Now that the dust has settled a little, with the departure of Suella Braverman, we take a look at the authoritarian drift of the Conservative government. The attempt to ban the Palestine solidarity demonstration on
November 11th, by using invective around 'hate marches', allegedantisemitism, and the possibility of civil disorder, should be seen inan international context. ---- In early October, the Minister of theInterior Gerald Darmanin asking the prefects in France to ban allpro-Palestinian demonstrations. He stated, "pro-Palestinian protests,because they are likely to generate disturbances to public order, mustbe banned." A demonstration was organised on October 19th. The previousday, the Conseil d'Etat France's highest administrative court, after anappeal filed by the Comité Action Palestine (Palestine ActionCommittee), ruled that pro-Palestinian demonstrations could not bebanned by a blanket order from Darmanin and should be subject to thedecision of prefects on a case-by-case basis. Earlier police had usedtear gas and water cannon to disperse two Palestine solidaritydemonstrations on October 12th. A large demonstration of 30,000 tookplace in Paris on October 18th, echoed by demonstrations all overFrance. The Macron regime was forced to back down and allow protests,culminating in massive demonstrations over the weekend of November11-12th, with many smaller demonstrations in towns and villagesthroughout France. The Macron regime was forced to back down. Now,Macron has moved from outright support for Israel to calls for aceasefire. This is because of the precarious position the Macron regimefinds itself in. The mass refusal to recognise the ban would have meantlarge scale civil disorder, something that Macron does not need.There were similar bans on Palestine solidarity demonstrations inAustria and Germany. In Rome, Police attacked a pro-Palestine demo usingbatons. All of this is in line with alliance these countries- the UK,France, Germany, Austria, and Italy- have with Israel and a desire tosuppress any opposition to this alliance. The façade of bourgeoisdemocracy- free speech and freedom of assembly-is beginning to bewheeled offstage as a series of crises come together to shake thefoundations of capitalism.Here in the UK, this can be seen with the attacks on ExtinctionRebellion and Just Stop Oil activists, with pre-emptive raids andarrests and draconian sentencing.It can be seen in the new laws round strikes in the public sector, withrequirements for ambulance workers and border security staff to providea minimum level of service during industrial action. This will allowemployers to issue work notices to staff to come into work to maintainminimum service levels. Trade unions have been warned they face fines ofup to one million pounds if they fail to encourage their members tocomply with those orders. This will give union bureaucrats an additionalexcuse to sabotage any grassroots industrial action.Laws and new powers to supposedly counter 'extremism' like the 2022Police Act and the 2023 Public Order Act, as well as extensive abuses ofthe Prevent programme, are increasingly being used to smother dissentand protest. The levelling up department run by Michael Gove had alsoapplied a new definition of extremism, which extends far beyond Islamistjihadism: "Extremism is the promotion or advancement of any ideologywhich aims to overturn or undermine the UK's system of parliamentarydemocracy, its institutions and values." This would affect a largenumber of organisations and groups if fully applied, including theAnarchist Communist Group and other anarchist organisations.Amid the furore on November 11th in London over disturbances by the farright, it has been overlooked by many that the Metropolitan Policeimposed exclusion zones on Whitehall, Horse Guards Parade, theWestminster Abbey Field of Remembrance and other areas, banning those onthe Palestine solidarity march from these locations. The Met warned thatanyone believed to be part of or associated with the pro-Palestiniandemonstration trying to assemble in the exclusion zones near theWhitehall area would be arrested. In addition, the Met imposed aconclusion to the march and speeches at 5pm, with additional exclusionzones in Trafalgar Square and Piccadilly Circus.The Met also had additional powers to search people for weapons.The Palestine solidarity demonstrations on October 21st and November11th saw huge turnouts. These included large numbers of young people.We are now entering a period of war between different imperialist blocs,as seen with both Ukraine and Israel-Palestine, the conflict betweenArmenia and Azerbaijan, Turkey's bombing of the Kurds, US bombing raidsagainst Iranian bases in Syria, and increasing US sabre rattling againstChina. This is coupled with a worsening climate crisis and an increasingattack on living standards in many countries.The large numbers turning out worldwide to express solidarity with thePalestinian masses, demonstrates widespread rejection of the drive towar, despite the criticisms that could be offered about some elements ofthe marches. It also demonstrates here in the UK a widespread rejectionof the Tory government's increasing authoritarianism and shift to theradical right.https://www.anarchistcommunism.org/2023/11/16/the-authoritarian-drift-of-the-conservative-government/_________________________________________A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C EBy, For, and About AnarchistsSend news reports to A-infos-en mailing listA-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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