THE SPECTACLE: Situationist blog unwinding the West's pro war propaganda machine

[TonyGosling]

the greatest injustice in modern British history has just taken place, and we should all be terrified.
in the UK, protest is now terrorism and conscience is now a crime.
Deaglan O'Mulrooney
Jun 16, 2026

https://thespectaclemag.substack.com/p/ ... -in-modern

Good day, spectators,

And you may have already heard about this topic in the past few days but I need you to really understand precisely what just happened in Britain. If you don’t, you won’t grasp just how far the state is willing to go to protect Israel’s genocide.

Four young people—Charlotte Head, Samuel Corner, Leona Kamio, and Fatema Rajwani—were sentenced as terrorists this week for the crime of criminal damage. They broke into an Elbit Systems factory in Filton, near Bristol, and caused approximately £1.2 million worth of damage. They livestreamed the whole thing wearing their, now iconic, red jumpsuits and they acted in the open.

A jury of their peers, that is, Brits, convicted them of criminal damage. Not terrorism or any kind of violent disorder. Simple criminal damage.

But here is where the really nightmarish situation begins. The judge, Mr Justice Johnson, had already decided that he would add a ‘terrorist connection’ to their sentences. He did this secretly, before the verdict and the jury was never told this was being considered. The defence was never given the opportunity to address it. The conviction came down on criminal damage charges. And then the judge, alone, unilaterally, declared that these young people are terrorists.


I did my research and found out this has never happened before in British legal history. Direct action protesters have never been treated this way. Criminal damage has never been considered a terrorist offence. The barrister for the defence, Rajiv Menon KC, called it ‘chilling and creeping authoritarianism’.

He is not wrong.
the show trial.

On top of all that, the activists were not permitted to explain their motivations to the jury. They were forbidden from mentioning Gaza, genocide, or the fact that Elbit Systems supplies the Israeli military with weapons used to kill children. ‘They weren’t allowed to say genocide, ethnic cleansing, the history of Palestine and Israel,’ said a spokesperson for the Filton 25 Defence Committee. The jury decided the facts of the criminal damage without ever hearing why these young people believed they had to act in the first place.

Watch: A juror from the first Filton trial publicly criticises the recent proceedings and said of the second jury: ‘I feel really sorry for the jury that did. They didn’t know what they were convicting the defendants of.’

Then came the terrorism finding. Under UK law, a ‘terrorist connection’ can be applied to any offence if the court is satisfied that it was committed ‘for the purpose of advancing a political, religious, racial or ideological cause’ and was intended to ‘influence the government’ or ‘intimidate the public’. The judge found that the activists’ aim met this definition.

To translate this from legalese into plain English: trying to stop a genocide is now legally equivalent to terrorism. The motivation to save lives is now an aggravating factor. The judge explicitly said that their desire to end what they regarded as ‘British complicity in Israeli war crimes’ was part of why they are terrorists.

Over 50 top UK lawyers, including Michael Mansfield KC and Liz Davies KC, signed an open letter denouncing this:

‘Blurring the distinction between principled direct action and terrorism is the hallmark of authoritarian regimes. Saying convictions for criminal damage are on a par with acts of terrorism cannot be right’

The judge ignored them.

Samuel Corner received eight years and eight months. He will be eligible for parole after nearly eight years. Charlotte Head and Leona Kamio received six years each. Fatema Rajwani received five years and eight months. Because of the terrorism finding, they will not qualify for early release. The Parole Board will assess their risk to the public. They will be registered as terrorists for up to 15 years.

Watch: Mr ‘Justice’ (injustice?) Jeremy Johnson hands down the sentences at the Palestine Action show trial.

You must always keep in mind that their crime was damaging property. Taking a sledgehammer to military equipment in a factory that makes weapons used in a genocide. And they are being treated as though they planted a bomb on a civilian airliner.

It’s ludicrous.

Outside the court, hundreds of people were arrested at a demonstration supporting the activists. Holding a sign that says ‘I support Palestine Action’ is now potentially a criminal offence, because Palestine Action was proscribed as a terrorist organisation in July 2025.

More than 2,000 people have now been arrested for expressing support for Palestine Action. Many were arrested simply for holding signs reading ‘I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action’.

Watch: Supporters of Palestine Action are arrested outside the Royal Courts of Justice.

This is Britain in 2026.
the ban is upheld, and history is rewritten.

Two days after the Filton Activists’ sentencing, the Court of Appeal delivered its verdict on the government’s appeal against the earlier High Court ruling that the proscription of Palestine Action was unlawful. Five senior judges, led by Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr, overturned the High Court’s decision meaning the ban is now lawful.

The Lady Chief Justice said:

It is not a sustainable proposition to portray Palestine Action as a non-violent protest group. Palestine Action overly promotes unlawful violence that amounts to terrorism’

And then came the comparison that will define her legacy: she compared them unfavourably to the suffragettes.

Watch: Lady Justice Carr delivers her verdict to the court.

This comparison is so historically dishonest that it genuinely pissed me off. Let’s spell it out for everyone:

The suffragettes did not gently petition for the vote. They burned down country houses. They bombed churches. They sent letter bombs to politicians. They destroyed rail lines and telegraph wires. They vandalised paintings in the National Gallery. They were imprisoned, force-fed, brutally treated and I could go on for days…yet Carr claims that Palestine Action, which has never killed anyone, which has only damaged property used to commit genocide, is somehow more violent than the suffragettes. This is supposedly an educated woman so where’s the education?

No this is not any kind of judicial reasoning, it is simple historical revisionism in service of state power.

Carr acknowledged that the proscription is ‘highly controversial’. She acknowledged that the group ‘is supported by many otherwise-law-abiding citizens’. But she ruled that the government’s decision to ban them struck a ‘fair balance’.

A fair balance!?

Between what? Between the right to protest genocide and the right of the state to silence that protest. Between the lives of Palestinians and the convenience of British foreign policy. That is no balance. That is pure capitulation to Zionism.

The co-founder of Palestine Action, Huda Ammori, has vowed to appeal to the Supreme Court. But for now, the ban stands. And the precedent is set: trying to stop a genocide is terrorism. Resisting British complicity in slaughter is extremism. This is what the courts of Britain have decided.

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the judge who will be remembered for one thing.

Let me say something about Mr Justice Johnson, because history will remember him clearly.

Throughout the trial, the activists’ legal team applied to have him removed, citing bias and discrimination. They noted that he had tried to prosecute their barrister, Rajiv Menon KC, for contempt of court over his closing speech—a proceeding that Menon later won on appeal. They noted that he treated the defendants’ motivation to stop genocide as a potentially aggravating factor. They filed a formal complaint with the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office.
Johnson.

Johnson refused to recuse himself. He apologised for the contempt proceeding against Menon, but he did not step aside. He handed down the terrorism finding. He imposed the sentences.

History will not remember Mr Justice Johnson’s career. History will remember him as the judge who decided that trying to stop a genocide is terrorism. That is his sole legacy. That is what he will be known for. That is how his name will appear in the record of British injustice.
the message from the state.

The message from the British government could not be clearer: you may protest within the lines they have drawn. You may hold a sign on a designated route at a permitted time. You may even write a strongly-worded letter to your MP. You may do all the things that have been tried and have failed to stop the slaughter.

But if you take any real, direct action, you will be treated as a terrorist. If you, for example, physically disrupt the machinery of genocide then you will be tried in a court where your conscience is inadmissible. You will be sentenced by a judge who finds your morality an aggravating factor and you will spend years in prison. And when you are released, you will be monitored, restricted, and branded for life.

This is the new Britain and its leaking into other European states and for that, we should all be terrified.