Tag Archives: gaza

Confessions of an extremist

Posted on by symonhill

I am an extremist. I object to the killing of Israeli children and to the killing of Palestinian children. That, it seems, is enough to make me an “extremist” in the eyes of Rishi Sunak’s government.

Communities Secretary Michael Gove is planning to change the definition of “extremism”. So far, he has not published a list of groups that he wishes to define as “extremist”. Commentators have suggested that the new definition is likely to cover people campaigning against the Israeli attacks on Gaza, as well as several groups concerned with tackling climate change.

Meanwhile, the UK government continues to sell weapons to the aggressors of Saudi Arabia and Israel, to maintain enough nuclear warheads to wipe out much of the world, to further reduce the right to strike and the right to peaceful protest, and to preside over a massively underfunded NHS and declining welfare state as more and more people in the UK are pushed into poverty and ill health.

None of these policies, however, are to be labelled “extremist”.

The biggest problem with Gove’s plan is that it is absurd to have a simple definition of the word “extremist” at all. It is surely obvious that different beliefs are extreme in different situations. Therefore, what consitutes extremism depends on the context.

150 years ago, you would have been an extremist if you called for women to be given the vote. Now you would be considered an extremist if you said that women should not have the vote. Even 30 years ago, you would have been an extremist if you said that same-sex couples should be allowed to marry with legal recoginition. This “extremist” position is now law in the UK, and many other countries.

Surely we should be debating not whether a particular idea is extreme or extremist, but whether it is right.

As Martin Luther King wrote in 1963:

“The question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. Will we be extremists for hate or for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice or for the extension of justice?”

The UK government’s current definition of extremism includes opposition to democracy and “British values” – as if everyone in Britain has the same values. This allows ministers to formally place the views of certain of their opponents beyond the limits of acceptable beliefs. It is similar to the way McCarthyites labelled left-wing views as “unamerican”.

Now Michael Gove and his colleagues plan to go even further. According to today’s Observer:

“Organisations and individuals that breach a new official definition of extremism will be excluded from meetings or any engagement with ministers, senior civil servants, government advisory boards and funding. Councils will be expected to follow the government’s lead, cutting any financial ties or support to individuals or groups that have been categorised as extremist.”

This policy represents a massive assault on free expression and freedom of association. Ministers would be able, almost on a whim, to ban groups that they oppose from any engagement with official bodies. This is the sort of policy we might expect from Putin’s Russia. And it follows the introduction in recent years of the biggest restrictions on the right to peaceful protest in the UK since the Second World War.

The proposed criteria for labelling a group as “extremist” are so vague that a government could potentially place almost any organisation or individual who they did not like on the list. The Observer reports that a group could be defined as “extremist” if their behaviour includes attempts to “overturn, exploit or undermine the UK’s system of liberal democracy to confer advantages or disadvantages on specific groups”.

This is laughable. The Conservative Party has been conferrring advantages on a specific group – the very wealthy – for centuries. But people like me who want more democracy – such as by abolishing the monarchy – can be said to be opposed to the “UK’s system of liberal democracy” and thus regarded as “extremists”.

Of course some of the beliefs labelled “extremist” are views I deplore: such as racism, fascism, fundamentalism and other far-right ideologies. But we should tackle these because they are wrong, harmful and evil, regardless of whether the government regards them as extremist.

Someone who defends ISIS (for example) would rightly be denounced by the vast majority of people. However, ministers would label them as “extremists” even while those same ministers support the equally vile, immoral and murderous regime of Saudi Arabia. Indeed, British ministers are authorising the sale of arms to the Saudi regime, which are used in attacks on civilians in Yemen.

Similarly, supporting the muder of civilians by Hamas is “extremist”, whereas supporting the equally vile murder of civilians by the Israeli “Defence” Force is effectively UK government policy.

So by official definitions, it is not support for violence that makes you an “extremist”, but only support for violence carried out people who UK ministers oppose – rather than the many tryants and aggressors who they support.

Let’s not argue about who should be defined as an “extremist” – the state should not be maintaining a list. Let’s not deny we are extremists – I’m happy to be an extremist for peace, active nonviolence, human dignity and real democracy.

The Levellers, Chartists, Suffragettes and early Gay Pride marchers were regarded as extremist. Many of their views are now accepted by large majorities of people. Let’s be inspired by them to resist this latest attack on our rights and freedoms.

Tory Minister heckled in Coventry over arms sales to Israel

Posted on by symonhill

Security Minister Tom Tugendhat was heckled about arms sales to Israel and Saudi Arabia when he visited the famously anti-Tory city of Coventry yesterday.

Local mother and Christian campaigner Angela Ditchfield was forcibly removed from the building after accusing the UK government of “starving children in the UK and in Palestine”.

Tugendhat responded to the woman in front of him by telling her that she should not be protesting on International Women’s Day. He then spoke about Hamas’ rape and murder of Israeli women, implying that Angela Ditchfield supports Hamas. She does not.

She wished him, “Happy International Women’s Day” before challenging him about women burying their own children in Gaza. He did not respond.

Tugendhat was there to speak about community cohesion – a bizarre subject from a government that is continuously stirring up division. Tugendhat’s Tories have worked relentlessly over their 14 years in government to dismantle the public services and welfare state that are so vital for keeping society together.

As Security Minister, Tugendhat shares responsibility for the UK government’s militaristic policies as well as their repeated attempts to use issues of security to suppress rights to peaceful protest.

Last November, Tugendhat claimed untruthfully that anti-war campaigners were planning to protest near the Cenotaph on Armistice Day. Along with similar comments from other ministers, he stirred up an atmosphere that saw far-right activists turn up to “protect the Cenotaph” and fight with police. In reality, the anti-war march started in a different part of central London several hours later. So much for community cohesion.

Shortly before she stood up to challenge the minister, Angela sent me a message about her reasons for doing so. Her own words express her pain and sadness over the impact of the government’s policies.

This is what Angela said:

This week, we have gathered to hear the minister talk about how to build community cohesion and resilience – a very important topic.

We’ve seen senior Conservative and Labour politicians agree about many policies recently. Can we celebrate that unity?

Ministers have agreed to keep selling weapons to a regime ripping apart every aspect of social fabric in Palestine.

The UK continues to sell weapons to Israel as it bombs churches, mosques, hospitals, schools, universities and whole neighbourhoods full of homes. And now starving people going to an aid truck.

Both parties have agreed to leave poor children hungry in the UK, and cut funding to those feeding starving children in Gaza. 

If we want cohesion and security, we must reinstate funding to the UN in Palestine, and also feed children here.

Tom’s statement celebrates food banks and warm spaces run by churches – as though it’s ok that old people cannot afford to heat their homes and eat, due to government refusal to invest in house insulation and renewable energy.

Still, at least our elderly are not being bombed or seeing their grandchildren massacred.

The government must stop selling weapons to Israel and push for an immediate ceasefire. 

And not just a ceasefire.

If we want security and community, we must call for an end to apartheid and ethnic cleansing.

We must call for a release of the hostages and political prisoners on both sides.

There is a stitch-up of UK democracy between the two main parties. Most of us live in places where our vote doesn’t count, and the MPs supposed to represent us have been told to ignore us if we don’t like genocide or extinction.

Community cohesion has to include talking about refugees and other migrants as human beings, with respect and compassion.

It has to include not demonising anyone who cares about a genocide in Palestine, or about the potential extinction of the human race.

It has to include not stirring up hate against Muslims.

And if we want security for the UK, we need to stop trying to bomb the rest of the world into submission – we must stop bombing Yemen.

We must stop supporting the apartheid regime that is Israel, and call for peace and justice for all in the Holy Land.

Cheer Rochdale, not Galloway

Posted on by symonhill

I’m giving three cheers for the people of Rochdale for having voted for a left-wing candidate standing on an anti-war ticket. I’m offering no cheers for George Galloway, who is sadly the candidate in question.

In the last few weeks, the people of Rochdale might be wondering what they have done to deserve the choice of candidates with which they were faced. The Labour candidate was disowned by his own party for antisemitic comments. This was shortly after the Green candidate had been disowned by his own party for Islamophobic comments.

Other options included two former Labour MPs standing for different parties: Galloway was standing for the Workers’ Party of Britain (the latest version of the George Galloway Party). The far-right Reform Party (the current incarnation of the Nigel Farage Party) was represented by former Labour MP Simon Danzcuk, who previously had to leave Parliament after sending sexually explicit messages to a 17-year-old girl.

The Conservative candidate was, of course, standing on a platform of supporting the most incompetent government in living memory.

It would be entirely understandable if the people of Rochdale had opted for the Monster Raving Loony Party candidate on the grounds that he seemed a more serious option than most of his opponents.

By electing a candidate who stood primarily on a platform of opposing the war in Gaza, people in Rochdale have shown the strength of anti-war feeling among large parts of the British population, and disproved the common claim that people vote only on narrow domestic issues.

The fact that a local independent candidate came second has clearly taken the London-based media by surprise, given their tendency to overlook local and regional differences and see everything from the perspective of Westminster.

Between them, the three “main” parties scored only 26.7%. It is impossible to know what would have happened if the Labour candidate had retained the party’s support and fought an effective campaign. It is possible that Labour may have won. But looking at the size of Galloway’s victory last night, I find it hard to believe that a Labour candidate would have beaten him if that candidate had not departed from Keir Starmer’s position on Gaza.

One lesson to take away from Rochdale is that independent candidates and alternative parties are on the march.

This is encouraging. I just wish it was someone other than George Galloway who had benefited from it.

In 2020, Galloway described me as a “hero”, for taking nonviolent direct action against the arms trade. In 2022, he mocked me and then blocked me on Twitter after I encouraged him to condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine as well as opposing NATO.

The problem with Galloway is not simply that he is a supporter of homophoba and transphobia, and increasingly anti-immigration. It is also that he is not really anti-war.

I share Galloway’s opposition to the murderous Israeli attacks on Gaza and to the nuclear-armed expansionist alliance that is NATO. Unike Galloway, I also oppose other warmongers, including Vladimir Putin and Hamas.

When Ukraine was invaded, I was working as Campaigns Manager of the Peace Pledge Union (PPU), Britain’s leading pacifist organisation. We condemned Putin’s invasion and kept in touch with our comrades in the Russian Movement of Conscientious Objectors, as well as other Russian peace activists and the Ukrainian Pacifist Movement. We also criticised the UK and US governments’ cynical use of the invasion to expand NATO power, and their resistance to peace talks.

Despite this, we received abusive messages from angry militarists accusing us of being Putin apologists. Meanwhile, actual Putin apologists were sending us angry messages accusing us of supporting NATO. People who think that war solves problems often seem unable to understand that anyone might oppose all militarism and not support any armed forces on any side.

While this is the PPU’s usual approach, we were pleased that the Stop the War Coalition also clearly and repeatedly condemned Putin’s invasion as well as NATO. While we would expect Galloway to disagree with the PPU, he also seems to have fallen out with the Stop the War Coalition.

Galloway has not issued a word of condemnation for Putin’s aggression. Shortly after Galloway’s election in Rochdale this morning, his deputy party leader Chris Williamson refused in an interview to condemn the Hamas attack on Israeli civilians on 7th October.

Galloway and Williamson are not anti-war. They are pro-war – it’s just they’re on a different side to the one that the British establishment expect us all to support.

I think the people of Rochdale were right to vote for an apparently anti-war MP. Hopefully they will replace him with an actual anti-war MP at the next election.

Sunak says democracy is under threat – but it’s people like him who are threatening it

Posted on by symonhill

Rishi Sunak thinks that democracy is under threat in the UK. I agree with him. The difference is that I think it’s under threat from people such as Rishi Sunak and he seems to think it’s under threat from people like me. 

In the last few years, successive UK governments have eroded fundamental civil liberties and human rights, imposing greater restrictions on peaceful protest than have been seen in Britain since the Second World War.

The police have been allowed to exceed even these powers with virtually no consequences. My personal experience of this reality came with my unlawful arrest by Thames Valley Police when I objected to the proclamation of Charles Windsor as king in September 2022. Many others have faced far worse consequences. 

But now, Sunak and his allies in the right-wing media want to restrict the right to protest even further. They are justifying this assault on democracy by claiming that they are doing it to protect democracy. 

Sunak claims that there is a “growing consensus that mob rule is replacing democratic rule”.

I find it difficult to believe that such a claim could be taken seriously by many people at all, let alone that there is a “consensus” about it. Sunak’s assertion makes about as much sense as Suella Braverman’s fantasy statement that “the Islamists, the extremists and the anti-Semites are in charge now” (I’m pretty sure the Tories are still in charge, though of course some of them are indeed extremists and anti-Semites).

According to Sunak, the threat of mob rule comes from left-wing protests. In recent days, a number of ministers have attacked the overwhelmingly peaceful anti-war marches that have been regularly taking place against the Israeli forces’ murderous assaults on the people of Gaza. Home Secretary James Cleverley says that protests should stop because protesters have “made their point“. He has not suggested that Israeli forces could stop killing children because they have made their point. I would much rather not be spending time protesting against the slaughter of innocent people. The need to do so will end only when the slaughter ends. 

Parts of the media are whipping up talk of the fear and threats faced by MPs. I strongly oppose death threats to anyone. Having received quite a few of them myself over the years, I sympathise with MPs who receive a lot more and who genuinely fear for their safety. But banning protests will not make them any safer.

Six MPs have been killed in the UK in the last century – a much lower number than in some countries, but still outrageous.

The first four were killed by Irish Republicans. Of the most recent two, David Amess was killed by an Islamic fundamentalist and Jo Cox by a far-right white supremacist. Both these murders were horrific and any humane person rightly condemns them. Neither Cox nor Amess would have been saved by restricting rights to protest.

Some papers have focused on the very small number of protests that have taken place outside MPs’ homes. I agree that protesting at people’s homes is generally wrong – especially if there are children there, as they may be frightened and are not to blame for their parents’ actions. The reality is that demonstrations at politicians’ homes are relatively rare and usually small-scale.

I suspect that most of the commentators calling for a crackdown on protests know this. But talking them up diverts attention from the reality of peaceful and diverse groups of people who are marching every week against violence. 

We already have laws to deal with the vile instances of antisemitism that have increased since October. Such outrages are in no way representative of the anti-war marches that have brought together Muslims, Jews, Christians, atheists and many others to oppose the Israeli government’s military aggression. The vast majority of them also oppose Hamas’ aggression. 

The only major violent demonstration in central London in recent months was not an anti-war protest but was in effect a pro-war protest. Far-right activists fought with the police near the Cenotaph, which they claimed they had come to “protect” from people protesting against the war in Gaza on Armstice Day. Their fury had effectively been whipped up by the likes of Sunak, Braverman and Tom Tugendhat, who all must have known that in reality the anti-war march was going nowhere near the Cenotaph.

Democracy is not simply about walking into a polling station every five years and then shutting up until you’re allowed to vote again. Sunak apparently sees no irony in talking of democracy despite having been elected as Prime Minister only by the Conservative Party, and appointed to the post by a monarch elected by nobody at all. Under First-Past-the-Post, a winning party never receives more than half the votes, but is declared to have been elected democratically. 

Nonetheless, we are lucky to have more elements of democracy in the UK than can be found in much of the world. The democracy we have – however limited – is something to celebrate.

We have it not because the rich and powerful generously handed it down to us. The only reason we have any democracy at all is that our ancestors went out onto the streets and campaigned for it. Chartists, Levellers, women’s suffrage campaigners and others struggled and in some cases died for the elements of democracy that we now enjoy. It is not Sunak and the Daily Mail, but people marching against war in Gaza, who stand in the tradition of such people. 

In a country in which the super-rich have vastly disproportionate power, wealthy individuals such as Rishi Sunak are the last people likely to support taking democracy further. We can expect no help from them in working towards real democracy, in which we would have democratic control of local communities and democratic control of workplaces. 

Sunak’s government sells arms to Israel and Saudi Arabia and suppresses peaceful protest. Anti-war demonstrators are exercising their rights to resist war with active nonviolence. One side in this argument is anti-violence and pro-democracy. And Sunak is on the other side.