this post was submitted on 12 Jan 2026

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UK Politics

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Imprisoned hunger striker linked to Palestine Action tells friend: ‘I’m dying’ (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 3 weeks ago by RubberDuck@lemmy.world to c/uk_politics@feddit.uk

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[–] RubberDuck@lemmy.world 31 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Prof Peter Hallward, of Kingston University, one of dozens of academic signatories of the statement, said: “The UK is now perilously close to full descent into authoritarian rule. Ministers won’t even meet with hunger strikers who are now at death’s door. [They] seem perfectly ready to let this country’s most committed and courageous opponents of an ongoing genocide waste away and die.”

[+] deHaga@feddit.uk -6 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

What? What is authoritarian about not getting a meeting with a minister?

[–] Apocalypteroid@feddit.uk 9 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authoritarianism

It's in the first sentence.

[+] deHaga@feddit.uk -6 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

Authoritarianism is a political system characterized by the rejection of political plurality

You can start any political party you want to, have any opinions you like. Doesn't mean you're entitled to meeting a minister to discuss your opinions.

We need more lions, not martyrs. Do they think them starving themselves to death achieves anything?

[–] peoplebeproblems@midwest.social 11 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

The dude is in prison. Got a better way for him to garner attention?

[–] Apocalypteroid@feddit.uk 6 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I'm not certain if you're being purposefully obtuse here or are just genuinely thick, so I'll reference Wikipedia again:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pluralism_(political_philosophy)

It seems foolish to me to get involved in this kind of debate if you don't fully understand the terminology, and given your ignorance it seems futile to discuss martyrdom and it's galvanising effect. Other than to mention that a large portion of the world's population have been celebrating someone for their martyrdom for hundreds of years. Their birthday was about three weeks ago.

[+] deHaga@feddit.uk -6 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Pluralism thus tries to encourage members of society to accommodate their differences by avoiding extremism

Going on a pointless hunger strike and expecting the govt to bend to your demands sounds pretty extreme.

[–] Apocalypteroid@feddit.uk 6 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

And changing the law to proscribe groups who's only crime is criminal damage as terrorists, and then holding members of that group without trail for over a year is totally fine, right? Not extreme and definitely not a breach of human rights? Do you think these people would be starving themselves to death if they were not imprisoned unfairly, and without prospect of release or even a fair trail?

The UN doesn't seem to think so: https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/12/un-experts-urge-uk-protect-lives-and-rights-pro-palestinian-detainees-hunger

Sounds to me that you like a bit of Authoritarianism, despite not knowing what it is. I guess if you like the taste of boot then that's up to you but I prefer a free and fair society.

[–] hector@lemmy.today 2 points 2 weeks ago

It's a rejection of the magna carta, this and a host of other things this government has done or watched their judiciary do with hidden glee. Locking down the internet, connecting every person to an account in a way lower level government, connected groups, hackers, oligarchs, etc can end up accessing, and otherwise putting everything done or said or looked at through half baked ai threat detection run by the antichrist peter thiel and his ilk, making secret social scores to determine you job prospects, loans, police and court treatment, prices you pay, results your search engines show you.

That is where that is heading. Trying to set up this new technology right up the asses of it's citizenry. England is the birthplace of modern liberty, the first in many respects to throw off censorship and the controls on the press and speech, and other rights outlined in the magna carta. Now it's the first to cancel them. Including cancelling jury trials for up to 3 years in prison, from 1 changed in 2020. Before any crime was decided by a jury, a basic right demanded in that magna carta. Now decided by a magistrate chosen by their old boy legal network.

[–] deHaga@feddit.uk -5 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Entering a military base to damage military equipment is a hostile act that has national security issues. They're not smashing up a McDonald's at Liverpool St.

The Suffragists got shit done, the Suffragettes didn't. Maybe learn from history?

[–] Apocalypteroid@feddit.uk 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Oh, I see, you know better than the UN's human rights department. Thanks random internet dude, that's changed my mind completely.

Seriously though, I will add the term 'terrorism' to the list of long words you don't understand. Also, the term 'suffergette', which was coined to disparage female suffergists by the Daily Mail, so the two are exactly the same thing. You also seem to think that the suffergettes weren't successful by using the same tactics that these people are. So I'm actually starting to wonder if you're slightly delusional, rather than just uneducated. Thanks for bringing them up though.

And finally, you avoided my previous questions, which marks you as someone incapable or unwilling of debating in good faith, and like any troll the best way to deal with you is to cut off your food supply. So, goodbye my poorly educated/deluded friend, I hope you grow some compassion, but if not, I hope the rest of your existence is as cold and lonely as you seem to be. Bye!

[–] deHaga@feddit.uk -4 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

They could improve their conditions by eating something. This is purely performative.

The Palestinians and Jews have been throwing rocks at each other for thousands of years, we just sell rocks

Thinking that your opinion matters so much you are willing to die for it suggests mental illness, not political protest

[–] ghost_of_faso3@lemmygrad.ml 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

They could improve their conditions by eating something. This is purely performative.

Lifes a stage, this board would improve if you stopped eating entirely but we cant all get what we want.

The Palestinians and Jews have been throwing rocks at each other for thousands of years, we just sell rocks

Is that what you call bombs and targeting criteria to people engaging in wholesale slaughter of children?

Thinking that your opinion matters so much you are willing to die for it suggests mental illness, not political protest

'People who care about things are mentally ill, not like me im so desensitizatized our government engaging in genocide doesn't even make me blink'

Not the flex you think it is

[–] ghost_of_faso3@lemmygrad.ml 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Is the genocide in Gaza a pointless thing to protest to you?

[–] deHaga@feddit.uk 0 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

No. The pointless thing is a hunger strike with demands on the government, it's delusional.

[–] ghost_of_faso3@lemmygrad.ml 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I think you're the deluded one honestly, spending time bootlicking the state instead of expressing solidarity with people trying to stop violence our government is engaged in.

[–] deHaga@feddit.uk 0 points 2 weeks ago

I'm not bootlicking anything. I don't agree with the approach, wouldn't you rather have something effective?

[–] craftymansamcf@lemmy.world 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

discuss your opinions

Are you saying the law on remand is an opinion?

[–] hector@lemmy.today 13 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

On a guardian podcast they mentioned these hunger strikers literally starving to death were brought up with labor mp's, and they laughed.

This labor government is fascist, they've done more damage in their short time in power than the Tories did their entire time in control. Including cancelling jury trials for up to 3 years in prison changed from 1 which was done in 2020. Illegalizing protests not favored by politicians, bad faith terrorism designations to help actual fascists based on bad faith arguments, accusing people protesting the same thing but not mentioning the proscribed group of supporting terror. Proscribed says israel bad, you said israel bad, you are terrorist reasoning.

They created a masterbaitorbase, to protect the kids they connect every ip and account to id and likeness, in a database silicon valley, and by extension the US government, and other intelligence agencies will also get, to connect everything everyone says, does, looks at, to them and put ai into making half baked assumptions, and social scores to secretly use based on that information in a way people will not be informed of and therefore have no way of challenging.

Age checks and child porn are of course the trojan horses (trojan sheep as the case may be,) and that is perhaps the most pernicious of the changes they have made or let their judiciary make without a fight.

What else I am forgetting something here, this labor government is worse than any UK government ever, cancelling the magna carta in effect. Partial cancellation now, to be expanded later. There is seriously something wrong with our brains at this point, systematic pollution affecting our trust and fear and compliance functions in the brain, in some 1984 type shit, because past generations would never have accepted the magna carta being cancelled, liberty curtailed in the country modern liberty of the enlightenment was born in.

[–] Infernal_pizza@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 2 weeks ago

You forgot constantly trying to backdoor/undermine encryption including trying to force Apple to backdoor iCloud for the entire world

[–] steeznson@lemmy.world 5 points 2 weeks ago

These protestors must be at the physiological limit for hunger striking. I'm not sure how it's humanly possible unless there is some technicality like doctors giving them a drip with vitamins, etc. I believe at this point one of them has outlived Bobby Sands' hunger strike duration by 2 or 3 weeks.