Reflections on the UK Government's Push to Criminalise Waving Palestinian Flags and Pro-Palestinian Chants
Underpinning the attempts to criminalise is a clear and urgent political imperative that seeks to silence dissenting voices.
Since Israel began its recent retaliatory bombing campaign in Gaza, much has been made about the extent to which waving Palestinian flags and engaging in pro-Palestinian chants here in the UK might - for some, should - be a criminal offence. This was prompted by a letter sent to police chiefs by the Home Secretary, Suella Braverman. In it, Braverman claimed that waving Palestinian flags on the streets of Britain "may not be legitimate" and that pro-Palestinian chants such as “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” were “an expression of a violent desire to see Israel erased from the world”. As both had the potential to be “intended to glorify acts of terrorism” she went on, such activities should be criminalised. She urged police chiefs to use the "full force of the law" to bring anyone doing so to justice.
In the days since, Braverman’s claims been a regular and recurrent feature in much of the legacy media’s reporting about the situation in Gaza and especially, about the peaceful pro-Palestinian protests that have been taking place across the country on consecutive weekends. Most recently, this was evident in the Guardian lamenting the lack of response from two police officers observed standing no more than 3 metres away from some attending a protest in London who were chanting what it referred to as the aforementioned “controversial slogan”.
Given London’s Metropolitan Police have already ruled out arresting those waving Palestinian flags or engaging in pro-Palestinian chants, there is clearly a lack of substance to Braverman’s claims: something she would have no doubt been made aware and most probably knew about before writing the letter. Why then did she make public the claims and why has the legacy media been so keen to keep on reporting them?
Debunking the Claims About Waving Flags
In the UK, Hamas is proscribed as a terrorist organisation under the Terrorism Act 2000. This means that it is a criminal offence to:
belong to or invite support for Hamas;
wear clothing or symbols which suggest you are a member or supporter of Hamas; and
publish images of flags or logos linked to Hamas.
So too is it a criminal offence to glorify any act of terrorism Hamas undertakes. The same also applies to all other proscribed terrorist organisations. In the context of the Terrorism Act 2000 however, there is a clear difference between Hamas and the Palestinian people. As such, expressing support for the latter cannot in any way be confused as being akin to expressing support for former. Given there is also a significant difference between the Hamas flag and the flag of Palestine, there is a flawed logic underlying Braverman’s claims.
Shutting Down Dissent
One explanation why Braverman made public her claims relates to an issue I’ve written about previously for the Conversation: about how there is a seeming willingness by the Government to deploy counter-terrorism and counter-extremism measures in ever more politicised ways. One such example can be seen in how certain measures were deployed in order to silence anti-monarchy protestors following the death of the Queen and in the run up to Charles’s coronation. For Government, they are an effective tool for quickly and easily shutting down dissenting voices. By claiming pro-Palestinian activities were acts of terrorism, it’s possible that Braverman was hoping to do achieve something similar.
Braverman’s attempts to link peaceful pro-Palestinian protests with terrorism and terrorist organisations might also have been a concerted effort to derogate protests and protesters alike. If they were, it would not be without precedent. As I have written elsewhere, it is very easy for the Government and certain sections of the legacy media to make unfounded and unsubstantiated claims about individuals, groups and organisations they dislike or find disagreeable in an attempt to demean, deny or derogate them. On this basis, it is not beyond the realms of possibility that the regularity of Braverman’s claims being reported by the legacy media is not intended to achieve something similar.
The Spectre of Islamist Terrorism
Another explanation is to see Braverman’s claims as the latest iteration of a politicised discourse that has emanated from both present and former Governments. These discourses conjure the spectre of Islamist-inspired terrorism that in turn emphasises (exaggerates?) the threat it poses. An example of this is how the Prime Minister - Rishi Sunak - announced last year that he would commit to “refocus” the Prevent strategy – the UK’s counter-terrorism strategy – onto Islamist-inspired extremism at the expense of the rapidly growing threat posed by the extreme right wing. Echoing David Cameron’s infamous ‘muscular liberalism’ speech that sections of the legacy media reported as demanding Muslims be ‘more British’, Sunak justified his refocus on the basis that Islamist-inspired extremists were hellbent on destroying ‘our’ very existence. Very similar discourses emerged from the findings of the William Shawcross-led independent review of the Prevent strategy.
As well as instilling fear, the spectre of Islamist-inspired terrorism simultaneously recalls and reinforces how previous Governments have discursively inferred that all Muslims - without differentiation - are ‘different’ and ‘other’. When viewed through the lens of contemporary Islamophobia, such discourses reify oft cited tropes about Muslims being indeterminably linked with violence, aggression and unsurprisingly, terrorism: terrorism that seeks to destroy ‘us’, ‘our’ values and ‘our’ way of life. Linking pro-Palestinian protests with terrorism therefore not only has the very potential to reinforce Islamophobic tropes and stereotypes but so too plant the seed that neither the protests nor the protesters are entirely what they seem.
A Wider Political Process
Braverman’s claims about flags and chanting must be seen as part of a much wider political process that seeks to derogate the expression of pro-Palestinian support and vilify the hundreds of thousands that have taken to the streets to voice that support. For a Government that is unwavering in its support for Israel, this is an anathema. As a result, there is an urgent political imperative to silence the seemingly growing dissent spreading across the country.
Braverman’s claims and the legacy media’s verbatim parroting of them are important in this process. Irrespective of the (in)validity of her claims, the mere repetition of them will afford credence and credibility. This will result in at least some uncritically believing that waving flags and chanting most definitely are criminal offences. The continued inference that both protests and protesters have the potential to be supporters of Hamas and Islamist-inspired terrorism more generally, will also be important. Not only will it cast doubts about the legitimacy of the protests at the same time increasing suspicion about the true motivations of the protesters, but so too is it likely to galvanise those who already sit in opposition to the expression of support for Palestine and its people.
As a final reflection, the Guardian is today reporting that Robert Jenrick - the Immigration Minister - has said that those captured on video chanting “jihad” at a demonstration organised by Hizb ut-Tahrir in London at the weekend were inciting terrorist violence and “should be tackled with the full force of the law”. In the same report, it was noted that the Metropolitan Police did not consider the chanting to go against the law. Not only would it seem that the Government’s attempts to criminalise dissent will continue apace but so too in doing so, the net is going to be cast much wider than might be expected.
Fundraising for Gaza
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Writings in Contemporary Islamophobia Volume 1: Politics, Women & Social Issues
Problematising Muslims, Normalising Islamophobia: A Decade of Commentary 2010-20
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