Palestinian solidarity is being \u201csilenced, criminalised and sanctioned\u201d, according to an advocacy group that says it has recorded more than 900 examples of repression across Britain in the last six years.<\/p>\n
People had been targeted with smears, disinformation, harassment, doxing (having private or identifying information published online), visa cancellations, financial blacklisting, loss of employment and arrest, according to the European Legal Support Center, which, along with the research group Forensic Architecture, has created the \u201cindex of repression\u201d.<\/p>\n
The ELSC said such consequences had been justified by allegations of antisemitism or terrorism support, with the main \u201cactors of repression\u201d being police (220 incidents), educational institutions (192), pro-Israel advocacy groups (141), and journalists and other media actors (141).<\/p>\n
At a press conference on Wednesday, Bob Trafford, of Forensic Architecture, said: \u201cThe data, painstakingly gathered and verified by ELSC, reveals the operation of a system, not something which is centrally directed, of course, but something which is organic, multipolar, self-reinforcing and mutually exacerbating.<\/p>\n
\u201cA system which seeks to raise intolerably the personal cost to any individual who speaks or acts in light of their conscience \u2026 seeks to reduce civil society\u2019s capacity to call out genocide and to demand at the same time robust action by our governments.\u201d<\/p>\n
Students, academics and teachers (336 incidents) appeared most frequently on the index as targets of repression, followed by activists and organisers (229). The report says they are often targeted in different ways, with artists and cultural workers often having events cancelled (71 incidents).<\/p>\n