In the last couple of weeks, state harassment of the Palestine movement has turned into a cackhanded clampdown. Rapper Mo Chara from Kneecap has been in court on terrorism charges for holding a Hezbollah flag, his group and Bob Vylan are being investigated by the corrupt Somerset and Avon police for things said at Glastonbury. Direct-action group Palestine Action have been proscribed on the most appalling grounds as a terrorist organisation.
The criminal case against myself and Ben Jamal for organising a peaceful protest has been postponed and extended as the police have thrown more evidence at us and failed to release testimony that may be damaging to their case. Meanwhile, the CPS has charged two other leaders of the movement, Sophie Bolt, general secretary of CND and Stop the War national chair, Alex Kenny.
These are abnormal and alarming events. Even the Times newspaper has accused the government of overreach. Three hundred civil servants have complained that the proscription of Palestine Action will be unworkable. One senior civil servant reported:
‘From desk to desk, colleagues are exchanging concerned and bemused conversations about how absurd this is and how impossible it will be to enforce. Are they really going to prosecute as terrorists everyone who expresses support for Palestine Action’s work to disrupt the flow of arms to Israel as it commits war crimes?’
As even normally non-political bands come out in support of Kneecap and music venues across the country echo to chants of ‘free, free Palestine’, it looks more and more like these attempts are backfiring.
So why are they happening? Not mainly because of pressure from the Zionist lobby, however outrageous their behaviour is. There is no doubt Zionists organisations are piling pressure on the government and the police. Senior police officers have made it clear they are in regular contact with the Jewish Board of Deputies for example. Lisa Nandy is succumbing to pressure to push for an absurd inquiry into the BBC for antisemitism. But this is pressure that the British establishment is very open to in the first place. The problem with blaming all this on state capture by Zionists is that it ignores that Britain has been a colonial and imperial state for centuries. Just in the last few decades, it has helped the US invade Iraq twice, joined the assault on Serbia, the occupation of Afghanistan and the bombing of Libya, Syria and Yemen. Its backing of Israel is connected to these efforts.
The government and the British establishment are caught in a vice. Support for Israel is not a detail of British foreign policy, it is not something imposed by Israeli influencers, it is a central plank of the Western powers’ project to dominate the Middle East, still the biggest source of oil and gas on the planet. As Joe Biden said many years ago, ‘Were there not an Israel, the United States of America would have to invent an Israel to protect her interests in the region.’
The problem for the government is, as Israel has lurched towards a state of permanent war on the Palestinians, this support is harder and harder to justify. Sticking with Israel now involves signing up to things that everyone knows are war crimes and abominations.
At home meanwhile, attempts to isolate the movement have failed. They tried to demonise us as hate marchers, but our messages cut through and huge numbers joined overwhelmingly peaceful demonstrations. They tried to call us antisemitic, but they had no evidence, and they just couldn’t deny that thousands of Jewish people join us on the marches.
In the last few months, the message of the marches has broken out beyond this massive movement into the mainstream. Judging by opinion polls and the number of people wearing Palestine colours, they are now circulating freely throughout society. A big majority are now not just demanding a ceasefire but are denouncing the collusion of our government and calling for an end to arms sales.
Faced with something approaching a crisis over Palestine, deeply authoritarian by instinct, the government has clearly decided to lash out. Seen in this context, the clampdown looks desperate and potentially counter-productive.
It remains, however, sinister and dangerous. Its aim is to disorganise and demoralise. It is therefore crucial that we step up our level of organisation in the face of these attacks. Solidarity with all those targeted is crucial and we need a concerted movement to defend the precious right to protest.
We also need to continue to grow the movement itself. Existing activists need to be actively and creatively reaching out to the millions of people newly enraged at Israel’s killings. We must make sure that the next demonstration is another massive display of popular opposition to our government’s support for a genocide.
We also need to take heart that despite the horrors, we are making a difference. The incredible scenes from Glastonbury, Finsbury Park and elsewhere would never have happened without the last twenty months of massive mobilisations. The government has changed its tune over Gaza in the last two months. Soldier-boy Starmer and the despicable David Lammy have been forced to condemn Israel and to call for a ceasefire, a fact which makes continued support for Israel that much harder.
Meanwhile the government’s authority is draining away. As even Alastair Campbell noted last week, the government’s Palestine policy has been much more of a problem for them than they realise. Attacking disabled people while hiking arms spending was too much even for many Labour MPs and last week’s revolt showed that the government can be defeated.
This movement has been under attack from the start. What has been so inspiring is that despite the threats, demonisation and harassment, people have kept on coming, week in week out, month in month out. That courage and tenacity has not been in vain. This kind of massive movement with society-wide support can stop the most authoritarian government.
Source: Counterfire