8 hours ago
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Andy Beckett is right that “the legally safe space for protest in Britain is shrinking again” (Anger, fear and a total rejection of politics: the Palestine Action protest was a snapshot of Britain today, 11 August). Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, might consider this as she ponders why so many ordinary people, not previously political activists, are volunteering for arrest as terrorist sympathisers.
The proscription of Palestine Action sits among egregious violations of international law. People outraged by atrocities in Gaza and the West Bank are dismayed at the continued prevarications of our government.
This is one motivation for those seated terrorists. However, there is another – the relentless attack on our civil liberties. This did not begin with Keir Starmer’s government, but it has doubled down on suppressing freedoms with renewed zeal.
When the Terrorism Act (under which Palestine Action was proscribed) was debated in 1999, it was acknowledged: “We will have handed the terrorists the victory that they seek if … we descend to their level and undermine the essential freedoms and rule of law that are the bedrock of our democracy.” This was the then home secretary, Jack Straw. He reassured the Commons that the bill was “not intended to threaten in any way the right to demonstrate peacefully – nor will it do so”. Never would a British government misuse the huge power it was being given. More than 700 arrests for supporting Palestine Action testify to his error.
Not-so-ordinary people are risking jail sentences, travel restrictions, asset confiscation and ruined employment prospects. They are outraged at Gaza, but also outraged to see counter-terror legislation pressed into supporting a morally moribund government.
Dr David Killick
Kendal, Cumbria
Andy Beckett’s account of his sortie into the recent London demonstration in support of Palestine, and reports of the rightwing protest groups gathering outside hotels housing asylum seekers, are both indicators that few people now have a sense that Keir Starmer’s Britain reflects their views or priorities.
As well as in London, people here in Derbyshire and other towns around the country gathered to express their frustration with our politicians’ response to some of their deepest concerns. We have become a country without a shared agreement on what constitutes right or wrong, on what is an acceptable form of dissent, or on what constitutes the real threats to the survival of our democratic freedoms.
This government thrashes about desperately trying to make sense of the events happening all around it and making ill-judged knee-jerk responses that provoke even more hostility. It seems unable to articulate a narrative that will help people feel heard, or which can help foster a sense of social cohesion. The UK has become a country devoid of spiritual, moral and political leadership. The threats from without and within are beginning to fray the very fabric that once held everything together.
The critical task for this government now is how it is going to heal and unite this fractured, divided country before it heads into yet further chaos and conflict and everything begins to fall apart.
Peter Riddle
Wirksworth, Derbyshire
