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Soon we'll all be terrorists

Politics
#1

At least if the government has its way, according to a policy paper

" # Proscribed terrorist groups or organisations".

Dated September 2023
O their Prophetic Souls.

Maybe Sir Kid Bomber will save us.
Except that it’s all based on Tony Blair’s Terrorism Bill of 2000. Tony B. Liar is probably still advising on how to make the most of it.

I took this from the latest draft which is Sep. 2023, but I don’t know what parts are actually new or may exist already.

Proscription criteria

Proscription offences

Proscription makes it a criminal offence to:

belong, or profess to belong, to a proscribed organisation in the UK or overseas (section 11 of the act)
invite support for a proscribed organisation (the support invited need not be material support, such as the provision of money or other property, and can also include moral support or approval) (section 12(1))

express an opinion or belief that is supportive of a proscribed organisation, reckless as to whether a person to whom the expression is directed will be encouraged to support a proscribed organisation (section 12(1A))

(And …Other stuff about belonging, meeting, clothing etc)

So what does the govt want to do to you?

Depends on the ‘offense’. Though not really…“whatever they want to” is allowed by the wording.

The three categories of the Terrorism bill referred to here are .

Offences
11. Membership
12. Support
13. Uniform

What are the penalties for a proscription offence?

The penalties for proscription offences under sections 11 and 12 are a maximum of 14 years in prison and/or a fine. The maximum penalty for a section 13 offence is 6 months in prison and/or a fine not exceeding £5,000.

So a ‘uniform’ offense is the same, the same six month job. Unless it somes under ‘support’.

But if you look at the bolded bits, the ‘invite support’ and ‘express a view’ parts relate to section 12 and the whopping “14 years in prison”
Or you might get off lightly with an unlimited fine.

I haven’t seen any reactions on this, so I don’t know how real this prospect is.

Saying for example Hamas aren’t terrorists, or calling for a ceasefire would count as expressing suppport for Hamas.
Not because of any terrorist activity, which you might argue in court, but because they are proscribed by the government - which you can’t argue with as it’s a fact.

But the idea clealry seems to be to suppress dissenting commentary by designating it support for terrorism.
And for there to be fewer freedom to vocie disagreement here than you might have in Myanmar.

ED

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#2

I’d read that as meaning that were I to start a Twitter hashtag #IbackH4M45 and gather many likes and retweets I would have committed a crime.

If OTOH I joined the dogpile with #Iback15r43L (masked this time because I effing well do not) that would be not just fine and dandy but cause for praise by the likes of Keef and his Bought-And-Paid-For stooges.

Well: I guess we know where we stand

#3

Jeez. South Africa, 1950’s. One is ‘banned’ by simple proclamation of the government, restricted to a municipal district, probably required to physically report daily to the local police station. It is an offence to quote banned person or publish anything written by them.

We are not sleep walking into a police state. We are running like mad! Good headline @Evvy_dense

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#4

Yes, exactly that Pat. It was still going strong in the 1980s, as I’m sure you know.

When I was a student at Wits, the Student Union president Sammy Adelman was a banned person. (It pretty much went with the job for a few years.) I think he reported to Braamfontein SAP every weekday. He could still take part in his course (Law student) but could not meet with more than one other person at a time, and all the usual pathetic infantile spiteful crap that Suella Braverman would love to enact here. People rummaged through the bin conspicuously in case any letters received had somehow eluded the interception of post. But really just to ram home the message: watch yourself.

A queue of people would wait a few metres away when he was having a cup of coffee in the Senate House. Meantime Craig Williamson or one of his lot would be observing.

But let’s not forget how a voiceover would quote Gerry Adams et al in case his actual voice triggered a revolution… How long ago was that? Thirty years? Forty even? Things in the UK feel much much darker than they did then.

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