• tane@lemmy.zip
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    12 minutes ago

    Every British politician belongs in a mass grave. Just a total stain on humanity

  • starman2112@sh.itjust.works
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    34 minutes ago

    There are few things I like about being an American, but one of them is the first amendment. It doesn’t always work, and Trump is sure to try some shit like this soon, but at least I know for now I won’t go to prison for saying that I do indeed support Palestine Action

  • OccamsRazer@lemmy.world
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    34 minutes ago

    It started during covid, but nobody cared because the people being locked up were anti vaxxers. It didn’t stop there. It never does.

  • Clbull@lemmy.world
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    3 hours ago

    I’m more shocked it hasn’t already happened to Extinction Rebellion, Insulate Britain or Just Stop Oil.

    But I guess blockading motorways and rocking up to art museums dressed like extras from a Wham music video and defacing paintings makes you less of a threat than wanting Netanyahu to stop his genocide of the Palestinian people.

  • splonglo@lemmy.world
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    4 hours ago

    Not only is the ruling wrong - it is the very thing it claims to be opposing. It is itself an act of terrorism, carried out with the intention of inspiring fear in the British public to further a political agenda.

    In every way, the British government is replicating the actions it accuses PA of - except that the scale of harm to British society and the terror inspired is magnitudes greater, and performed in service of the opposite political goal.

    This is a terror attack by the government against the British people.

    The British people’s opinion and will are the thing from which the goverment gains it’s only source of legitimacy - and they do not line up with the government on this issue.

    But evidently the government believes in a different model of legitimacy: they believe that legitimacy is derived from the mere fact that they hold power. In the mind of the government and it’s supporters, the difference between a terrorist organisation and a legitimate goverment is just power and only power. To them, right and wrong has absolutely nothing to do with it. They think that they are winning, and that they are going to get away with it. Nothing else matters.

    • Aceticon@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      1 hour ago

      But evidently the government believes in a different model of legitimacy: they believe that legitimacy is derived from the mere fact that they hold power.

      *Macht macht Recht"

  • khaleer@sopuli.xyz
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    4 hours ago

    That’s good reason to remind people, that law is written by particular people, mostly to protect those people interests.

  • kreskin@lemmy.world
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    5 hours ago

    Feeding, housing and guarding someone for 14 years has got to be ridiculously expensive. All for uttering a few words.

      • DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works
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        53 minutes ago

        Technically its not slave labor.

        They just out you in solitary confinement with really bad food, zero things to do to pass the time. Psychologically torture you until you agreed to do unpaid/below-minimum-wage work.

        “They are voluntarily working!” -the warden said to the judge, while concealing a police baton behind him.

  • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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    7 hours ago

    Just to be clear because everybody seems to be missing this point.

    Palestinian Action, is an organisation. Membership of that group is banned, it is not illegal to support Palestinians or to call out Israel’s genocide. The government doesn’t like it when you do, but it’s not actually illegal for you to do it.

    This organisation broke into a UK air force base in order to protest. They are not being charged because they protested, they’re being charged for breaking in and damaging a lot of military equipment. I think it’s a bit far to call them terrorists, but you can sort of see the government’s point, if you squint.

    The UK government does however absolutely deserve to get it in the neck for their support of Israel. Labour have had a pretty awkward relationship with Israel in particular and anti-Semitism in general for a long time, and they’re now keen to be seen as supporters, but there are limits.

    • lmmarsano@lemmynsfw.com
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      They are not being charged because they protested, they’re being charged for breaking in and damaging a lot of military equipment. I think it’s a bit far to call them terrorists, but you can sort of see the government’s point, if you squint.

      Out of curiosity, I looked up the US Federal definition of terrorism

      definition
      1. the term “domestic terrorism” means activities that-
        1. involve acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any State;
        2. appear to be intended-
          1. to intimidate or coerce a civilian population;
          2. to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or
          3. to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping; and
        3. occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States

      The element danger to human life is missing, so it wouldn’t fit their definition.

      However, the UK legal definition

      definition
      1. In this Act “terrorism” means the use or threat of action where—
        1. the action falls within subsection (2),
        2. the use or threat is designed to influence the government [or an international governmental organisation][1] or to intimidate the public or a section of the public, and
        3. the use or threat is made for the purpose of advancing a political, religious [, racial][2] or ideological cause.
      2. Action falls within this subsection if it—
        1. involves serious violence against a person,
        2. involves serious damage to property,
        3. endangers a person’s life, other than that of the person committing the action,
        4. creates a serious risk to the health or safety of the public or a section of the public, or
        5. is designed seriously to interfere with or seriously to disrupt an electronic system.
      3. The use or threat of action falling within subsection (2) which involves the use of firearms or explosives is terrorism whether or not subsection (1)(2) is satisfied.
      4. In this section—
        1. “action” includes action outside the United Kingdom,
        2. a reference to any person or to property is a reference to any person, or to property, wherever situated,
        3. a reference to the public includes a reference to the public of a country other than the United Kingdom, and
        4. “the government” means the government of the United Kingdom, of a Part of the United Kingdom or of a country other than the United Kingdom.
      5. In this Act a reference to action taken for the purposes of terrorism includes a reference to action taken for the benefit of a proscribed organisation.

      is wild: no danger to human life required, merely serious damage to property suffices!


      1. Words in s. 1(1)(2) inserted (13.4.2006) by Terrorism Act 2006 (c. 11), s. 34; S.I. 2006/1013, art. 2 ↩︎

      2. Words in s. 1(1)(3) inserted (16.2.2009) by Counter-Terrorism Act 2008 (c. 28), ss. 75(1)(2)(a), 100(5) (with s. 101(2)); S.I. 2009/58, art. 2(a) ↩︎

    • AlteredEgo@lemmy.ml
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      3 hours ago

      I think it’s a bit far to call them terrorists,

      Did you mean “a bit unfair”? Because I don’t see how anybody would be terrorized by this. It’s clearly illegal but using terrorism here is very problematic, especially since what the military does to people in the middle easy is actual terrorism but not called that.

      Afaik the “anti-Semitism in Labour” was basically a made up smear by the Labour Party themselves to prevent Jeremy Corbyn getting elected. Not sure about other instances though.

    • JustTheWind@lemmy.world
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      4 hours ago

      Thank you for this clarification. This is an extremely important context. “Palestine Action” is the particular name of a very specific organization, so the title of the article is obviously a bit misleading.

      Still very worrying and more than a bit concerning, though. Here’s to hoping for a future strengthening of UK speech laws. Though, frankly, I’m not so sure about US speech laws anymore. Cheers.

      • starman2112@sh.itjust.works
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        27 minutes ago

        Yes and I support that particular organization and the actions they perform. From what it sounds like reading the article, this very comment makes me a criminal in the UK

        God bless the first amendment 🦅🇺🇲

      • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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        5 hours ago

        I don’t think it was ever anything concrete. Some members of the Labour Party made some comments that could potentially have been interpreted as being anti-semitic. Everyone went absolutely crazy, without anything in the way of evidence, and it caused a major political scandal. Labour themselves made the whole situation infinitely worse by not properly investigating the allegations, which made it look like they were trying to protect people. In reality I think it was just incompetence.

        It was the very definition of a storm in a teacup, essentially nothing had happened but the opposition parties reacted as if it was some major scandal for the sole purpose of political point scoring.

        Labour subsequently lost the 2019 elections and the suggestion was it was because of this scandal.

        So when Starmer became leader one of the things he said he was going to do was root out anti-Semitism within the party (no matter how much he had to dig for it), this was around 2020 but he had been campaigning about it since around 2018. Anyway when he became leader there was a big bust up where he got rid of anyone he thought was being anti-semitic (again there was a lot of doubt about whether or not they were being). Then in 2024 they won the election. So ever since then they’ve been very careful to not appear anti-semitic to the point at which they are refusing to even acknowledge Israel’s war crimes.

        This is all especially annoying since they would have won the 2024 general election no matter what because the Conservatives were polling so badly. So this big arguement about anti-Semitism was completely unnecessary. Had it not happened Labour would still be in power, but would be less inclined to shy away from criticism of Israel.

        TLDR

        Accusing Labour of been anti-semitic has been the default position of the opposition for a while because it works. Who cares about the truth anymore?

        • courval@lemmy.world
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          4 minutes ago

          Thanks for clarifying, I’ve heard about the accusations before but never really understood what they were accused of… But I think the last couple of years of “anti-Semitism” left and right accusations aimed at individuals who are simply against the murder of innocent people help explain it. My guess is that some members of labour saw the Israeli regime for the terrorists they are ages ago and didn’t shut up about it… The Zionist lobby in the UK is obscene… Shame on these crooks!

        • skisnow@lemmy.ca
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          2 hours ago

          The big you’ve skimmed over is that it happened under Corbyn, who was hugely popular with Labour members for being actually Left Wing, and hugely unpopular amongst the entire rest of the political and media establishments (including Labour MPs) for exactly the same reason. Pretty much everyone on all sides who’d never given a toss about antisemitism before were suddenly pearl-clutching over the tiniest statement made by a backbencher’s assistant’s brother’s gibbon because it was a handy way to bring Corbyn down without having to give any airtime to debating his (very popular) policies.

        • 0x0@lemmy.zip
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          4 hours ago

          they’ve been very careful to not appear anti-semitic to the point at which they are refusing to even acknowledge Israel’s war crimes.

          And that’s how you completely conflate the meaning of a word.

    • skisnow@lemmy.ca
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      6 hours ago

      Yeah, they lost an election over an antisemitism row a few years ago and have chosen the worst possible moment in history to start overcompensating for it.

    • Bloomcole@lemmy.world
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      6 hours ago

      They even forbid the playing of “Don’t cry for me Argentina” during the wer to protect their Malvinas colony.

      • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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        5 hours ago

        That would have been the Conservatives though. The Conservatives under Thatcher were in power during the Falklands war.

  • SkunkWorkz@lemmy.world
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    6 hours ago

    They can take it to EU court. oops haha. This is why the elites pushed for Brexit. It wasn’t just to repatriate their money from Cayman Islands tax free. It’s so they can suppress anyone that doesn’t bend the knee.

      • 0x0@lemmy.zip
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        4 hours ago

        Any major difference to the universal declaration on human rights?

        • Ginny [they/she]@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          4 hours ago

          Funnily enough the rights themselves are broadly similar, but the European Convention on Human Rights established the European Court of Human Rights, so being a party to the treaty means we are still within ECtHR’s jurisdiction.

          Edit: for anyone who may be confused, the Court of Justice of the European Union [CJEU] - sometimes called the European Court of Justice [ECJ] is the court that enforces the law of the European Union [EU]. This includes the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union [CFR]. On the other hand, the European Convention on Human Rights [ECHR] is a treaty drafted by the Council of Europe [CoE] that provides for the European Court of Human Rights [ECtHR].

          So when the United Kingdom [UK] was a member of the EU, then the UK was still subject to the CFR, enforced by the ECJ (except not really because the UK opted out of the CFR (except yes really because the opt out was worded in a way such that it was essentially only symbolic)), and also subject to the ECHR, enforced by the ECtHR. After the UK left the EU, the UK was no longer bound by the CFR or the ECJ (except insofar as it still is, because of Northern Ireland [NI]), but it still is a member of the CoE and bound by the ECHR and the ECtHR.

          Theoretically, the Equality and Human Rights Commission [EHRC] in the UK is responsible for promoting the rights of the ECHR, in addition to rights of the Equality Acts of 2006 and 2010.

          I hope that clears everything up for people.

  • csverdad@midwest.social
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    9 hours ago

    The most widely celebrated circumstance in the world is being rid of the British government. It’s spawned many holidays.

    • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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      7 hours ago

      It is of course somewhat disingenuous to equate the empire to the modern British government. In much the same way that it makes no sense to say that Japan in its current form has any relation to feudal Japan.

      • Bloomcole@lemmy.world
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        6 hours ago

        Only difference is that they now only have a fraction of their power.
        OTOH they 100% have the same horrible attitude.
        Like the declining US now doesn’t realise they aren’t top dog anymore, the Brits who have been surpassed by them for a century still delude themselves and think they can and should dictate what the world should do.
        Glad we had Brexit.
        Always causing trouble and wanting it their way.
        Embarrassing.