UCU statement: Stop authoritarian attacks on the Palestine movement

The Prime Minister and Home Secretary are completely wrong to have proscribed Palestine Action, a move which accelerates our slide into authoritarianism.  

They know the overwhelming majority of people in this country loathe Israel's genocide in Gaza and oppose ongoing UK complicity in it, and they know that such mass opposition has fueled the biggest protest movement in British history.  

That's why this Labour government, as Murdoch's top newspaper put it last week, is misusing the law to quash legitimate dissent - from draconian restrictions on all the mass demonstrations for Palestine, to the trumped-up and drawn-out prosecution of movement leaders Ben Jamal and Chris Nineham, to the cynical redefinition of non-violent direct action as terrorism.  

The government's escalation of its crackdown on the Palestine solidarity movement through the proscription of Palestine Action is a particularly sinister development which should greatly alarm anyone interested in protecting our hard-won rights and freedoms. It should also disturb all those committed to Britain's future as an open and democratic society. 

Rather than safeguarding our democracy as the hard-right rapidly gains ground, Labour in government is working to erode it. They risk teeing up Nigel Farage and Robert Jenrick for much more comprehensive assaults on our rights, from which trade unions and mainstream protest groups would not escape unscathed.  

Keir Starmer should respond to the majority opposition to his government's complicity in genocide democratically - by ending that complicity - not by putting us on a path to the end of basic democratic freedoms.  

By standing in solidarity with the Palestinian people and for the right to protest, we as working people, together in our union, are standing up for our own freedoms too.  

We will not be silenced. We are the majority. We urge you to join us on the streets of London next Saturday and march for Palestine.  

Jo Grady, University and College Union general secretary