Talking out towards injustice or becoming a member of a solidarity march are a few of the few instruments we — as peoples all over the world — have obtainable to attempt to impact change. With out the appropriate to publicly and peacefully protest — to share messages on social media, write letters and signal petitions — persons are silenced.
And but, during the last month, strikes by a number of European governments to curb expression and protest in response to the unprecedented violence in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) seem designed to do exactly that: stifle dissent, deny collective grief, foment concern of elevating one’s voice and create a ”chilling impact” that threatens to cease speech chilly.
Authorities in a lot of European states have banned Palestinian solidarity protests and harassed and arrested individuals for expressing — in public and on-line — assist for Palestinians’ rights.
Some governments have threatened to shutter organisations and teams that advocate for human rights for Palestinians and to dam funding for Palestinian, Israeli and regional human rights organisations.
Overseas nationals have been warned that they is likely to be deported for expressing ”radical ideologies” and authorities have supported measures by employers to sack individuals who communicate up on behalf of Palestinians.
Faculties, faculties and universities have been inspired to be on excessive alert for indicators of so-called ”extremism” within the speech of their college students.
Initially claiming that restrictions have been obligatory within the curiosity of ”public order”, European governments have begun to make use of a hack we have now seen earlier than: they’ve conflated assist for Palestinian human rights with assist for terrorism.
Since there isn’t a universally accepted definition of ”terrorism,” each state defines the phrase for itself, normally in overly broad and intensely obscure phrases, which has led to huge abuse of counter-terrorism laws internationally.
The submit 11 September 2001 period was — and stays — rife with counterterrorism and counter extremism measures which have radically narrowed civic area, together with the rights to freedom of expression and meeting.
The fast method wherein that is taking place throughout Europe at each EU and nationwide ranges would appear to point that, within the momentum for states to reply to the brutal Hamas assaults in southern Israel on 7 October, there merely has been overreach.
However I’d argue that conflations between Hamas and all Palestinians; between Hamas and distinctly completely different armed teams comparable to ISIL; and between all Muslims and terrorism, are deliberate and meant to generate alarm and confusion.
Such fear-mongering has a logical end result: individuals can be reluctant to face up for the human rights of Palestinians and Muslims. Within the midst of all that concern and uncertainty, higher to say nothing in any respect.
By imposing measures linking expressions of solidarity with Palestinians particularly with assist for or encouragement of terrorism, states have moved past the already doubtful assertion that protests could also be a risk to public order and into claims that they might threaten nationwide safety.
Authorities can thus attempt to declare a straightforward ’out’ relating to their obligations beneath worldwide human rights regulation as a result of the European Courtroom of Human Rights affords states a large ”margin of appreciation” on nationwide safety points.
States nonetheless must justify measures that deviate from their human rights obligations by enshrining them in regulation and guaranteeing that each measure is important and proportionate. However particularly invoking assist of terrorism as a risk to nationwide safety creates area and impetus for rights to be subordinated to alleged safety imperatives.
Present legal guidelines
This burgeoning narrative by many European states contradicts their human rights obligations. Direct incitement to violence, with the chance that such violence may happen, is against the law and needs to be handled accordingly. Any type of speech that incites individuals to violence, discrimination or hostility needs to be thought-about hate speech and people partaking in such speech needs to be held accountable.
Certainly, the final month has included a really actual and horrifying enhance in each antisemitic and Islamophobic assaults. States ought to direct their efforts in the direction of combatting real hate speech and hate crimes fairly than banning or proscribing protest or different types of solidarity with Palestinians’ human rights.
Expression that persuades, encourages or calls for motion on the a part of a authorities will not be against the law, irrespective of how offensive to some.
Assist for the human rights of Palestinians beneath Israel’s ongoing bombardment, apartheid and occupation, with their attendant day by day abuses, is assist for common human rights, relevant to all, together with Palestinians and Israelis.
Legal guidelines together with obscure phrases like ”apology for terrorism” or ”glorification of terrorism” are open to such broad interpretation that they can’t be perfected to align with a state’s obligation to respect and shield freedom of expression. The prevailing pattern in Europe of states utilizing counter-terrorism legal guidelines as a pretext to silence dissenting views should cease.
States can get away with so much by defining terrorism so broadly and instrumentalising the notion of what constitutes a risk to ”nationwide safety.” A risk to nationwide safety should contain actual hazard of bodily power that will imperil a nation.
European states have many instruments at their disposal to reply to such excessive threats when they’re real. Claiming that peaceable protests represent such a risk is a violation of human rights and a harmful weaponisation of counter-terrorism powers.
In 2022, Amnesty Worldwide launched a worldwide Defend the Protest marketing campaign to confront unprecedented worldwide risk to the appropriate to protest.