Last Thursday I was Charged With Exercising My Right to Freedom of Speech
& Remanded to the Old Bailey for Supporting the Palestinian Resistance
Tony Greenstein speech outside Westminster magistrates court
Last Thursday 19th December
2024 I was formally charged with inviting support for a proscribed organisation
and expressing an opinion or belief that was ‘supportive’ of them.
Needless to say I have done neither
and I pled not guilty to offences carrying a 14 year prison sentence. As I
explained to the 100 or so demonstrators outside, in a wonderful expression of solidarity,
if I had downloaded hard core child pornography and my name was Hugh Edwards, I
could expect a 6 months suspended sentence.
My real ‘offence’ was opposing
Israel’s 57 year old occupation of Gaza and its ethnic cleansing of Gaza. If
the proscription of anti-colonial resistance groups had been in place 40 years
ago then I could have been charged with supporting another ‘terrorist’
organisation – the ANC. Because that is
what Thatcher and Reagan called
the ANC.
Thatcher told
a press conference at the Commonwealth summit in Vancouver, in 1987:
A considerable number of the ANC leaders are Communists… When the ANC
says that they will target British companies, this shows what a typical
terrorist organisation it is. I fought terrorism all my life… I will have
nothing to do with any organisation that practises violence. I have never seen
anyone from ANC or the PLO or the IRA and would not do so.
Presumably Thatcher kept her distance
from the British army too! This is the hypocrisy that labels Hamas, Hezbollah
and the PKK as ‘terrorist’. The massively greater violence of the Israeli and
Turkish states simply does not exist for creatures like Thatcher or Starmer.
State violence is fine, but violence against the state is ‘terrorism’ unless, as
with Assad and Gaddafi, we oppose the state too.
Tony Greenstein speech outside Westminster magistrates court
Using the same ‘logic’ Thatcher should have condemned violence
by the Yugoslav resistance under Tito against the Nazi occupation. Because the
Special Operations Executive, which became the SAS, was aiding them, she would
have made an exception for them. This demonstrates that those who define resistance
organisations as ‘terrorist’ don’t have a single principle between them.
Outside Tony Greenstein's court hearing, end segment
If I’d been alive 80 years ago according
to the same logic people could have been charged with supporting the French and
Polish Resistance. The Nazis certainly called them ‘terrorists’.
The system of proscribing
organisations in force today enables any
support for any national
liberation or resistance organisation to be classified as ‘terrorist’ thus
making support for people seeking to overthrow colonialism or imperialism a
criminal offence.
International law supports the right of resistance of those opposing colonialism and this includes the Palestinians but British law deems this irrelevant. Except in the case of Ukraine of course!
Tony Greenstein speech outside Westminster magistrates court
Suffice to say those who profess
their support for freedom of speech also seek to outlaw anything that strays
outside the overton window of what is and is not allowed to be
discussed. It is a window that has been closing for the past half century.
Freedom of speech has limits and
those limits are not confined to incitement to racial hatred or violence
against another person but to support of organisations that the Establishment
deem to be ‘extreme’ i.e. anti-colonial or anti-capitalist.
‘Extremism’ is the new buzzword. When I was remanded in custody I was asked at reception whether or not I was an extremist! When I asked the young Black woman if she knew what an extremist was she confessed she didn’t. I then explained that all those who fought for the freedoms we take for granted (and which we are losing) like the Suffragettes, were also called extremists in their time. The Jewish Chronicle then said that I compared myself to the Suffragettes!
It is no surprise that Attorney
General Richard Hermer and his Zionist side-kick Sarah Sackman from the Jewish Labour Movement want to criminalise those who oppose British imperialism.
They have lost the battle to tar us with the ‘anti-Semitism’ brush and have
therefore sought the help of the Police to keep us silent.
Live: Outside Tony Greenstein's court hearing
It is untrue that I support Hamas as
a political organisation. What I do is to recognise that it was elected by the Palestinians in 2006 in
preference to Fateh. Instead of respecting the outcome of the elections, the Israeli
state together with the US and Britain supported a coup attempt by Palestinian
Quisling Mahmoud Abbas to overthrow the elected government of the Palestinians.
There are terrorist organisations
such as ISIS and Al Qaeda, both of which are the creations of US imperialism.
We see today how Al Qaeda offshoot Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) which was proscribed in May 2017 has quickly been taken
to the bosom of the imperialists. At the time the justification for their
proscription was that they:
‘should be treated as alternative names for
the organisation which is already proscribed under the name Al Qa’ida.’
All sorts
of people like MI6 former chief Sir John Sawers have called for the UK to deproscribe HTS. Sawers
argued that the organisation has changed significantly in the last several
years.
Sawers told Sky News that Jolani, the head of
HTS "has made great efforts over the
last 10 years to distance himself from those terrorist groups.
"Certainly, the actions we've seen of Tahrir al-Sham over the last
two weeks have been those of a liberation movement, not of a terrorist organisation,"
"It would be rather ridiculous, actually, if
we're unable to engage with the new leadership in Syria because of a
proscription dating back 12 years."
For once the Telegraph got it right when Nina Shea wrote
That commander Al-Jolani has now changed into a
Western suit and talks of moderation, they undoubtedly see,
is purely tactical. When before has a holy warrior, at the very moment of
triumph, pulled down his keffiyeh to reveal underneath a champion of religious
pluralism and freedom? These militants are no more credible than the Taliban,
who promised to respect women’s rights but who, three years after taking
control of Afghanistan, have “erased” women from public life, as
the UN reports.
Sawyer’s statements seem very
supportive of an organisation that is still proscribed yet the anti-terrorist
police have not conducted a dawn raid on his home in the early hours of the
morning because he is in breach of s.12(1A) of the Terrorism Act. Clearly the
Police are making political decisions as to who is breaching the said Act.
If Sawers had said the same about a proscribed
Palestinian organisation his feet wouldn’t have touched the floor before he was
arrested by the Thought Police.
Proscription has nothing to do with terrorism.
It is about preventing people supporting organisations that are fighting for
the rights of their own people against regimes imposed by the West.
Terrorism contrary to the definition in
the Terrorism Act 2000 has nothing to do with ‘serious damage against property’, ‘serious violence against a person’, the disruption of electronic
systems or health and safety. All of the above are covered by other
legislation.
Terrorism is the deliberate
infliction of violence and terror on civilian populations. ISIS, with its
attempted genocide of the Yazidis clearly fits into this as does Al Qaeda. ISIS
violence in Paris, the Bataclan attack and the London Bridge knife attacks or the Manchester Arena bombing of Ariana
Grande’s concert were
for the sake of spreading terror without any discernible political motive.
It is usually because an organisation
lacks a mass base that they resort to terrorism. Hamas (& Hezbollah) have
both been elected and carry large popular support. Hezbollah’s attacks on Israel
in support of Gaza was carefully calibrated and unlike Israel’s response did
not target civilians but military infrastructure primarily.
The worst terrorist attack in
Britain, the bombing of Ariana Grande’s concert in the Manchester Arena in May 2017
came about because of the collusion of MI5 with the bomber, Salman Abedi, who
had been sent to Libya to fight in jihadist organisations trying to overthrow
Col. Gaddafi.
The head of
MI5 said he was
"profoundly sorry" the
security service did not prevent the Manchester Arena attack but not so sorry
that he was prepared to reveal the truth about the bomber’s links with MI5.
An article Manchester Arena bombing inquiry delivers cover-up “in
the national interest” on the World Socialist Web Site explains:
The final report by Sir John
Saunders from the inquiry he led into the Manchester Arena terrorist bombing is
a state cover-up. It conceals the role of MI5, MI6, the Ministry of Defence and
successive British governments in the grooming and protection of far-right
Islamists who were deployed to achieve imperialist foreign policy objectives in
Libya and throughout the Middle East.
The
22-year-old Salman Abedi worked with Islamist fighters who were trained, armed,
and financed by the British state and NATO to topple Libyan leader Muammar and
install a puppet regime.
Abedi had
been sent to fight in Libya with Jihadi groups by MI5 as part of a plot to
overthrow Muammar Gaddafi. British imperialism aligned itself with the very
forces that they would later classify as terrorist. Again there was blowback
and 22 people died as a result.
In order
to ensure that the cover-up succeeded the families of the victims were prevent from suing MI5. Suffice to say the ever
loyal Guardian went along with the
cover up blaming it on Abedi’s ‘radicalisation’ - How Manchester bomber Salman Abedi
was radicalised by his links to Libya without
even a mention of MI5!
The duplicity and dishonesty
of our war criminal leaders and the press means that Terrorism legislation is
being deployed to suppress political debate and discussion not terrorism.
The next stage in my trial will
be the Old Bailey on Friday 31 January at 10.00 am and there will be a demonstration
outside the court because my prosecution is aimed at the Palestine solidarity
movement as a whole, not just me as an individual.
The turnout
last Thursday was impressive but it could have been better still. London PSC
groups were not in evidence unlike groups such as Jewish Voice for Labour,
Jewish Network for Palestine and the Jewish Anti-Zionist Network. It is about
time that PSC took the attacks on the solidarity movement seriously.
It is not
enough to issue a statement condemning the
repression of Palestine Action
and then do nothing further. A statement on its own is useless. PSC has to
realise that the British state is attacking the Palestine solidarity movement and
that means it must defend those who are targeted by them. The problem with PSC
is that it has no anti-Zionist or anti-imperialist politics. It has become just
another NGO.
The attacks by the Police on the Palestine
solidarity movement are only part of the picture. The Met have also been acting
on behalf Recep
Erdogan and Turkey’s genocidal repression of the Kurds. The PKK, which is fighting
the Turkish army has a mass base amongst the Kurds. It is anything but a
terrorist group.
Through proscription the British state is
clamping down on support for the PKK in Britain. This has nothing to do with
terrorism. Palestine solidarity and Kurdish supporters have to start working
together.
Finally please also
contribute to my Crowdfunder: It is not
just for me but for activists caught up in the ‘terrorist’ trap.
Stopping the Police Persecuting
Palestine Solidarity Activists
Tony Greenstein
