Policing Palestine Action vs Tommy Robinson - UK’s top Terrorism Lawyer, Jonathan Hall

Jonathan Hall, the Independent Reviewer of Terror Legislation, was in the room when the UK Govt decided it would proscribe Palestine Action as a terror group, alongside the likes of Al-Qaeda and ISIS.

Since then, we’ve seen anti-war activists, including pacifist priests and grandmothers (even both!) arrested for carrying placards, as the police enforce the letter of the law. A recent Guardian article revealed that the home office was advised that proscribing Palestine Action could make the organisation more popular. Over a thousand arrests later, it appears the advisors have been proved right.

Simultaneously, Tommy Robinson’s Unite the Kingdom marches have taken place in the capital with far fewer arrests, despite now-viral footage of some attendees calling for racist violence (see Niko Omilana!). Moreover legal responses to the Southport Riots last year found swift convictions without one terror law invoked, despite the threshold seemingly being met.

So is there really two-tier policing going on or is it all just a game of optics and perspective… and has the government’s use of terror laws undermined trust in terror law itself?

National security expert Jonathan Hall addresses:

Why the Home Office chose proscription of PA as a ‘terror group’ over other means 2-tier policing accusations + Tommy Robinson’s ‘Unite the Kingdom’ marches Whether Elon Musk’s call for revolution in the UK is foreign interference Hall’s concerns about the government’s ineffective communication with the public Iranian, Chinese and Russian interference in the Culture Wars The threat of AI, deepfakes and tech deregulation How to protect democracy via a ‘Blitz’ resilience spirit Deep concerns re the far-right narrative against multiculturalism The likelihood of civil war or mass civil disobedience Prisons crisis and the threat of islamist violence vs far-right

In times of grievance politics, subversion and widespread cynicism about politics and government, how do we ensure the protection of our civil liberties? We hope this episode, discussing some of the most controversial issues of the day, helps elucidate the challenges in applying the law equally to all.

Chapters 00:00 Intro 02:13 Palestine Action Proscription 10:47 Is this Chilling Dissent in a Democracy? 19:45 Two-Tier Justice and the Far-Right 25:36 Failures in Political Communication 33:42 Undermining Democracy and Foreign Interference 44:21 Subversion, Culture Wars and Free Speech 51:42 Generative AI + Big Tech’s Deregulation Threat 1:02:28 Algorithms, Revolutions and Civil Unrest 1:14:11 Islamist Extremist vs Far-Right Threat