Tag: palestine-action

It Is OK to Support the People of Palestine!

Tony StauntonLeave a comment

My weekly comment column in the daily Plymouth Herald (8.7.25), written to evade censorship and to a deadline 12 hours before the Netanyahu/Trump talks. There, they finalised a plan to transport 600,000 of the 2 million Palestinians in Gaza to the destroyed city of Rafah in the far South, as the first trenche of clearing North and Central Gaza completely.
They are looking to create a beach-side Mediterranean holiday resort for the super-Rich, Trump part of the billionaire property-speculating investments. Partying on the bodies of tens-of-thousands of Palestinians. This is Capitalism/Imperialism on steroids. Quite beyond words, really.
This is a catalogue of multiple war crimes, crimes against all humanity, undertaken in broad daylight, recorded and broadcast globally. We can and will hold these bastards to account.
Trump has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Netanyahu, not so surprising when you think of the previous warmongers who have won. But their sheer audacity and narcissism, their sociopathy, is a statement of absolute Power that exposes their real weakness. Our protests, our boycott, our worldwide outcry can build such a movement as to mobilise billions and overturn their entire system.
Keep protesting. Build the Campaign. Free Free Palestine (and all of us)! We are all Palestinians!

The article (for what its worth):

It is OK to Protest for Palestine (Fly the Flag!)

Amidst all the confusion it is important to note that it is not illegal to offer support for the civilian population of Palestine, themselves subject to an illegal invasion and occupation. It’s OK to fly the flag!
Palestine is recognised as a sovereign State by 147 countries of the United Nations, including Spain, Ireland, Norway, and the huge nations of Venezuela, Brazil, China, Russia and India. Palestine is recognised and politically supported by most countries of the Global South, and UK trade unions. Palestine sits at the UN General Assembly.
Palestine is seemingly only not supported by the countries of the North West, especially the UK and USA. These two countries, more than the rest of the world put together, are arming Israel from their citizens tax-money, exporting munitions, military equipment and military advisers, training to facilitate the ongoing genocide (illegal under international law) in Gaza and settler colonialism in the West Bank.
Palestine’s two non-contiguous territories have been separated by illegal military invasion, land clearances and military occupation over the past 77 years. Israel has constantly waged military and political warfare against its Palestinian neighbours before and since its inauguration.
The current catastrophe of disproportionate death and destruction of Gaza by Israel – possibly 1500 Israelis killed and at least 60,000 Palestinians including 20,000 children (the bodies are there to be counted) since October 2023 means this is not a war of two sides, it is the drive towards the continuous extermination of just one people and an entire nation.
Supporters of such Israeli action justify the ethnic clearance (illegal under international law) on the grounds of Israel’s right to exist, whilst critics of this genocide are labelled as “Islamist sympathisers” and even “terrorists” by some, for demanding an immediate ceasefire, help and reparations for the people of Palestine and security for the Palestinians’ homeland.
Ironically, the fascist descendants of Hitler and Mussolini who systematically rounded-up and killed over 6-million Jews in the horrific Holocaust during the Second World War are now supporting Israel alongside far-right white supremacists and racists here and across the West. Why?
Because Israel is a racist colonial Apartheid State with a constitution which render Israeli citizens much higher rights and powers than any non-Israeli citizen.
The country’s laws are very similar to those of Apartheid South Africa which was supported by fascists everywhere as representing the separation of so-called human “races” and the domination of the superior “Whites”. In the Israeli context, the term “White” represents a political allegiance to Zionism rather than skin-colour.
White-supremacists in the UK, including the notorious Stephen Yaxley-Lennon aka Tommy Robinson, would like Britain to develop an Apartheid system, Whites over Blacks, from a belief in racial superiority and genetic ethnic purity. They whip-up anti-Muslim hatred and blame refugees and migrants for the crisis of housing and health services that, in truth, have been sucked dry by privatisation and corporate greed.
At this time, the overwhelming majority of the British people do not share such beliefs or sympathies, our friends and relations ethnically diverse and multicultural.
The active support for Palestine by ordinary people includes Jews not affiliated to the political creed of Zionism – a world view distinct from Judaism. It is not anti-semitic to oppose Zionism.
Across the West we have seen huge political protests for Palestinian rights. These must continue and grow. It is therefore of extreme concern that Starmer’s Government is clamping down on support for Palestine, targeting those of the progressive Left seeking Peace with Social Justice. It appears the government would prefer us proscribed rather than the far-Right. Democracy ensures the right to protest for Palestine. We are not illegal!

Protesting Can Never Be Called Terrorism!

Tony StauntonLeave a comment

My weekly comment column in the daily Plymouth Herald (24.6.25), lambasting the government for proposing to ban the Palestine Action group as terrorists, and thereby make Non-Violent Direct Action illegal. This is a threat to us all, activists and citizens alike. It was written the day before publication, hours before the Minister announced in Parliament that the ban will go ahead, a complete travesty of the definition of terrorism, more literally applicable to Israel and the United States and their actions against Palestinians and Iran. Protests were held across the country last night against the ban, and must continue. Amnesty International, CND, StW and PSC have all lodged formal challenge, and that must continue. The fight for Freedom for Palestine and against imperialist war is one-and-the-same, and must be built louder and stronger.

Protesting can never be called Terrorism!

The right to self-defence is a rule of law. To be attacked without provocation is simply unjust, and we accept the use of reasonable force to defend ourselves in any explanation of violent or destructive behaviour, whether person-on-person or country-on-country.
Another rule involves the recognition of complicity. To be a by-stander to an injustice and do nothing is, in effect, to accept the injustice and thereby be complicit with it. To not intervene to stop a crime when you know it’s happening can identify you as a party to the offence.
These fundamental rules are now under threat.
Humanity and civilisation is being tested to breaking-point by climate change: extreme weather conditions destroying entire regions, seasonal dissonance destroying agriculture, mass extinction of insect and wildlife; and social strife in the clamour for depleted resources.
The fossil fuel companies and their friends are engaged in violent acts against the ecology, destroying entire communities. We are complicit if we knowingly watch and do not act. That has been the successful defence of many climate activists discharged by juries clear about our right to expose greater crimes.
Unprincipled politicians and corrupt corporations have roared, red-faced at being challenged by direct action. They have lobbied weak judges to declare unjustly long prison sentences. The UK Government wants to end our defence, including banning the use of Non-Violent Direct Action in pursuit of the protection of life itself.
As great a test today is the legitimacy of warfare. Aren’t we, at Law, all complicit with illegal mass murder if we do not try to intervene, expose and stop the slaughter?
The USA bombed a sovereign country last weekend, a State that had made no threat against America and was actively engaged in negotiations at the time. The violent action of Trump is illegal. It follows on from the illegal destruction of Gaza by Israel, its key protagonists wanted to stand trial by the International Criminal Court. Their offensive and illegitimate violence continues.
To stand aside and say or do nothing is to be complicit. Last week’s spraying of red dye on RAF bombers by the Palestine Action protest group not only exposed the poor security at the Base but also symbolised the prevention of a far greater crime, stopping the bombers from taking part in acts of genocide in Gaza and-or an illegal invasion of the State of Iran.
To hide such a legal and political debate, the UK Labour government is trying to determine that Palestine Action is a terrorist organisation and must be banned, its members and supporters tried as terrorists. The Irish music group, Kneecap, are artists who write and sing songs of rebellion against injustice, now likewise condemned as terrorists.
This authoritarian paranoia is as bizarre as it is unacceptable – undemocratic attempts to shift the entire nation away from our basic human rights, including the right to protest.
Trade unionists, above all, should be outraged at any attempt to repress collective political campaigning. Trade union organisation – the right to combination for mutual-protection from exploitation – has been hard-won.
Not all laws are Just. Unjust laws and State activities must be challenged. Mass campaigns of defiance and opposition to unjust laws represent the entire history of our successful transition towards democracy and universal suffrage. We must not treat this lightly.
We are facing war and climate collapse – the multi-faceted existential crisis of humanity. Non-Violent Direct Action is valid protest against illegitimate acts of violence and destruction against people and planet. Defend the campaigners of Palestine Action! They are not terrorists. They are attempting to stop State terrorism.