Protest is not terrorism

Dozens of distinguished scholars and authors from around the world have made a declaration in solidarity with prisoners in the UK whose long detention on remand on charges relating to activism for Palestine has sparked criticism from human rights organisations and UN experts. They include Naomi Klein, Angela Davis and Judith Butler alongside global scholars from a diverse set of academic disciplines, journalists George Monbiot and Owen Jones, and authors Sally Rooney and China Miéville.

A hunger strike by three of the prisoners, Heba Muraisi, Kamran Ahmed and Lewie Chiaramello is still ongoing despite the imminent danger of death. 

The statement wording also highlights the signatories’ condemnation of the arrest of Greta Thunberg on terrorism charges while protesting in solidarity with the prisoners before Christmas. 

The statement echoes the slogan which Greta Thunberg wrote on the placard she was carrying when she was arrested on 23 December. 

“We oppose genocide, we support the Palestine Action prisoners”

A spokesperson for Protest not Terrorism open letter collective said: 

“This statement is a declaration of support for the campaign by prisoners for the respect of their fundamental rights to a fair trial, to prompt and appropriate medical treatment, to uncensored communications with their legal representatives and the removal of punitive and draconian conditions imposed by the Prison Service triggered by the widely-condemned proscription of Palestine Action. The signatories also affirm their solidarity with Greta Thunberg after her shocking arrest on terrorism charges for expressing solidarity with the prisoners.” 

Writing in the Guardian on 7 January, George Monbiot said: 

“The hunger strikers’ demands seem reasonable to me: release on bail; the right to a fair trial (they claim the government has withheld key documents); lifting the ban on Palestine Action; and shutting down Elbit Systems – which has supplied weapons to a state engaged in genocide – in the UK. All these things, I believe, should be happening anyway” 

Professor Peter Hallward, one of the signatories to 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. Starmer, Lammy, Cooper and Mahmood seem perfectly ready to let this country’s most committed and courageous opponents of an ongoing genocide waste away and die. Now the police have begun arresting people just for using the standard Arabic word for ‘uprising,’ marking yet another draconian step in the elimination of what’s left of our freedoms of expression and of academic inquiry.” 

[List of signatories as of 12 January 2026, 8am]

We oppose genocide, we support the Palestine Action prisoners.

Signed:

• Umberto Albarella, Professor of Zooarchaeology, University of Sheffield
• Tariq Ali, writer and historian
• Sandra Babcock, Clinical Professor of Law, Cornell Law School
• Étienne Balibar, Professor emeritus of Philosophy, University of Paris X, Nanterre
• Moazzam Begg, Senior Director of CAGE International and former Guantanamo Bay prisoner
• Chetan Bhatt, Anthony Giddens Professor of Social Theory, London School of Economics
• Patrick Bond, Distinguished Professor and Director of the Centre for Social Change, University of Johannesburg
• Ray Brassier, Professor of Philosophy, American University of Beirut
• Donna Brown, Royal Holloway UCU branch chair and NEC member
• Wendy Brown, UPS Foundation chair, School of Social Science, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton
• Susan Buck-Morss, Distinguished Professor, CUNY Graduate Centre
• Sebastian Budgen, Editorial Director, Verso Books
• Judith Butler, Distinguished Professor in the Graduate School, Department of Comparative Literature, University of California, Berkeley
• Alex Callinicos, Emeritus Professor of European Studies, King’s College London
• John Chalcraft, Professor of Middle East History and Politics, London School of Economics
• Tanzil Chowdhury, Senior Lecturer in Public Law, Queen Mary University of London, Co-Director of the Centre for the Critique of Law and Society
• Emilios Christodoulidis, Chair of Jurisprudence, University of Glasgow
• Rebecca Comay, Professor of Philosophy and Comparative Literature, University of Toronto
• Tim Crosland, co-founder Defend Our Juries
• Angela Davis, Distinguished Professor Emerita, History of Consciousness and Feminist Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz
• Jodi Dean, Professor of Politics, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Geneva, New York
• James Dickins, Emeritus Professor of Arabic, University of Leeds
• Elsa Dorlin, Professor of Contemporary Political Philosophy, Université Toulouse Jean Jaurès
• Jennifer Doyle, Professor of English, University of California, Riverside
• Deepa Driver, trade unionist and academic, vice-chair of the Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers
• Haidar Eid, Associate Professor of Postcolonial Literature, Al-Aqsa University, Gaza, Palestine
• Harriet Evans, Emeritus Professor of Chinese Cultural Studies at the University of Westminster and Visiting Professor in Anthropology at the London School of Economics
• Peter Evans, West London College, Vice Chair UCU LGBT msc
• Patrick ffrench, Professor of French, King’s College London
• Des Freedman, Professor of Media and Communication Studies, Goldsmiths University of London
• Verónica Gago, Professor of Social Sciences, University of Buenos Aires
• Neve Gordon, Professor of International Law, Queen Mary University of London
• Ian Gough, Visiting Professor, London School of Economics
• Penny Green, Professor of Law and Globalisation, Queen Mary University of London
• Greg Grandin, Peter V and C Vann Woodward Professor of History, Yale University
• Peter Hallward, Professor of Philosophy, Centre for Research in Modern European Philosophy, Kingston University
• Vanja Hamzić, Professor of Law, History, and Anthropology, SOAS University of London
• Michael Hardt, Professor of Literature, Duke University
• Sudhir Hazareesingh, CUF Lecturer in Politics and Senior Fellow, Balliol College, University of Oxford
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• Owen Jones, journalist
• Ronnie Kasrils, author and former minister in the government of South Africa
• Rashid Khalidi, Professor Emeritus of History, Columbia University
• Laleh Khalili, Al Qasimi Professor of Gulf Studies, University of Exeter
• Naomi Klein, Associate Professor of Climate Justice, University of British Columbia
• Darryl Li, Associate Professor of Anthropology & associate member of the Law School, University of Chicago
• Hans Lindahl, Chair of Global Law, Queen Mary University of London; Emeritus Chair of Philosophy of Law, Tilburg University
• Frédéric Lordon, Research director, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, France
• Andreas Malm, writer and Senior Lecturer in Human Ecology, Lund University
• Ibbo Mandaza, Global Pan African Movement and Executive Chairman of the Southern African Political Economy Series (SAPES) Trust
• Tracy McNulty, Professor of Comparative Literature and Romance Studies, Cornell University
• Lina Meruane, Distinguished Writer in Residence, New York University
• Sandro Mezzadra, Professor of Political Theory, University of Bologna
• China Miéville, Salvage
• George Monbiot, journalist and environmental activist
• Vittorio Morfino, Professor of Philosophy, University of Milano Bicocca
• Karma Nabulsi, Professor Emerita of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford
• Eva Nanopoulos, Reader in Law, Queen Mary University of London
• Saul Newman, Professor of Politics, Goldsmiths University of London
• Aisling O’Beirn, Associate Lecturer in Fine Art, University of Ulster, UCU Ulster Anti-Casualisation and NEC member
• Abdaljawad Omar, Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Cultural Studies, Birzeit University, Palestine
• Ellen Owens, University of Reading UCU branch secretary and NEC member
• Christina Paine, London Metropolitan University UCU secretary and NEC member
• Ilan Pappé, Professor of History and Middle Eastern Studies, and director of the European Centre for Palestine Studies, University of Exeter
• Paul Patton, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, University of New South Wales
• Matt Perry, Branch Chair, Newcastle UCU and NEC member
• Regine Pilling, Branch Secretary Westminster Kingsway College UCU and NEC member
• Lucia Pradella, Reader in International Political Economy, King’s College London
• Rolando Prats, Chief Editor, Communis Press
• Nicola Pratt, Professor of the International Politics of the Middle East, University of Warwick
• Rahul Rao, Reader in International Political Thought, University of St Andrews
• Bruce Robbins, Old Dominion Foundation Professor in the Humanities, Columbia University
• William I. Robinson, Distinguished Professor of Sociology, University of California, Santa Barbara
• Sally Rooney, novelist
• Jacqueline Rose Professor of Humanities and co-director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities, University of London
• Catherine Rottenberg, Professor of Feminist Media Studies, Goldsmiths University of London
• Lynne Segal, Professor Emerita of Psychosocial Studies, Birkbeck, University of London
• Richard Seymour, Salvage
• Kamila Shamsie, novelist
• Issa Shivji, Professor Emeritus of Public Law & First Julius Nyerere Professor of Pan-African Studies, University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
• Avi Shlaim
• Nikhil Pal Singh, Chair, Department of Social and Cultural Analysis, New York University
• Panagiotis Sotiris, Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of the Aegean
• Elettra Stimilli, Professor of Philosophy, Sapienza Università di Roma
• Rei Terada, Professor Emerita of Comparative Literature, University of California, Irvine
• Alberto Toscano, Emeritus Professor of Critical Theory, Goldsmiths University of London
• Salim Vally, Professor and National Research Foundation Chair in Community, Adult and Worker Education, University of Johannesburg
• Françoise Vergès, Senior research fellow, Sarah Parker Remond Centre for the Study of Racism and Racialisation, University College London
• Sean Wallis, University College London UCU branch secretary and NEC member
• Jeffery R. Webber, Professor of Politics, York University, Toronto
• Saira Weiner, London John Moores University UCU branch chair and NEC member
• Lynn Welchman, Professor of Law, SOAS University of London
• Richard Wild, Principal Lecturer in Criminology, University of Greenwich, UCU Branch Co-Chair and NEC member
• Jessica Whyte, Scientia Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of New South Wales
• Jim Wolfreys, Reader in French and European Politics, King’s College London

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