As some will know, I posted this poster of my creation here yesterday, and I am doing so again now:
I am unapologetic for doing so.
After posting it, I saw this article in The Guardian, written by Sally Rooney, the writer of Normal People and other great books, which I recommend, having read most of her stuff:
As Sally Rooney says in the piece:
International organisations could hardly be more unanimous in their assessment that Israel is committing extremely grave war crimes in Gaza.
And then she notes, entirely appropriately, that:
And yet the UK continues to provide Israel with military intelligence, and British companies continue to sell lethal weapons to the Israeli state.
Of course, objecting to that is legitimate, whatever the law says. As she puts it:
The activists who broke into the RAF facility at Brize Norton knew, of course, that their actions were illegal. From the suffragettes to the gay rights movement to the anti-apartheid struggle, genuine political resistance has always involved intentional law-breaking. As Martin Luther King Jr wrote from a Birmingham jail: “One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.” And the provision of weapons to facilitate genocide is more than unjust: it is an abyss of moral horror. Those brave enough to break the law in protest – many of whom are already serving time in prison for their actions – deserve our highest respect.
And then she rightly notes that proscribing an organisation then means even writing an article of the type she has could carry a prison term of 14 years, which is an example of legal insanity if ever I saw one.
I go back to my poster. Our government is the problem.
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“Our government is the problem.” and therein lies the problem. The word “OUR”.
It is not “OUR government. It is headed by a Zionist, advised by Zionists, a foreign office infiltrated by Zionists, with self declared Zionist support groups.
“OUR” government is an extension of the state of Israel. Thus does it act in the interests of Israel & will pursue those against the interests of Israel – a cursory glance at all the attacks by the police on e.g. journalists & the use of what passes for UK law against them shows that this is the case.
A small country in the middle east calling defining what the UK does.
The solution: at the next general election (and in the byelections in between) ALL candidates (even at local elections) need to be put to the question: are you a zionist? do you put the interets of the state of Israel 1st or the interests of the Uk and its citizens first. Do you regard the state of Israel as having possibly committed genocide and thus should be tried @ the ICC. Any candidate unable to give clear and direct answers to these questions is unworthy of elected office. Time to turf out of the UK government, all Zionists. They are committing genocide by suipporting a genocidal state, they have no place in UK society & should not be living in the UK. love Israel so much? Live there.
Spot on Mike and well said. Indeed, this needs saying loudly and often – particularly as the MSM are too cowed and cowardly to report this.
That’s already under way. Problem is – its been done openly by the Board of Deputies (who interfered in the Labour leadership/deputy leadership elections of 2020) and covertly by Labour party employee, Assaf Kaplan (Labour party members, prospective Labour candidates vetted for anti-zionist tendencies) precisely to exclude those who are NOT sympathetic to Zionism).
Anyone asking Mike’s question would be silenced, disciplined/suspended from any Labour meeting or organisation including the PLP.
I also suspect they would be ruled out of order at many GE hustings, which are not any more places where the public can challenge candidates. (I used to chair GE hustings in my then local community.)
But Mike is right.
It’s always serious when governments invent new political offences to cover actions that are already adequately dealt with by criminal and civil law and could, in the case of criminal charges, be dealt with by a jury, with appropriate arguments by counsel.
It’s happened already with the weaponisation and redefinition of “antisemitism”.
For example, going back a few years, take anti-vivisection protests, often involving actions that might attract charges such as trespass, breaking and entering, theft and criminal damage, arson, or conspiracy to commit the same offences, each with hefty sentences available to a judge, should a jury find the charges not proved beyond reasonable doubt or exercise the right to issue a perverse verdict.
When government feels that anti-vivisection protests cannot be dealt with, without resort to anti-terrorist powers, better suited to preventing the bombing of entertainment venues or tube trains and buses, it is using state power to oppressively further its own (or even worse, someone else’s) political goals, because such an extension of state power is nothing to do with crime prevention or upholding law and order.
Law changes now being made, would premably make a celebrity PETA protest, into support of terrorism, as it could “encourage” anti-vivisection organisations involved in firebombing laboraries. (I had a professional colleague who had her car firebombed years ago because of her job at Porton Down, she was in it at the time but survived. The story made the headlines, it isn’ta state secret).
Many so-called western “freedom-loving democracies” passed that particular repressive milestone long ago, including our own. We are now simply pushing the authoritarian “pedal to the metal” and going much faster and further down that road, than we have done already.
Starmer/Cooper are exactly the people to inherit the legacy of Bravermann/Patel. Entirely and horribly predictable.
I have composed this post carefully. Please moderate it carefully, cos its your blog.
This can be published this week.
I joined Palestine Action yesterday. I’m sure I’m not the only one.
fair play, i thought of doing something similar but have not:
1) big brother is watching – every communication, registration, forum post etc can now be monitored, you won’t have the men in black outside of your house, but you may end up on a list of potential subversives or people of interest.
2) every single organisation from cnd onwards has been infiltrated, it’s their way of keeping a tab on things – looking out for future trouble makers.
If you were in their position, how would you monitor threats to the official narrative?
People have a right to voice their opinions, but it’s worth remembering the world we now live in.
Admirable. But US immigration have software to check for Palestinian connections. Just be careful how you do it. If you need to go to the US, consider maintaining an alternative persona. Might not be foolproof though. I’m no expert.
I suspect I will never go again.
Yep.
It’s amazing how Neo-liberalism has enabled authoritarianism isn’t it?
TINA. Not in my name.
Austerity – taking money from people whilst you give wanking bankers a line of credit in the CBRA upon which interest is added. Not in my name.
People arrested at Quaker meetings. Not in my name.
Taking part in undisclosed conflicts. Not in my name.
Not regulating public utilities effectively. Not in my name.
The insanity is, did the people of this country – no matter how clueless – really vote to make their lives worse and more risky?
No.
This is not a government. It’s part of an elective capitalist oligarchy system. That’s why.
What I find strange is that at a time of international tension a group of activists were able top break into an operational RAF base.
There are plenty of state and non state actors who could have caused massive damage and possibly loss of life had they done so.
Either our basic security has been massively compromised by decades of cuts or there is something very convenient going on.
Absolutely right, John. Indeed several of the military OSINT people I follow (because of the war in Ukraine) made the same point yesterday, particularly as intel from the Baltic countries indicates Russia (Russian agents) has committed to sponsoring terrorist acts across Europe (now to be joined by Iran, I’m sure) in pursuit of destabalising NATO while Trump is in power.
If I wanted to proscribe an anti-vivisection activist organisation, especially one I had penetrated with undercover state operatives, then “allowing” them to carry out an arson attack on an animal testing lab, might be a very politically convenient thing to do, as I could then use anti-terrorist powers against them, which would intimidate many less committed activists into withdrawing from further anti-vivisection protests, from donating money or giving the anti-vivisection cause, any sort of material, PR or moral support or comfort
The President of Israel was on Kuenssberg yesterday morning and Zara Saltana ( Independent MP) said that Herzog had stated all of Gaza was responsible and that statement had been included in the ICC judgement their ruling and indictment. She added he should be at the Hague , not platformed on the BBC.
Kuenssberg replied that the legal process had not been concluded and ruled that Israel is involved in genocide.Then Piers Morgan jumped in to say they are involved in ethnic cleansing and that is a war crime.
I think the BBC policy is to shield Israel -and 101 BBC staff signed a letter to Tim Davie last November saying there was a pro-Israel bias in the reporting.
My impression is that in allowing people like Zara Saltana on the program, there is an internal resistance in the BBC which is making progress.
How long do Starmer and Lammy think they can keep a lid on it?
“BBC policy is to shield Israel”
No kidding. Just last week they shelved another Gaza documentary. What a shower.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crenz9d3181o
Is there a way to share the poster (and your wife’s one) without sharing this post? With due attribution of course.
And thank @Matthew T Hoare for the reminder.
It shoould be downloadable
Alternatively just screeen shot it using Shift Command 4 (hold them all down together) on a Mac, and then just highlight what you want. I think it is not very different on Windows.
Right click on the image and select “copy image”. Then open a new Word document and hit ctrl V. I actually use LibreOffice because I’m too mean to pay for MS Office.
There is an Israeli task force designed to discredit and counter pro-palestinian activism. Certain members of the current American administration met with the task force last month.Who do you think our government would side with, given the threat of the Israeli propaganda machine being turned against them.
Mark Rowely , head of Met Plice was platformed on BBC yesterday bemoaning that he cant ban this lunchtime’s emerengcy demo outside parliament against the proposal to make Palestine Action ‘terrorists’.
This is the first mention of any demos this last weekend – 300,000 marched about the slaughter in Gaza but didtn get a single mention on BBC .
The lesson is clear – you only get a mention if there is criminal damage, or violence – even if 2 miilion marched it would be censored by ‘our’ state propaganda service.
The crass ‘war on terror’ from Busch onwards has killed millions of innocents, and the UK police have already almost unlimited powers to make arrests of protestors – even for being’ annoying’.
Very tempted to be there today.
Good luck
There is a demonstration taking place in Westminster now, reported by The National (who else) here: https://www.thenational.scot/news/25258606.live-palestine-action-protest-london-group-proscribed/?ref=ebbn&nid=1457&u=03393ac627ee6fdb985e0cc39bbc15cf&date=230625
This report contains more info and photos than any other media. The BBC describes in the past tense, but the National is continuing to update. Laura Webster, the editor, has a brief video about the implications for all reporters of the government’s intention to proscribe Palestine Action. She finishes: “This is ans extreme crackdown on free speech in the UK.”
I have her warning – I am a Nationmal journalst and have the briefing.
I will have to stop posting on this now.
With this latest lurch toward kneejerk authoritarianism by the UK government, can we expect all Irish supporters of their government’s position on Netanyahu’s genocide in Gaza, born and living in the north of Ireland, to be now placed on the UK’s national security list and possibly charged and imprisoned on terrorist charges ? I am not sure Starmer and Co have thought this one through. Or perhaps they have and his promise that there will never be an Irish border poll on his watch is not pragmatic but sinister. one