SusanMatthews

Blake scholar, defender of the right to protest, assorted indigestible opinions.

[Breaking the Silence @BtSIsrael]

🔴The IDF's Yellow Line in Gaza has shifted again, despite the so-called "ceasefire." Since it came into effect, the IDF's effective control has expanded from 53% to up to 70% of the Gaza Strip. Almost all of Gaza’s population is forced into less than a third of its territory🧵

[William Dalrymple @DalrympleWill]

Starmer will be remembered as the human rights lawyer who did more than anyone else to consolidate authoritarianism
"UK state threats bill could pull British journalists into terror prosecutions, experts say"
https://t.co/9NIHpxQMeo

[Diane Abbott @HackneyAbbott]

This a just a tax on refugees. Imagine applying to the kindertransport children leeing Nazi Germany, and withholding refugee status they are entitled to.
Still chasing Farage down a dead end.

https://t.co/fcMEFOxBYu

[Craig Murray @CraigMurrayOrg]

New Labour is rushing its new National Security State Threats bill through parliament in just one day.

It will be illegal to publish TRUE casualty information from Iran, from Hamas run hospitals in Gaza, or IDF assault details from the resistance in Lebanon.

14 years in jail.

[Declassified UK @declassifiedUK]

Members of law firm @gcnchambers express solidarity with Rajiv Menon KC who faces prosecution for contempt of court for a closing speech he delivered to a jury at Woolwich Crown Court while defending pro-Palestine activists charged with criminal damage. https://t.co/rxYnlYvcwD

[SusanMatthews @SusanMatthews]

Mullally said that “when many Palestinian Christians are leaving, olive trees are a symbol of their deep roots in this land” and that the Nassars were an example of “Christian resistance to injustice”. https://t.co/0sMNgByG26

[Faiza Shaheen @faizashaheen]

Yes, expect a rewrite of history over the next few weeks…
Starmer’s regime stripped the soul out of the Labour Party. From authoritarianism and enabling genocide to pro-rich anti-working class policies, his downfall was entirely self-inflicted and deserved.
The thing is, some of his enablers and supporters will still hold senior positions under Burnham. And they assume we will forget.

[Bryan Roland @BS_overload]

@yanisvaroufakis Let's not forget that Starmer got to be the Labour leader by backstabbing and sabotaging the biggest grass-roots movement in recent British history.
This was published in the Guardian before they sacked Steve Bell over a drawing he created of Benjamin Netanyahu.

[John McDonnell @johnmcdonnellMP]

Let’s all get real. Keir Starmer’s support even in his own cabinet has collapsed & he’d be humiliated in a leadership election.Streeting has even less support & is in a puerile self promotion exercise. The priority now is the construction of an effective radical policy programme

[SusanMatthews @SusanMatthews]

Despite Israel’s continued invasions, Khalil remained in her home. In a 2017 interview, she said she had not lost hope in turtle conservation and would continue indefinitely. “As long as God gives me life,” she said.

https://t.co/nme1tlt1lW

[Martin Shaw @martinshawx]

Protest Is Not Terrorism report that, while the infamous Judge Johnson was imposing draconian sentences on the the Filton 4 after refusing to allow them or their lawyers to explain their motives to the jurors (and then adding a ‘terrorist connection’ of which the jury were also unaware when they convicted), activists in three other cases, who *were* allowed to explain, escaped conviction:

‘Direct actionists walk free from court in Aylesbury, Canterbury and Birmingham
It’s clear that the Filton 4 Palestine Actionists were convicted because Judge Johnson prevented Rajiv Menon and the rest of their defence team from making any effective defence at all, and in particular he prevented them from telling the jury about their reasons for taking direct action against Elbit Systems.
‘On 21 May, the Grid 2 (Audrey Corno and Jessica Stacey) were acquitted at Aylesbury Crown Court of criminal damage during a rooftop occupation of GriD Defence Systems premises near High Wycombe. As Audrey Corno explained on Instagram, they were acquitted because the judge “We argued that the damage was necessary in order to prevent war crimes. It's a very, very simple case, which is why the jury came back with the correct verdict after only 20 minutes of deliberation.”
‘On 11 June the Discovery 5 (who sprayed red paint over the Instro Precision site in Sandwich) were acquitted at Canterbury Crown Court. As one of the defendants (Dziej Smith) explained, “We were able to take the stand and talk without restriction about our reasons and our strongly held beliefs based on fact. We could not only say the word ‘genocide’ we could talk of the destruction and devastation manufactured on our doorstep. We could directly link Elbit systems to the IDF.” As a result, “12 members of the jury heard our evidence and unanimously delivered a ‘not guilty’ verdict
‘On 18 June, the jury in the trial of the Moog 4 refused to convict them of criminal damage after they occupied the roof of an arms factory in Wolverhampton. Again the jury’s decision followed a trial in which the defendants were allowed, by the judge, to explain their intentions. “We believed the longer we stayed up there,” said one of the defendants (Iain Evans), “the more lives we would save.”’

[Paul Holden @pauleholden]

This is a key reason for the attacks on jury trials. Again and again, ordinary people choose not to convict activists who disrupt arms factories sending weapons to the genocide in Gaza. Hopefully the CPS gets the message and declines to prosecute again.

[Mehdi Hasan @mehdirhasan]

If you were to write this headline or article in a variety of US, UK, German or French media outlets, your career might be on the line and you’d probably be accused of antisemitism.

And yet the author of this piece is a former prime minister for Israel.
https://t.co/xUqPAHxsab

[SusanMatthews @SusanMatthews]

The court of appeal judgment managed to cast protest as terrorism and terrorism as protest. https://t.co/7QuXeqGZVD

[Tim Farron @timfarron]

It beggars belief that we’re back here again despite all the evidence. If we care about vulnerable people and if we care about being evidence led, we will reject this outright at 2nd reading, put an end to this nonsense and fix palliative care instead.

[Human Rights Watch @hrw]

In a disastrous ruling, the Court of Appeal in London has overruled the High Court and upheld the government's decision to ban Palestine Action as a terrorist group.

Defining a protest group as terrorists has created an absurd situation where thousands of people have been arrested for holding up signs.

Learn more:

[Tom London @TomLondon6]

In defence of social media

No one can deny it has its dark sides, but the world would never have been properly informed of the GENOCIDE in Gaza if it had only had legacy media to rely on

[Wokerati Marty @WokeratiMarty]

Brilliant words from Tim Crossland outside today’s Palestine Action court case (courtesy of Crispin Flintoff):

“This is a self-defeating judgement from the state today. All we have to do is sit down with our signs saying ‘I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.’”

[Craig Murray @CraigMurrayOrg]

Among much utter mince uttered by the English Court of Appeal today.
Lady Chief Justice Carr said that the suffragettes were non-violent and did not plan any actions in secret.
Which is so ignorant of history I don't know where to start...