On a fateful day in early September, London’s Parliament Square became the hub of a peaceful demonstration where 800 protestors advocating, ‘We stand against genocide, We stand with Palestine Action’, were taken into custody. Authorities labelled them supporters of an outlawed group that violated the United Kingdom’s Terrorism Act. This act was triggered by the Labour Party government helmed by Prime Minister Keir Starmer who had recently proscribed Palestine Action (PA), an organization known for its vehement opposition of what they call ‘Israeli apartheid regime’. PA’s form of protest often involved destruction of property, specifically targeting the facilities of a prominent arms contractor, Elbit Systems.
Elbit Systems, a crucial supplier to the Israel Defense Forces, is renowned for producing sophisticated weapons like rockets, bombs and attack drones, with state-of-the-art guidance systems which the company claims have been tested in combat zones such as Gaza. PA’s activities might not have led to physical harm to any individuals, but it has certainly had a significant financial impact since its inception in 2020. The group’s actions have cost Elbit hundreds of thousands of dollars in terms of damages to the facilities.
As the repercussions started manifesting, in 2022, Elbit lost a series of defense contracts with the UK government. The contracts were pegged at around $340 million. PA seized this opportunity and claimed that their consistent disruptions had showcased Elbit as an ‘unreliable supplier’, resulting in this major setback. Later that September, in an unpredicted move, Elbit announced the closure of a facility that was repetitively singled out by PA.
In a significant court ruling in December, members of PA, accused of inflicting criminal damage to an Elbit subsidiary, were acquitted. The defendants managed to sway the jury in their favour by suggesting that their actions are aimed at preventing civilian casualties in an ongoing genocide. Following this legal victory, PA was deemed to share the same standing as international terrorist organizations like Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, and ISIS, along with other illicit groups like Boko Haram, the Irish Republican Army, and the Neo-Nazi Maniac Murder Cult. This classification was set by the UK under its Terrorism Act. This decision stirred unrest within the Starmer administration.
This governmental disquietude led to an increased number of arrests in August and September, breaking records for the largest number of protestors detained during a single demonstration in the capital. Notably, those arrested were not only activists directly involved with PA but also those expressing their right to protest and demonstrate solidarity. Martin Clay, a lay minister, was arrested solely for holding a sign that read: ‘I may not favor Palestine Action, but I uphold the right to support them’. He was charged with exhibiting support for a terrorist organization.
In a separate incident in Glasgow, a 64-year-old man was taken into custody for displaying a sign that stated ‘Genocide in Palestine, Time to Act’. His offence lay in the fact that the words ‘Palestine’ and ‘action’ were imprinted in a larger font than the rest of the words on the placard. Meanwhile, eco-terrorists, who targeted commercial and industrial establishments, were often viewed as a potent threat to the prevailing capitalist order, with the pinnacle of the reactionary response to environmental protest being the 2006 Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act.
The Act allows prosecution of any individual causing any form of disruption to an animal-related business on charges of terrorism. This Act further extends the already comprehensive legal provisions for prosecuting terrorists by complementing laws enacted by Congress in the 1990s. These laws stipulated stringent penalizing for those found to be providing unspecified ‘material support’ to terrorism.
Turning the pages to 2016, the agenda of eco-terrorism saw a mass pushback against the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. Thousands of people gathered at the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation standing against the pipeline construction, facing hostile law enforcement agencies and private security companies. Among the protesters were known activists Jessica Reznicek and Ruby Montoya who, for a year, secretly sabotaged the pipeline before publicly owning up to their actions.
Such activities led to an urgent call for harsher criminal penalties for those protesting or sabotaging oil and gas installations. Florida escalated the penal provision for trespassing on pipeline properties to a jail term of up to five years, from the earlier 60-day term for trespassing on other types of properties. Ohio lawmakers set a hefty six-year prison term for those daring enough to vandalise a pipeline and a maximum of ten years for even attempting to tamper with a pipeline facility.
In Louisiana, the laws even expanded further to allow RICO charges against protesters causing ‘damage’ to fossil fuel infrastructure. These charges could land the protester with a possible 50-year sentence. Currently, we find ourselves navigating through the third legislative wave, wherein lawmakers are clamping down on pro-Palestine encampments and rallies.
This year, states like Arizona and Texas have mandated outright bans on protest encampments on the campuses of state-run universities and colleges. The Republican Party, in the Congress, introduced four new bills aimed at limiting financial aid to students found guilty of an ambiguously defined ‘riot’ offense. These Bills also aim to bar student protesters from federal loans and loan forgiveness and introduce provisions for visa cancellations and deportations of non-citizen participants in protest ‘riots’.
The present political climate leaves one wondering if the Trump administration, carrying forward this legislative trend, will further widen the scope of terrorism material support statutes, encompassing protests of all types, whether they are for causes related to Palestine, racial justice, or climate and environmental concerns.
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