In August 2024, six Palestine Action activists breached Elbit Systems UK's newly built facility in Filton, Bristol, and used sledgehammers to sabotage drones, computers, and manufacturing equipment. Elbit is Israel's largest private defence contractor, and supplies armaments to the IDF used in their genocidal attack on Gaza. Twenty-five activists were charged under a "joint enterprise" provision in relation to the direct action. Four have been convicted and sentenced as terrorists, under a provision the judge concealed from the jury.
My guest this week is Lisa Matthews, step mother of Finn Collins, one of 19 defendants still awaiting trial. Finn faces criminal damage and violent disorder charges, with his trial scheduled for February 2027.
Lisa walks me through the retroactive use of counter-terror powers against activists who acted before Palestine Action was proscribed, the judicial rulings that stripped the defendants' right to explain themselves, and what it's like to hold an antifascist family together when one's vision is clear but one's future is uncertain.
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