How “anti-terror” laws used to silence meaningful dissent and solidarity with oppressed peoples.
Kurdish solidarity crackdown
Tag: activism and law
Stripping away our right to dissent
Netpol’s Kevin Blowe rounds up the set of incoming laws which threaten to outlaw all but the most useless forms of protest.. Nothing quite illustrates how a spark can seem to catch and then fail to fully ignite than these two grim facts. There are young people in prison in Britain today because they came
Backing the briefs
So the first all out strike of the fuel/ inflation crisis is The Barristers! Specifically Criminal Barristers who do legal aid work. They are technically self employed but rely on payments from the government to represent defendants with low income (or whose assets are currently held in trust by other members of the gang residing
Jailing the Peaceful
James Brown, the Extinction Rebellion protestor and partially sighted paralympian who glued himself to the top of a plane has had his prison sentence reduced from twelve to four months by the Court of Appeal. “Yay! for kindly Lord Chief Justice Burnett!” I hear you cry, maybe. Well actually it ain’t that good. Let’s look
Rioting and Violent Disordering
Triple helpings of jail all-around planned for Bristol protestors. On Thursday 13th of May, eight people were charged with rioting for the “Kill The Bill” demonstration in Bristol. This is very unusual as even the most rumbustious of protests in recent times have generally had Violent Disorder as the most serious offence charged and we
Stansted 15 defendants have their terror convictions quashed
The activists who blocked a deportation flight on Stansted Airport in 2017 had their convictions quashed today in the Court of Appeal. The appeal judgement states that ‘The appellants should not have been prosecuted for the extremely serious offence under section 1(2)(b) of the 1990 Act because their conduct did not satisfy the various elements
Boris’s sentencing bonanza part 2.1: “A smarter approach to sentencing”
This is the second part of Legal Andy’s series on the government’s latest sentencing proposals. You can find Part 1 here. The document is 115 pages long (link below) but O lucky reader we’ve done a summary and for a bonus, a summary of the summary. It’s a two part scheme. Longer Jail sentences Vague
Bristol: city council seeks prosecution of slave trader’s statue-topplers
The Bristol City Council have formally reported the toppling of the slave trader Edward Colston’s statue as criminal damage, triggering a police investigation into the matter. Today, the cops released images of individuals they wish to speak with in relation to the direct action from 7th June, when, during a Black Lives Matter protest, the
Legal: Can immigration officers arrest me for obstruction?
Over the last few weeks, we’ve received reports of several activists being arrested for allegedly obstructing immigration enforcement operations. In each case, the arrests were made by immigration officers themselves rather than the police. Understandably, this has caused some confusion amongst activists about the arrest powers wielded by immigration officers. Carl Spender is here to
Britannia chained: The assault on our rights has begun
This week has seen a raft of draconian law & order policies floated by the government and police representatives. Carl Spender examines these grim omens of the future. And so it begins: returned to government with a thumping majority, Johnson’s Tories have begun a crackdown on those pesky legal rights that risk getting in the
Recent Articles
Travellers rally against Manchester police brutality
Outrage at forced removal of children from Christmas market ~ Lulu Smith ~ Community advocacy groups rallied outside Parliament yesterday (2 December) against Manchester police brutality and GRT discrimination.
Emergency in free Rojava as Syrian war reignites
Kurdish autonomous struggle caught between competing interests as the entanglement of regional and local powers enters a new phase ~ Blade Runner ~ The Peoples’ Democratic Assembly convened in Rojava yesterday (2 December) to evaluate the resumption of the war in Syria, and plan for a possible attack on the Democratic Autonomous Administration.
Negativity and positivity in anarchism: An inextricable but contradictory duality
My initial purpose was to reflect on the unavoidable, and often undervalued, negative dimension of anarchism—but I soon realised this forced me to leave aside its entire positive aspect ~ Tomás Ibáñez, Redes Libertarias ~ When I turned on my computer to begin writing this text, I was tempted to title it: “A passionate praise
“Their desire to kill has never been higher”: Resisting ethnic cleansing in the West Bank
A solidarity report from Masafer Yatta, in the south Hebron hills ~ Aidan Frere-Smith ~ On 1 January 2021, Haroun Abo Aram was shot outside of his family home in the village of Al-Rakeez in Masafer Yatta, in the south Hebron hills of the West Bank.
State-sponsored suicide: Who do you trust?
Not enough has been written about the mindset of a state which is introducing this Assisted Dying Bill at high speed, with only 5 hours for debate, in a climate whipped up to support it ~ Tabitha Troughton ~ It’s too terrible to think that our very own Prime Minister could—is it too terrible?
