by Sebastian Milbank, The Critic
The old sedition laws are a tried and tested standard
An argument is raging over the proscription of the Palestine Action group as a terrorist organisation. On the one hand, defenders of the group argue that their actions were non-violent, amounting to nothing more than criminal damage and peaceful “direct action”. Terrorists, on this reading, are men with bombs, guns and knives, not kids who break into military bases with cans of spray paint. The other side of the argument points out that damage to military equipment threatens national security — if a hostile state sent individuals to wreck our fighter jets on the ground, it would be regarded as an act of war. Threats to the military, on this reading, are a red line and the government has to take a very hard stance against groups that target defence infrastructure.
Two things can be true — Palestine Action are obviously not a terrorist organisation, but it is just as true that any group that attempts to sabotage the military must be banned, dismantled and harshly deterred.
Modern governments are entangled in a tightening web of equalities and human rights law that increasingly floats free of the democratic and republican traditions that gave rise to it. If Britain is a free society, then attacks upon its army, and a refusal to participate through democratic avenues, are acts that do violence to the common good of all. A lack of reverence for the law and the sanctity of public institutions from attack represent a loss of common identity and civic responsibility. Human rights have become radically individualised claims asserted on behalf of private individuals, rather than the balance of duties, responsibilities and privileges enjoyed by free citizens living in common.