by Oisín McAnenna
In a recent article Professor Richard Murphy expressed his fears regarding a symptom of the crumbling “rules based order”, the killing of Renee Good by ICE agent Jonathon Ross in Minneapolis. He argues that it is the feeble response of world leaders to other actions taken by the Trump regime that fly in the face of international law that has permitted such an escalation. That this type of authoritarian creep is likely to spread given the cultural proximity of their nation and the islands on which we reside. This concern is difficult to argue against and has in fact already begun to materialise.
On the 30th June 2025 the then Secretary of State Yvette Cooper laid before Parliament a draft proscription order against the direct action group Palestine Action. Unlike those they were proscribed alongside, the Russian Imperial Movement and the incredibly named Murder Maniacs Cult, PA are an organisation with a core commitment to non-violence. This is unprecedented in the UK.
Since then more than 2,700 peaceful protestors have been arrested for their alleged expression of support for PA as part of a protest against its proscription. 2700 people have been arrested for silently holding signs. The enforcement of this law by the Police has been hugely inconsistent with protestors displaying the exact same sentiments being arrested while others have been let go. In a similar vein as these cases have been sluggishly processed; we have seen a seemingly random output of formal charges and ‘released under investigation’ notices. We have also seen evidence of ‘No Further Action’ notices provided to some protestors with no explanation as to why their cases were dropped while others are prosecuted. The primary indicator of what is likely to happen to these activists will be the result of the Judicial Review brought against the proscription in November that has seen a massive and unexplained delay in returning a verdict as of writing. A second review will be heard in Scottish courts in March threatening to cause a constitutional crisis in the UK if they return different results. Nevertheless the government is pressing forward with their attempt to prosecute.
Echoes of ‘Stop Cop City’ are evident in the UK’s response to the pro-Palestine movement. SCC was a broad coalition of racial, housing, food, anarchist and environmental justice activists who opposed the construction of an 85 acre police training facility in Atlanta’s South River Forest. A subsection of these activists participated in direct actions similar to PA such as sabotaging equipment and occupying the forest to slow construction. As a result an activist was killed by police, several were charged with domestic terrorism and one of the largest RICO cases in US history was brought against 61 defenders. The forest has been razed and the facility is now operational. This, it should be noted, occurred while Biden was in office.
Since Trump has retaken power, the brand of terrorist has been expanded to include any member of ‘Antifa’ via executive order. While this is debatably legal (if we still consider such things relevant), what is more concerning is the fact that Antifa is not an organisation so much as a rather nebulous term used to describe a broad coalition of left wing groups united by their opposition to fascism. These groups are very loosely associated if at all. More an ideology than an organisation.
The UK has not yet reached the heights of the US, but if we are to compare PA’s proscription to the retribution wrought upon the SCC movement under Biden, we should perhaps look ahead as to what is likely if we elect our own Trump. As it stands Reform and Nigel Farage are expected to win a sweeping victory in the next general election. He uses similar (if more eloquent) rhetoric to stoke similar fears in his very similar base of supporters. We should all be disquieted by the power Reform will inherit.
Richard Murphy expressed concern that if things follow their current path the Irish Unity and Scottish independence movements could be criminalised outright — considered “akin to treason”. This fear is not unfounded as we are already seeing Reform using this kind of rhetoric concerning issues such as immigration. However perhaps more concerning in the Irish context would be criminalising specific groups. If specific campaign groups related to Irish unity are labelled as terrorists and banned it could create the perception that any border poll conducted was unfair. This hardly seems out of the realm of possibility if that charge can be levied against the folks pictured above.
The perception of fairness of any border poll is crucial. Whatever the result, acceptance will be paramount to a peaceful resolution to this process. We can see in what’s unfolding in Minneapolis and the broader US the result of not holding our leaders to account for their overreach can lead to. As Murphy notes “the cost of courage is rising” but if we hope to see an acceptable border poll occur in our lifetimes “that struggle may now be one in which we will all be required to take part”. This is the case for all our movements. This government is setting a precedent that will be very difficult to walk back if they are allowed to get away with it and is sure to be used against all manner of activists in years to come.
by Oisín McAnenna
In a recent article Professor Richard Murphy expressed his fears regarding a symptom of the crumbling “rules based order”, the killing of Renee Good by ICE agent Jonathon Ross in Minneapolis. He argues that it is the feeble response of world leaders to other actions taken by the Trump regime that fly in the face of international law that has permitted such an escalation. That this type of authoritarian creep is likely to spread given the cultural proximity of their nation and the islands on which we reside. This concern is difficult to argue against and has in fact already begun to materialise.
On the 30th June 2025 the then Secretary of State Yvette Cooper laid before Parliament a draft proscription order against the direct action group Palestine Action. Unlike those they were proscribed alongside, the Russian Imperial Movement and the incredibly named Murder Maniacs Cult, PA are an organisation with a core commitment to non-violence. This is unprecedented in the UK.
Since then more than 2,700 peaceful protestors have been arrested for their alleged expression of support for PA as part of a protest against its proscription. 2700 people have been arrested for silently holding signs. The enforcement of this law by the Police has been hugely inconsistent with protestors displaying the exact same sentiments being arrested while others have been let go. In a similar vein as these cases have been sluggishly processed; we have seen a seemingly random output of formal charges and ‘released under investigation’ notices. We have also seen evidence of ‘No Further Action’ notices provided to some protestors with no explanation as to why their cases were dropped while others are prosecuted. The primary indicator of what is likely to happen to these activists will be the result of the Judicial Review brought against the proscription in November that has seen a massive and unexplained delay in returning a verdict as of writing. A second review will be heard in Scottish courts in March threatening to cause a constitutional crisis in the UK if they return different results. Nevertheless the government is pressing forward with their attempt to prosecute.
Echoes of ‘Stop Cop City’ are evident in the UK’s response to the pro-Palestine movement. SCC was a broad coalition of racial, housing, food, anarchist and environmental justice activists who opposed the construction of an 85 acre police training facility in Atlanta’s South River Forest. A subsection of these activists participated in direct actions similar to PA such as sabotaging equipment and occupying the forest to slow construction. As a result an activist was killed by police, several were charged with domestic terrorism and one of the largest RICO cases in US history was brought against 61 defenders. The forest has been razed and the facility is now operational. This, it should be noted, occurred while Biden was in office.
Since Trump has retaken power, the brand of terrorist has been expanded to include any member of ‘Antifa’ via executive order. While this is debatably legal (if we still consider such things relevant), what is more concerning is the fact that Antifa is not an organisation so much as a rather nebulous term used to describe a broad coalition of left wing groups united by their opposition to fascism. These groups are very loosely associated if at all. More an ideology than an organisation.
The UK has not yet reached the heights of the US, but if we are to compare PA’s proscription to the retribution wrought upon the SCC movement under Biden, we should perhaps look ahead as to what is likely if we elect our own Trump. As it stands Reform and Nigel Farage are expected to win a sweeping victory in the next general election. He uses similar (if more eloquent) rhetoric to stoke similar fears in his very similar base of supporters. We should all be disquieted by the power Reform will inherit.
Richard Murphy expressed concern that if things follow their current path the Irish Unity and Scottish independence movements could be criminalised outright — considered “akin to treason”. This fear is not unfounded as we are already seeing Reform using this kind of rhetoric concerning issues such as immigration. However perhaps more concerning in the Irish context would be criminalising specific groups. If specific campaign groups related to Irish unity are labelled as terrorists and banned it could create the perception that any border poll conducted was unfair. This hardly seems out of the realm of possibility if that charge can be levied against the folks pictured above.
The perception of fairness of any border poll is crucial. Whatever the result, acceptance will be paramount to a peaceful resolution to this process. We can see in what’s unfolding in Minneapolis and the broader US the result of not holding our leaders to account for their overreach can lead to. As Murphy notes “the cost of courage is rising” but if we hope to see an acceptable border poll occur in our lifetimes “that struggle may now be one in which we will all be required to take part”. This is the case for all our movements. This government is setting a precedent that will be very difficult to walk back if they are allowed to get away with it and is sure to be used against all manner of activists in years to come.