Yesterday, the British government voted to ban the non-violent direct action group Palestine Action. Out of 406 votes, only 26 voices in Parliament dissented. The group will now likely be designated a terrorist organisation. It was presented for Parliament’s consideration as part of a package of three groups. The other two were neo-Nazi. In doing so, the British government positioned itself as a broker between extremist factions, camouflaging its own role in enabling lethal racism in Gaza.
For years now – and more feverishly since 7 October 2023 – Western governments have criminalised solidarity with Palestine using similarly blunt instruments, attempting to outlaw any visible sign of Palestinian support. But try as they might, they can’t simply cage it.
From 29 June to 1 July, Interfaith Action for Palestine brought together more than 800 activists and over 30 organisations to protest the annual conference of Christians United for Israel, a far-right Christian Zionist group with the ear of US lawmakers. They staged demonstrations outside the convention centre, unfurling banners reading “CUFI Kills” and “No God Bombs Children” inside the conference hall. After clergy and members of the Jewish, Buddhist, and Christian communities shut down the cafeteria’s food service, more than fifty people were arrested.
Meanwhile, this week, CPT’s Aegean Migrant Solidarity team reminds us that sometimes, all it takes is a small act of bravery to change the rules of the game.
Across Europe, the charge of “facilitating illegal entry” fuels the mass incarceration of migrants. Through a deliberate misinterpretation, unjust legislation conflates migration with the crime of smuggling, leading thousands to jail with hefty sentences.
CPT has monitored the trials of migrants accused of this crime for over a decade, documenting unfair procedures and helping to build networks that accompany the accused through the criminal justice system. Now, a court on the Greek island of Samos has broken from the orthodoxy that pre-determines judicial verdicts. A prosecutor and judge showed “courage and judicial independence” when they acknowledged for the first time that asylum seekers are not smugglers, and that they are protected from prosecution under both international treaties and Greek migration law. Eleven young men, from Palestine, Sudan, and Syria, were acquitted and walked free for the first time since arriving on European soil. The decision, the team says, “could prove historic.”
As our governments increasingly show us their authoritarian face, these acts of resistance offer the possibility of another future.
