Happy new year!
I’ve been trying to post about this for ages and having an ADHD procrastination about it. But it’s one of the big things of my 2025, so now seems like a good time.
I’ve been charged under the Terrorism Act for sitting in Parliament Square holding a sign. I’m currently waiting for a court date.
( cut for an explanation for people who haven’t heard about Palestine Action and the UK government’s repression )So yeah, Defend Our Juries is basically a group that tries to defend free expression, the rule of law, etc, in the increasingly authoritarian UK. And their reaction to Palestine Action’s proscription was to try to make it unenforceable via mass civil disobedience. And I joined in.
Now, the ban is being challenged in court - right now, as it happens, but we don’t know what’s going on with that. The founder of Palestine Action wants the ban struck down, and if that happens, the thousands of people arrested over this will almost certainly go free. But we don’t know yet.
In August, over 500 people showed up to Parliament Square, and at 1pm they all sat down, wrote the words, ‘I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action’ on a sign, and waited to be arrested. Then they were. 50% of them were 60 or older.
I couldn’t make it to that one, but I was there in September. That time almost 900 of us were arrested.
The idea is to make the law unenforceable in practice. In August, people had been arrested and given ‘street bail’; it had helped the police process them. So for September we were asked to refuse street bail. The London Met only has around 500 holding cells, so the system would strain to manage us. And
that very clearly worked, at least from my POV.
( cut for the details of the day. Warning: SUPER long )Which brings me to possible consequences, if you’re curious!
- Up to six months in prison. In practice not gonna happen, if only due to a different horrifying problem with the UK justice system; prison overcrowding is so severe that Labour doesn’t want anyone being sent to prison for less than a year.
- An unlimited fine; the level of it used to be £5k. I think this might happen. But my parents will help, and I think Defend Our Juries will be able to fundraise, though I won’t take money from them unless I have to.
- Permanent travel restrictions. Having a terrorism conviction does limit your ability to get a visa, which sucks; I may never be able to visit Japan, f’rinstance, and if I wanted to work abroad again it’d be harder.
- Potentially could affect jobs, because it’d likely come up on the criminal records check they do for teachers. Only potentially, though; teaching English as a foreign language is definitely a field that selects for pro-Palestine types, and I’d be able to explain the context of a case that’s been in the news. The only criminal offences that legally stop you from being hired as a teacher of kids or vulnerable adults are offences against kids or vulnerable adults, which this obviously isn’t.
Like I said, the ban might be struck down anyway. That said, I’ve lost confidence in that because the judge who was going to oversee the case, who’d refused government appeals to not have the judicial review of the ban at all,
as replaced at the absolute last minute by three magistrates. Seems like a stitch-up.
Direct action is very satisfying, and this combines some of the causes I care about most: free speech, the rule of law, and a free Palestine. No regrets.
I’ll keep you posted.
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