by Mark Best, Socialist Party National Committee
Hundreds of thousands of people marched through the streets of London on 21 June, showing their opposition to the British government’s support for the Israeli state’s war on Gaza, and escalating war in the Middle East. Meanwhile, the Labour government was preparing to proscribe Palestine Action, meaning anyone that is a member of or expresses support for the direct action group faces up to 14 years in prison.
This followed Palestine Action activists spraying paint onto military planes on RAF Brize Norton, embarrassing the prestige of the British military. A few activists on e-scooters armed with spray paint could penetrate an airfield and escape unharmed.
Photo: Paul Mattsson
The tactics of Palestine Action, which include occupying and sabotaging arms manufacturers in Britain linked to the Israeli state, have not ended capitalist wars and the British government’s support for the likes of the Israeli state and its murderous occupation of Gaza (Read what we think: ‘What can end horror in Gaza?’ at socialistparty.org.uk).
Labour Home Secretary Yvette Cooper’s attempts are not solely aimed at the actions of one group. This draconian measure to ban a protest group, placing them alongside Boko Haram, nazi National Action and the Russian paramilitary Wagner Group, is aimed at the thousands of people who have reacted with revulsion to the daily horrors in Gaza.
The Labour government feels the anger that exists towards it from the general public. People are angry at their support of the Israeli military in Gaza, they are angry that Keir Starmer sits on the lap of Donald Trump as he unleashes death and destruction across the Middle East by bombing Iran. And they are angry as the government cuts disabled people’s benefits, hikes up tuition fees and continues Tory austerity across the board.
Working-class struggle against this government of the bosses is posed, and that terrifies the likes of Starmer and Cooper. They know how unpopular they are and will use any tools at their disposal – including attacking the democratic right to protest – to try and head off the bubbling rage under the surface, as they try and make us pay for the bosses’ crisis with lower wages, worse services and endless wars.
We need to fight back against any attempts to curb our right to protest, and demand the undemocratic protest laws introduced by the Tories, alongside the anti-union laws, are all scrapped. Mass working-class action can fight back against the government’s support for war, and by fighting to build working-class solidarity across the world we can fight for a system in which the bosses’ wars for profit are put in the dustbin of history where they belong.