Lift the Ban: charged for the second time

 

This is one of a series of posts about my experience of the Defend our Juries (DoJ) 'Lift the Ban' campaign. See my Lift the Ban page for more.

Just before the six-month cut-off I've been charged for the second time that I was arrested (on 11th April).

Here's the letter:

The stuff about not attending these administrative hearings is hilarious. It has gradually evolved from 'you must attend' through 'you do not need to attend' (sometimes saying both in the same letter) to now, in bold red type: 'Do not attend'.  🤣

 

We have the legal right to attend, so you may be sure that most of us, perhaps 2000 of us, will do! 

 

Meanwhile, at the time of writing when Andy Burnham has become Labour Leader and therefore Prime Minister, there has been an attempt to recover some of the lost support over Palestine. The Foreign Secretary, Ed Miliband, has said things that have not been said before, about war crimes, about how Israel is deliberately making 'the two state solution' impossible by the actions in the West Bank. Strong words condemning Israel.  He and others in government have also said that the arrest of elderly peaceful protestors was never the intention. FWIW, I believe Miliband is genuine, but I'm not so sure about Andy Burnham. Remember that his accession to role of Labour Leader was in the end managed by the same people who gave us Sir Keir.

 

And meanwhile again, nothing has really changed. There's no suggestion that the government wants to reverse the proscription of Palestine Action, and the arrests of us peaceful protestors continues. The 'Filton 4' are still in jail serving terrorist sentences despite not even being charged with terrorism and the trials of other Palestine Action activists continue. 

 

Worse of all, the murder of innocent Palestinians continues daily in Gaza, but it is so normalised that it's not even reported, while settler violence in the West Bank continues unchecked.