With its crackdown on Palestine solidarity, the UK sleepwalks into a police state

The British government has exploited the crisis in Gaza to further undermine civil liberties here in the UK. For the past two weeks, as Israel continues to indiscriminately bomb the Gaza Strip, killing more than 4,000 civilians, there has been a surge in pro-Palestine protests across the country. 

In response, last week Home Secretary Suella Braverman, wrote to the police to warn that the waving of Palestinian flags and chanting freedom for Palestine may be a criminal offence.

This comes on the back of a swathe of measures curtailing human rights in the UK, most notably the Elections Act, Judicial Review and Courts Act and the 2023 Public Order Bill.

The latter legislation restricts the right to freedom of expression and assembly, sets a very low threshold to define disruptive protesting, and provides new powers to ‘suspicion-less’ stop and search.

"The idea of absolute freedom of speech is a liberal myth. Those in power have always policed speech. There has always been and will always be limits on what is considered acceptable speech"

The idea of absolute freedom of speech is a liberal myth. Those in power have always policed speech. There has always been and will always be limits on what is considered acceptable speech.

However, what we are witnessing in the UK is the government silencing any perspective that is not in line with its own ideology, an ideology that is in contradiction with human rights, international law and Geneva Conventions.

Unless these extreme restrictions are challenged, a two-tiered system of citizenship will emerge in the UK, which continues to sleepwalk into a police state.

Braverman’s directive to the police against supporters of justice for Palestinians is intimidatory. She is using the powerful government office to terrify those flying the flag of Palestine and chanting for their freedom. This is political violence. It is also very (un)British.

“What Suella Braverman is saying when she says phrases like ‘from the river to the sea’ should be banned, she’s saying that people cannot talk about freedom for 5 million people living in that territory plus 7 million refugees, which is insane" https://t.co/AMp3GDLlpT

— The New Arab (@The_NewArab) October 19, 2023

I was at the forefront of organising and demonstrating against the British government’s support for the US invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. We carried placards with caricatures of the then Prime Minister Blair and chanted varied slogans, including “Blair, Bush, CIA: how many kids did you kill today?”.

Still, we were never obstructed from voicing our opinions against the UK government. So why is this government now denying British citizens their right to political expression that exposes Israeli human rights violations and war crimes? 

It is even more concerning that these restrictions are selectively applied; there is a stark contradiction in how the British supporters of Israel are policed. Pro-Israel demonstrators in the UKcan freely express their opinions.

Some have even gone across to join the Israeli army, and have been directly involved in violence and killing of Palestinians. These supporters of Israel, including those engaging in terror, have been provided immunity.

Yet those expressing concerns - through nothing more than flags, placards and speech - for human rights violations against Palestinians are profiled as criminals.

The double governance standards are duplicitous and hypocritical. Effectively, Brits who support Palestine have been demonised and discriminated against in a two-tiered system of rights.

Protesting for the respect of international law and an end to apartheid policies and colonialist occupation are legitimate political expressions.

For any country claiming to be democratic, the right to protest against Israeli colonisation and apartheid policies should not be a privilege nor the reserve of those allied with the government; it should be a fundamental right for all citizens. 

"Throughout history, the right to freedom of expression by civil society has been instrumental in checking the power of governments, as well as redressing violations, injustices and transgression"

If Braverman’s threat against the supporters of justice in Palestine materialises, it will restrict the range of free speech or what is ‘acceptable’ speech. In the future, the government will dictate the right to freedom of expression to exclude human rights violations.

Throughout history, the right to freedom of expression by civil society has been instrumental in checking the power of governments, as well as redressing violations, injustices and transgression.

Freedom of expression and the right to protest allowed the British public to be at the forefront of helping dismantle apartheid South Africa and winning women the right to vote. Today, protests are a key avenue for demanding climate justice, supporting the Black Lives Matter movement, challenging social inequality, and more.

But now, the right to freedom of speech is now in danger. Human Rights Watch has warned that because of human rights abuses in the UK, there is a “shrinking of civic space”.

In 2023, the international organisation Civicus Monitor, which tracks democratic and civic health, downgraded the UK’s civil liberties rating from “narrowed” to “obstructed”, the same league as Russia.

The criminalising of the right to express our opinion will push political activists and protesters underground. It will erode an avenue to vent differences and threaten the safety valve mechanism within a democracy that helps to curb violent action. 

Today, the threat from the government is to deter the British citizens from standing in solidarity with Palestine and demanding an end to the Israeli occupation. In the process, they are silencing citizens, inflaming community tensions, ruthlessly eliminating the right to dissent and subverting democratic principles.

If they are successful, our government will become emboldened to legislate against the right to expression against any human rights violations that the British government wishes to support abroad or at home.

Ismail Patel is the author of “The Muslim Problem: From the British Empire to Islamophobia”. He is also Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Leeds and the Chair of the UK based NGO Friends of Al-Aqsa.

Follow him on Twitter: @IsmailAdamPatel

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Opinions expressed in this article remain those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The New Arab, its editorial board or staff.