Following the proscription of Palestine Action by the government the Coalition has published the statement below. We have also issued points for supporters to take into account when considering solidarity action here.
Our statement
We condemn the fact that the Government has ignored a groundswell of opposition to the proscription of Palestine Action from across the political spectrum and taken a position which is unprecedented and carries with it draconian penalties.
This move threatens all of our freedoms and democratic rights: it poses a threat to the wider solidarity movement, not just to one group, as we campaign for Palestiniansβ right to self-determination and their very right to existence itself.
We support the goal of ending Israelβs settler colonial project, manifested in its chosen tools of genocide, ethnic cleansing, occupation and apartheid. As part of that, we support the aim of stopping all trade with Israel, including the arms trade, using a range of strategies and tactics to achieve this goal. Every solidarity movement and struggle against colonialism has used a diversity of tactics. Targeting one part of the movement in this way is an attempt to suppress us all and a threat to everyoneβs civil liberties.
Given the unprecedented legal framework now applied, it is for everyone to determine the tactic and strategy that they adopt and to do so in full knowledge of the possible risks they personally take. These risks are described in a number of locations, including this document from NETPOL (the Network for Police Monitoring).
We should all read and understand the risks.We uphold the legally established right of an occupied people to resist occupation up to, and including, by armed resistance, and we do so without endorsing any specific proscribed group. We uphold the right of individuals to choose direct action as one tactic among many, alongside BDS, demonstrations, protests, petitions and lobbying our elected representatives to use their powers to the full. However, we emphasise that any risks people personally choose to take should not be carried out in a way that may pose a legal threat to the Coalition.
We are aware that the movement is under scrutiny and not only by the police: the pro-Israel lobby may seek to put pressure on the police to prosecute.Above all, we must keep our work and narrative clearly focused on Palestine and the Palestinian people. We will avoid attempts by the government and the pro-Israel lobby to shift the focus and goal of the solidarity movement towards our own conduct rather than the Israeli genocide and British complicity in it.
