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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Comment
George Monbiot

Here’s what you need to know about Starmer’s illiberal protest curbs: they would have killed the Labour party at birth

Man carried by five police officers in hi-vis vests, placard depicting emaciated child, with text about starvation in Gaza, in background
Police arrest supporters of Palestine Action taking take part in a civil disobedience protest in Trafalgar Square, London, 4 October 2025. Photograph: Tayfun Salcı/EPA

Imagine a movement arising in this country that seeks to overthrow established power. Imagine that it begins with a series of rebellions, in Scotland and south Wales perhaps, that shut down workplaces, confront police and soldiers (sometimes peaceably, sometimes with crude weapons), set up roadblocks and lay siege to the places where fellow protesters are imprisoned and government officials are meeting.

Imagine that this movement goes on to smash or disable machinery across the country. Imagine that it organises a general strike, nixing much of the UK’s economic activity for three months. Imagine that it keeps protesting in the same places by the same means, gradually eroding the resistance of the state.

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