Sally Rooney books may be withdrawn from UK sale over Palestine Action ban(www.bbc.com)
12 pointsby mhb4 months ago2 comments
  • gmac4 months ago
    For context: hundreds (maybe thousands?) of people in the UK have now been arrested for carrying banners with messages supportive of Palestine Action, which was 'proscribed' as a 'terrorist organisation' for some acts of property damage.

    MPs celebrated the suffragettes -- who burned and blew things up in the name of securing political change -- in the same week that they voted for this outrageously repressive measure[1].

    [1] https://www.thenational.scot/news/25287205.westminster-celeb...).

    • mhb4 months ago
      That conflates what Rooney is doing/saying with the actual repression of speech in the UK. She is saying she will actually fund terrorism and LARPing at civil disobedience without being willing to face the consequences. So not really civil disobedience.
      • berdario4 months ago
        Rooney is Irish, not British (nor a resident in Britain), so it's perfectly normal for her to try to avoid the consequences of a foreign regime trying to oppress its population.

        In the same way, someone who supports the Azov brigade, would be expected to face consequences in Russia (and find difficulties in getting their books distributed) since Russia proscribed the Azov brigade, but precisely because of that... we wouldn't be asking of them to travel to Russia "to face the consequences"

    • rawling4 months ago
      https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c79727zeqyvo
      • gmac4 months ago
        That’s a worse crime, but still by no means terrorism.

        And note the ‘alleged’.

  • illwrks4 months ago
    How is this relevant to a hacker news audience?
    • mhb4 months ago
      Indeed. Join the conversation, my friend:

      https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45676472

      • appreciatorBus4 months ago
        I can envision an HN where sometimes a mainstream news item about Israel and Palestine another political issues are worthy of discussion.

        But in my experience of HN so far, a handful of accounts seem determined to turn HN into a “settler colonialism” struggle session, with Israel v Palestine as the ur issue, worthy of the front page every time either party so much as stubs their toe. When they don’t get it, they blame the mods or call their fellow readers “bots” for downvoting.

    • gmac4 months ago
      I didn't submit it, but I'm part of the audience, and I found it interesting. But you're free to downvote both the post and this comment.
      • illwrks4 months ago
        I wouldn't downvote it, I would appreciate context though! I'm open to other people's opinions and ideas, I don't like guesswork though.

        I share a nationality with the author but I've not read her books. I thought that perhaps there was some connection in the themes of her writing and it's relevance to HN - there is a little bit but I think it's mostly oppression that the OP wants to highlight.