FREE THE GRANDEM!
Are you a terrorist too?
Yesterday half of the British electorate decided that their government was fascist.
The other half were hoping that an 83-year-old would die in prison.
Reverend Sue Parfitt was among 27 people who were arrested, nominally for holding up signs saying, “I Oppose Genocide. I support Palestine Action”, thirteen hours after the group, who use direct action to target Israeli weapons factories and their supply chain, had their high court appeal to get temporary relief from proscription denied.
Currently any display of support for the group could get you banged up in prison for up to fourteen years under the Terrorism Act 2000.
While in general I don't disagree with the former sentiment, after all there is a smell of authoritarianism in the air and undoubtedly a crackdown on freedom of speech and expression, I do take issue with the people who squatted in my Twitter mentions all day yesterday calling the Reverend everything from a terrorist, to a senile bitch and a c*unt.
It seems a little ungenerous considering what she wrote here,
We are called to follow Jesus, whatever the cost. And Jesus was continually in breach of the law because he was calling out the evils of his day within the civil and religious authorities.
I protest for the Global South, who are so impacted by our terrible burning of fossil fuels. We get all the benefits, and they get all the consequences; and I do it for the next generation who will have no future at all. We are not powerless.”
The Defend Our Juries campaigners who organised the silent protest in Trafalgar Square wrote to the Met police commissioner, saying [they] “may be committing offences under the Terrorism Act” in Parliament Square from 1pm on Saturday.
The letter also said non-violent protesters would hold signs saying: “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.” and that they “refuse to be bystanders to what’s happening to the people of Palestine, who are bombed, starved and gunned down as they queue for food”, according to the Guardian.
The plan as far as I can tell was to set a precedent. They told the Scotland National that, "If they are arrested and charged with Terrorism Act offences, for a statement opposing the genocide of Palestinians, and supporting those who resist it, it will expose the end of democracy and free speech in the UK.” and "If they do not get arrested, they demonstrate that you cannot, in practice, proscribe a popular organisation like Palestine Action and stop hundreds of thousands of people across the country from supporting them."
Nonetheless, on a day spent mostly fending off angry people on Twitter because of this tweet:
I was struck most by this bulletin from Netpol; a campaigning group that challenges police power,
We have had a report saying two women walking up to a protest today at BAe Samlesbury were stopped by Lancashire Police and advised to remove their t-shirts that say 'Free Palestine', as it may "breach the proscription order".
And so it begins.
Scholar Amal Saad had the most prescient response:
If this goes unchecked, Palestinian identity itself will soon be securitized as a threat, and the hope for a homeland, even in its most toothless, two-state form, framed as extremism.
And so how does one display your principled objection to what numerous humanitarian organisations, the UN and the International Court of Justice have called a genocide and that the UK has enabled by selling arms and flying spying missions over Gaza for Israel? Even the non-direct action organisers of the ongoing London Marches are up in court next week.
So all I can say is FREE THE *GRANDEM.
They are braver than I'll ever be.
“We are more than just a name or a network. We are an idea that can never be stopped.” – 04/07/25
Until people know definitively what their government will or will not criminalise it’s likely that this will continue to be the scenes in Keir Starmer's Camden constituency.
*Grandem is a play on the term ‘mandem’, UK slang largely used in London for a group of men or people in general, like one's crew, boys, or mates.
You can listen to what I think prison is for here:
It’s Pride weekend. I recommend you reading this article by Jad Salfiti.
"There can be no Pride under occupation. You can’t see rainbows from underneath the rubble. You cannot in good conscience celebrate Pride in the west while knowing that many of our countries are supplying the arms and funds that are killing queer Palestinians, along with their families”
And when you're done reading, consider donating to the Sameer Project. Gaza's life expectancy dropped from 75.5 years to 40.6 years between October 2023 and September 2024.
The Sameer Project was founded by four Palestinians in the diaspora. Sameer Abu-Salim is the name of the father of one of the founders who died in Gaza in January 2024 due to a lack of access to medical treatment.
Their impact is incalculable, whether that be the South campaign that provides food, tents, and medical care, The Refaat Alareer Camp which homes vulnerable medical cases and gives them special care, or the Translating Falasteen x The Sameer Project Northern campaign that supplies life sustaining water and food.
Here's their Chuffed pages for Northern Gaza, Central and South Gaza and the Reefat Alareer Camp.
Their Venmo account and their PayPal account
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