The Court of Appeal has overturned the High Court ruling which found the ban on Palestine Action (PA) "unlawful". Five judges proclaimed the ban "justified and proportionate". They concluded that the proscription was legitimate, because the actions of PA proved it was a "terrorist organisation"...
Really? That would surely make the environmentalist organisation, Greenpeace, a terrorist organisation, too. How many times did its pacifist activists break into RAF Brize Norton, damage fences and spray paint?
Maybe they didn't hurt a security guard, but then again, that incident at the Elbit weapons factory was rather exceptional - and clearly unintentional. PA activists broke into the factory in order to smash it up (hence the long hammers) and obviously things went wrong, after these young amateurs were confronted (violently) by the security guards...
For sure, what they perpetrated was clearly damage to property - and what's more, it was the property of an Israeli arms company which makes weapons, drones and control systems for the Israeli Defence Force! And that goes some way towards explaining why the government has taken such harsh action against them - using its own sledgehammer, to crack a nut...
Despite government denials, Elbit components made in Britain probably do get sent to the IDF... directly or indirectly. And this gets one to the nub of the problem. This court ruling has very little to do with the law books and everything to do with the policy of Starmer's government, which must uphold the sacred property of the capitalist class... But which also chooses to support the Israeli terror state's wars... thanks to the position of all British governments - who must sit in the lap of whichever US President happens to be in power.
It's not the way to stop a war
That said, Palestine Action's campaign against the "genocide in Gaza" was not the best way of going about stopping this war. If they'd wanted to prevent weapons from being manufactured and used against Palestinians, then their first action should surely have been to go to see the workers who work in Elbit's factories?
They would then have had to convince them to refuse to make these weapons. And then in order to prevent the isolation and dismissal of these workers, it would have been necessary for them to get the support of their fellow-workers in all of the surrounding factories - and to spread the action...
Instead, looking for a shortcut, the bright and impatient young Palestine activists tried to substitute themselves for the only force strong enough to stop a war - the collective force of the working class. Which may be courageous on their part - and it certainly is - but it's ineffective and is likely to land them in jail for some time, even if the terrorist charges against their thousands of supporters, who police have also arrested, are likely to be dropped.
However, when it comes to "terrorism" there are those who know all about it, not so far away... For instance many of the men who dressed in black hoodies and balaclavas last week in Belfast - or at least their older relatives know all about it. They certainly have had links to Loyalist paramilitaries - and maybe they still have them...
No, the problem isn't "divisiveness"
The pogroms in Belfast - which spread around Northern ireland last week after the stabbing of Stephen Ogilvie by a Sudanese man, were specifically aimed to terrorise the immigrants out of the Loyalist areas where they were living. This terrorism was a blast from the past. And it was certainly encouraged by the "outside agitation" of Farage, Musk, Robinson, et al., but nevertheless, would never have happened if there hadn't been a lot of "angry young men" ready to set fire to their neighbourhoods because of chronic poverty and deprivation.
And memories are short. It will be just 10 years since the Brexit referendum on 23 June 2016 - and 10 years since the stabbing and shooting to death of the passionate "Remainer", Jo Cox, by a white British man just the week beforehand. He shouted "This is for Britain", "Keep Britain independent", and "Britain First" as he killed her. And while he was obviously not 100% sane, this was a planned and politically-motivated killing - unlike the murder in Belfast, where the attacker did not even know who his victim was.
Yes, memories are short. Jo Cox's sister - now a Labour MP - said that society is even more divided today, than it was in 2016 when it was "Leave" versus "Remain". But what are the facts? More among the potential electorate are disillusioned with all politicians and all parties - and rightly so, in the face of the latest wars in Gaza, Iran, Lebanon, the Guif and the rise in the cost of living. But the problem isn't division in our ranks - it's the fact that there is no political party with the policy or organisational ability to unite the working class for the only fight that's worth it: the overthrow of capitalism, which will put an end to wars, nationalism, racism and borders - replacing it with a new, socialist, system. We need to build that party!