Criminalising peaceful protest

There have been many instances in recent times when I have felt that peaceful protest is being cracked down upon, both here in the UK and internationally. This is obviously something that threatens those in command, which is precisely why we must stand up for these rights no matter what is thrown at us. I'm going to focus on two things that have struck me about the subject this week.

Firstly, I read a report posted by an acquaintance on a Facebook page supporting solidarity for Palestine  (complete article here) concerning the convictions of a group of Palestine solidarity activists for publicly encouraging people to boycott Israeli products. The actions took place around five years ago, and from what I can tell, essentially involved the campaigners congregating around supermarkets and educating the public about exactly what these products are funding and how to recognise them. The activists were initially acquitted, but were eventually sentenced under an old law prescribing up to a year in prison and large fines for anyone who 'provokes discrimination, hatred or violence against a person or a group of people by reason of their origin or their membership or non-membership in a specific ethnic group, nation, race or religion'. This sentence is even harsher than what would be given in Israel, which at least restricts itself to fines, and not jail.

This form of action is no more than that in which I myself have participated in the UK. Fortunately I have never been arrested or charged for it (although I was kicked to the ground by a police officer once). Personally, I absolutely cannot understand how the boycott of items supplied by a nation which commits international war crimes against civilians can be considered under the umbrella of 'discrimination'. I feel that were this Iraq or Syria, no one would bat an eyelid. At what point does something stop being fact or opinion, and become discrimination? I would argue that it is at the point where an individual or a group is victimised for something which causes no one harm. In the numerous anti-Israel demonstrations that I have attended, I have rarely heard anything said against people who come from Israel itself; merely against the brutality that Israel has inflicted upon the people of Palestine.

One cannot prevent people from issuing warnings about where the profits from certain items ends up; if we do that, we start crossing even further into territory whereby the people are controlled by the powers that be. I have not written much about Israel and Palestine in the last year, simply because I have not come across very much new material to write about. I still do what I can; I continue to boycott all produce from Nestlé, Starbucks, Hewlett-Packard and any other brand which I know to support Israel, and anything that I know to come from Israel itself, and I encourage others to do the same. The reason why this form of action is targeted by those who benefit from cruel regimes is because it works. This right must never be given up.

Well done to all my friends and acquaintances who were at the #grantsnotdebts London demonstration yesterday. As people may or may not have seen (given the low numbers of news sources who reported it even in a negative light) it has the perception of being quite violent. Unfortunately, I had to pass on this one, but I know from personal experience that when political demonstrations are put across in this way, it is often a vast exaggeration. Therefore, I contacted an acquaintance who was at the demonstration to get some more accurate information.

This is what my acquaintance said:

'The demo yesterday wasn't violent at all, literally all that happened was flares thrown and some stink bombs. Police presence was entirely unprecedented and they got so hands-on. They essentially stopped the demo. Most people were kettled, and a lot of us were running from cops for a long time. Other than that though, it was a wonderful demo! Fantastic turn out and brilliant solidarity/atmosphere/enthusiasm. Some amazing chants as well. When we got near any parliamentary buildings the police came down hard, and some people started chanting "fuck the pigs, but not like that'.

Now of course this is the experience of one person and so cannot be said to be reflective, but having attended many such events only for the news media to put across that my side behaved appallingly violently, I have no trouble believing that there is a great deal of truth in that. An official statement of the events from the National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts (NCAFC) can be found here. I admire the fact that no one is giving up on this. There is a big part of me that wishes that I had been there, but it appears that the next event is on November 17th. I believe I will be able to attend that one! I shall write more about it nearer the time.

As with France's reaction to the Israel boycott, this is another example that stinks of an unnecessarily heavy-handed reaction to those people who are merely sticking up for what is right. I feel that this ought to be recognised for what it is. History teaches that people who involve themselves in social protest are the ones who generally tend to be remembered as heroes. The recognition comes, in hindsight possibly but it comes. We must not allow ourselves to be intimidated and bullied into a place from which we cannot fight injustice. I certainly do not intend to be, anyway.