Today’s High Court decision that the proscription of Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation is disproportionate and unlawful is a welcome victory for the whole Palestine movement. It is also a humiliating defeat for a Labour government marked by authoritarianism and repeated attacks on civil liberties. Yvette Cooper, Home Secretary when the ban was introduced, should be hanging her head in shame after today’s ruling. Yet her successor, Shabana Mahmood, is pressing ahead with an appeal in a desperate attempt to preserve the ban.
Only a government as tone deaf as this one would have contemplated such a measure in the first place. Now, with this ruling, with the first case against six of the Filton 24 collapsing after a jury refused to convict them for protesting at an Elbit factory, and with close to 3,000 people arrested for carrying signs supporting the proscribed organisation, the law lies in tatters.
Huda Ammori, the co-founder of Palestine Action, said: ‘This is a monumental victory both for our fundamental freedoms here in Britain and in the struggle for freedom for the Palestinian people, striking down a decision that will forever be remembered as one of the most extreme attacks on free speech in recent British history.’
The decision, while important, is only one step towards reversing the wider assault on civil liberties in this country. The right to protest has been severely curtailed by both the present Labour government and the last Tory administration. The Filton 24 remain on remand awaiting trial. Those arrested for supporting Palestine Action under terrorism legislation now find themselves in limbo. While the Metropolitan Police has said it will not charge those who continue to express support following the ruling, it has also indicated that it will record their details.
Other protesters, including leading organisers of the national Palestine marches held in London, are due to stand trial this month. The overwhelmingly peaceful mass demonstrations have faced escalating restrictions, with police imposing conditions on where and when marches may assemble and attempting to criminalise certain slogans they deem antisemitic, though they are nothing of the sort. The Metropolitan Police, along with Greater Manchester Police, has begun arresting those chanting ‘globalise the intifada’.
The government, backed by the Metropolitan Police, is not satisfied with existing legislation and is seeking to go further. Proposals currently before Parliament include assessing the ‘cumulative effect’ of demonstrations. The implication appears to be that protesting once is permissible, but persistence is not. Such a principle would have outlawed the suffragettes, anti-apartheid campaigners and those who opposed the poll tax. It could even render regular picketing during a strike unlawful on the grounds that it is repeated.
The Palestine movement has been distinctive in the scale and persistence of its mobilisation. That reflects majority opinion in Britain in solidarity with an oppressed people. Despite its breadth and diversity, it has repeatedly been denounced as violent or hateful. The reality is that this government supports Israel’s devastating assault on Gaza and seeks to silence those who oppose it. We must resist every attempt to do so.
Today’s victory for Palestine Action is an important step in defending and extending our civil liberties. We must now demand that all charges against those who have supported the group are dropped, along with those against everyone criminalised for peacefully protesting. Yvette Cooper should resign, as should her successor, along with the head of the Metropolitan Police, Sir Mark Rowley, who authorised the arrests.
But it cannot end there. Our rights and freedoms are being eroded, and one of the strongest defences is to continue organising and protesting until Palestine is free. Authoritarianism directed against the movement is intensifying internationally. Protests this week against Israeli president Isaac Herzog in Sydney were met with heavy police violence. Today’s court ruling shows that such attacks can be rolled back. The task now is to mobilise the full strength of the movement to ensure that they are.