Robert Del Naja’s arrest during Palestine Action protest at Trafalger Square. Screengrab from video posted to YouTube.
Throughout the Israeli genocide in Gaza most people, myself included, felt like they were gradually going mad. How could the world, including the British government, possibly allow this to happen?
That sense of madness was compounded by the inexplicable policies of many British news outlets (including the BBC) who refused to name the identity committing one atrocity after another, after another. It was Israel, & everybody knew it was Israel. Why wouldn’t they say so?
On the topic of madness, in Britain in 2026 you can be arrested under the Terrorism Act for sitting in silence, holding a cardboard sign stating that you oppose genocide & support non-violent action to prevent it.
Of course, everyone knows this is total madness (including many of the police officers making these arrests, and the High Court judges who recently ruled them unlawful), and yet, somehow it continues.
Everyone also knows that the sheer desperation of ‘Palestine Action’ activists vandalising military equipment isn’t terrorism. No one actually believes that.
Many members of, & senior advisers to this government belong to a ‘war is peace’ ideological party block that ignored millions of peaceful marchers to illegally invade Iraq. Their brand of arrogance & callous indifference creates the human desperation they’re hellbent on crushing in the courts.
The sense of madness can be overcome. We can demand that our government upholds international laws that previous generations sacrificed their lives for. UK citizens will feel less desperation (& our overwhelmed courts will be quieter) if our country acts with the integrity of neighbours such as Spain; calmly declining the use of their territory & assets for illegal US / Israeli war crimes.
To these vital ends, a few hours in police custody under unlawful arrest is a very small price to pay.
Our democracy, & the civil rights & liberties that now sit in constitutional law were literally built on small actions like these. Perhaps that’s why this draconian government wants to crush them?
Free Palestine. No wars.
Robert Del Naja posted this note to his Instagram account after his arrest during a Palestine Action protest at Trafalgar Square in London on Sunday.
