If throwing a can of paint is the same as throwing a bomb then why not throw bombs? Seems like a dumb thing for a government to promote...
Thats actually what they want. They are engineering a reason.
Both outcomes benefit them. Either it scares and subdues everyone or does the exact opposite which gives them even more 'justification' for crackdowns.
again it seems like they got their terrorism charge, so it didn’t matter what the person did. i find the argument that we should never do anything they could use to justify their fascism ridiculous, when we are talking about a live demonstration of said fascism being justified with non violent resistance.
Ah yes, nothing screams terrorism like... paint.
It’s vandalism. It’s property damage. It’s rude as fuck. But it’s not terrorism. Trying Americans for protests calling it terrorism is a form of terrorism.
Trying Americans for protests calling it terrorism is a form of terrorism.
There are no Americans involved in this story...
It is. I'd consider it a form of stochastic terrorism. Stochastic terrorism is the public demonization of a person or group through mass media that incites a violent act which is statistically predictable but whose specific perpetrator and timing cannot be predicted.
So the government labeling anti-fascists as terrorists, or people that support an end to the Palestinian genocide as terrorists could fall under the definition of stochastic terrorism. We have the public demonization of anti-facists via policy and yellow journalism, which leads to those people speaking out against fascism to be targeted by the police/government for exercising their right to free speech and assembly. The anti genocide protesters spreading red paint and breaking windows are vandals for sure, but I wouldn't go so far as to label them as terrorists. Labeling them as terrorists creates an opening for the government to deny them freedom via criminal charges worse than any crime they are actually guilty of.

Of course it's a terrorist, it's literally creating hundreds of explosions per second!
Labour has paved the way for Reform to go full fascist.
Yeah, I always have to remind myself that these repressive stories from the UK are being done under the government elected in to stop the conservatives. Where do the more conservative parties have to go when this is the baseline of the center left?
They also called paint £200k in damage. And broken windows £500k. Just utterly insane figures to inflate the seriousness of what's just basic vandalism of a building.
In Italy, when we occupied the high school against the Berlusconi government, we were asked for one € each for one pane of glass broken.
That made for an extremely expensive glass since we were around 1000 in the institute and it was 2002.
Of course, the Dean pocketed more vaffanculos than coins.
The UK has successfully watered down terrorism to mean "petty crime"
It was watered down 25 years ago to include property damage but has never been used until, surprise surprise, Zionist genocide is being inconvenienced.
We really live in a country where terrorism means anything that the government wants, Huh.
If by "we" you mean people in the UK, yes.
US too, descending into fascism hand in hand
And USA
This article is about the UK. That's why it's talking about "Barclays bank," "Preston Crown Court," listed damages in £, etc.
I am, regrettably, in the UK.
Where is the terror exactly? That's prevarication. Anyone judging paintings as terrorism should be put to jail.
If something that should at worst be called vandalism is considered terrorism what's preventing activists from just doing actual terrorism?
Ethics, probably
i remember the days when terrorism included fatalities
Oh nooo... PAINT!!! What utter terror...
B...but it's difficult to remove! :(
Think of the people that would need to be paid for such an effort. By a poor little bank, no less! :(

violence is the anwser, not spray paint, you'll be designated as a terrorist either way so you have nothing to lose.
In the UK the state can deprive a person of their UK citizenship when they are labeled a terrorist by the state. Guess what will happen next to these people.
My friends in America wonder why I don't move back to the UK, and I always tell them, same shit different weather.
literal whole buildings for entire blocks have graffiti and random crap in places all around the world. Spray paint clearly isn't good enough.
I don't think anyone's been terrorised by this creative painting social exhibition. Hell, I'm sure some employees of the bank enjoyed it as well.
If the penalty is so steep for minor offenses, they will encourage real terror. Why wouldn’t the next ones just blow up the bank if they’re going be charged as terrorists regardless? It’s not a charge you ever recover from.
Craven, servile authorities with no morals or balls might be able to stop people finding ways to voice their horror at the fact gutless IDF fuckholes mass murder Palestinian babies and children, but they'll never stop people knowing Netanyahu's an inhuman cunt, who deserves to be thrown into a deep, deep pit for the rest of his life, for ordering it.
This term is used to discredit certain people...
terrorism is such a low bar nowdays, I miss when they had to work for it
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