The right to protest has come under sustained attack across the west, according to a report highlighting the growing criminalisation of pro-Palestinian demonstrations.
The study by the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) pays particular attention to the UK, the US, France and Germany, where it says governments have “weaponised” counter-terrorism legislation as well as the fight against antisemitism to suppress dissent and support for Palestinian rights in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
as always with the Empire, it is all projection. for every hundreth post or news you read about china being authoritah, the west did it 100 times worse and painted it in freedom colors
It’s nice to have confirmation that the world is heading in the “RIGHT” direction. The capitalist system is doing what it can to maintain profits and authoritarianism is the only way forward for it. As is said, we are living in “interesting” times. What an absolute cluster fuck.
Banning protest could be a huge blunder by western states, the way i see it peaceful protest are useful for the statis quo to serve as a release valve for pressure and rarely achieve anything. Without protests, pressure will keep building up and eventually explode into either disorganized violence or organized violence.
Peaceful protests fulfill a very important role: organizing people. and giving moral legitimacy to any “less legal” means of protesting such as blocking highways.
The peaceful protest is a very important part of the subsequent not so peaceful protest.
The western states have the sterilization of protest down to a science, granting permits along preestablished routes and promoting liberal reformist types as the “real” leaders as well as using other civilians as disruptors instead of going in with the cops as a first recourse.
Banning protests and going for naked repression is pretty much exactly how you get protestors gravitating toward organizations that aren’t permit fetishists with NGOs.
