Hello, and welcome to the (just) March edition of our newsletter.

We’d love to hear from you if you’re interested in getting involved (e.g. by writing articles for the newsletter and website) or just to offer us some feedback. You can reach us at aberdeen@scottishpsc.org.uk, and visit our website: www.spscaberdeen.org.  

In solidarity,
SPSC Aberdeen

Say no to the new Policing Bill

SPSC Aberdeen condemns the Policing Bill, which recently passed its second reading in the UK Parliament.  Although the Bill largely only impacts on England and Wales, not Scotland, it sets a very dangerous precedent.  It would impact on demonstrations that we would join in other parts of the UK, and it's important that we show solidarity with those fighting for social justice elsewhere.  The legislation would also negatively impact marginalised groups such as Gypsies, Roma and Travellers, amongst others.

SPSC Aberdeen stands in solidarity with the grassroots movement opposing the policing bill, known as ‘Kill the Bill’.  Needless to say, we reject the patronising advice on protest tactics by Tory ministers, such as Priti Patel, who have an appalling track record of setting legislation which erodes human rights of immigrants and marginalised communities.

The new Policing Bill is in keeping with the British State’s long-standing tradition of the use of policing to advance specific political agendas of a reactionary nature, both at a national and international level. While this tactic is of course not confined to the British State, civil society should stand firmly against this undemocratic collusion between State and police forces.

We know too well from our experiences in Aberdeen the ways in which the police act to prevent legitimate protest and to deny rights to free speech and assembly.  We take this opportunity to remind readers of the abuse and protest-silencing attempts by Police Scotland faced by SPSC Aberdeen. In 2017, PIRC (Police Investigations and Review Commissioner) warned police in Aberdeen they risked "breaching the human rights of political activists".  Police actions that were criticised included: 

• knocking on a door late at night to warn activists against attending a pro-Palestine protest the following day;

• walking into a political campaigning workshop and asking to sit in;

• barring an SPSC group from observing a political trial in Aberdeen Sheriff Court while allowing entry to pro-Israel activists.

The findings received coverage in the local and national news.

It is outrageous that such actions are to be legislated for, at least in parts of the UK. Citizens here and around the world should have the right to raise public awareness and express their anger against injustice and oppression through a range of legitimate tactics including direct action. For example, SPSC Aberdeen supports the tradition of protest involving damage to arms companies’ property to prevent massacres of civilian populations. Over and over, activists charged for damage of arms companies have been acquitted by British and Irish Courts on the basis that their actions were aimed to prevent greater crimes. Most notorious is the case of the actions of Derry protesters that eventually drove out the arms giant Raytheon from the city. In keeping with that tradition, SPSC Aberdeen stands in solidarity with the activists facing charges for drenching in red paint one of the Elbit Systems UK buildings in London. Elbit Systems supplies 85% of Israel’s military drone fleet, which is regularly ‘tested’ on Palestinians in Gaza.

The Network for Police Monitoring (https://netpol.org/Charter/) have a petition calling for the Police to adopt a new, eleven-point Charter for Freedom of Assembly Rights.  We encourage groups and individuals to sign. 

Further reading & resources 

For information about the right to protest in Scotland, visit: https://www.scottishactivistlegalproject.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/SCALP-Legal-Guide-14.01.2021.pdf

Liberty's briefing on the Policing Bill here: https://www.libertyhumanrights.org.uk/issue/

SPSC Stands with David Miller

This article was initially published on the Scottish PSC website

Scottish PSC expresses its full support for David Miller, currently Professor of Sociology at Bristol University and with previous posts at Strathclyde and Stirling universities. He has been a chosen target of pro-Israel groups in this country for a number of years but the attack on him has been renewed with vigour over the last weeks, following comments he made at an online meeting of the Labour Campaign for Free Speech. The irony of a discussion on free speech will no doubt be lost on those now seeking his dismissal from his university post. 

David Miller is a target not only because of his political views, a supporter of Palestinian rights and an opponent of Israel and its political ideology, Zionism, but because of his academic work which includes extensive research into the ‘Israel lobby’, the network of pro-Israel organisations which exist in the UK, many of which are orchestrated and funded through the Israeli embassy and ultimately Israel’s Ministry of Strategic Affairs. Much of this was confirmed in the Al Jazeera exposé of 2017, The Lobby.  He is also well known for his research on Islamaphobia, including links between the Zionist movement and anti-Muslim networks globally. In an article entitled ‘We must resist Israel’s war on British universities’ he describes the attacks that he has faced and the dangers for academic freedom.

The Israel lobby in the UK has been emboldened by its successful campaign against Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party. Of course, Corbyn contributed hugely to his own downfall through his disastrous policy of appeasement. This lobby has also had success in pressuring public bodies and universities to adopt the discredited IHRA definition of antisemitism, the aim of which is to protect Israel from anything other than mild criticism.

It is a very dangerous path that is taken where lobby groups, in the interest of a foreign state, can attempt to influence political and academic discourse in this way. These efforts to act as censor on criticism of Israel and Zionism have to be resisted. Article 10 of the Human Rights Act 1998 protects freedom of speech, and the so-called IHRA definition of antisemitism has no legal basis, regardless of how often it is quoted in an effort to misrepresent criticism of Israel and Zionism as antisemitic. Endless claims by Zionists to be hurt, shocked and made uncomfortable by denunciations of Israel are not in the least persuasive given these same people support one of the most racist states in the world. In all of Israel/Palestine, through its discriminatory laws and practices and military control, Israel is an apartheid state and there is an abundant literature on this subject including the recent B’Tselem report and the 2017 report by a UN agency.

The comments by David Miller that precipitated the current outcry were twofold. Firstly he asked, "How do we defeat the ideology of Zionism in practice? How do we make sure Zionism is ended?" Given that Zionism is the programme that underpins Israel’s settler-colonial state, which necessarily involves the seizure of Palestinian land, ethnic cleansing and a regime of apartheid imposed upon the Palestinian population that remains under Israeli control, it is very easy to agree with Professor Miller that the end of Zionism is a necessary prerequisite for a just peace in the area. Secondly, he strongly criticised the Union of Jewish Students (UJS) and its influence over Jewish Societies at universities in the UK. It is a group that he has studied closely during research and he describes it as a Zionist organisation, affiliated to World Zionist Organisation and funded by the Israeli Embassy. 

To their discredit 57 MPs and a similar number of other unelected parliamentarians have joined the chorus of condemnation of David Miller in a letter to the Vice-Chancellor of Bristol University which seeks his dismissal. We can of course be dismayed, but unsurprised, at the quality of political representation that we have, but their disregard for free speech and their preparedness to construe antisemitism in this way as a political weapon should nevertheless alarm us all.

What David Miller has said is very clearly not a matter of prejudice or discrimination against Jewish people but is his stated opposition to Israel’s serial violations of both international law and the human rights of Palestinians. We know that defending Israel is not easy but pro-Israel groups attempt this using all means, fair and foul. Nevertheless, the claim that an attack on what Israel does, its apartheid laws and practices, the siege of Gaza, ethnic cleansing, collective punishments, house demolitions, etc., is a form of antisemitism has no credibility at all.  SPSC has its own experiences of these baseless accusations over the years, all of which have been strongly rebutted. We now stand in solidarity with David Miller in his opposition to Zionism, his defence of free speech and academic freedom, and for an on-going campaign to end the use of the IHRA definition of antisemitism by public bodies.

If you agree with this statement and would like to add your support, email: info@scottishpsc.org.uk

If you are a researcher or educator, sign the open letter here: https://supportmiller.org/open-letter

Plant a Tree in Palestine – Fundraising quiz night

Many thanks to everyone who joined our recent fundraising quiz night in aid of the Plant a Tree in Palestine initiative! Our fundraising total is now at £2000, with only £500 to go to reach our £2500 target.

In addition to the quiz rounds, there was music from Belfast based singer songwriter Davy Kettyles and poetry, with Facts on the Ground by Michael Rosen being read by Tommy Campbell of Unite/ Aberdeen TUC.

We also received a video message from Palestine, from Jamal Juma from the Stop the Wall campaign, one of our partners in building links between communities in North East Scotland and the South West Bethlehem region of the Occupied West Bank.

You can read more about our local campaign here, and about the wider Plant-a-Tree initiative here.

It’s not too late to donate to the campaign – due to delays caused by Covid, there will likely be two plantings this year, in spring and November, so all contributions will be put to good use! Visit here to donate.

Facts on the Ground By Michael Rosen

How wise and thoughtful the MPs sound

talking about Israel and the ‘facts on the ground’!

They have ‘reservations about Donald Trump’,

they get a few laughs by calling him a chump

Then they add it’s such a terrible pity

he’s declared that Jerusalem’s the capital city

but then on cue they bring it back round

to talk of Israel and the ‘facts on the ground’.

Funny they should mention that word ‘ground’

‘cause anyone who’s looked has always found

that the ground, that land, has always had facts:

they are people who, after many attacks

no longer have great stretches of that land

It’s almost as if, from the start, it was planned

so if it was ‘clever’ that I wanted to sound

I could say these people are facts OFF the ground

So a logical, factual, thoughtful little phrase

is used by our politician to give some praise

to premiers and generals with a serious intention

to uproot, remove, destroy (but not mention)

the ground and the facts where this takes place

Politicians on TV with solemn face

appear to condemn Trump for what he’s said

but choose to ignore the disposed and dead.

Stop the JNF statement

JNF decision strips away its mask, reveals its true character and flagrantly defies International Law

This statement was originally published on the Stop the JNF website

Last month, for the first time in its long history, the Jewish National Fund (KKL-JNF) openly declared that it will fund land confiscation in the West Bank, in defiance of international law. Its board of governors voted through the allocation of NIS 38 million to take over land, previously confiscated by the Israeli state, to expand Jewish-only settlements yet further.  All Israeli settlements, based on stolen Palestinian land in the West Bank, constitute a war crime under international law.  Yet the British arm of KKL-JNF, JNF UK, continues to be a registered charity, enjoying tax exemption to raise funds for its parent organisation.

This decision is not an aberration, or a reversal of existing JNF policy, but a clear indication that the settlement expansion driven by Israel’s far right government and emboldened by the support it received from the Trump administration, is set to continue, more blatantly than previously.   

Last year, it was revealed that over a two-year period KKL-JNF secretly acquired West Bank land earmarked for the expansion of illegal settlements, while its subsidiary Himnuta spearheaded fresh attempts to force Palestinians from their homes in annexed East Jerusalem. Himnuta and the right-wing settler group Elad have long cooperated to force Palestinian families to leave East Jerusalem.  Their eviction has been condemned by a cross-party group of MPs, in signing EDM 529.

The KKL-JNF decision brings into the open what it has, for decades, been doing behind closed doors, or through a nexus of subsidiaries. In fact, KKL-JNF has been deeply complicit in the ongoing colonisation and settlement of Palestinian land, since its foundation in 1901.  As Peace Now confirm, in the past decades KKL-JNF have acquired at least 65,000 dunams (16,000 acres) of land for settlements. The KKL-JNF has acted as a parastatal partner in the consequent forced displacement, occupation and apartheid policies of the state.  

Here in Britain, JNF UK supports numerous KKL-JNF projects on both sides of the Green Line and is listed as KKL-JNF’s office in the UK. Much of JNF UK’s activities have been presented either as benign environmental projects or disguised through front organisations.

Once more, we call for the Charity Commission to remove JNF UK’s charity status, as a step towards holding UK businesses and organisations accountable for their complicity in Israeli violations of international law.

Call to action:

Write to your MP – they can ask the Attorney General to ensure the JNF’s charity status is investigated. 

Westminster ‘debate’ UK voting record at UN Human Rights Council on Israel

On 17th March there was a ‘debate’ in Westminster, on the UK voting record on Israel at the Human Rights Council of the United Nations. It was a short affair (30minutes), and given that the only speakers were Conservative MP Scott Benton (member of Conservative Friends of Israel), Conservative MP Stephen Crabb (Parliamentary Chairman of Conservative Friends of Israel), DUP MP Jim Shannon (Orange Order), and Minister for Middle East and North Africa James Cleverly (member of Conservative Friends of Israel until his ministerial post) – it was not much of a debate.

The timing of the motion was deliberate, a week before the latest meeting of the UN Human Rights Council, and the aim of the speakers was to pressure the Minister to commit to veto any ‘anti-Israel’ motion raised on the agenda. You can watch the meeting here (starting at 16.05) and read the transcript here.

It’s interesting to note that all three of the Conservative MPs have enjoyed all expenses paid trips to Israel in the last few years funded by Conservative Friends of Israel (CFI) – James Cleverly in 2015, Scott Benton in 2019, Stephen Crabb in 2020. According to its website,

“CFI organises numerous events in and around Westminster, takes Conservative parliamentarians and candidates on delegations to Israel, campaigns hard for Tory candidates in target seats, and works to ensure that Israel’s case is fairly represented in Parliament.”

Less ‘fairly represented’ – completely over-represented would be a more accurate description.

They did their work well – at the 46th meeting of the UN Human Rights Committee the following week, the UK voted against three resolutions on Israel (one of only two countries in Europe to do so), and abstained on another.This is just a small example of the pernicious way the UK government and parliamentarians across the country are propping up the status quo of Israeli apartheid and occupation.

Aberdeen SPSC – About Us

Aberdeen SPSC has been campaigning for justice for Palestine since 2010, primarily focused on joining the Palestinian civil society call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel.  Past activities have included campaigns against the likes of Wood Group, Co-op, Sainsbury’s and Barclays Banks, as well as organising solidarity delegations to Gaza and the West Bank. The branch is part of the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign. 

Best wishes,

The SPSC Aberdeen Team

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