The New Dark Age

From midnight on Friday 4 July, Palestine Action will become a banned terrorist organisation. 

Yvette Cooper’s decision to ban the group came after a protest at RAF Brize Norton, in which red paint was thrown on military jets. Four people have been remanded in custody after the action, to appear in court at the Old Bailey on 18 July.

The government has created an extraordinary precedent that future protests involving criminal damage – like spraying a plane with paint – may face an increased likelihood of the same terrifying label and subsequent criminalisation and demonisation. You can read Netpol’s statement on the decision here.

Despite a long history of anti-militarist action at airbases which has not been treated as terrorism, despite the latest court ruling in which the UK government accepted there is a clear risk that Israel is committing war crimes using UK-supplied armaments, and despite hundreds of expert lawyers and legal academics warning that this ban is a “terrifying blow to our civil liberties“, the government have declared Palestine Action a ‘terrorist’ group. 

Counter-terrorism laws are used in an explictly racist and Islamophobic way, and give the police wide ranging and poorly defined powers.

We’ve produced an explainer to help you understand what the ban will mean in practice. The guide covers:

• What the law says about terrorism and proscribed organisations
• What actions and expressions of support will be banned
• What the legal penalties for breaking this ban are

We also answer some common questions about what will and won’t be considered a potential criminal offence. The law criminalizes a wide range of actions, and it remains to be seen how the police plan to enforce this. We’re working on expanding this FAQ, so send your questions to info@netpol.org. Netpol will be monitoring the impact in the coming weeks and you can also report police incidents to us this way. 

Read the full guide on the Netpol website now, and share it on BlueSky, Instagram and Facebook to help us get this guidance out.