Outrage after retired priest arrested for supporting Palestine Action amid UK crackdown on pro-Palestine activism

The Reverend Sue Parfitt, from Bristol, was detained for holding a placard that read: “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.” She was among more than 27 people arrested on Saturday for acts of defiance against the proscription.

  • floofloof@lemmy.caEnglish
    1445·
    19 天前

    They’re calling these people terrorists for holding signs calling for the end of Israel’s genocide. They’re not calling the people who have been committing genocide every day terrorists: they’re valuable allies. This is the UK Government’s morality. I hope it’s not shared by the British people.

    • ViatorOmnium@piefed.socialEnglish
      393·
      19 天前

      Technically it’s because some members of the group trespassed in a military base and vandalised an airplane. Which is trespassing and vandalism. Not terrorism. Unless Starmer has been watching too much Thomas & the Friends and Pixar’s Cars and believes that the poor planes can’t sleep at night anymore, because they are terrified.

    • Kyden Fumofly@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3·
      19 天前

      What if it is an excuse to put people that openly oppose colonialism and authority under control and fear? They maybe don’t care that much for Israel but why miss this opportunity?

    • jaupsinluggies@feddit.ukEnglish
      1211·
      19 天前

      No they’re not. There’s a difference between “Palestine Action” (the group) and “actions and other stuff in favour of Palestine”. The former has been banned, the latter has not. Protesting is legal in the UK; vandalising Air Force equipment is not.

  • Riddick3001@lemmy.worldEnglish
    65·
    19 天前

    A very proactieve protestor and spunky woman of the cloth, who seems to have been arrested 27-28 times already. According to this profile publication she claims she “has militant dna, as a maternal ancestor was accused of sedition in the 18th century”.

    • sanity_is_maddening@piefed.socialEnglish
      31·
      19 天前

      What a Fucking Legend!!! People such as her should be our icons. Not the plastic ridiculous people that the legacy media and the algorithimc social media keep pushing out like clowns to the circus floor to keep people distracted.

      Sue Parfitt. Let’s remember her name. In fact I’m gonna save this post.

      And while I’m not one to support religion, between her and the reverend that gave that sermon to Trump’s face in church, I would say “Lady Priests” (apologies for the reductionism) are having a moment and showing the cloth that apparently only the women in it seem to remember what “their calling” is supposed to be all about.

      If anyone knows the name of the woman that gave that sermon, tag it under. Please.

      It’s not about supporting the church, it’s about giving credit where credit is due.

      In fact, we should start making a record of the people who are raising to the occasion these days all over the world, and taking the moral stand and give them the space and the limelight, instead of allowing everything to be about the shitty people doing their shitty deeds. That takes so much of the bandwith as it is, and makes us feel alone in the face of it all.

      Be it about the atrocities being committed in Gaza, Ukraine, the U.S. or in any place where wrongful actions are occurring, let us make visible the people that raise to face it. Let us put forward the faces and voices of the ones who still truly give the word “humanity” some of its supposed meaning back.

      PS: A lot of people here might not be able to read Spanish. But I do and I really liked the article you linked. It was a really nice complement to the one linked in the post. So, thank you for sharing it.

      • ewo@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
        8·
        19 天前

        I saved your post about saving a post because it makes me less depressed and more warm and fuzzy inside. You are a good person and you clearly care <3

        • sanity_is_maddening@piefed.socialEnglish
          6·
          17 天前

          Oh, thank you so much. I wish I let myself believe that I am what you just described. You do seem to fit the description you assigned me very well from this very brief interaction.

          Let us all keep spreading warm and fuzzy feels on and on to as many people as we can.

          The world certainly needs an antidote to spread against the vile current that is dragging us all into a hole of despair.

          We can’t let that happen!

          Unfortunately, I often do let myself go in that direction.

          So thank you for pulling me the other way.

          • ewo@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
            3·
            18 天前

            100% agree and yes doubt does eat away at you sometimes! Don’t let it ! :)

          • The Infinite Nematode@feddit.ukEnglish
            3·
            18 天前

            “One of the most calming and powerful actions you can do to intervene in a stormy world is to stand up and show your soul. Soul on deck shines like gold in dark times. The light of the soul throws sparks, can send up flares, builds signal fires, causes proper matters to catch fire. To display the lantern of soul in shadowy times like these - to be fierce and to show mercy toward others; both are acts of immense bravery and greatest necessity.”

            From a letter by Clarissa Pinkola Estes, https://www.awakin.org/v2/read/view.php?tid=2195

            • sanity_is_maddening@piefed.socialEnglish
              2·
              18 天前

              Thank your for such reply and the link as well. The text you linked shares a lot of inspiration for these trying times.

              And oh, how we definitely need it.

      • brachiosaurus@mander.xyzEnglish
        14·
        19 天前

        Praising a good priest is not much different than praising a good republican. You can be a good person without associating yourself to corrupted political parties or bigot cults

        • sanity_is_maddening@piefed.socialEnglish
          21·
          19 天前

          I understand your anger. I really do. But may I remind you that the Republicans were the ones who took a stand to abolish slavery and even died for it not that long ago really. And look at where they are now.

          It’s people like this woman that are fencing any movement from turning corrupt and vile. Unfortunately all too often there’s not enough of them to stop it from happening.

          She most likely saw the cloth as a way to reach and help people in need. As it is one way of doing it. And given her very advanced age, when she was young, it was probably one of the very few that existed at her disposal. Especially as a woman.

          And you shouldn’t conflate the identity of individuals with the institutions they’re a part of or with their social descriptors. That is precisely what you hate about these groups you brought up. So don’t play for the opposite team and act the same way they do.

          And by the way, you were downvoted but I wasn’t one of the ones who did it. As I do think your anger towards these institutions is absolutely warranted and justified. I feel the same way. Just don’t let that keep you from recognising a decent human being when it is very much the case. Otherwise, you allowed them to turn you into what we both hate about what these institutions represent.

          This woman is on everyone’s side because she’s fighting for everyone. Even though I’m not religious, I recognise that I aspire to the same as her.

          • brachiosaurus@mander.xyzEnglish
            1·
            18 天前

            I’m gonna try it again maybe this time you will understand: praising a good priest is not much different than praising a good scientologis, you can be a good person without associating yourself to a cult that threat people to believe in ghosts

            • sanity_is_maddening@piefed.socialEnglish
              11·
              18 天前

              Why this level of vitriol and condescension in this exchange?

              I’m also going to repeat… Taking your stance to an extreme, and you have yourself a reductionist view of the world with nothing but intolerance or hatred for those who don’t share it. Sounds familiar?

              I don’t know what’s going on in your life, you could be going through something and I don’t want to add more to the pile of what you’re already dealing with. So I’m just gonna leave this here, because I suspect that even my concerning tone right now will read as passive aggressive to you. It isn’t. But I can’t control that.

              So take care.

  • eatCasserole@lemmy.worldEnglish
    401·
    19 天前

    MPs had voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to proscribe the direct action group, alongside the neo-Nazi Maniacs Murder Cult and the Russian Imperial Movement.

    Has anyone affiliated with the other two groups been arrested since this went into effect?

    • ewo@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
      292·
      19 天前

      This is a good question, apparently they’d rather lock up 83 year old women than violent facists and warmongers

          • 0x0@lemmy.zipEnglish
            10·
            19 天前

            vandalising and damaging two Royal Air Force Airbus A330 MRTT refuelling planes by spraying paint into their engines.

            Funny, I wasn’t aware vandalism is a synonym to terrorism.

          • pyre@lemmy.worldEnglish
            41·
            18 天前

            oh no, not -gasp- property damage!

            sending military equipment to explode brown children: 😊

            vandalizing military equipment so that you can’t send them to aid the genocide: 😨😠

  • Tail11@lemmy.worldEnglish
    392·
    19 天前

    If she were in the US, she would be pushed to the ground and beaten by a bunch of white guys in riot gear and masks.

    • WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.worldEnglish
      223·
      19 天前

      Genocide accomplices!

      Everyone involved with this “law” should be tried and hung in the Hague for aiding and abetting crimes against humanity.

  • altphoto@lemmy.todayEnglish
    252·
    19 天前

    As someone stated… The police are not your friend. They are not there to serve and protect your interests. They are there to serve and protect the interests of the state you live in.

    The other day my wife’s car stopped at a busy road. The police quickly arrived and asked if she had crashed on to my car. Like how can we take this unfortunate event and turn it into a profitable situation where they can impound the car…oh it’s just engine failure, well you’re blocking the road so I’ll call the most expensive possible tow truck. How can we make your day worse?

  • barnaclebutt@lemmy.worldEnglish
    21·
    18 天前

    Look at that diabolical criminal. I hope they reopen London tower just to hang her from it. After she bakes everyone cookies with afternoon tea.

  • melsaskca@lemmy.caEnglish
    161·
    19 天前

    Now I understand more closely Starmer’s subservience to America’s Donald Trump.

    • Fusselwurm@feddit.orgEnglish
      94·
      18 天前

      Mandatory Palestine

      the UK is against backing “Palestine Action” which is a group that has sabotaged British military equipment. Surprisingly, the British government doesn’t take kindly to that sort of thing.

        • Fusselwurm@feddit.orgEnglish
          33·
          18 天前

          Charming.

          There is such a thing as context. Red paint on a street is an annoyance. Red paint on hi-tech equipment is sabotage.

          • crapwittyname@feddit.ukEnglish
            22·
            18 天前

            It’s sabotage. It’s not terrorism. The gov is wrong to proscribe this group, you must see that? Regardless of your stance on the issue, this is an anti democratic move by Labour.

            • Fusselwurm@feddit.orgEnglish
              2·
              17 天前

              I do think that arresting people for voicing their support is counter-productive, unnecessarily heavy-handed and at the very least controversial from a freedom-of-speech point of view.

              But I don’t see how the government should not ban a group that resorts to sabotage to achieve their political goals? Any state – democratically legitimized or no – will be very twitchy about stuff that touches national security.

              Am I missing some nuance here?

              • crapwittyname@feddit.ukEnglish
                2·
                17 天前

                The nuance here is that they’ve been proscribed as a terrorist group. They are a direct action group but they don’t hurt people, just damage property. That’s a crime, but it’s not terrorism. They can and should be tried for criminal damage, B&E, damage to government property etc, but this is a freedom of protest issue, and now freedom of speech, too, since I can no longer say things like “I think Palestine Action went too far, but they’re fighting for a just cause”, for example, because I’d be expressing support for a terrorist group and therefore committing a crime.
                Compare to e.g. the suffragette movement who bombed buildings and all kinds to get the vote for women: they’re now lauded by the same person who proscribed this group. Or more recent examples like just stop oil or the protesters that threw the Edward Colson statue into the River Avon. They were tried for criminal damages. Then recently, some protesters have been starting to get tried under the far, far harsher anti terrorism laws, usually when it involves protesting Israel’s war crimes. These are the laws that allow things like extended detention in solitary without charge or phone calls, massively longer sentences and all manner of nasty punishments. It’s clearly a power grab to reduce the will to protest.

                • Fusselwurm@feddit.orgEnglish
                  2·
                  16 天前

                  oh. yeah damaging property is kinda missing the “terror” in “terrorism”. I get it. Thank you :)

            • Hubi@feddit.orgEnglish
              21·
              18 天前

              Sabotage can absolutely be terrorism. In this case probably not, but the British government has a valid reason to oppose this specific group.

              • crapwittyname@feddit.ukEnglish
                2·
                17 天前

                I didn’t mean to say say sabotage could not be terrorism in general, I’m agreeing that this is absolutely sabotage, but in this case it is not terrorism. The govt do not have a valid reason to proscribe them as a terrorist organisation. There are other available methods of opposition.
                Terrorism is generally linked with a risk to personal safety at the very least, not mere property damage. These people are criminals, not terrorists.

  • Djamilo@feddit.orgBannedEnglish
    162·
    19 天前

    Monday: 39 dead

    Tuesday: 79 dead

    Wednesday: 79 dead

    Thursday: 103 dead

    Friday: 72 dead

    Saturday: 81 dead

    Sunday: 88 dead

    Another week of genocide in #Gaza.

    Supported by German politics, concealed by the German media, ignored by the German public.

  • xeekei@lemmy.zipEnglish
    13·
    18 天前

    Uh, I’ve had enuff of shitty news; let’s switch to another timeline.