It's hard to take the Palestine Action hunger strikers seriously |
The phrase ‘the silly led by the sinister’ was originally used by the late, singularly great Christopher Hitchens to describe the ‘Not In My Name’ anti-war coalition of the early 2000s. But in the spirit of the ‘if you’re going to steal, steal from the best’ quote generally attributed to Pablo Picasso, I’ve used it about various loony-tunes types since then; the extreme eco-lobby come to mind in particular, with their gnarled humanity-hating Malthusian theoreticians and their youthful soup-flinging activists. But on their recent showing, I don’t think it fits anyone as well as those Hamas maniacs who want to see the Middle East purged of every Jew – and the eight oddballs who make up Prisoners For Palestine.
These are youngsters who have been charged with specific offences relating to alleged break-ins or criminal damage on behalf of Palestine Action, all of which they deny. They are currently awaiting trial for those charges. Their website claims that:
There are currently at least 33 people in the UK illegally detained by the British state for their actions against genocide, and this number may increase as the state implements ever more draconian measures against protest.
‘May’ increase is a particularly limp claim to make; I ‘may’ wake up with the ability to walk tomorrow, but it’s a long shot. I would advise the avoidance of this extremely un-dynamic word in future propaganda if communications are to retain any sense of being grounded in reality, as opposed to mere wishful thinking in order to make oneself seem big and clever.
Is there a........