Within the coming days, the UK authorities is transferring full steam forward to proscribe Palestine Action – a motion of younger folks with a conscience – as a terrorist group. A few of its members are already behind bars; others face trials or await sentencing. But, regardless of the “terrorist” label and the specter of imprisonment, tens of 1000’s throughout the nation have taken to the streets chanting, “We’re all Palestine Motion”.
If the federal government’s objective was to intimidate folks into silence – to make sure British complicity in genocide continues unchecked – it has badly miscalculated. A recent poll discovered that 55 p.c of Britons are towards Israel’s warfare on Gaza. A major variety of these opponents – 82 p.c – mentioned Israel’s actions quantity to genocide. One thing basic is shifting. There’s a gaping disconnect between the media’s narrative and the views of frequent folks, who reject ministerial spin and the framing of resistance to tyranny and fascism as terrorism.
Just like the defiant youth of Palestine Motion, I too was as soon as branded a terrorist. In 1981, I used to be a member of the United Black Youth League. We knew constructing petrol bombs was legally “mistaken”, however we believed in our proper to defend our group – even by armed means – towards fascist threats in Bradford. Arrested alongside 11 others, I confronted terrorism fees carrying life sentences in what grew to become often known as the Bradford 12 case.
Whereas our battle was towards native fascists, Palestine Motion’s battle is nobler: exposing and halting a genocide in Palestine, carried out by Israel’s neo-fascist regime with British help. And in contrast to us, they haven’t taken up arms. The place we constructed crude weapons in self-defence towards instant violence, Palestine Motion has used solely nonviolent direct motion – spray-painting warplanes, occupying factories, and disrupting enterprise as normal – to confront British complicity in genocide. I recognise their rage – I’ve gone hoarse screaming about genocide myself. What number of burning kids should we see to know it’s mistaken? What number of ravenous households have to be slaughtered to maintain an apartheid state?
The ache is sharper realizing the weapons murdering Palestinians are made in Britain. It’s worse watching hypocritical politicians twist phrases – from Keir Starmer justifying genocide early on, to now hiding behind hole phrases like “Israel’s proper to defend itself”. However as United Nations Particular Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese and plenty of others have repeatedly clarified: “Israel has no proper to defend itself towards these it occupies.”
If the UK authorities succeeds, anybody related to Palestine Motion will likely be branded a “terrorist”. Throughout the Bradford 12 trial, we had been painted the identical means. Like Palestine Motion activists, we had, in our personal time, fought for a extra simply and fairer world.
Palestine Motion emerged from the failure of limitless protests demanding an finish to unending wars and justice for Palestine. As they state: “Palestine Motion is a direct motion motion dedicated to ending international participation in Israel’s genocidal and apartheid regime. Utilizing disruptive ways, we goal enablers of the Israeli military-industrial complicated, making it unimaginable for them to revenue from Palestinian oppression.”
We, the Bradford 12, had been born from the police’s failure to guard us from fascist violence. We took armed self-defence into our personal arms in an organised group defence. To do nothing would have been the larger crime. Equally, UK complicity in genocide calls for motion. Disrupting the warfare machine isn’t legal; it’s a ethical necessity.
At our 1982 trial in Leeds Crown Courtroom, tens of 1000’s mobilised to demand our acquittal. They noticed by means of the state’s lies – they knew convicting us would unleash repression towards youth actions, commerce unions, and anybody combating for justice. The jury confronted a pivotal query: What sort of world do you wish to dwell in when you acquit these males? I testified that, confronted with the identical threats, we’d do all of it once more. That question echoes today; if Palestine Motion is criminalised, we danger slipping right into a lawless world the place genocide turns into the norm, not the exception.
We had been acquitted, establishing a authorized precedent for armed group self-defence. Palestine Motion wants no precedent to justify its trigger, as a result of its actions are already grounded in legality, morality, and nonviolence. It’s not a risk – it’s a ethical compass. The UK should observe it, not ban it.
The views expressed on this article are the creator’s personal and don’t essentially replicate Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.