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Owen Jones: This column does not express support for Palestine Action – here’s why
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 09 Jul 2025
31 points (94.3% liked)
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They absolutely did, but the problem is that what they did in order to protest was a crime. A pretty big crime too, frankly they're lucky they didn't get shot.
I have absolutely no idea how those geniuses thought that this would be a good tactic.
I fully support their objectives, and I think it's ridiculous to call them terrorists, but what they did was beyond moronic.
Saboteurs of the Holocaust were criminals. Nazis were following the law.
I cannot see how you could ever have a situation where deliberately damaging military aircraft would be legal. I'm not sure what you're advocating for, changing of the law so that they're allowed to commit acts of extreme vandalism because they feel rightfully justified? How would that work?
Well, sometimes you have to commit a crime to protest an even bigger crime - warcrimes like genocide. The UK already is a surveillance police state. If they declare even protesting against genocide a crime, then so be it!
In that light, the removal of my comment appears unwarranted. For anyone curious (or whoever reported it), if I recall correctly, it expressed support for PA.
The problem is what they did didn't really have any meaning. They haven't really roused the public with their action, in fact their subsequent arrest has been more impactful for their cause than the actual action, and I can't imagine that was envisioned as a predicted outcome.
What they did was actually unhelpful because it allowed the government to label them as terrorists and therefore ignore them. Sticking to protests and writing to MPs and just making a general stink about things would, in the long run, have been more helpful because it would have never given them something that they could use as a stick to beat people with when they complained.
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They did wrong by breaking into an RAF base though
Hardly a terrorist action though is it? Breaking in to throw around some red paint.
Come on, "throwing around red paint" is quite misleading, no?
They poured it into the engines of multiple RAF jets, destroying those engines. That's several million in damages, and a lot of downtime.
And legally speaking, it absolutely was a terrorist act.
I really think we need to distinguish between terrorism in the sense of “are they going to keep blowing people up?” and “terrorism” in the sense of “are my taxes going to go up because of this?” I feel like the word is being stretched for the second example…
Yeah what they did was excessive vandalism. Not terrorism not unless it's the first move in a long strategy although if it is, it's a pretty dumb one since they've all been arrested.
I would imagine that an incompetent barrister wouldn't have much difficulty arguing that actively sabotaging military equipment is, and has been for centuries, treason against the crown.
It is now - but yeah my heart bleeds for those poor RAF jets, they're definitely what's important here, not making the word 'terrorist' a meaningless empty word that can be used to justify anything at all.
Of course defence is important. How separated from reality are you for you to think it isn't?
Sabotaging UK defence is obviously a bad thing, and it shouldn't be taken lightly.
You might personally think defence trumps all other things - I don't. Its clearly not unimportant (and I never suggested it was) but defence is, we're told, something we use to protect our way of life and our way of life includes not being called a terrorist for doing something which very obviously is not an act of terrorism.
All forms of protest are under a sustained attack in the UK right now and this is just another extension of that. Sabotaging reality to exert control over a populace is obviously a very much worse thing.
It does fall under the (completely bullshit) definition of an act of terrorism though.
This comment can see you arrested for expressing support of a proscribed terrorist organisation. This could have you jailed for up to 6 months and/or a fine of up to £5,000
And that fact is fucking stupid.