moral panic sets in. This reaches a far bigger audience than the far right, and becomes a kind of ‘common sense’.
🫵🏻 Eventually a whole false narrative builds around the ‘scandal’ of asylum seekers who commit these crimes. No one questions the numbers, no one looks at the cases or compares the incidence of these crimes with the population as a whole …
November 19, 2025 at 11:44 PM
🫵🏻 Eventually a whole false narrative builds around the ‘scandal’ of asylum seekers who commit these crimes. No one questions the numbers, no one looks at the cases or compares the incidence of these crimes with the population as a whole …
… It has nothing to do with the safety of women & girls & everything to do with laying the groundwork for a violent & hostile environment.
November 19, 2025 at 11:44 PM
… It has nothing to do with the safety of women & girls & everything to do with laying the groundwork for a violent & hostile environment.
… but I worry about the people who see themselves as anti-racists, humanitarians & ‘on the left’ & yet try to fly under the radar on this. That’s a circle that can’t be squared. (7/7)
November 18, 2025 at 9:05 AM
… but I worry about the people who see themselves as anti-racists, humanitarians & ‘on the left’ & yet try to fly under the radar on this. That’s a circle that can’t be squared. (7/7)
The thing for me isn’t so much them - I’ve been observing the right-wing of the Labour Party for over three decades & understood long ago that they are empty vessels, without a single moral principle … (6/7)
November 18, 2025 at 9:05 AM
The thing for me isn’t so much them - I’ve been observing the right-wing of the Labour Party for over three decades & understood long ago that they are empty vessels, without a single moral principle … (6/7)
Instead of explaining the principle of sanctuary & the legal processes that go alongside it, this Labour government has poured petrol on the fire & made it a lot less safe to flee persecution, violence, war & torture. (5/7)
November 18, 2025 at 9:05 AM
Instead of explaining the principle of sanctuary & the legal processes that go alongside it, this Labour government has poured petrol on the fire & made it a lot less safe to flee persecution, violence, war & torture. (5/7)
It doesn’t take a genius to work out, for instance, that if you make asylum seeking temporary irrespective of the circumstances, emboldened racists will loudly (and violently) demand their immediate removal. (4/7)
November 18, 2025 at 9:05 AM
It doesn’t take a genius to work out, for instance, that if you make asylum seeking temporary irrespective of the circumstances, emboldened racists will loudly (and violently) demand their immediate removal. (4/7)
… creating an even more hostile environment for them; and feeding the hatred we’re seeing in our society, only plays into the hands of Reform & the far right. (3/7)
November 18, 2025 at 9:05 AM
… creating an even more hostile environment for them; and feeding the hatred we’re seeing in our society, only plays into the hands of Reform & the far right. (3/7)
The people who run the party are so incredibly dumb that they genuinely believe this kind of toxicity is the way to swing the pendulum back in their favour - but it’s obvious that attacking asylum seekers … (2/7)
November 18, 2025 at 9:05 AM
The people who run the party are so incredibly dumb that they genuinely believe this kind of toxicity is the way to swing the pendulum back in their favour - but it’s obvious that attacking asylum seekers … (2/7)
5. Taxes on wealthiest New Yorkers:
Mamdani says he will pay for his policies by raising the corporate tax rate to 11.5 percent and by imposing a flat 2 percent tax on those earning above $1m annually.
Mamdani says he will pay for his policies by raising the corporate tax rate to 11.5 percent and by imposing a flat 2 percent tax on those earning above $1m annually.
November 5, 2025 at 8:10 AM
5. Taxes on wealthiest New Yorkers:
Mamdani says he will pay for his policies by raising the corporate tax rate to 11.5 percent and by imposing a flat 2 percent tax on those earning above $1m annually.
Mamdani says he will pay for his policies by raising the corporate tax rate to 11.5 percent and by imposing a flat 2 percent tax on those earning above $1m annually.
4. City-owned grocery stores:
Mamdani says he will create a network of city-owned grocery stores that are focused on keeping food prices low.
Mamdani says he will create a network of city-owned grocery stores that are focused on keeping food prices low.
November 5, 2025 at 8:10 AM
4. City-owned grocery stores:
Mamdani says he will create a network of city-owned grocery stores that are focused on keeping food prices low.
Mamdani says he will create a network of city-owned grocery stores that are focused on keeping food prices low.
3. Free childcare:
Mamdani says he will implement free childcare for every New Yorker aged six weeks to five years and bring up wages for childcare workers.
Mamdani says he will implement free childcare for every New Yorker aged six weeks to five years and bring up wages for childcare workers.
November 5, 2025 at 8:10 AM
3. Free childcare:
Mamdani says he will implement free childcare for every New Yorker aged six weeks to five years and bring up wages for childcare workers.
Mamdani says he will implement free childcare for every New Yorker aged six weeks to five years and bring up wages for childcare workers.
2. Fast, free buses:
Mamdani says he will permanently eliminate the fare on every city bus and make them faster, including by rapidly building priority lanes.
Mamdani says he will permanently eliminate the fare on every city bus and make them faster, including by rapidly building priority lanes.
November 5, 2025 at 8:10 AM
2. Fast, free buses:
Mamdani says he will permanently eliminate the fare on every city bus and make them faster, including by rapidly building priority lanes.
Mamdani says he will permanently eliminate the fare on every city bus and make them faster, including by rapidly building priority lanes.