Description
This paper speaks to current interventions being made in Critical Terrorism Studies to unpack the criminalisation of Palestinian liberation as terrorism. This paper draws attention to the far-reaching impacts of this framing by focusing on how the British state has used different security measures to target local Palestine solidarity actions. This is not to put the oppression faced by Palestinian people on an equal footing with the repression of solidarity work in the UK but to show the extensive remit of the settler colonial project that targets civil liberties beyond its immediate geographical scope.
Since the 7 October attacks and the escalation of genocidal violence in Gaza, the British state has routinely deployed counter-terrorism measures to criminalise Palestine solidarity efforts. This paper will look at how the Terrorism Act 2000 and Prevent Duty have been used to target a cross-section of people and activities. While the empirical analysis mostly focuses on post-7 October developments, I will argue that these current attacks are rooted in a historical framing of Palestine as an indicator of extremism. Throughout the development of the Prevent Duty, support for Palestine has been presented as a possible cause of radicalisation. This made it easy for not just the British state but also the rightwing media sources to target ordinary citizens for espousing ‘extremist views’ as Palestine solidarity movement picked up pace.
Over the past year, we have seen an increase in Prevent referrals and a dangerous expansion of the Terrorism Act 2000 resulting in arrests and convictions for items of clothing, writing social media posts, making speeches, or holding placards. These actions significantly stretch the parameters of what can be counted as ‘terrorist’ activity. This will not only have detrimental effects on civil liberties but will also further normalise framing of anti-hegemonic narratives as security threats.
