The United Kingdom’s Court of Appeal has upheld the government’s decision to proscribe the activist group Palestine Action as a “terrorist organisation”, marking the latest chapter in a growing debate about the right to protest in Britain.
Palestine Action, founded in 2020, describes itself as a “direct action” movement committed to disrupting companies and institutions it says are complicit in Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. Its activists have targeted weapons manufacturers and military facilities in the UK mainly through acts of vandalism and property destruction.
Recommended Stories
list of 4 items list 1 of 4 What a UK court’s backing of the Palestine Action ‘terror’ ban means
list 2 of 4 UK Court upholds ban on Palestine Action as ‘terrorist’ group
list 3 of 4 Israel uses ‘battlefield evidence’ to prosecute Palestinians abroad
list 4 of 4 Palestine weekly wrap: World sanctions settlers, Israel funds settlements
end of list Supporters say the group belongs to a long British tradition of civil disobedience while critics accuse it of engaging in tactics that cross the line into “terrorism”. The dispute raises a broader question: How has Britain historically treated direct-action movements, and what, if anything, has changed?
We look at the UK’s rich history of activist movements that have used similar tactics.
1910s-1920s: The suffragettes
Direct action has long played a role in Britain’s democratic history. The Women’s Social and Political Union, founded by Emmeline Pankhurst in 1903, emerged after years as a movement campaigning for women’s suffrage.
Its members, known as suffragettes, heckled politicians, disrupted public meetings, chained themselves to railings, smashed windows and carried out arson and even bombing campaigns that targeted property. Suffragettes were frequently imprisoned for offences that included criminal damage, obstruction and arson, and many endured repeated jail terms.
Katharine Gatty, for example, was imprisoned for three weeks in 1911 and six months in 1912 for smashing windows. Another suffragette, Jane Short, was sentenced to three months in prison after smashing the windows of a post office. She openly admitted the offence, saying it was intended to draw attention to the campaign for women’s suffrage and refused to promise she would not repeat her actions. Short became the first suffragette to be placed in the First Division, a category reserved for political prisoners or “terrorists”.
Others launched hunger strikes while in jail, prompting the government to force-feed them, which was called for under the 1913 “Cat and Mouse Act”.
The death of Emily Wilding Davison after she stepped onto a track during the 1913 Epsom Derby and was hit by a horse became one of the defining moments of the movement.
Despite fierce hostility from much of the media and political establishment at the time, suffragettes are now widely celebrated in Britain as pioneers of democratic reform. Women gained partial voting rights in 1918 and equal voting rights with men a decade later.
A monument to suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst stands outside the Houses of Parliament in London [Dan Kitwood/Getty Images] 1950s onwards: Mass protests and civil disobedience
The post-World War II period saw some of Britain’s largest protest movements emerge around the issues of nuclear weapons, taxation and war.
The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, founded in 1957, mobilised hundreds of thousands of people against Britain’s nuclear arsenal and later nuclear energy. The movement largely stuck to lawful protests, but despite decades of demonstrations, Britain retains both nuclear weapons and a civil nuclear industry.
The anti-poll tax movement produced a different outcome. Opposition to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s Community Charge culminated in the 1990 Poll Tax Riots in central London, where clashes injured more than 100 people and hundreds more were arrested. Within a year, the tax was abolished and replaced.
In 2003, one million to two million people marched peacefully through London against the invasion of Iraq in what remains the largest political demonstration in British history. The war nevertheless went ahead.
2018 onwards: The climate movement and changes to the law
The rise of climate movements such as Extinction Rebellion, Insulate Britain and Just Stop Oil is seen as a turning point in the British authorities’ approach to protests, experts said.
Founded in 2018, Extinction Rebellion popularised a strategy of nonviolent civil disobedience aimed at forcing climate change onto the political agenda. Protesters blocked roads, often gluing themselves to the ground, and deliberately sought arrest to generate publicity and awareness about climate change.
Successive governments have responded with increasingly restrictive legislation. The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 transformed the common-law offence of public nuisance into a statutory offence carrying a maximum sentence of 10 years. The Public…
Read the full article at Al Jazeera English →
Qatar