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UK campaigner targeted by Trump accuses tech giants of ‘sociopathic greed’

Exclusive: Imran Ahmed says US companies are ‘corrupting the system’ of politics by seeking to avoid accountability

A British anti-disinformation campaigner told by the Trump administration that he faces possible removal from the US has said he is being targeted by arrogant and “sociopathic” tech companies for trying to hold them to account.

Imran Ahmed, the chief executive of the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), is among five European nationals barred from the US by the state department after being accused of seeking to push tech firms to censor or suppress American viewpoints.

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© Composite: Daniel Hambury/Stella Pictures/Mark Thomas/Alamy

© Composite: Daniel Hambury/Stella Pictures/Mark Thomas/Alamy

© Composite: Daniel Hambury/Stella Pictures/Mark Thomas/Alamy

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‘Weapons of mass construction’: the US ‘craftivists’ using yarn to fight back against Trump

Fiber artists across the US are using their craft to protest against everything from national guard deployments to rollbacks on abortion rights

In early October, Tracy Wright invited a group of other women in her social circle – all fellow knitters – to gather outside the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in their home town of Portland, Oregon. They were “armed with their weapons of mass construction”.

Donald Trump had just ordered national guard troops deployed to the city, which he called “war ravaged” in order to protect ICE facilities he said were “under siege” by anti-fascists “and other domestic terrorists”.

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© Illustration: Jessica Whittingham/The Guardian

© Illustration: Jessica Whittingham/The Guardian

© Illustration: Jessica Whittingham/The Guardian

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Jewish klezmer-dance band Oi Va Voi: ‘Musicians shouldn’t have to keep looking over their shoulders’

After 20 years playing around the world, the group had two UK gigs cancelled this year after protests from activists. It’s made them feel targeted for who they are, the band say

Josh Breslaw was looking forward to a homecoming gig with his band of two decades’ standing. Oi Va Voi, a predominantly Jewish collective mixing traditional eastern European folk tunes with drum’n’bass and dance, were due to conclude a spring tour of Turkey with a gig in May at Bristol’s Strange Brew club, plus one in Brighton where Breslaw lives. But then, after protests from local activists about both the band’s past performances in Israel, and with Israeli singer Zohara, Strange Brew abruptly cancelled, citing “the ongoing situation in Gaza”.

To be told they hadn’t met the venue’s “ethical standards” was devastating, says Breslaw, the band’s 52-year-old drummer: “It felt so unjust.” But worse came when his home-town venue cancelled in solidarity. “It changed how I felt about the city, how I felt about parts of the music industry. And it changed how I felt about the political home I always felt I lived in.” Although the Brighton promoter swiftly apologised, only in November did Strange Brew issue a statement saying it had “made a mistake”, adding that the band likely only attracted scrutiny because they are “a Jewish band performing with an Israeli singer”.

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© Photograph: Alicia Canter/The Guardian

© Photograph: Alicia Canter/The Guardian

© Photograph: Alicia Canter/The Guardian

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