Until the government proscribed it as a terrorist organisation, I had not much heard of Palestine Action. Now its name is everywhere.
One reason for this is that, though its actions may fall within the expanded definition of terrorism in the 2000 Act, they are not what the average voter recognises as terrorism. So people who would never dream of carrying a placard saying "Provisional IRA" do not feel the same distaste towards Palestine Action.
More deeply, the British people are shocked by the razing and starving of Gaza, yet no one in government has acknowledged that shock, let alone given it a voice. And it's the name of Palestine Action, rather than the organisation itself, that has become a rallying point for those who want to fill this political vacuum.
Because Palestine Action has been decreed a terrorist organisation, the police have no discretion in policing demonstrations where its name is used on placards. They must arrest the people with those placards, thus giving Palestine Action more publicity.
So unless it wants to fill our prisons with pensioners with a conscience, while letting real criminals roam free, the government is going to have to back down. When it does, it will still be able to prosecute Palestine Action under conventional laws, of which it has plenty to choose from.
We would then stop seeing placards with "Palestine Action" on them, but there would still be demonstrations against the Netanyahu government's murderous assault on the people of Gaza.
If I had the time and the inclination, I would quite like to carry out an experiment. It would require eight volunteers to attend or stage a demonstration. The first one would hold a banner saying "PALESTINE". The second would say PALESTINE A, the third Palestine AC, the fourt PALESTINE ACT, etc. etc. Would the person with the sign saying PALESTINE ACTIO get arrested?
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