Criminalising Solidarity – financial appeal & testimonials

SPSC chair, Mick Napier was refused Legal Aid to fight the nonsensical racism charges, and faces a legal bill of over £4,000; MPs fighting their expenses abuse charges have been granted Legal Aid to do so, in the "interests of justice".

Dear Friends

Five members of the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign face charges of ‘racially aggravated conduct’ arising out of opposition to Israeli crimes and support for the people of Palestine in their struggle for freedom.  We are writing to ask for your financial support to enable us to continue our work.

The five interrupted a performance by the Jerusalem Quartet to protest the siege of Gaza, in support of the Palestinian appeal for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against institutions linked to the State of Israel.

The outcome of this trial will determine whether much of the solidarity activities SPSC and many others are engaged in will be categorised as criminal and ‘racially aggravated’ under Scottish law.  A successful prosecution would encourage supporters of Israeli crimes; defeating the charges will remove this weapon of criminalisation from those in the British Government bent on silencing opponents of their collusion with Israel.

You can help either by:

  • making a donation, however modest or
  • offering an interest free loan for three or six months that SPSC pledges to pay back in full

In solidarity

Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign

{nicepaypal:donate;https://www.paypal.com/en_AU/i/bnr/horizontal_solution_PP.gif |0.00|Criminalising solidarity - Donation to SPSC defence}

Next court appearance 29th March 2010
Support the SPSC 5 - SPSC campaigners facing trumped-up political charges of ‘racism’!
9.30am outside Edinburgh Sheriff Court, Chambers St, EH1 1LB
The prosecution will attempt to explain why criticism of “the State of Israel” should be deemed racist. It won’t be easy!
A full courtroom each day to date has really made a difference: Let us know you'll be there so we can make sure the allocated court room will hold all supporters

“...the racism charge is absurd, indeed ignorant.” Noam Chomsky

Testimonials - from friend & foe

"It speaks volumes about the desperation of the failing terrorist state of Israel that its apologists try to intimidate even Scotland's judicial system. The prosecutor in this outrageous case is clearly guided by the March Hare, for only he would call principled people "racists", for having protested against the demonstrable racism of a state with a constitution and government that discriminate openly and brutally against non-Jews, mainly the Palestinean people, whose land Israel has stolen. This case should be laughed out of court."  John Pilger

"The Scottish prosecutors' attempt to level charges against the SPSC is a slap on the face of justice and the more than 434 Palestinian children, amongst more than 1300 civilians, who were brutally murdered by the Israeli war-machine in Gaza 2009. It is reminiscent of the position taken by the governments of Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan in the 1980's in support of the inhumane apartheid system. While I find the Scottish prosecutors' decision to stand on the wrong side of history unacceptable by all standards, I deeply appreciate SPSC's principled and consistent support for the Palestinian civil struggle for justice and peace in Palestine."  Haidar Eid

"Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign [is] one of the main sources of anti-Israeli action...disturbing…activities of a vociferous anti-Israel body [that] lie behind an “upsurge in anti-Israel content in the media” in Scotland.  Ezra Golombok, Israeli (Dis)Information Office, Scotland

"Is it not ironic that people who campaign for justice against Israel's racist ideology should find themselves charged with “racially aggravated conduct”? It is a disgrace that Scottish taxpayers money is being used to carry out this political witch-hunt against the SPSC which has a fantastic record as a defender of human rights. I urge the Scottish Prosecutors to drop the case."  Zahid Ali, Edinburgh Radio Ramadhan

"It is outrageous that non-violent protesters against war crimes have been charged with ‘racially aggravated conduct’. Sadly these kinds of slurs against BDS campaigners are all too familiar. A victory for the SPSC Five will make it harder for the Israel lobby to intimidate others who are involved in the academic and cultural boycott campaign.  SPSC are a role model for us all - please dig deep for them."  Dr Sue Blackwell

"Dear Friend,  I urge you to respond favourably to the appeal for donation by the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign, to aid its legal battle against the attempt to criminalize its commendable political campaign. The SPSC has long been engaged in a struggle that we should all support, in solidarity with Palestinian human and national rights and against oppression and military occupation."  Moshé Machover

“…Scotland has witnessed a noticeable public anti-Israel sentiment, prominently driven by the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign…” Scottish Friends of Israel website

"I know members of the Scottish PSC to be true human beings who are dedicated for campaigning against all kinds of abuse of human rights and injustice worldwide. Their support for the oppressed and underprivileged regardless of colour, race, religious, ethnic or national background is truly inspirational. I appeal to all to support their just defence against all false accusations of ‘racially aggravated conduct’"  Musheir Al Farra, Sheffield PSC

"I urge everyone to beat the disgraceful decision to deny Mick Napier legal aid to fight the even more disgraceful charges of racism by giving what they can in financial support and by making fundraising for the appeal a political act of solidarity."  Tam Dean Burn

"Mick Napier has been a long time champion and defender of Palestinian human rights. His unwavering resolution has ensured that the occupation that the Palestinian people suffer at the hands of Israel is common knowledge in Scotland and he has worked hard to ensure that Israeli officials and military leaders are made to answer for their crimes against humanity. Any legal action against him are purely political in nature, intended to stop him in his successful campaigns against the Israeli occupation. Many people across the world who are part of the solidarity movement relating to the Palestinian cause consider Mick Napier to be one of the champions of this cause."  Ismael Patel, Friends of Al Aqsa

"As chair of the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign, I am very happy to confirm that the IPSC endorses this important appeal, and that we will inform our supporters about it. As the BDS campaign against Israel goes from strength to strength, opponents are engaging in increasingly extreme attempts to demonise and delegitimise it, in order to roll back our sucesses and deny any hope to the Palestinian people. 

'They must not be allowed. It is crucial that we stand in solidarity with each other in combatting these attacks. Should these prosecutions suceed, similar prosecutions will be undertaken elsewhere. And equally, should this politically motivated attempt to criminalise peaceful human rights activism in Scotland fail as we must ensure it does, this will help our work here in Ireland, and globally."  David Landy, Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign

"Jews for Boycotting Israeli Goods (J-BIG) wholeheartedly supports Scottish PSC in upholding the right of those who care for justice in the Middle East to pursue a non-violent boycott campaign against the Israeli state and its representatives. We absolutely refute suggestions that such a campaign constitutes a racist attack on Jews or Israelis. It is Israel that acts as a source of racism by claiming to represent all Jews while waging a relentless campaign of violence and dispossession against the Palestinians."

"When anti-racist laws are used in an atempt to silence protest against racist actions by a foreign state we have arrived at a place that is a hybrid of 1984's Oceania and the Looking-glass World. Peaceful protest is frequently disruptive of public order but the right to such non-violent protest is enshrined in the UK Human Rights Act."  Mike Cushman, J-BIG

"We, the undersigned, condemn the attempt by Scottish prosecutors to criminalise the five members of the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign (SPSC) who were arrested after protesting in 2008 a concert performance by the Jerusalem Quartet, who enjoy the official status of cultural ambassadors of the State of Israel. We further condemn the charges of “racially aggravated conduct” which have been levelled at the SPSC campaigners and support the right to protest or call for a boycott against Israeli institutions.

We reject the notion that criticism of Israel or calls for Boycott, Disinvestment, Sanctions (BDS) against Israel as advocated by the STUC and other bodies, is in itself anti-semitic.

 

We call on the Scottish prosecutors to immediately drop the case against the SPSC members."   Scottish Jews for a Just Peace

 

 

 

Israel does not represent and is not synonymous with all Jewish people. A significant proportion of its population is actually not Jewish (e.g., Druze or Arab). Its actions as a state have been criticized by Jewish and non-Jewish people both within and outside of it. To suggest that such criticism is anti-semitic is illogical. It could only be so if it was stated that all ‘Jewish’ people supported a particular policy. But a criticism of Israel is only about the actions of a government and some of the citizens of that country would agree with the criticism. This is true of all states, so when ‘Britain’ was, for example, cricicised over the invasion of Iraq, it does not imply a racial slur against all British people. It is simply a way of speaking about a state and the policies which it is enacting. 

Greg Philo
Author of Israel and Palestine – Competing Perspectives.