Britain & America Hold Kangaroo Court for "Terrorists"
Faced with growing discontent, so-called liberal democracies are imprisoning left wing activists with false charges and hidden consequences.
As public sentiment has turned against Western governments’ support for the Gaza genocide and draconian immigration enforcement, the supposedly “free” and “democratic” states have repressed dissent with an iron fist. As two ongoing prosecutions show, both the British and American governments are defying their own laws and further revealing the hollowness of so-called liberal democracies to protect murderous state policy. While repression is not a new tactic of either the British or American governments, the absurd disregard for justice on both sides of the Atlantic shows how far the leaders of the Global North will go to continue murdering and torturing members of the Global South — even if it means debasing themselves in the process.
The “Terrorist Connection”
On Friday, four activists from the group Palestine Action will learn if they will be branded as terrorists for the rest of their lives. This decision will not be made by a jury, but by a single judge. Regardless of what the judge decides, the railroading of these four young conscientious citizens is yet another crime added to the British Empire’s bloody rap sheet.
In August of 2024, a group of Palestine Action (PA) activists broke into the Elibt Systems weapons manufacturing plant in Bristol. Once inside, they used sledgehammers and crowbars to destroy machinery used to make bombs for the Israeli Army. At trial, the defendants admitted their guilt and said they were proud to stand on the right side of history. The jury acquitted two members and found four guilty of criminal property destruction. One received an additional charge of grievous bodily harm without intent for striking a security guard during the raid. Though they might have broken common British law, the PA members were following international law and upholding the United Kingdom’s commitment to the 1948 Genocide Convention by “preventing and punishing” the crime of genocide. Yet again, we see how the law is weaponized to protect the powerful and punish the powerless, regardless of their behavior.
So, how did the jury go from minor charges to terrorism? Well, they didn’t. The jury was never told that finding the defendants guilty on simple property destruction could result in them spending the rest of their lives behind bars. The jury fulfilled its duty under the impression that the defendants would be sentenced as first-time offenders. Criminal property damage is usually punished with a fine and three months in prison in the United Kingdom. However, the British government always planned to charge the accused as terrorists based on a cynical interpretation of the Terrorism Act of 2000. When this law was being debated in Westminster decades ago, lawmakers promised parliament that the Terrorism Act wouldn’t be used to “target domestic activists” and would be used “only when absolutely necessary.” That’s why the only other time this unjust, post-trial terrorism label has been used was against an ISIS bomber who planted explosives on the London Underground train in 2017. When the government announced it would be sentencing the Palestine Action activists under this act, the United Nations accused the United Kingdom of violating the prisoners’ human rights to a fair trial.
Even more egregiously, whether or not these four young Brittons, who are rightfully horrified by their government’s murder of the Palestinian people, will spend three months or three decades behind bars is to be decided by a biased judge. The High Court of Appeals already found Justice Jeremy Johnson acted maliciously against the defendants and their lawyer during the trial. Yet, Johnson refused to recuse himself from the sentencing when asked, a dark omen indicating the British government’s steadfast commitment to branding these activists as terrorists as part of a larger crackdown on the anti-genocide left.
Founded in 2020, Palestine Action has been the leading anti-genocide direct action group in Britain. Its portfolio includes everything from sabotaging weapons manufacturers to common street protests. This has been a thorn in Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s side, as crushing the left is his most cherished hobby. The British government has been openly planning to brand PA as terrorism for a long time. And it looks like this sentencing will be the circular logic they use to do it.
As defense counsel raised during an abuse of process hearing last year, the Counter Terrorism Police and the Crown Prosecution Service collaborated on a report outlining that their resources would greatly expand if Palestine Action were “declared a terrorist group.” After Palestine Action activists graffiti-ed RAF planes last July, the Home Secretary accused the group of having a “terrorist connection” when she moved to outlaw the group. She also wrote an op-ed accusing PA of having a terrorist connection, part of an obvious, cynical media campaign to establish the terrorist narrative during an ongoing trial.
“The clear advice and intelligence given to me earlier this year from the UK’s world-leading counter-terrorism system, based on a robust assessment process, was that Palestine Action satisfies the relevant tests in the Terrorism Act 2000 and should be proscribed.” - British Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, August, 2025
Since Palestine Action was outlawed, protestors have made a mockery of this declaration by simply showing their support. The hypocrisy of the British government is clear to all when the peelers throw grandma in jail for wearing a t-shirt, while Keir Starmer walks Jeffrey Epstein’s best friend into Downing Street.
No sane actor can look at this group of youthful activists and elderly protestors and think “terrorist group” is an accurate depiction. This kangaroo court is not to keep Brittons safe. It’s to silence Palestine Action so the British government can continue aiding Israeli imperialism without being criticized for it. To say this is authoritarian is an understatement. It is political repression against those who bravely stood on the correct side of history. Regardless of what is decided tomorrow, the United Kingdom has once again shown its true face to the world. Not to be outdone by our former rulers, the American government has trampled every civil liberty in the Constitution in pursuit of a bogus terrorism charge.
Imagining Antifa
While the Bristol Four await their fate, the Trump administration is using the same playbook to suppress the American left.
