THE Daily Telegraph newspaper used its front page yesterday to kickstart a campaign for the police to enforce the Labour government’s latest terror laws to smash up pro-Palestinian demonstrations and drag thousands off to jail in order to assert the dominance of Parliament over the working class.
The article claimed to have ‘exposed’ a plot by those who oppose Labour’s terror laws, which make any support for the Palestine Action group an arrestable offence, ‘to flout terror laws in a co-ordinated attempt to overwhelm the police.’
Next Saturday, August 9th, protests in support of Palestine and demanding an end to Zionist genocide in Gaza will be taking place in cities and towns across the UK, with the main event taking place in Westminster.
Hundreds of thousands of workers and youth will be demonstrating against the UK government’s complicity in the mass murder and deliberate starvation of Palestinians by a Zionist regime that has been enabled to carry out genocide with the support of the imperialist nations.
This overwhelming opposition has rapidly developed into an all-out confrontation between the great mass of workers and youth and a Labour government determined enforce the ‘rule of law’ on the entire population.
The Telegraph claims that: ‘Campaigners have hatched a plot for left-wing activists and members of the Muslim community to attend a demonstration on Saturday declaring support for Palestine Action.’
On July 4th, MPs voted overwhelmingly to designate Palestine Action a terrorist organisation making membership or support for the organisation an offence under the Terrorism Act of 2000 which carries penalties of up to 14 years in prison.
The ‘crime’ that led to this designation was a break-in by Palestinian Action supporters to an RAF base where an aircraft was defaced with red paint.
The intention of the Labour government is to use the terror laws to intimidate and silence the mass opposition that has erupted over the complicity of the UK in arming Zionist genocide gangs.
What has driven the Telegraph, and the capitalist class which it speaks for, into a frenzy is that this strategy has failed to crush opposition to the UK’s support for Israel.
As the Telegraph admits, over 200 people have been arrested for ‘expressing support for the group since July 5th’. Now, with the prospect of millions on the streets throughout the UK on Saturday, the Telegraph is worried that the police will not have the capability or resources to arrest thousands of people defying Labour’s law to criminalise all those supporting the Palestinians.
In its editorial in the same edition, the Telegraph dismisses all the logistical problems of arresting and bringing before the courts hundreds, if not thousands, of people, saying:
‘This is now more than just the rights and wrongs of Israel’s response to the Hamas murderers. It is about whether the will of Parliament is enforced on Britain’s streets or whether random self-appointed tribunes can overturn laws they do not approve of.’
It goes on: ‘It is essential that the police enforce the law to its full extent next weekend.’
Genocide and war crimes committed by Israel, as determined by the International Court of Justice, are of no concern. Only laws passed by MPs are binding and must be enforced by unleashing the police and courts on any who dare to rise up in opposition.
The same will apply to laws passed making strikes illegal or banning trade unions on the grounds of the ‘national security’ of British capitalism.
What has sharply emerged is the capitalist state is preparing its police to take on the entire working class, under the banner of upholding laws passed by a handful of MPs.
It is a challenge to all the millions who support the Palestinian struggle and who oppose UK complicity in genocide, and a challenge to the entire working class.
The TUC must rise to this challenge.
Next Saturday, the TUC must call a general strike to bring down the Starmer government and put an end to the support for the Zionist state of Israel by replacing it with a workers’ government.
A workers government will not just recognise the independent state of Palestine but provide it with all the material aid, including arms, to ensure its victory.
