SOMETIMES, YOU DON’T KNOW WHETHER to laugh or cry.
Last weekend over 532 people were arrested for conducting a peaceful protest outside
the Parliament buildings in London, England. The reason for the mass arrest was simple: The protestors carried placards stating their support for the pro-Palestinian, direct-action group “Palestine Action”. Until last month, Palestine
Action (PA), had been a UK based protest group that staged
non-violent acts in support of the Palestinian people of Gaza (and the West Bank and East Jerusalem). On the
night of June 20, PA broke into the RAF base at Brize Norton,
Oxfordshire and spray-painted the engines of two Voyager cargo jets, aircraft used in mid-air refueling of spy planes over Gaza and U.S./Israeli fighter jets in the various conflicts Israel has instigated in the
region. PM Keir Starmer claimed there was “millions” of pounds damage done to
the two aircraft.
IN HINDSIGHT, PA should have known that
staging a direct-action protest that would entail such repair costs (True or
false? Who knows) was something that would put the group in the crosshairs of authorities. But, for the Keir Starmer government to label
the organization a “terrorist” group and to
arrest Saturday’s protestors “under Section 13 of the Terrorism Act
for displaying supportive placards or signs”, (Guardian) was overkill. As intended,
this law, and others like it, will have a chilling effect on protests,
demonstrations, rallies, marches, pamphleteering etc., going forward. Nevertheless, on Saturday, June 20, hundreds of peaceful protestors challenge Britain’s new anti-terrorism law that bans any support for the now-proscribed Palestine
Action* organization. Even carrying placards or T-shirts displaying the group’s name is outlawed
by the government and its increasingly Draconian laws inhibiting freedom of
expression and the right to peacefully protest. It was an ABSURD SCENE of mass arrests, with protestors handcuffed and led away to
waiting police vans. Many were over sixty years of age and unlikely candidates
for radicalization by Al Queda. 😝 One was in a wheelchair. All this from the land
that gave us the Magna Carta and British jurisprudence!
Recall that ALL THE PROTESTORS were released
the next day. There’s a simple reason for this: Breeching Britain’s Terrorism law
comes with a stiff sentencing regime, including a maximum penalty of fourteen
years in prison. By law, this mandates the accused be tried before a jury of their
peers. Thus, the authorities realized, belatedly and with much chagrin, that no
jury in the country would convict them. And so, they were released.
SO, was it against the law for
Palestine Action to spray-paint those planes? Yes. Does the death and destruction those Voyager aircraft facilitate by being links in the logistics chain that allows Israel to
bombard Gaza and other parts of the Levant, does their sordid legacy far outweigh in criminality any physical damage done to the aircraft by PA? Yes. Was it morally justifiable? Yes. Was it the right thing to do? Again, yes.
Cheers, Jake. ____________________________________
* If I were living in Britain and I
were to publish this post like I’m now doing, a post that mentions "Palestine
Action" (as I do here), I could be subject to arrest and face a possible prison
sentence of fourteen years. Just for writing the words "Palestine Action." (Oops, I
did it again.)
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