Don’t Mention the War: Solidarity to be unlawful
JVL Introduction
It has been difficult to keep track of all the threats to protest against government complicity in genocide, war and human rights abuses. This article brings together multiple attempts by the government in the courts and through new legislation to silence our outrage. It discusses the use of anti-terror laws to terrorise protestors; the new forms of repression in the Crime and Policing Bill which grows new fangs as it progresses through Parliament; and the attempts by strident pro-Israel peers to go even further.
Each time the courts place any restraint on the government’s increasingly authoritarian thrusts, human rights lawyer (sic) Keir Starmer introduces new measures to circumvent our legal right to publicise our outrage.
MC
This article was originally published by Vashti on Fri 13 Mar 2026. Read the original here.
Two tracks of government repression: an explainer
Keir Starmer has had a particularly tough month. From the Mandelson scandal, to the humiliation of the Gorton and Denton by-election, and the quintessentially Starmer “alienate everyone while doing the most immoral thing possible” approach to the illegal war on Iran, there’s been a lot going on for our beleaguered prime minister.
Yet through it all, one thing has remained constant: his government’s utmost dedication to attacking civil liberties at home, particularly when it comes to speech or political activity that is critical of Israel. True to form, however, even that’s not going so well for him anymore.
Today marks exactly four weeks since the high court ruled that the Home Office’s proscription of Palestine Action was unlawful. Since then, a lot has happened.
To help you keep track of the latest developments in the government’s project to advance two primary vehicles for repression – existing terror legislation and the forthcoming Crime and Policing Bill – we’ve put together an explainer addressing what’s going on, what it means, and what could happen next. For it is through maintaining uncertainty and keeping people in the dark that the state is able to induce yet further repression.
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