Dangerous ban

The UK House of Commons this week voted 385 to 26 to proscribe Palestine Action, a grassroots group active in protesting Britain’s complicity in Israel’s actions in Gaza, as a terrorist organization under the Terrorism Act 2000.

This mistaken decision, backed by Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, represents a worrying move that could mean the erosion of democratic freedom in Britain. By equating symbolic acts of disruption with terrorism, the Labour government is signaling its opposition to legal activism and dissent. It is threatening the democratic right to protest.

Palestine Action has been active in fighting against the government’s involvement in the Middle East. The most recent incident, which appears to have triggered the ban, took place on June 20 at RAF Brize Norton where activists sprayed red paint on two military aircraft to protest Britain’s role in arming Israel’s military.

Although Palestine Action targeted property without endangering lives, the government attacked the group, citing “serious damage to property” under the ridiculously broad Terrorism Act 2000, to justify labeling the group alongside al-Qaeda and ISIS.

The UK’s list of proscribed groups currently contains 81 organizations, from radical Islamists such as al-Qaida to neo-Nazis such as the Base.

Amnesty International UK’s chief, Sacha Deshmukh, condemned the ban as a “disturbing legal overreach,” warning that it risks violating fundamental rights to free speech and peaceful assembly. The Network for Police Monitoring and the Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers have similarly cautioned that proscribing Palestine Action sets a perilous precedent, potentially criminalizing any protest movement that challenges state power.

Even more disturbing is that Starmer’s Labour government banned Palestine Action as part of a broader crackdown on dissent. By combining Palestine Action’s proscription with two neo-Nazi groups – Maniacs Murder Cult and the Russian Imperial Movement – in a single parliamentary vote, the government used manipulation to pressure MPs into approving the entire package or risk appearing soft on extremism.

However, Independent MP Zarah Sultana, a former Labour MP, said: “To equate a spray can of paint with a suicide bomb isn’t just absurd, it is grotesque… It is a deliberate distortion of the law to chill dissent, criminalise solidarity and suppress the truth.”

The government’s attempt to illegally silence opposition has resulted in a public outcry. Over 400 cultural figures, including Tilda Swinton, Paul Weller, and Brian Eno, signed an open letter from Artists for Palestine UK, condemning the ban as an attack on democracy and demanding an end to UK arms sales to Israel. Protestors gathered outside Parliament on July 2, resulting in four arrests, including a man who blocked Downing Street’s gates with his mobility scooter. Palestine Action has launched a legal challenge, with an urgent High Court hearing on July 4 to seek “interim relief” to delay the ban, pending a full hearing on July 21.

The targeting of Palestine solidarity is taking place in other countries as well, such as the United States, Canada, France, Italy, and Germany, where governments have cracked down on pro-Palestinian protests. By criminalizing Palestine Action, Starmer’s government signals that it will not tolerate dissent against Britain’s imperial entanglements – especially, it seems, when it comes to Israel.

Palestine Action has of course responded to the ban, protesting its proscription as wrongful.Excerpted: ‘The UK’s Ban on Palestine Action is a Dangerous Attack on Democracy’. Courtesy: Counterpunch.org