Chris Nineham on Starmer taking authoritarianism to new heights

We are facing the most authoritarian regime since the Second World War. Recent governments have used a raft of new legislation to crack down on both protest and dissent, creating the most draconian anti-protest powers in any supposedly democratic country. The result is that police now have the powers to stop any protest they don’t like. And they are using them.

The longest sentence received by any of the Suffragettes early last century was three months. Climate campaigners have been in prison for five years for discussing a protest on a Zoom call. Many of the Filton 24 Palestine activists have already been in prison for more than a year waiting trial.

An incredible 2,300 activists face potential charges for defending Palestine Action. There are now at least forty political prisoners in this country. Meanwhile, four leaders of the Palestine movement are being taken to court for organising an entirely peaceful protest against genocide.

Many of the laws the police are using were brought in by the Tories. But Labour is adding to them with a clause slipped into the current Crime and Policing bill meaning the police can ban demonstrations close to a place of worship if they decide they could be intimidating to worshippers.

As almost every urban area contains a place of worship, the police will be getting more powers to stop any expression of dissent. And it is under the Labour government that the police have misused the 2000 Terrorism Act to round up thousands defending Palestine Action.

To make matters worse, Justice Secretary David Lammy is considering ending jury trials for all but the most serious offenses. This, even though his own review in 2017 showed juries improve fairness, particularly for the poor and ethnic minorities, not surprising given that most judges are white and upper class. Meanwhile, the authorities replaced the judge presiding over the Palestine Action judicial review just before it began, confirming a marked drift towards arbitrary intervention in the courts.

All this is part of an international trend. Ruling classes around the world are trying to marginalise and criminalise protest because they know they have a legitimacy problem, they know there is a growing distrust of establishment institutions.

In the case of the Palestine movement, it is also a response to the fact that they are losing the argument in society. Latest polls show, for example, that 65% of British people believe Netanyahu should be charged with war crimes.

Given political and media hostility to the movement, this is a major achievement. It shows that mass campaigning can effectively challenge moves to shut down discussion and dissent. It shows too that authoritarian methods can backfire.

Nevertheless, the drive towards repression is real and worrying. Measures used against climate campaigners or Palestine activists today will be used to target strikers or anti-cuts protestors tomorrow.

The clampdown on dissent is spreading across society, with managements in universities, schools and other workplaces restricting basic freedom of speech. Students or staff have been suspended over Palestine campaigning in at least 27 universities. Doctors, nurses, journalists and council workers have been sacked or disciplined for speaking out on the issue.

Freedom of speech and assembly are highly valued in this country, and the left needs to make the issue our own. Especially with Reform waiting in the wings, we cannot allow the persecution of protest and dissent to be normalised.

That means defending everyone who is attacked, joining the campaign against Labour’s new legislation, taking the issue into every trade-union branch, social movement and political party and building the broadest possible campaign to defend the right to protest.

From this month’s Counterfire freesheet