UK Government plans new powers to label dissenting movements as 'subversion'

Post by happymellon » Tue, Dec 02, 2025, 6:43 AM UTC

LorenPechtel wrote: post #184

happymellon wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> disabled aircraft using paint and crowbars Is that "terror"? Besides, why not prosecute them for their actions, why proscribe the organisation as a terrorist one, while at the same time ignoring groups who commit much more violent offenses (such as the one given) and concentrate on prosecuting "personal responsibility"?

Because if you stir up enough hate some will act on it. You can't hope to control stuff like this by personal responsibility.

Post by Natfan » Tue, Dec 02, 2025, 6:58 AM UTC

makingstuffs wrote: post #167

nebula8804 wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And go where? The US is in pretty bad shape and sinking. Europe can be a bit better or much worse depending on your background. Is there any solid alternative?

You’re right in that there is no one place which will solve all of one’s problems. There is an entire continent across the channel which will at least permit you to easily travel through, and settle in, a decent number of countries with very little effort. While it’s not a silver bullet by any means, being able to freely move between, and experience, multiple cultures outweighs the melancholy we have back in Blighty.…

Post by piltdownman » Tue, Dec 02, 2025, 8:59 AM UTC

tdeck wrote: post #200

LorenPechtel wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You mean the Ireland that wanted to redefine "genocide" so they could call the war genocide? Thus the government that knew it was not genocide. Sorry, but war in urban areas is extremely ugly. That does not make it genocide. As for apartheid South Africa--look at the reality. Their revolution was jumping from the frying pan to the fire. Just because the new oppressors were of the same skin color doesn't make them not…

Pretty telling that you couldn't resist doing apartheid apologia and Zionism in the same comment.

Post by legsrunny » Tue, Dec 02, 2025, 10:02 AM UTC

SilverElfin wrote: post #186

aranw wrote: post #70

There is probably a legitimate basis for some powers against actual foreign intelligence operations. But the proposals in the article defining "subversion" to include environmental activism, independence movements, or criticism of UK policy show how quickly these things expand beyond their original scope. The Terrorism Act was meant to exclude domestic activists but two decades later it has been used against protest…

It’s not just the use against protest groups but selective use of it, that makes this extra bad. From the article: > The risk is magnified by the racist and colonial legacy of Britain’s intelligence and policing institutions, whereby ‘loyalties’ and ‘foreign influence’ are racially coded terms. It is clear who the state thinks may constitute an agent of ‘foreign power’. Hall acknowledges the risk of “putting certain…

Post by legsrunny » Tue, Dec 02, 2025, 10:09 AM UTC

intended wrote: post #92

Theres so many times I've written a comment, only to delete it on HN. Not because of being afraid of government censorship, but because of the sheer futility of fighting peoples faith and outmoded ideas of how our market place of ideas works. Counter speech, is NOT working. "the best ideas rise to the top" is untrue. We don't have an information economy, we have a content economy. Its the equivalent of the junk food…