The proscription of Palestine Action (PA) by the Starmer government should not be surprising. Labour has a long track record of wheeling out authoritarian measures. Under the New Labour government of Blair, Home Secretary Jack Straw brought in the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act in 2000. This significantly increased the powers of the State. Previously Labour had brought in States of Emergency during dockers’ strikes in 1948 and 1949, and again in 1966 with the seafarers’ strike. It was significant that only 26 MPs voted against the proscription, and of these only 9 were Labour.
Why has the Starmer regime decided to proscribe Palestine Action? Surely they had enough powers in various Acts and laws concerning criminal damage already in place to deal with these cases of nonviolent direct action, involving damage to property?
The reason PA was proscribed was because their direct action was proving effective, especially against the arms firm Elbit which was targeted on many occasions. During this time PA was not proscribed. It is with the recent rhetoric of militarism and the backing of Israel by the Starmer government that the State felt it had to act, as PA was now directly focussing on military targets, the splashing of red paint over military planes at RAF Brize Norton. This was seen as a step too far, and that this would encourage further actions against militarism.
So now those who object to the mass slaughter of Palestinians are classed as terrorists, whilst the ongoing genocide in Gaza is apologised for, and Trump is put forward for the Nobel Peace Prize by Netanyahu. The Surrealists couldn’t had made it up.
As anarchist communists we believe mass working class direct action is a legitimate tool to use against our politicians or bosses or landlords.
Following Palestine Action’s proscription, more than 20 people were arrested in Whitehall by the Gandhi statue merely for holding placards stating “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action”. The Metropolitan police is now charging Stop the War Coalition chair Alex Kenny and Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament general secretary Sophie Bolt with failing to comply with police conditions at a pro-Palestine march. Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) director Ben Jamal and Stop The War vice chair Chris Nineham were already facing such charges with their trial expected in February 2026.
The State and the Blair administration is worried by the large scale revulsion with the slaughter in Palestine and is now resorting to repression and terror by legislation to scare people into coming out on the streets and taking action.
This has created a crisis within the UK state, as the scale of its support for genocide and its prioritisation of warfare over welfare as well as the sham of democracy where civil rights and freedom of speech and assembly are shut down, are disgusting larger and larger numbers. There will be increasing anger, and increasing protests. The whole legitimacy of the British State, including two of its pillars, the Monarchy and the Church of England, are being increasingly challenged. There are stormy times ahead.
Photo: Creative Commons. Thanks to Campaign Against the Arms Trade