Campaigners Jonathan Moberley and Susanna Kow. Photograph: David Levene/The Guardian
Campaigners decry Angela Rayner’s backing for Brick Lane project that has only 11 affordable homes
A £500m redevelopment of the Truman Brewery estate in Brick Lane, east London, has been approved, clearing the way for the construction of a datacentre, offices and apartments despite opposition from Tower Hamlets council and local campaign groups.
The housing secretary, Angela Rayner, made the decision in a letter issued on her behalf last week by the housing minister Matthew Pennycook, rejecting demands from the council and campaigners for for the site to be used for hundreds of homes instead.
The Save Brick Lane coalition, made up of nine groups opposed to the project, said their “community should not be expected to accept a noisy, energy-intensive development that consumes a significant amount of power”.
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One person who works in the area said: “We don’t need it … Brick Lane is the heart of community, there’s already been so much change and adding a datacentre will just be another bad change.”
Deputy Labour Party Leader Angela Rayner calls for police to kill and harass innocent people. dizzy ” … should not be elected to high office …” ed: Perhaps I shoud have been more precise and said “appointed” instead of elected. I think that the meaning is clear and I certainly didn’t mean for a few months.
The US secretary of State, Marco Rubio, speaks at a meetting about the “resurgence of far-left terrorism” in Washington DC on 16 July, 2026 | Finn Gomez/Getty Images
When Marco Rubio gathered representatives from 66 countries in Washington this month, his aim was clear and aggressive: target the “resurgence of far-left terrorism”. Framing the threat as a global emergency, the US secretary of state called on intelligence agencies and security forces around the world to unite to “crush this evil forever”.
“We can, and we must, identify and map this threat and rebuild our counterterrorism architecture to defeat it,” Rubio warned attendees. “Just as we have done together before, now we must do it together again.”
Referencing various left-wing guerrilla and political organisations that were active across Latin America in the 20th century, he added: “Every one of our friends here from the nations of the Western Hemisphere remember – remember the decades of kidnappings and bombings and assassinations and executions, the violent terror of the Tupamaros, of the Montoneros, of the FARC, of the ELN.”
Outside the conference room, the State Department was making the same point to the wider American public. It released a document on the same topic, which used extremely vague data to draw parallels between the Latin American guerrillas of the 1960s and 1970s and very different situations in Europe and the US to demonstrate that “left-wing terrorism” exists – and has previously been ‘defeated’.
In Latin America, this messaging amounts to an open endorsement of the state terrorism and genocide that 20th-century military dictatorships and regional repressive coordination efforts – such as Plan Condor, an illegal operation by military regimes in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay to capture and disappear political opponents across borders – deployed to combat the guerrillas.
Rubio’s threat appears clear: Washington is willing to repeat that extreme state violence – and the egregious human rights violations it led to – in order to stop modern-day “left-wing terrorists”.
Given that no armed movements like those 20th-century guerrillas Rubio mentioned actually exist in our region today, which groups or individuals is the US government referring to? Understanding this will allow us to understand the pattern of political persecution it seeks to export worldwide.
Among them are “antifa”– decentralised groups that confront the far right, racism, and colonialism through street tactics and digital activism. The current US administration has repeatedly referred to these groups as a kind of highly organised international conspiracy; Donald Trump designated them as a terrorist organisation in September 2025, even though they are clearly not an organisation.
Trump’s White House has also labelled some of the groups opposing the systematic persecution of migrants by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as “domestic terrorists”.
Perhaps the most famous case of US authorities criminalising dissidents in recent years combined both “antifa” and “anti-ICE”. In July last year, police violence towards an anti-deportation protest outside the Prairieland detention facility in Texas led to riots in which a police officer was shot and received a non-life-threatening injury. Eleven people were arrested; the US government determined that they were part of the “antifa cell” in North Texas. Last month, six people were handed prison sentences ranging from 30 to 70 years, while the activist who shot the officer received a 100-year sentence.
Clearly, the primary targets of this political persecution are protest and social movements, especially those associated with various forms of direct action.
In both the US and Europe, there has been a trend in recent years to classify protesters or activists who employ direct-action tactics – which, in some cases, result in property damage – as terrorists or violent extremists. These incidents are framed, prosecuted, and tried as “national security” cases.
Take the situation of Palestine Action in the UK. The government proscribed the direct action group as a terrorist organisation last year, and last month, four of its activists had a ‘terrorist connection’ applied to sentences for criminal damage at a factory owned by the UK branch of Elbit Systems, an Israeli weapons manufacturer. Five more Palestine Action activists now also face being sentenced as terrorists for breaking windows and throwing red paint at a branch of Barclays Bank, which held shares in Elbit Systems. In both cases, jurors were not told that reaching a guilty verdict could lead to the protesters being sentenced as terrorists.
But the content of Rubio’s speech – with its anti-Marxist and anti-left rhetoric – suggests the persecution could extend beyond direct-action groups, impacting all kinds of progressive opposition groups. In fact, Trump administration officials have repeatedly referred to the Democratic Party itself (which is hardly suspected of Marxism) as an “extremist organisation”.
The shift toward the far right and the resulting political weaponisation of the definition of terrorism is a hallmark of the current US administration and several of its allies in the region.
In May of this year, the new US counterterrorism strategy was released, identifying three major sources of terrorist activities: “narco-terrorists and transnational gangs,” “historical Islamist terrorists,” and “violent left-wing extremists, including anarchists and anti-fascists.” Far-right terrorism is not listed as a concern, even though the most serious acts of violence in the US – aside from the attacks of 11 September 2001 – were carried out by white supremacists or other far-right groups.
The guest list of Rubio’s meeting earlier this month suggests that, for now at least, tackling “far-left terrorism” is a low priority for most governments; the majority opted to dispatch mid-to-low-level diplomatic or law enforcement representatives, rather than cabinet ministers. The two notable exceptions were Israel and Argentina, both of which sent their foreign ministers.
In Argentina’s case, Pablo Quirno was not only one of the highest-profile foreign officials present, but reportedly spoke at the event in a strong show of alignment between right-wing president Javier Milei and the US administration.
The concept of “far-left terrorism” has not been part of Argentina’s security agenda since the 1990s. But last year, this concept found its way into Milei’s National Intelligence Plan, which listed “anarchist terrorism” as one of the risk scenarios that Argentine intelligence agencies must monitor – without any clarification of what it actually refers to.
The Argentine government must now explain what role it played in Rubio’s meeting and what it considers “left-wing terrorism”. It is crucial that the entire political spectrum put a stop to these encroachments, which use counterterrorism policies as an excuse for political persecution, the curtailment of freedoms, and the legitimisation of state violence.
CELS is an Argentine human rights organisation with a broad agenda that includes defending the right to protest.
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel. New Labour UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham continues Labour party policy of active support and complicity in Israel’s genocide.Palestine Action joke that appeared in the UK satirical magazine ‘Private Eye’.
Solidarity with Palestine should never be a crime.
Andy Burnham must urgently dismantle the authoritarian assault on protest rights created by Keir Starmer’s government, the Scottish Greens have said.
The call follows reports that over 100 people outside Westminster Magistrates’ Court were arrested after peacefully expressing opposition to the genocide in Gaza.
It comes less than a week after far-right demonstrators in Glasgow performed Nazi salutes and became involved in violence and intimidation, where 15 arrests were made.
“There is something profoundly wrong when people peacefully opposing genocide are immediately surrounded, detained and treated like terrorists, while men performing Nazi salutes during violent far-right disorder can walk away and wait to see whether the police eventually knock on their doors.
“People holding signs and expressing an opinion were arrested en masse. Meanwhile, self-declared Nazis were seemingly allowed to perform fascist salutes in public, intimidate people and cause fear and alarm, and then leave the scene.
“The law must be enforced consistently and proportionately. It cannot be used as an authoritarian weapon against peaceful campaigners while organised fascist thugs spread hatred and intimidation on our streets.
“Keir Starmer did his part in creating this shameful mess by abusing terrorism legislation to criminalise conscience, solidarity and peaceful dissent.”
Maggie added:
“Protest is not terrorism, and opposing genocide is not a crime.
“This will be one of Andy Burnham’s earliest and most important tests as Prime Minister. He must decide whether he will defend Starmer’s authoritarian legacy or begin undoing it.
“His government should end the prosecutions of peaceful protesters and undertake an urgent review of how counter-terrorism and public-order laws are being used against political dissent.”
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel. New Labour UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham continues Labour party policy of active support and complicity in Israel’s genocide.
I mentioned a short time ago that I needed to write a piece on terrorism. This is the first published draft, it may well change.
I decided to publish a piece on terrorism while Anne Widdicombe murder featured prominently in the UK press. Anne Widdicombe was a well-known UK politician who like many Reform politicians had transferred her allegiances from the Conservative Party to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party plc. An intolerant bigot, it’s unclear whether she was immigration and justice spokesperson for the Reform party plc when she was violently murdered by a 28 year old man repeatedly wielding a hammer.
The London Metropolitan Police lead on terrorism policing in the UK. An alleged possible terrorism connection allowed the transfer of the investigation from the regional Devon and Cornwall Police force to the Metropolitan police.
Normal people understand terrorism as being about using bombs to kill people indiscriminately. This is actually very difficult to do because – I suggest that by definition you have to be divorced from normal life, mentally ill to do this – and what we find instead is that nutters attack and kill people using knives, etc.
Palestine Action joke that appeared in the UK satirical magazine ‘Private Eye’.
In UK, terrorism is defined as attempting to influence the government. It follows that political activists engaging in the democratic process are terrorists – including myself wanting government action addressing climate change, disagreeing with fossil fuel exploitation in the North Sea, objecting to and wanting and end to UK’s complicity in Israel’s genocide for colonial expansion. I have a long history of UK police treating me as a suspected terrorist and interfering in my life for my actions as a political activist.
But this is selective of course. Super rich proprietors of newspapers Rupert Murdoch, Lord Rothermere, etc not only attempt to influence the government but no way are these cnuts regarded as terrorists when they are the de-facto the weilders of power. These are cnuts who support Israel’s genocide and deride climate activists as eco-zealots, etc.
As I said earlier, people understand that terrorism is about people indiscriminately killing the public using bombs. This is what Israel is doing with the UK government complicit in it’s actions. This intolerant Fascist government instead accuses people damaging arms factories complicit in genocide, painting military planes, painting banks or retired vicars and other pensioners holding signs with words banned by the government of terrorism.
Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.
Pedro Sánchez: ‘It’s not enough to address the consequences of the climate emergency … we have to reduce its causes.’ Photograph: Mariscal/EPA
PM has long history of speaking out on realities of global heating but political opponents remain unnmoved
Just over four years ago, Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, visited a small town in the south-western region of Extremadura that had been affected by one of the wildfires devouring tens of thousands of hectares of land across the country.
“I want to make something very clear,” the prime minister told reporters in Extremadura that day in 2022. “Climate change kills: it kills people, as we’ve seen; it also kills our ecosystem, our biodiversity, and it also destroys the things we as a society hold dear – our houses, our businesses, our livestock.”
Nigel Farage urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him and his Deputy Richard Tice. He says that Reform UK has received £Millions and £Millions from the fossil fuel industry to promote climate denial and destroy the planet.Donald Trump urges you to be a Climate Science denier like him. He says that he makes millions and millions for destroying the planet, Burn, Baby, Burn and Flood, Baby, Flood.Orcas comment on killer apes destroying the planet by continuing to burn fossil fuels.
