Workers' Weekly wrote in its article on the desperate attempt to promote an anti-immigrant movement: "It is dangerous to see Keir Starmer and others demanding swift and longer jail sentences for those involved in 'far-right extremism', and a crack-down on social media, in response to the violence. Rather than tackling the problem of disenfranchised youth, investing in social programmes, and tackling the inequality arising from ensuring that the rich get richer, Starmer and others are taking a 'strong' line against violence, strengthening police powers, and using 'hate crime' and 'extremism' to control the political space." [1]

On cue, a week ago Home Secretary Yvette Cooper vowed to crack down on people "pushing harmful and hateful beliefs", including extreme misogyny, as she announced what was described as a new approach to fighting extremism. This approach, however, is not new in the sense that it has been being developed, especially from the time of the Tony Blair government in 2001. Tony Blair infamously described "revolutionary communist and Islamist ideologies" as extremist. Indeed, 20 years later in September 2021, he was still elaborating this theme. For instance, in an article on the website Project Syndicate he introduced an article he authored with this paragraph: "Islamism is a first-order threat to the security of open, modern, culturally tolerant societies. Its defeat, like that of revolutionary communism, ultimately will come through confronting its violence and ideology with a combination of hard and soft power." [2]

This highlights that the issue with "extremism" is who defines it, and for what purpose, and with what means, including "hard power". The recent announcements by the Home Secretary demonstrate that once more, the executive is seeking to impose such definitions under the pretext of high ideals and criminalise the right to conscience. The specific ideal that Yvette Cooper is using in her latest announcement is that of treating misogyny as extremism. It is dangerous to see the government intervening in such a way in matters which can and must be sorted out among the people themselves. One of the most notorious examples is the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of "anti-Semitism", in which any criticism of Zionism and, indeed, Israel itself is counted as being anti-Semitic Another is the definition of "radicalisation", which underlies the Prevent guidance for education and local authorities, aimed to "stop people from becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism".

Briefing the media on the plans to crack down on "extremist ideologies", Yvette Cooper said: "I have directed the Home Office to conduct a rapid analytical sprint on extremism, to map and monitor extremist trends, to understand the evidence about what works to disrupt and divert people away from extremist views, and to identify any gaps in existing policy which need to be addressed to crack down on those pushing harmful and hateful beliefs and violence."

Meanwhile, independent journalist Richard Medhurst was arrested by British police under Section 12 of the Terrorism Act (2000) on August 15 at Heathrow Airport. As the World Socialist Web explained, "Medhurst is known for his journalism opposing US, British and Israeli war crimes in Gaza and across the Middle East, and has more than one million followers on social media."

Medhurst has denounced the accusations against him: "I categorically and utterly reject all the accusations by the police. I am not a terrorist. I have no criminal record. Prior to this incident, I'd never been detained in my entire life. I'm a product of the diplomatic community, and I'm raised to be anti-war. Both of my parents won Nobel Peace Prizes for their work as United Nations peacekeepers. They had a tremendous effect on my world view and outlook and instilled in me the importance of diplomacy, international law and peace."

Medhurst explained in a video: "They arrested me - not detained, they arrested me - under Section 12 of the Terrorism Act of 2000 and accused me of allegedly, 'expressing an opinion or belief that is supportive of a proscribed organisation', but wouldn't explain what this meant."

The provisions of the 2000 Terrorism Act, as amended in 2019, mean that a person can be jailed for up to 14 years for merely "expressing an opinion or belief that is supportive of a proscribed organisation" and in doing so "is reckless as to whether a person to whom the expression is directed will be encouraged to support a proscribed organisation". As journalist and human rights activist Craig Murray declared, it is becoming easier to list the truly dissident UK journalists who have been arrested for terrorism than those who have not!

Craig Murray goes on to explain: "It is perfectly legal in UK domestic law for zionists to state that they support the Israeli Defence Force and they hope that the IDF kill every Palestinian in Gaza. Indeed zionists state this all the time, supporting an action that is entirely illegal in international law, and no action is ever taken against these zionists by the UK state. Members of the IDF who have actually participated in the genocide are able to come and live in the UK unmolested. In stark contrast to the illegal acts of the occupying power, the Palestinian people do have the right of armed resistance in international law. This right is founded on the right of self-determination in the UN Charter and is encapsulated in the First Protocol of the Geneva Convention (1977) Article 1 Para 4."

Kill the Bill Protest, Sheffield - Photo: Mike McCarthy

Murray continues: "The situations referred to [,,,] include armed conflicts in which peoples are fighting against colonial domination and alien occupation and against racist regimes in the exercise of their right of self-determination, as enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations and the Declaration on Principles of International Law concerning Friendly Relations and Co-operation among States in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations. So, and it is absolutely important this is understood, the right to fight against colonial domination and alien occupation and against racist regimes is not only an absolute right in international law, it is also a specific right in UK law."

Murray concludes: "Any law which states you can be jailed for fourteen years simply for expressing an opinion is a very bad law, no matter what that opinion may be. To use such arbitrary power to seek to silence those who are opposing a most dreadful genocide, is the action of an over-mighty state led by evil people. [,,,] The reason for this galloping authoritarianism is of course panic by the political class that they have lost popular consent, particularly for zionism in view of the appalling genocide in plain view by the terrorist settler state." [3]

The conclusion must be drawn that the people, in examining definitions of "extremism" and "terrorism", must begin from their own vantage point, and not from the vantage point of the cartel parties in Westminster. The "hard power" and "soft power", which are espoused right from the person of state in the form of the King down through the old constitutional and governmental arrangements, must both be rejected as not being in our name, in the name of justice-loving people. The whole scenario of extreme-right and extreme-left with the government representing the centre ground, which is the only legitimate ground to occupy, must be rejected. On the contrary, what must be adopted and strengthened is the method of working and living where everyone is empowered to speak in their own name, come to appropriate conclusions which favour them, and set their sights eventually on building an anti-war government to replace the pro-war, anti-democratic, cartel party system which rules through the exercise of police powers. It is up to the working class and people to reject the control of the present political space by the use of tendentious definitions, and themselves occupy the political space by formulating the appropriate modern definitions and fighting for the rights of all.

Notes
1. "Desperate Attempt to Promote an Anti-Immigrant Movement", Workers' Weekly
https://www.rcpbml.org.uk/wwie-24/ww24-19/ww24-19-01.htm
2. "Countering the Islamist Threat", Project Syndicate
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/countering-the-ideology-and-violence-of-islamism-by-tony-blair-2021-09
3. "Richard Medhurst and the Right to Armed Resistance"
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2024/08/richard-medhurst-and-the-right-to-armed-resistance/

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