Owen Jones writes well about the “grotesque absurdity” of an 83-year-old priest being arrested while proclaiming her opposition to genocide and support for Palestine Action (This column does not express support for Palestine Action – here’s why, theguardian.com, 9 July).
My MP sent me a long email explaining the government’s reasons for proscribing Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation. In my reply, I cited Galileo, who said, “And yet it moves”, when the religious authorities of his day insisted that the sun goes round the Earth and forced him to recant his view that the Earth goes round the sun.
For the record, I do not support Palestine Action because, like Galileo, I have been forced to recant the truth. And yet … criminal damage is criminal damage, not terrorism, and a direct-action protest group is not a terrorist organisation.
It is ironic that religious people should now take inspiration from Galileo, when decrying the Orwellian doublespeak of the secular authorities of our own day.
Jones argues that the Labour government has crossed a Rubicon by this proscription. Well, they’re not the only ones, since I am resolved, with regret, never to vote Labour ever again.
Rev Canon Dr Rob Kelsey
Norham, Northumberland
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