Arrests after protest in support of Palestine Action
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gd3pkr9x1o
Posted by topotaul
Arrests after protest in support of Palestine Action
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gd3pkr9x1o
Posted by topotaul
9 Comments
Was the protest ‘in support of Palestine Action’?
Or against the proscribing of the group?
These are not the same thing.
If we set aside what this group were actually protesting, whether you agree with them or not, it does feel (to me) like an overreach to describe Palestinian Action as a terrorist group, I have to say. What’s alarming is just how loose the government’s definition of a terrorist group actually is. Technically, they might fit that definition, but the worrying part is that almost any protest group in history could be labelled the same way. Many of those groups, from the Peasants’ Revolt to the movements that led to the Magna Carta, planted the seeds for the very democracy we and MPs claim to value today.
It’s deeply ironic that our elected MPs would categorise almost every just cause in history as terrorism. They’ve shown their hand, that all but 26 of them would stamp out the very groups that gave us the rights and freedoms we have now, if they could.
So my question is: who the fuck do these MPs think they’re working for?
This is a fundamental difficulty with the prohibition system. It harshly limits the right of people to discuss whether the prohibition should stand or not. It becomes very difficult to say “they shouldn’t be prohibited, what are the government playing at?” without committing the offence of supporting the group you are discussing.
So once the government gets a prohibition in, they limit massively the discourse around that group which makes it quite a dangerous weapon.
For example I can see a world in which governments start prohibiting environmentalist groups as climate change really starts to bite.
the law says this is illegal, so I – in my endless wisdom and moderation – see absolutely no problem with this
It’s depressing how willing so many people are to support violence just because they agree with the cause. Always people who are confident that it will never be them on the receiving end of it. If PA did exactly the same thing in support of right wing ideology the spaces on Reddit cheerleading for them currently would be up in arms about it. Violence for my side, not for yours, there is definitely no way that encouraging violence is going to get innocent people hurt.
Also as a leftist these last few months / years have been incredibly depressing to see how few people are on “my side” because they believe in the sanctity of life, non violence and peace and how many are just trying to get the boot on the other foot so they can celebrate the murder of the people on the opposite side.
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This is NOT acceptable.
Palestine Action actions have been despicable but they are hardly domestic terrorists and those protesting about the designation certainly are not.
It’s a weird hill to die on.
Just support Palestine any other way
– Sends the police a letter, stating their intention to breach the terrorism act.
– Deliberately breaches the terrorism act.
– Releases a statement mocking the police for upholding the law.
Is this really the sad state of protest in 2025?. Deliberately going out of their way to get arrested, just so they can complain about it isn’t clever. It’s actually really stupid.